Apple TV Plus’ new sci-fi action comedy is definitely worth watching — there’s just one problem
“Murderbot” just dropped on Apple TV Plus and you should definitely check it out.
Right now, there’s a two-episode premiere you can check out immediately, with more episodes coming weekly between today and July 11.
But if you’re left wanting a bit more after those two episodes, I won’t blame you. To be fair, this is partially a compliment to the show.
You want to keep watching “Murderbot” because it succeeds in engaging you. It’s a sci-fi action comedy that’s well-made and well-written, and even has a well-made show within a show called “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon” starring Clark Gregg and John Cho.
However, you also might want to keep watching because, for most of the two-episode premiere, you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. For an action comedy, there’s a surprising amount of melodrama and mystery, and tonally it leaves the viewer a bit … perplexed, as to what note the show wants to strike.
This feels largely intentional, and by the end, the show does seem to be finding its footing. It’s just not quite the show I was expecting after watching the “Murderbot” trailer.
What is ‘Murderbot’?
If you’ve never heard of “Murderbot” in the first place, here’s what you need to know.
This sci-fi action comedy is based on the popular book series “The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells and stars Alexander Skarsgård as a droll security robot “built to protect and obey” humans.
Except Skarsgård’s SecUnit doesn’t want to do what it’s programmed to do and protect a bunch of “idiots.” So it breaks its governor chip and, unbeknownst to everyone else, breaks free from corporate control.
There’s just one problem — it’s still owned by the corporation that made it. So it has to pretend to be its normal, murderous self while secretly watching TV shows and spying on the PreservationAux team that has rented him out to explore an alien planet.
‘Murderbot’ is funny, but it’s a slow burn that’s no laugh riot
In the trailer, you’re sold on a pretty hilarious “Murderbot,” where Skarsgård’s scathing wit is cut with scenes of alien violence.
But after watching the first two episodes, this sci-fi action comedy is as much a slow-building mystery as it is anything else.
Spoilers for ‘Murderbot’ episodes 1-2 beyond this point
Yes, Skarsgård is still funny and the humans are still idiots. Some of the hippies at PreservationAux that Murderbot is trying to protect even hilariously enter into a throuple that seems fairly one-sided and required the signing of a, frankly, official-looking contract.
But most of the first two episodes are a game of cat and mouse between Murderbot and Gurathin (David Dastmalchian). These two are both sides of the same coin. They’re both organic beings with synthetic augmentations. They’re both socially awkward. And they both just want to protect the PreservationAux survey team, albeit for different reasons.
To do that, though, Gurathin thinks he needs to out Murderbot as being defective — which, admittedly, he is. Murderbot, therefore, is trying to do everything he can to stop Gurathin from figuring out what he actually already knows.
But at the end of the second episode, we discover there’s something up with the planet they’re on. And we, the viewer, know that whatever is going on has already killed a team on the other side of the planet, it and its non-malfunctioning SecUnit.
With that launching point, I fully expect the next episodes of “Murderbot” to really gain momentum towards the July 11 finale. You’ll just need a bit of patience getting there.
Malcolm McMillan
Malcolm has been with Tom’s Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He’s not one to shy away from a hot take, including that “John Wick” is one of the four greatest films ever made.
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