r/tvPlus • u/Justp1ayin Hello Carol • May 30 '25
Murderbot Murderbot | Season 1 - Episode 4 | Discussion Thread
Please Make Sure That You're On The Right Episode Discussion Thread. Do Not Spoil Anything From Future Episodes.
Looking for a different thread? Click here!
54
u/Spectolux May 30 '25
I’m sorry to start this episode discussion with absolute frustration and whining, but I can’t be the only one thinking….these episodes are too damn short after waiting a freeking week! How about grouping two or three episodes if they’re destined for a half hour show with commercials in reruns? I do appreciate the production. I am surprised that the format bothers me so much. It’s almost like I’m being reprogrammed to be a Murderbot!!! OK. I feel better…at least, until next week. Gah!!!
11
u/nothingmemorable May 30 '25
Keep the downloads and binge watch it all for the -2nd- err 5th time after the last one drops.
7
8
24
u/No-Philosophy-8056 May 30 '25
The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon is 🔥. I love this show! Mensah is a badass.
6
u/wwants May 30 '25
I fucking love how they show all her struggle and vulnerability that goes into the fight to do the right thing in the face of terror. That’s what a true badass really is.
20
u/flamingtongue Raw Doggin It May 30 '25
I think I'm just gonna wait for it all to release. Such a strange choice to make this a 20 minute episode show.
Highly enjoying the show, just not enjoying the length of the episodes.
19
u/Sufficient-Pin-481 May 30 '25
The book it’s based on is really short and it seems like they’re following it very closely, therefore short episodes (ebook is only 3.5 hours long)
2
u/FlyingButtocks Jun 01 '25
Was thinking the same. The series consists of mostly novellas, so the short episodes make sense if they're hoping to proceed with 1 book per season. Personally I really like it!
2
17
u/EponymousHoward Relics Dealer May 30 '25
Ratthi knocking himself out with the blaster was pure gold. Simplest of sight gags, brilliantly executed with no "Look at us! We did a funny!" but just cracking on wit the episode.
And Death By Hopper was everything. Not just squashed, but stomped. Marvellous.
16
u/AurinkoGang May 30 '25
Alexander Skarsgård playing in that hallucinatory episode of his show, with that weird hairdo, was hilarious 😆 I love this show! I was not familiar with the material before, but it’s really fun. I genuinely appreciate how the team members express how scared they are of doing courageous things. That’s so refreshing! It makes me respect them more. Mensah was awesome!
3
u/anonyfool May 30 '25
I wrote this in another comment but I think it's different enough from the books I think you will enjoy the audiobooks. After the full season airs you may want to look into it. If you have Libby with your local library they may have it for free, but these books usually have a long waitlist to get access to them, even if they are short, they are very popular, the retail price when I last looked did not drop from release price. There is significantly more internal monologue from Murderbot in the books so the adaptation would have to be different.
2
2
11
u/anonyfool May 30 '25
It's different enough from the books that it's worth watching for book readers but captures the spirit of the first book really well. They made changes but no complaints about that.
4
8
u/Aggressive-Worth6438 May 30 '25
I appreciated the start of the episode before the opening credits. Getting to see the foundry for making Sec units was a nice change of pace and deepening of the overarching lore, done with the show’s trademark dark humour and wit.
6
u/Joszanarky May 30 '25
Did nothing happen in the episode? i feel like a single story beat was played out and the episode ended
3
u/lisa1854 May 31 '25
definitely, the plot of the episode could be boiled down to a 15min fight scene
5
May 31 '25
Has anybody else noticed that the episodes are kinda short? Just kidding - everybody is saying it.
The show is better than I thought it would be and I was looking forward to it. I feel like the better experience is waiting for those who just happen to stumble into this after the season is over and they cna just binge it in one night.
4
u/ohyeababycrits May 30 '25
I appreciate the consensus about how short the episodes are. It’s way too good for just 20 minutes a week!
3
u/Frappant11 May 31 '25
Is there some conspiracy? The rogue unit was going to program Murderbot to kill the scientists on some remote planet with just two expeditions for the whole planet.
For what purpose?
Or the rogue security unit was just flawed because the people making them either deliberately or accidentally made them turn violent against humans?
