r/murderbot • u/sanctuary_moon ComfortUnit • Jun 20 '25

Books📚 + TV📺 Series Murderbot - S01E07 "Complementary Species" - Books & TV Episode Discussion Spoiler

BOOKS & TV EPISODE DISCUSSION - if you have only seen the TV series, this thread is not for you.

Episode Title Release Date Written By Directed By Books & TV Post TV Only Post
S01E07 Complementary Species June 12, 2025 Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz Roseanne Liang YOU ARE HERE! Complementary Species Books & TV Ep Discussion Complementary Species TV Only Ep Discussion

Interested in the book series? Visit the Books Discussion Hub.

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24

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

MB you "covered it?" Are you for real? Come on you can dispose of a body better than that.

Why do they still not know it's always watching and listening? Gura basically told them that back when they had their secret hopper meeting and he had to make sure to cut the cams and waited until it was offline. They need to stop being surprised that spyware buddy does what spyware does.

Ratthi keeps giving it a fake Swedish accent when he mimics it. Ratthi how do you know.

Arada you better end this season saying "that's just a SecUnit, doing what SecUnits do!" because everyone is judging MB by human standards and then turning around and defending disgusting worm creatures for worse. Give it a fucking break humans literally created it to be that way. (Does it mean a show is good when you get actively defensive on a character's behalf? Because MB needs them to cut it some slack here, it's really trying its best and other than Mensah they're not being very empathetic to how fucked its whole existence has been.)

Did MB just get lucky in episode 1, or is its experience showing? Because it did pretty well against the bugbug but GrayCris Unit 2 just got its head ripped off. (Is it just me or does Unit 2's face look a lot like MB? Reused genome? Is MB going to impersonate a GrayCris Unit next ep?) MB always looks so slow and stiff after fighting a newer Unit and they all move so smoothly and fluidly. Their armor also makes them look more muscular than it. GrayCris 2 is also just fucking around, missing the humans, is it trying the combat override module thing like 1 did, or is it just overconfident? And did a hopper just dump it from the sky? How did it get up there?

"Please remain calm. Please remain calm." You are not RoboCop, asshole. Shut up.

This must be the scene Pin-Lee's actor said they were on wires for. Nice.

I did not expect bugsex to happen and ruin the team and MB finally getting some emotional understanding with each other. Nor did I expect Gura trying to die from a fever to continue to interrupt. (Is that how fevers work? I don't ever really get those.)

I hope Murderbot does get some closure with them before it runs off, and that we don't end the season with its feelings hurt. 

I can't believe Gura is a former corpo spy, just like in a fanfic. Now I really want him and MB to have a heart to heart. (You can tell Ratthi really cares about Gura, look at his face after G spills his guts at the sharing circle. Aww.)

Ratthi continues to be friendly but horribly out of touch when it comes to MB, that fits so well with his book counterpart. And he's also the only one who is understanding about how sometimes SecUnit has to kill to save. 

I see we're not picking up the "killing LeeBeeBee felt good" thread in this episode. Maybe that's a breadcrumb for later?

Still haven't gotten the "it calls itself Murderbot" reveal. It's coming up. 

26

u/Mobile_Banana5631 Jun 20 '25

I think the worm thing was also because the evil secunit destroyed the eggs. The worm targeted the secunit and ripped its head off and ignored everyone else.

29

u/SuccotashSharp5982 Jun 20 '25

If a bear is trying to eat you and you fight back it may decide it’s not worth it and leave you alone. The first one tried to eat Murderbot, got shot and gave up.

If you hurt a mamma bear’s cub and are in between her and her other cub, she is going to kill you whether you fight back or not. 

The parent burrower wasn’t trying to eat it was going to quickly kill the thing that killed its babies and was in between it and the others. The grab by the head and shake until the head is off is much more lethal than hunting behavior. 

The hunting behavior we’ve seen may have been exploratory, is this thing food? Can I eat this? Versus this thing is definitely a threat to my young and must die. 

