Murderbot – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

16-05-2025

Free Commerce
Episode 1 of Murderbot begins at the Mining Station Aratake, in Corporation Rim. A whole bunch of miners celebrate finishing their job, but they're overseen by a security unit android, or SecUnit for short! Its spent the past six months protecting them all from danger.
This android has been built to obey humans but also has disdain for humanity, who continue to act like an asshole with him. He has a built-in safety feature called the Government Module, which prevents this sentient bot from harming humans. Well, not anymore though as this particular bot has been working tirelessly to hack the code for the Module and is finally freed from the oppressive shackles supressing his instincts. Thus, the Murderbot is born.
Interestingly, Murderbot doesn't leave the Company. It continues to work for this corporation, deciding to bide his time before striking given the threat of a nasty acid bath. He's cynical about his job though, especially when he's sent out to help the Preservation Alliance, who are a bunch of hippies from outside the Corporation Rim.
However, they're enticed into the company and given a SecUnit (the Murderbot) to oversee their current mining operation. So who are these guys? Well, there's the biologist Arada, married to a lawyer called Pin-lee. However, Arada has a thing for Ratthi, who happens to be an expert on wormhole travel. To complicate matters further, Ratthi has a thing for Pin-lee, confirming that this is just one big, messy, love triangle.
Mensah is the head of expedition though and an expert in terraforming. She has 7 kids while Gurathin is an augmented human working alongside them all, able to interface with data programs but he doesn't have the same processing power as the Murderbot. Finally, there's Professor Bharardwaj, a geochemist who's hoarding soap in her room for some reason.
The Murderbot has managed to hack into the entertainment channels and decides to watch a good deal of content, until a threat presents itself in the form of a giant sand worm that pops up from underground during one of the initial mining operations. The robot gets to work and makes short work of the creatures, before bringing Arada and the Professor back to base. Arada is in shock though, so the Murderbot shows off its face, breaks its own strict protocols and decides to be more empathetic.
This has big ramifications, because back at base the group review Arada's footage of the Bot acting out of character and believe it's malfunctioning. It's acting outside its protocols and are worried that it could turn on them all. For now, they decide not to call this in to the Corporation and launch the beacon to pick up the SecUnit. The stakes are too high, it'll take too long for the rescue ships to arrive and to be honest, they need the security.
After patching itself up, the Murderbot is encouraged to join the humans in the common room but wearing a crew outfit like one of the group. Mensah thanks it for its work and Murderbot is uncomfortably forced into giving a speech. It struggles to get its words out and things are rather awkward for a while. However, it does become clear that the survey maps that the Company have given the Alliance may have been hacked. It doesn't show any signs of tampering but some areas are greyed out as if there's interference or a problem while syncing.
In the midst of this, Murderbot is troubled by seven seconds of his past which seem to include a lot of bloodshed. Furthermore, we also see a lot of shots from Bot's cheesy sci-fi shows its been watching, which include a romance between a Bot and the ship's commander. Is this foreshadowing? Well, it probably is because Mensah shows up and speaks to Murderbot, asking if its okay.
The Episode Review
So the first episode of Murderbot introduces us to our titular character, the general world and the rabble of characters we'll be following across the 10 episode series. For the most part, it does well to hone into Murderbot's inner-voice and the cynicism its graced with. You can understand why the Bots would go crazy and hit back after getting rid of the Government Module but it would appear that this Bot is going to start softening and getting acquainted with this friendly group.
This works well to give the show a slightly comedic edge, and it would appear that the Preservation Alliance may have been subjected to the Company intentionally sabotaging their efforts but we'll have to wait and see if that bears any fruits.
The show is shaping up to be a promising watch though, leaving the door wide open for where this may go next.
Next Episode
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!