Murderbot review: Apple TV+'s sci-fi series delivers thrills and comedy
Alexander Skarsgard (left) is a cyborg guard and David Dastmalchian a scientist in Murderbot, showing on Apple TV+. PHOTO: APPLE TV+
Murderbot (M18)
Apple TV+
★★★★☆
Poor Murderbot. The titular cyborg guard has secretly hacked his obedience circuits and become a sentient being with free will. But he does not long to escape slavery, nor does he want to become human. All he wants is to be left alone to watch soap operas.
His human masters are a group of scientists with the survival instincts of infants, who muddle around a planet filled with elephant-size centipedes and other dangers, forcing him to rescue them over and over.
That is the premise of American novelist Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries books (2017 to 2023), which the Apple TV+ streaming series Murderbot has maintained.
The Weitz brothers, Chris and Paul, are the show's creators. They bring the same laid-back drama-comedy energy seen in their 2002 movie adaptation of Nick Hornby's 1998 novel About A Boy.
Murderbot's first season, which premiered on May 16, is a faithful adaptation of All Systems Red, the 2017 novella that launched the book series.
Here are three reasons to binge the science-fiction action comedy.
Accurate, funny satire
The narrator in both the book and the show is a security unit, or SecUnit for short, who calls himself 'Murderbot'. Played by Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard, the unit observes quietly but judges harshly. To his eyes, his human masters are emotionally weak, needy bags of meat.
The series is grounded in a workplace sitcom set-up – the grumpy nerd main character forced to get along with a bunch of kooky colleagues.
The story milks that premise by making the scientists goofy Silicon Valley stereotypes – giddy optimists who discuss their feelings too much for Murderbot's liking.
The misanthropic robot secretly calls them 'hippies' because he is frustrated by their touchy-feely work style and preoccupation with gender-fluid, polyamorous relationships. Decisions take forever because consensus must be present. That – and the group hugs and singalongs – makes him roll his mechanical eyes.
Murderbot himself is a parody of masculinity. He hates emotions in real life but, like many men, is addicted to melodramatic entertainment that makes for hilarious show-within-a-show interludes.
Noma Dumezweni in Murderbot.
PHOTO: APPLE TV+
Strong performances and set design
Apple TV+ has built up a storehouse of quality fantasy and science-fiction content, from Silo (2023 to present) to Severance (2022 to present) to Foundation (2021 to present). These shows, and Murderbot, look good – money has been spent on sets, props, locations and digital effects.
Casting is also strong. Skarsgard is surrounded by solid actors, including John Cho, who plays the pompous starship captain in Murderbot's favourite soap opera, Sanctuary Moon. David Dastmalchian as a scientist who suspects that Murderbot has free will and Noma Dumezweni as the team leader provide credible supporting performances.
No mystery, no problem
Too often, science-fiction shows are propelled by a Big Mystery or Big Twist. What lies outside the silos in Silo? Why does the employer in Severance require employees' brains to be compartmentalised?
That form of storytelling often leads to disappointment – the final unveiling must feel momentous yet inevitable – and many fail to hit the mark.
Murderbot ditches sci-fi mysteries in favour of workplace drama-comedy tinged with corporate espionage and spiced up with the thrill of occasional attacks by house-size insects.
It is a low-stakes, often rambling affair that relies on the ensemble of characters bickering good-naturedly – when they are not busy trying to bed each other or fighting giant bugs.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Theatre review: Singapore, Michigan a confident debut about adulting and privilege
Singapore, Michigan cast (from left) Zane Haney, Shrey Bhargava and Ching Shu Yi give real depth to their trio of characters on a road trip in search of the titular American town. PHOTO: PANGDEMONIUM Singapore, Michigan Pangdemonium Lasalle College of the Arts – Singapore Airlines Theatre June 28, 8pm A Singaporean couple and their American classmate drive through a Michigan winter in pursuit of a silly quirk of history – an American ghost town called, perplexingly, Singapore. Over a blustery weekend, the trio realise that the rest of their lives will not so much be a frivolous jaunt, but a series of calculated choices. Playwright Ong Chong An's first professional script is an elegant snow globe of a road trip story. It is a finely crafted drama of young adulthood, as the trio, encased in a dingy motel, trade ghost stories, bad takeaway Chinese food and secrets. Ong's talky script draws out the heightened emotional state that young adults on the cusp of graduation often feel, when every decision appears life-altering. Carol's (Ching Shu Yi) parents own an oil corporation but she wants to work for a non-profit, which annoys her pragmatic boyfriend Manish (Shrey Bhargava), who is tied to a hefty scholarship bond. Jesse (Zane Haney), an English major who comes from money, sides with Carol, but antagonises Manish, who in turn rubs Jesse the wrong way when he calls America a Third World country. Like three volatile elements dropped into a confined space, the trio's biographies and traits play off one another well. Class, gender, nationality and race come to inflect a slow-burn argument about responsibility and desire, choice and circumstance. Under Timothy Koh's direction, the three characters are furnished with a complexity that allows them to be a goofy trio when together, then markedly different in their respective pairs when one steps out into the snow for air or, well, better Wi-Fi. The actors give each of their not-quite-adult characters real depth – Janus-faced