‘Murderbot’ Episode 7 Review: Buckle Up, Because the Violence Doesn’t Stop
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Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Murderbot Episode 7.
Things got bloody in last week‘s Murderbot, leaving Murderbot itself (Alexander Skarsgård) bristling with grim satisfaction and its traumatized clients questioning whether the trust and hesitant camaraderie they had (sort of) been building with their Security Unit was misplaced. With three episodes left until the finale, instinct tells me that, subversions of the typical robot-and-human-friendship stories aside, whatever unfolds won’t be cut-and-dry. Episode 7, “Complementary Species,” written by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz and directed by Roseanne Liang, deftly balances character introspection, charged dynamics, and heart-pumping action. Let’s buckle up and dive in.
Episode 7’s cold open rewinds back a month to the Preservation Alliance crew having dinner at Port FreeCommerce before embarking on their survey. They’re playing an adorable yet poignant game where each person shares one sweet memory and one bitter memory about another team member — essentially, a trust and honesty-affirming exercise with party game elements. Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) admits to having an unrequited crush on Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu); the sweet part involves Pin-Lee ditching a concert they were excited about to instead sit in the front row of Bharadwaj’s lecture and offer their nervous friend some moral support. Bharadwaj misinterpreted the gesture and confessed her feelings, hence the bitter pill she had to swallow. Pin-Lee accepts Bharadwaj’s heartfelt, mature apology, and the rest of the table echoes their sentiment.
Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) reluctantly goes next, and his qualms aren’t unwarranted, since he reveals his least favorite secret: he once unwillingly worked as a Corporation Rim spy. Unwilling is the key word, as they manipulated him into addictive substance dependency and withheld it unless he sniffed out information the Rim could use to destroy their “adversaries.” Driven to the brink by shame and despair, Gurathin considered ending his life. Meeting Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), his next target, reminded him “what is possible between people of good will.” After he confessed the truth, Mensah embraced him with open arms and offered him a new home (and a fresh start) with the Alliance. Gurathin claims he doesn’t associate Mensah with any painful memories and slips away from the table, trailed by quiet murmurs of support — and by Mensah. She gently withdraws the bitter option from her friend, which happens to be Gurathin’s concern about their upcoming mission. However, Mensah’s decision to carry out their objective won’t stop him from following her barefoot into hell.
Murderbot Decides To Stay With the Humans (for Now) in Episode 7
Back in the present time, Murderbot tries to hustle everyone out the habitat door before the late Leebeebee’s (Anna Konkle) associates arrive with murder on their minds. No one has had sufficient time to process Leebeebee’s betrayal or Murderbot exploding her head, so they keep shrinking away from it. Likewise, since Murderbot’s swift intervention saved their lives, it feels ongoing resentment about their non-existent gratitude. Still, it doesn’t want them to die, so it drops its face shield and says “please.” That action propels them into the hopper, even though they whisper about their next steps and their concerns about Murderbot, ranging from Gurathin’s unwavering distrust, Arada (Tattiawna Jones) questioning its morality, and Ratthi’s (Akshay Khanna) continued “let’s be buddies” friendship overtures taking another hit. Despite their covert attempts at a private discussion, Murderbot’s sensors hear every word.
Once they land in a forest area, Murderbot stomps outside to scan the perimeter. As it grumbles about their attitudes, the humans debate whether they should leave Murderbot for the Company to retrieve, or if the risks of keeping it around (i.e., it slaughtering them) outweigh the benefits (protecting their defenseless selves from their armed enemies). Mensah opines that she wouldn’t blame SecUnit for abandoning them after a lifetime of abuse and violence. Wandering among the trees, Murderbot ponders the same dilemma. Constructs aren’t neatly split into organic instincts and bot programming; Murderbot’s conflict comes from being “one whole, confused entity.” Dumping its clients and watching media until its battery is depleted is one way to go, but not necessarily the best solution to its confused malaise.
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Mensah asks about Murderbot’s well-being when it returns to the hopper, and it lies without guilt: “Fine.” Ratthi, with Arada and Pin-Lee in tow trying to stop him, races outside and politely demands answers about Murderbot’s intent. With its hacked governor module secret out in the open, Murderbot gets to fire back sarcastic answers — a fun conversational upgrade that gets them nowhere. No one has a plan, and everyone has too much stress-adrenaline. Murderbot finally relents to Mensah’s request to lower its face shield because she wants the others to recognize it for the being she believes it is: someone who wants to help.
Mating Insects and a Murderous SecUnit Interrupt the Crew’s Heart-to-Heart in ‘Murderbot’ Episode 7
Image via Apple TV+- Image via Apple TV+
- Image via Apple TV+
- Image via Apple TV+
- Image via Apple TV+
Image via Apple TV+
Image via Apple TV+
Image via Apple TV+
Image via Apple TV+
Image via Apple TV+Two giant insects choose that precise moment to shoot up from the ground. They recognize one as the species that attacked Bharadwaj in the premiere, while the other is considerably bigger with armored scales and an even nastier mouth apparatus. Murderbot safely ushers everyone into the hopper, but the creatures crawl on top of the vehicle and seem to be fighting — except, as it turns out, they’re mating. Everyone twiddles their fingers — or exudes scientific fascination — while the local animals have a good time. Once the coast is clear, they emerge and discover that the lovers saddled them with a leftover gift: a sac of gooey eggs hanging off the hull.
Another gift, a “top of the line SecUnit” with programming advanced enough to block Murderbot’s threat sensors, literally falls from the sky and drop-kicks Murderbot on its way down. A group fight ensues, wherein Murderbot tries to protect its humans and its humans return the favor, screaming and throwing themselves straight at the SecUnit. (They can have qualms about its behavior, but how dare anyone else lay a hand on their SecUnit!) Their contributions are more unhelpful than helpful, “but as much as it pissed me off,” Murderbot muses, “I kind of appreciated it.” The enemy SecUnit shoots through part of the egg sac and immediately gets its just deserts when the original raging insect appears long enough to decapitate the SecUnit, then retrieve its babies.
As everyone tries to recover from yet another terrifying and gruesome incident, Gurathin – who’s been looking increasingly unsteady this entire episode — collapses to the ground, feverish and unconscious. The PreservationAuxers unanimously agree that he needs the habitat’s medbay, even though Murderbot warns them that going back basically signs all their death warrants. But their decision is made; all that’s left is for Murderbot to decide whether it’s going with them and risking its own skin, or striking out on its own and leaving them to die.
