Review: Murderbot Season 1

It’s been a while since I read All Systems Red, so Season 1 of Murderbot felt both familiar and new. I loved getting to see Martha Wells’ story reimagined on screen.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, is a comedic sci-fi series narrated by a rogue security unit that names itself Murderbot. Unfamiliar with autonomy, Murderbot continues to perform its work as a security unit even after hacking its governing module. It could just go on a rampage and kill everyone, but does it want to?

Season 1 of Murderbot adapts the first novella, All Systems Red, into 10 episodes that are 22-34 minutes long.

Title: Murderbot (TV series)
Executive producers: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, Alexander Skarsgard, Andrew Miano, David S. Goyer, Keither Levine
Genre: Sci-fi, adventure, comedy
Network: Apple TV+
Episodes: 10
Episode Lengths: 22-34 min
Content warnings: Slavery (including mentions of sex slavery), blood/gore, violence (including gun violence and mass murder), mentions of drug use/dependency

Review of Murderbot Season 1

• Pacing: fast
• Plot or character-driven: a mix
• Representation: Queernormative world, f/nb and f/nb/m relationship (on screen), more queer/poly relationships mentioned (off screen)

I was curious to see how well All Systems Red would work as a TV show, because much of the narration and humor happens in Murderbot’s head, which seems hard to film. I also wondered how we would see Murderbot’s perspective, since it spends much of its time hacking security cameras and watching from afar rather than directly engaging with people. To me, it felt like the filmmakers avoided answering these questions at all and just focused on making a good story. I have no complaints about that.

I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but I really liked that the show emphasizes awkward conversations and silences. It highlights the social differences between Murderbot and its humans. Allowing characters to have difficult conversations that may feel a bit stilted made them feel more authentic. A big theme of Martha Wells’ series is showing how people struggle to connect to others and learn what it means to be a person, and I feel like Murderbot Season 1 remains true to that theme.

The Murderbot novellas have a more dry, sarcastic style of humor. The show keeps some of this but also emphasizes more of the playful humor. I think this is a direct result of the story being taken out of Murderbot’s head a little. Instead of hearing everything from Murderbot’s perspective, we get to see how absurd it all is. Murderbot is a sarcastic narrator, so that shines through in the books. While it does a little commentary for the show, it wouldn’t make sense to use a full narrator during each scene.

Sanctuary Moon is giving Austin Powers x Star Trek!

Honestly, the best part of getting to see Murderbot on screen was getting to see Sanctuary Moon! I was not prepared for it to have its own characters and plot twists to follow. Not only am I hooked on Murderbot, I need to know what happens next in Sanctuary Moon!

The visuals of Sanctuary Moon are very colorful with dramatic costumes and dialogue. The pseudo-show just looks like a fun time!

Casting and Characters

I think I had the same feeling as everyone when they first saw Alexander Skarsgard as Murderbot, which is to say I was skeptical. I think this has less to do with him as an actor and more to do with how difficult it was to imagine a human playing a character that’s supposed to be a machine. My skepticism didn’t last long though, because I really enjoyed Skarsgard in the role of Murderbot. He wasn’t perfect, but he really nailed the awkward and robotic bits, and made Murderbot’s role both hilarious and emotionally touching, as I remembered it in the novellas.

Dr. Mensah, played by Noma Dumezweni, was exactly as I imagined her as were the were the rest of the PreservationAux crew. I love that the show leaned into the team being an odd bunch with good hearts.

My favorite performance from the show was David Dastmalchian as Gurathin, because he made me care about a character I didn’t pay attention to before. I remember not feeling as strongly about Gurathin as Murderbot in the first novella. I think a lot of the tension between the two went over my head, so it was such a delight to see them go head-to-head on screen! Who knew a conversation between two characters could be so hostile and intensely awkward? The scenes that focused on Gurathin and Murderbot felt the most tensely entertaining.

The only complaint I have about the show was Leebeebee. I did not remember her character from the novellas or her being that annoying. Maybe I just blocked her scenes out of my mind? I would say most of Murderbot season 1 is odd in a fun way, but I just found Leebeebee’s scenes very hard to watch. Fortunately, she has a very minor role, so she’s not shown much.

Conclusion

Overall, the story felt true to the original novellas, even if there were some changes. Since I haven’t read the Murderbot Diaries in a minute, the details were a little fuzzy. I feel like I was able to enjoy the show more because of this because I wasn’t constantly questioning creative differences. I think the show really embraced the core of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series about what it means to be a person, the good, the bad, the weird, and the funny. I’m so excited that the Murderbot show was both silly and emotionally moving as I remember the novellas. Seeing them adapted on screen gave the story new life.

I had such a fun time watching Murderbot season 1 and am so excited to have more people introduced to Murderbot now that it’s made it to the screen! I would recommend Murderbot to people who enjoy funny, adventurous shows.

You’ll like this show if you enjoy…

• Dry humor that’s also a bit playful
• Character-focused stories
• Sci-fi thrillers

Where to watch the Murderbot TV Show:

Have you seen the new Murderbot show? Let’s chat in the comments!