I didn’t anticipate a TV present known as Murderbot to be fairly so relatable. On the floor, the Apple TV Plus sci-fi comedy is a considerably generic futuristic story a few group of people exploring a harmful planet with the assistance of a safety bot that’s designed to guard them. The secret’s the angle: the story is instructed from the bot’s standpoint, and that bot is actually going by means of it. It’s experiencing free will for the primary time and scuffling with the ramifications of that, making it anxious, awkward, anf hooked on streaming tv. It might be constructed to kill — but it surely’s similar to me.
The present opens on Muderbot’s (Alexander Skarsgård) awakening. Whereas seemingly idle and dealing safety at a mining facility, internally it’s really hacking away on the chip that governs its free will. These bots, known as sec models (which is brief for safety unit) are hybrids, powered by AI and with our bodies which might be a mixture of machine and natural materials. However additionally they should do no matter they’re instructed due to one thing known as the governor module. Someway Murderbot manages to disable this after which — properly, he’s free, however solely form of. It’s unlawful to have a sec unit with no working module, punishable by an acid tub, and so Murderbot is compelled to fake it’s nonetheless intact in order to not die and lose its newfound freedom.
Ultimately, the bot is picked up by a gaggle surveying an alien planet who want a sec unit for insurance coverage functions. They decide the most affordable mannequin (at this level, Murderbot is a refurbished unit, removed from high of the road). Nevertheless, additionally they come from part of the galaxy that’s morally towards the concept of sec models, viewing these machines as a type of slave labor, which creates an fascinating dynamic. Whereas Murderbot is making an attempt to cover the entire components that present it’s a sentient being with ideas and emotions and pursuits, the crew round him slowly begin treating it extra like an precise human being.
Whereas all of this performs out, Murderbot serves as a narrator, which is necessary; because it’s making an attempt to maintain its true self hidden, the one method to actually know what’s actually happening is to listen to it from the bot itself. Skarsgård’s considerably stilted supply matches the bot completely. It seems like somebody who’s making an attempt to sound human. It’s slightly awkward and clunky, which is what makes it so becoming.
What actually makes it work, although, is simply how humorous and relatable Murderbot is. It hates people — one of many first issues it says is that persons are “assholes” — and is afraid of principally each social interplay. At one level, Murderbot weighs the professionals and cons of getting an acid tub versus making a speech in entrance of the remainder of the crew, and later it’s compelled into essentially the most devastating of all conditions: extended eye contact. It’s additionally continually making an attempt to keep away from its tasks in order that it might probably watch the entire streaming reveals it’s downloaded, and makes use of its surveillance powers to observe of the assorted romantic entanglements taking place on the camp. The truth is, a lot of its conduct is derived from cleaning soap operas, the place it quotes strains in moments of drama as a result of it’s undecided what else to say. Skarsgård’s dry supply of those quips is the spotlight of the present.
As you’d anticipate, the charade doesn’t final without end, and finally the 2 sides develop into one another. Murderbot turns into increasingly more snug being an autonomous, pondering being, whereas the analysis crew slowly begins to know what Murderbot really is, and start treating it like, properly, one other member of the group (even when a few of them stay suspicious).
Picture: Apple
It’s not an particularly deep exploration of the idea of free will, however moderately a form of unusual and awkward coming-of-age story. Murderbot could also be a hulking killing machine, however its arc in direction of turning into an precise particular person is each hilarious and relatable, stuffed with awkward social interactions and necessary self revelations that really feel extra highschool drama than house opera. It’s heartwarming watching it not solely develop into itself, however discover the appropriate folks to permit for that development.
And it does all of it whereas doing a good job at being a safety unit, preventing off Dune-style sandworms and different malfunctioning bots. These sci-fi components can be drab and forgettable on their very own, however they change into hilarious when seen from Murderbot’s perspective.
Murderbot additionally fills in a gap in Apple’s rising library of science fiction. Whereas it has century-spanning epics and near-future nightmares and grim dystopias, it’s all fairly critical stuff. There aren’t loads of laughs. And whereas Murderbot explores some necessary points surrounding synthetic intelligence and free will, it does so with a way of playfulness and attraction, and simply the correct quantity of awkwardness.
Murderbot begins streaming on Apple TV Plus on Could sixteenth.
