Murderbot: About As Good As The Books

Murderbot Adapts The First Book In Obvious Ways

Comparing the first three episodes of Murderbot to All Systems Red is a game of pros and cons. As a “fan” of the book series, I was obviously waiting for certain scenes and anticipating how well someone could play SecUnit, but the actual viewing experience was me going “that was good” followed swiftly by disappointment—and on and on it went.

And it’s because of the medium change. Almost exclusively. You can’t just be inside SecUnit’s snarky mind the whole time, hearing how SecUnit deals with various problems. You have to give the actors stuff to do, and you need to give visuals to what was mostly implied in the book.

This leads to the proper noun avalanche—one of the things I most dislike about books in The Murderbot Diaries—being almost completely handled. I don’t even recall the first book’s characters’ names that well, but I know all the faces in the show Murderbot. I know their personalities. I can track the romantic subplots, interpersonal conflicts, and witness how other characters treat and react to SecUnit. The various groups and politics become way more understandable because even if SecUnit doesn’t care, the camera work does.

But this has one big downside. The show uses all the normal methods of building empathy with characters—but we’re not supposed to think of SecUnit as just a human in a skintight suit. SecUnit’s whole arc is slowly learning to get along with people and care about them, and in this show, I couldn’t help but start to think of SecUnit as a generic bodyguard or military escort who already—despite any protestations—likes these people. A lot of hay is made in the books about how SecUnits don’t quite look like humans, and disguises are sometimes necessary. It’s arguably a commentary on not judging people by how they look. The Murderbot show version just has skin, with no visible mechanisms. Furthermore, the suit and mask designs are super cool, so don’t use every excuse to remove them in scenes just so SecUnit appears more human. The facial acting is great, don’t get me wrong—I cannot imagine how difficult it is to keep that neutral expression—but what makes SecUnit so effective as a guardian is a different, almost psychic-like, way of perceiving and interacting with the world; and this version is basically just a person with a fancy eyepiece and two guns. I didn’t like the technobabble in the books, but this version barely even mentions using drones or the various systems inside or outside SecUnit’s body.  

This Version Of SecUnit Is Way Less Of A Machine

And this isn’t just annoying, it’s why I said “disappointing.” Because they get so much else right enough. The sarcasm. The awkwardness around other people. The obsession with watching various television shows is actually heightened here because we get to see the goofy fun of the media. I would gladly watch a mini-series of Sanctuary Moon. I still got from Murderbot the core appeal: it’s difficult not to like SecUnit.

I do wonder, though, about the autism coding and the asexual coding. Maybe it was always blatantly there in the books—but I didn’t notice it nearly as much. But in Murderbot, it’s constantly mentioned how SecUnit’s main conflict is trying to hide an aspect of SecUnit’s mental state and act how SecUnit is expected to act, which sounds a lot like a (deeply) messy allegory for “masking” to me, though I am not the best informed on the subject. And the conversation about sex machines—as well as SecUnit’s discomfort with anything sexual happening between crewmembers—gives me the vibe that evoking a sex-repulsed asexual was a very intentionally included aspect of the show’s text. And, well…there’s a prickly, problematic issue in media where only nonhuman characters are presented as asexual or autistic, and this show does seem to be falling into that. I can’t say it even puts a spin on the concept. The series has always had a very casual approach to representation—polyamory is seemingly the most common relationship type in this universe and the show expands on that even more—but Murderbot mostly presents SecUnit’s traits for comedy. It never quite read to me as malicious, or intentionally disrespectful, more going for a sitcom way of showing interpersonal conflicts, but it is so often the point of a scene that if it bothers you, it’s going to bother you. Because this show really only has two types of scenes: comedy or action.

Murderbot Episodes Are Mostly Comedic Dialogue

And the action scenes are not frequent and are varied in quality. The CGI in Murderbot never looks spectacular, but also never looks bad. Within the first three episodes, the standout is the quick tussle between SecUnit and another SecUnit. It’s quick and brutal and effective—even if it’s not always moment-to-moment clear which one is the one we’re rooting for. That said, I do wish the creators had leaned just a tad more into how often SecUnits utilize the fact it’s possible to repair a robotic body much easier than a human’s as a combat trick. Our SecUnit usually wins fights with a combo of intel and being hard to totally destroy, and I’ve only seen slight usage of either of those things. They mostly have been just standard action sci-fi fights. Maybe that’ll change as the episodes go forward.

I suppose, as a part of the wrap-up, I should also give a part of this review to anyone who’s not read the books. People who are just intrigued by the premise. And, for you, I would say it’s very bingable. Murderbot is trying to put a short book into a season. It’s one of those rare times where they have arguably not enough material to adapt. So, the show keeps to a breezy, cliffhanger-full plot style. There are mysteries to solve and secrets being kept. I can’t speak for certain—since I know what’s going to happen—but information and exposition both seem given out at a good pace. I think it’s easy to follow. And, if you’re looking for a sci-fi comedy, it’s likely the best new thing streaming. I can’t say if I would recommend the books or the show first to people. They both are fun enough.    

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