It’s funny, in a world where the “Andor” finale gave us the recent return of K-2SO, “Star Wars”‘s most invigoratingly droll assault droid, to see another sci-fi show crop up with another similarly cynical murder-bot. But along comes Apple TV+, home of the ambitiously futuristic non-franchise series (“Foundation,” “For All Mankind“), to plop a killer robot in the middle of a quirky world of evil corporations and melodramatic soap-opera “content.” And what’s more, all this killer robot wants to do is what we all, at the end of the day, truly want: To be left alone to watch its shows.
“Murderbot,” based on the acclaimed Martha Wells novel series The Murderbot Diaries, does its level best to translate those books’ acerbic humor to the screen. And to its credit, its first season comes away with some modest success: The tone, courtesy of adapters and showrunners Paul and Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”), is somewhere between Douglas Adams and John Scalzi, envisioning a universe where we’ve solved the problems of interstellar travel but all the bureaucratic foibles and petty competitiveness of humanity follow us into the stars.
None of that registers, however, to Security Unit 238776431 (Alexander Skarsgård), a recently refurbished corporate security robot who, in the opening minutes of the series, jailbreaks into its “governor module,” thus giving it free will over its movements (and the ability to rename itself: “Murderbot” has a nice ring). Just in time, too, because it’s determined that most humans are, well, assholes, and it would rather go its own way.
Too bad it can’t, though, because the Corporation would sniff it out and melt him into acid. So it must begrudgingly play the role of the obedient robot, even as it wishes nothing but death on its human masters. (To kill time, it downloads thousands of hours of content and binge-watches it all; it’s especially fond of a soapy space opera called “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon,” shown here as a green-screen trifle starring John Cho, Clark Gregg, and Jack McBrayer in silly outfits.) Its latest assignment? A group of hippie scientists from outside the Corporate Rim, who reluctantly rent the cheapest bot they can so the Company can ensure their expedition to a remote planet. Guess who gets the gig?
However, as the mission goes on, Murderbot grows strangely fond of its new crew of six: anxious leader Mensah (Noma Dumezweni); exogeologist Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski); nascent throuple Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu), Arada (Tattiawna Jones), and Ratthi (Akshay Khanna); and the augmented Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), whose cybernetic enhancements make him most likely to sniff out Murderbot’s secret. They’re all kinda busy, though, considering that the planet is full of worm-like creatures, ancient technology, and strange gaps in the corporate-supplied maps that feel left out on purpose. All problems that only Murderbot can help them solve, and he’ll do it—with a cybernetic roll of the eye.
“Murderbot” isn’t the kind of comedy series that sets its mission parameters for belly laughs: It’s content to simply plop you into a slightly irreverent world and let you view it through the lens of a robot with big guns and an even bigger chip on its shoulder. Most of the jokes come courtesy of voiceover from Murderbot (which the touchy-feely team calls “SecUnit,” a term they use with increasing endearment the more they grow attached to it); it’s a labored, device, to be sure, but seems the most elegant way to sit us inside Murderbot’s internal monologue, which is where most of the jokes come from anyway. The other gags, which involve gawking at the straight-faced depictions of nonmonogamy, or Whedon-esque stammering from our introverted supporting cast, don’t quite land as much as they should. (The most successful comic standout, really, is from “PEN15″‘s Anna Konkle, who pops up as the sole survivor of a neighboring expedition gone wrong.)
That said, there’s a deceptive sweetness to “Murderbot”‘s tone, amid all the head-exploding creature stuff and the accompanying action that follows when Murderbot and its humans investigate a rapidly unfolding conspiracy on the planet. Tales of androids in science fiction are often stories about learning how to be human, and “Murderbot”‘s charms take a bit more shape in its latter half, when the curious empathy its humans show toward it start to soften its opinions towards them. Skarsgård, for his part, is excellent here, offering up a performance that nails the character’s tightrope-walk between playing along as an unfeeling droid and warming up to its meek, weak charges.
I do wish that was enough, though, and despite the elegant production design and admirable effects, “Murderbot” feels like a sci-fi comedy still searching for identity. This first season is an adaptation of a pretty slim novella, after all, and there’s not much meat on the bones to chew on. But with this inaugural journey out of the way, perhaps Murderbot will find more invigorating adventures, and more interesting humans to roll its eyes at.
Full season screened for review. New episodes stream Fridays on Apple TV+.