Jesse, micro-managing Manish and Carol, adrift between two worlds. Fortunately, the destination of Singapore, Michigan, is kept to a lean five-minute exposition early on – so the ghost town does not become too overt an allegory for the play's themes. That restraint allows Singapore, Michigan, to be the blank canvas on which the characters project their disappointments and hopes. Set designer Eucien Chia's set is as lovely to marvel at as a beautiful winter diorama. The drivable open-topped car prop is the mesmerising centrepiece of the opening winter drive scene and the alabaster forest landscape subtly suggested through what looks like a hand-painted curtain background. In the motel, a brilliant white blizzard at the window is rendered convincingly by light designer James Tan. It is a well-paced story until the play's final act, which is bogged down by an inelegant excess of plot twists and abrupt revelations that try to tie up its complex threads too tightly. Its final act builds up too quickly and risks melodrama in an otherwise assuredly realistic direction. Although equatorial heat is endemic to Singapore arts, winter has not been completely absent, and Ong's 'Singaporean students abroad' play has echoes of writer Carissa Foo's university road trip novel What We Learned From Driving In Winter (2022). It joins the likes of film-maker Anthony Chen's The Breaking Ice (2023) and writer Daryl Qilin Yam's Shantih Shantih Shantih (2021) in Singaporean depictions of winter. More than a coming-of-age story, the play is also about growing up with the burden and allure of privilege, comfort and templates. Writ large, it interrogates a Singaporean brand of exceptionalism – heightened perhaps when one is young and abroad, beneficiary of an imperfect system, and certainly played up in the age of a more insular America. Singapore, Michigan is a confident debut with substantial complexity. The snow falls differently each time you give the globe a little shake. Book It/Singapore, Michigan Where: Lasalle College of the Arts – Singapore Airlines Theatre, 1 McNally Street When: Till July 11; Tuesdays to Fridays, 8pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 3 and 8pm Admission: From $35 Info: Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' lawyer says prosecutors trying to criminalise his ‘private sex life'
Sean "Diddy" Combs listens as his lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes his closing arguments during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, on June 27, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. PHOTO: REUTERS Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyer says prosecutors trying to criminalise his 'private sex life' Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defense lawyer urged a jury on June 27 to find the former hip-hop mogul not guilty in his sex trafficking trial, saying prosecutors are trying to criminalise his unusual sexual preferences. The lawyer, Mr Marc Agnifilo, said during his closing argument in Manhattan federal court that over the past two months prosecutors had presented a 'fake trial' to use Combs' sexual proclivities as evidence of a criminal conspiracy centered on his businesses. 'They take the baby oil and the Astroglide and make it the evidence in this case, because there's nothing wrong with his businesses,' Mr Agnifilo said, adding that the 'crime scene' in the case was Combs' 'private sex life'. Combs, a former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and two counts each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted on all counts, the Bad Boy Records founder faces a minimum 15-year prison term and could be sentenced to life behind bars. Mr Agnifilo peppered his closing argument with sarcastic questions, including asking how the women who testified against Combs could have been sex trafficked if they agreed to fulfill Combs' sexual fantasies partly out of love for him. 'If we're at Freak Off number 75, and 75 of them have been consensual, what would have to happen at Freak Off 76 to say, now it's sex trafficking?' Mr Agnifilo said, referring to Combs' ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura and using Combs' term for drug-fueled sexual performances with male escorts. During her rebuttal on June 27 , prosecutor Maureen Comey told jurors that Agnifilo repeatedly tried to blame prosecutors and Combs' victims for his grave legal jeopardy, rather than Combs himself. 'He's tossing up excuse after excuse for inexcusable criminal behavior, trying to explain away the devastating evidence,' Ms Comey said. 'Make no mistake: this trial is about how in Sean Combs' world, 'no' was never an option,' Ms Comey added. Over more than six weeks of testimony in Manhattan federal court, jurors heard two of Combs' former girlfriends testify that they took part in days-long, drug-fueled sex parties sometimes called 'Freak Offs' with male sex workers while Combs watched, masturbated, and occasionally filmed. Combs did not testify. The jury saw hotel surveillance footage of Combs beating one of the women in a hallway, and heard Combs' employees describe setting up hotel rooms and buying drugs for the performances. Jurors are expected to start deliberations either late on June 27 or June 30 . To convict Combs, they must vote unanimously. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Travel with a purpose: Foodie traveller turns to voluntourism for more meaningful experiences
Ms Eileen Soh (in the middle, dressed in red) with wedding guests in May 2023 in the city of Sungai Penuh, Jambi province, in Indonesia. PHOTO: COURTESY OF EILEEN SOH SINGAPORE – Ms Eileen Soh, 35, used to seek foodie experiences abroad. In Mexico, she zoomed in on street stall tacos raved about by American YouTuber Mark Wiens. She has tried jellied eel in the United Kingdom, which she describes as being 'like agar agar but with a fishy smell'. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