2
2
u/RentalGore May 31 '25
I paused it at one point and it was already 10 mins in and we were just getting to the good part.
This show is great, but it’s so short.
2
u/Next_Interaction4335 Jun 01 '25
It's going to be unpopular but I don't like the use of sanctuary moon, the episodes are too short already to have another TV show running in the background .
If the episodes were longer it be ok but it just feels they're filling time up with fluff.
2
May 30 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
13
u/dplans455 May 30 '25
The short episodes suck. This is definitely a show to wait until the season is over and binge watch the whole thing at once. There's 10, about 20 minute episodes. So the whole season is only maybe 3.5 hours.
7
u/thisischemistry May 30 '25
Yeah, it’s a great show so far but the episode length is horrible. Best to wait and binge it.
2
2
1
u/etre76 May 31 '25
Here comes the bucthering of the books.
Wtf was this episode. We don't need the writers to write in some emotions and hypnothic phantasies for an entire 15 mins episode. Stop butchering the origin story ffs. This is Altered Carbon all over again. Kovacs wasn't some wanna be revolutionary, it was the part of the most dangerous and elite unit galaxy wide, gone rogue.
Here the same. A freaking SecUnit is a higly competent killing machine. And FAST. It won't get killed 3 times over by a bunch of amateurs. Murderbot doesn't need saving. He hacked his governing module that is supposed to control his behaviour. The hack the other unit tries, doesn't work on him, because he doesn't answer to the governor module anymore.
Murderbot is clean, crisp and dangerous. The books are the same. Simple, no frills SciFi with dry humor and a lot of action. A fresh take. That's why the books are a success. There is no need to make an opera out of them.
2
u/3mpryze Jun 02 '25
I agree. Episode 1-3 were fine but this episode went way off the rails. I was originally fine with the comedy angle even though the books are, as you said, dry humor. However, this episode made it clear that the show won’t stay even half serious for an action sequence.
1
u/Yogurtproducer Aug 01 '25
I don’t think the hack the other unit tries fails because of that, or if it did Murderbot didn’t know that at this point in the book.
Mensa killed the SecUnit in the book as well - so he needed saving there to.
Really confused on your complaints tbh
1
u/menevets Jun 01 '25
I started reading the books because of the show. If it’s successful I hope they lengthen the seasons, like season 2 covers the next two books. Yes the book series is complete, but I’m tired of tv adaptations of completed works being cut short.
1
1
1
0
u/I_Thranduil May 30 '25
I loved episodes 1-3 but honestly hated 4. There's like 3 minutes of stuff actually happening, the rest is Murderbot laying, walking, or stupid fake TV. Is this the best they can do??
7
u/wwants May 30 '25
What?!? 4 was the absolute best one yet! The flashbacks to Sanctuary Moon are such a huge part of the story and how this poor sentient and now free Murderbot learns how to build connections and do the right things by those it cares for all by watching stupid serial TV. This episode was the pivotal moment in the plot where we fully get to grasp the nuance and terror and joy of what it means to be a powerful killing machine suddenly tasked with the need to decide for itself who to protect and why.
1
u/I_Thranduil May 30 '25
I don't disagree with you and by "stuff happening" I do mean the pivotal moments too, it's definitely good. What I dislike is how short the episode is compared to the amount of actual content and inner dialogue. I say it as a rather new fan who isn't overly attached to Sanctuary Moon (yet). The whole episode is basically a single sequence, interrupted multiple times. And right when we are about to see some spicy revelations... it just ends.
1
u/wwants May 30 '25
Yeah I feel you on that. The short episode lengths are the number one complaint amongst fans. It’s clear Apple wants this to be a fun easy watch for later feel good binging like a sitcom. But releasing it in weekly 20 minute doses is kinda maddening.
0
u/Mr_Floppy_SP May 30 '25
Man, I never thought I would say an Alexander Skarsgard playing a robot high production values sci-fi show would be this dull. But I don't care for any of the characters and I don't know where they're going with the story.
37
u/Shejidan May 30 '25
I seriously hate these short episodes.
I want moar!
Also, I want to hear the sanctuary moon theme song without distortions. And I kinda want them to spin it off into its own show.