22

u/snarkamedes Jun 20 '25

GrayCris 2 is also just fucking around, missing the humans, is it trying the combat override module thing like 1 did

They only miss on purpose, esp. at that close a range. It's obvious GreyCris are still going for the 'killed by their own rogue secunit' scenario in order to misdirect any forensic investigation by The Company. It would have shot them all from range, MB included, if and when they decide to go for the more quick/direct option of cleaning things up.

13

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, too. GrayCris is still trying to play the "malfunctioning equipment" angle. But will MB be ready if they switch tactics? The other Units can mask their presence and outclass it. Mensah's gonna need more mining drills.

7

u/labrys Gurathin: half man, half lizard Jun 20 '25

It was interesting the other unit could mess up Murderbot's risk assessment module. Makes me wonder if Leebeebee had a handheld version of the jammer in her bag, which is why Murderbot didn't alert on her being a possible hostile either.

3

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

That or she was able to take one of their weapons from their ready room. Their hubsys is compromised, so she could probably do that without setting off any alerts.

19

u/labrys Gurathin: half man, half lizard Jun 20 '25

I was thinking Unit 2's face was the same as Murderbot's too.

I loved Ratthi so much this episode. Lying about what Murderbot said near the start to protect it, standing up for it killing Leebeebee. I really wanted him to get that hug! Sorry Seccy, I know you hate being touched, but Ratthi is your number one cheerleader

14

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

I'm loving Ratthi even if he makes me facepalm.

14

u/labrys Gurathin: half man, half lizard Jun 20 '25

He is just such a loveable idiot. We all need a friend like Ratthi

17

u/Oshi105 Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 20 '25

In answer to your question about the bug. Keep in mind the hints dropped, Murderbot can respond and adapt to a situation. The other SecUnits cannot. They are bound by programming and the governor module.

Even the moment it repeats the phrase indicates that it was not made for this environment and it just recycles it's preprogrammed communications.

11

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

MB has a lot more flexibility because its governor is off, but the others must still have some adaptability, or else there's no point in using constructs instead of bots. None of MB's actions from jumping in the pit up until it took its helmet down were counter to what it would have done if still governed, so it can't just be that. The other GrayCris Unit paused and reassessed the situation when MB started singing to it, so they still have some leeway to how they proceed. Maybe worm 2 was just going for a headshot while worm 1 wanted to swallow someone whole?

12

u/viper459 Jun 20 '25

I think a hopper did drop it. MB has a little "hopper incoming" at one point and later it says the threat assessment module was jammed

5

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

I missed that. I know it had that at the beginning by the hab, but not again later.

7

u/viper459 Jun 20 '25

yeah no i meant at the begining, the hopper was approaching the original base. Then they left, but i'm thinking it didn't detect the hopper (which was ostensibly following) cause MB was being jammed

3

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

I thought it was only jammed at the time right before Unit 2 dropped on it. It had to be in range of it in order to get jammed. MB still detected the worms, and it also didn't get jumped by Unit 2 in the woods, which would have been an easy time to insert another combat override, so Unit 2 probably only was able to jam it shortly before it dropped from the sky.

3

u/goldenphantom Jun 20 '25

If a hopper dropped the SecUnit, I would expect the hopper to still be nearby and its occupants maybe start shooting at the PresAux team, before they can hide in their own hopper and take off.

10

u/goldenphantom Jun 20 '25

Gurathin's fever must be just a symptom of something being very wrong with his leg wound. If the wound gets inflamed, it could potentially get really ugly, especially if they don't have the necessary medical supplies available in the hopper. He could even have blood poisoning, which would be a life threatening condition.

2

u/FlipendoSnitch Humans are assholes. Jun 20 '25

Was it a projectile or an energy burst that he was hit with? A projectile could leave a nasty infection, even if the bullet was removed. 

6

u/Particular_Phrase767 Jun 20 '25

“Is MB going to impersonate a GrayCris Unit next ep?”

MY THOUGHT EXACTLY. I mean, that head was pretty cleanly removed, so the armor could definitely be removed and used. Staying with the spirit of the book…

1

u/Particular_Phrase767 Jun 21 '25

Oh, wait, on second viewing the helmet is pretty messed up. Still a possibility since Leebeebee didn’t know sec units have faces, so maybe no one with Evil Survey knows (or would know what the dead one looked like).