'Murderbot' review: Paranoid androids are comedy gold

The Star

02-06-2025

If that snarky, cynical fan-favourite K-2SO from Rogue One and Andor had a human face, it could very well belong to Alexander Skarsgard.
One thing, though: this is not exactly the droid you're looking for.
And all his snark is internalised, not spewed.
Also, this isn't anywhere near the Star Wars universe but in a ruthlessly capitalist section of a (presumably) vast galactic realm more directly "descended" from our own society.
Welcome to the universe of Murderbot, the new Apple TV+ sci-fi comedy based on the well-regarded The Murderbot Diaries series of novels by Martha Wells.
This initial season is based on the first instalment All Systems Red, and covers how the titular entity a) gains independent thought; and b) hides it from everyone so he doesn't get melted down for scrap.
Initially designated a SecUnit (short for Security Unit, duh), he hacks his "governor module" (think "restraining bolt" in Star Wars parlance, only built-in) and christens himself Murderbot, not because he wants to be a killing machine – it just sounds cool.
'If that stinking, two-faced ugly bug monster shows its face again, I'll just – er wait, it's behind me, isn't it?'
After finishing his assignment on a mining colony, Sec... Murderbot suddenly finds himself in the "employ" of a motley group of scientists exploring a distant planet.
While he belongs to the Corporate Rim, the above-mentioned ruthlessly capitalist faction, his new hirers are regarded as hippies, forced to take him along for insurance (as in policy, premiums, etc) purposes.
Led by the empathetic Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), this egalitarian (I hesitate to use the "w" word) bunch is initially reluctant to have Murderbot around.
As for our favourite newly-independent entity, let's say he is conflicted, to put it mildly.
Murderbot would like nothing better than to spend his days inactive, bingeing on the thousands of hours of soap operas he has squirrelled away in his memory banks. (Yes, the future has no shortage of those, with some hilarious series-within-a-series cameos that I just refuse to spoil here.)
But duty calls, and it's not easy saving his clueless clients from themselves and the perils of a hostile world where giant sand centipedes with mouths at both ends appear to be the least of their troubles.
The first two sitcom-size episodes (of 10) just dropped last week, and offered some pretty hilarious moments mixed in with alien planet peril.
A lot of the mirth stems from Murderbot's internalised issues as he struggles to mask his contempt for his companions – all of it compounded when they order him to remove his helmet, leaving him quite literally unmasked in an already awkward situation.
Skarsgard handles this aspect of the character's struggles as though he were truly a recently liberated automaton, keeping his frame stock-still while conveying his inner turmoil through his eyes, the tilt of his head, and the near-panic in his internal voice.
At this point, my unfamiliarity with Wells' books made me wonder why his Corporate makers went to all the bother of giving SecUnits organic parts, including a face. So that they could tell by a robot's expressions if it/they/pronoun of choice had hacked their governor module and gained (gasp) emotions?
Whatever the reason, it gives showrunners Paul and Chris Weitz (the American Pie and About A Boy colla-bro-rators) a chance to mine the situation for comedy gold.
Possibly the most well-orchestrated nugget is unearthed in the second episode, Eye Contact, when the group's resident "human computer" Gurathin (the wonderful David Dastmalchian, playing a mentat-of-sorts again?) conducts a weird interrogation/bonding session with Murderbot.
It's a magnetic scene that crackles with the uncertainty of what might happen next, and delivers high hopes for the rest of this adaptation.
New episodes of Murderbot arrive every Friday on Apple TV+.