IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!
Today is the premiere of the first two episodes of Murderbot on Apple+.
Which I had to subscribe to again because I was increasingly delighted with every trailer, interview, clip, and still I saw during the promo period.
The first two episodes arrive today, May 16, and then one per week until July 11. I’m really excited about the weekly episodes, because I am not good at Big Gulp Watching where all umpty-twelve episodes are dropped at once. Too much! All at once! I know many people love to deep dive into everything and love a full season, but that is not my preference.
I know so many of you are Murderbot Diaries fans, and are as curious or excited as I am, so I wanted to discuss it with you asap.
I’m going to be watching Friday evening, and will share my own comments then, but I’d love to know what you’ve thought of the first two episodes!
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Happy Murderbot Day everyone!!
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I have some time off coming up next month, so I plan to catch a bunch of these episodes then. In the meantime, excited to hear what people have to say!
I just watched the first 2 episodes and I’m on the fence. There are some things I really like such as seeing the habitat come to life and I loved the scenes from Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. I’m not as sure about Skarsgård as Murderbot. He’s doing some great acting and getting down all that nervous interaction with the humans, but I always pictured Murderbot as bigger. Skarsgard is tall enough but very slender. I won’t go into details but some of the changes to characters also have me scratching my head. But I’m very willing to see where this goes. I did laugh out loud at a few things.
arrgh I’ve been trying all day to log in to Apple TV (on a PC) and it wont do it! I can log into the store so I know Apple knows me, but I cant log into the TV!So frustrating! Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely time with it, and hopefully I can soon also.
I haven’t read the books yet but decided to plunge into the episodes since I had heard good things including from TV critics I trust. And … I had a great time! Alexander Skarsgård Is excellent and perfectly cast. It’s really science fiction which is so fun to watch. I am with you on preferring weekly releases; however, in this case I really wanted to hit play on episode 3. Alas, I have to wait until next week.
I watched the first two episodes with my family last night. Very good. True to the intent of the books and very well cast. I am especially enjoying how the shows Murderbot watches are influencing his behavior. My husband and I both enjoyed the books, and were very happy with how it’s going so far.
Definitely will keep watching. Usually I like to space out shows, but I really wanted to gobble up this whole series.
Have a great weekend!
Thank you, Sarah, for insisting I read Murderbot. The awkward is there, which defines the series, so I’m happy. Mensah well cast. Overall great with my 2x viewings yesterday.
I absolutely love it! It’s got an odd, endearing tone to it which I feel is pretty accurate. And I don’t mind some of the changes/expansions on the book. I was on the fence about Skarsgard until the trailers and now I’m sold. He does such a good job of being awkward and alarmed at socializing. And I am so enjoying the other characters, especially Mensah. It’s a lot of fun to watch so I’ve already watched it twice. Definitely continuing my subscription to Apple TV after my free trial ends, so a win for Apple lol.
Watched with my husband, who has not read the books. We both really enjoyed it. He liked that it was fresh and not the same old stuff. I too kind of wanted Murderbot to be bigger and more intimidating, as in the books, but I love the voice over and the awkwardness. Also really love Mensah. Great casting there.
I had a power outage last night and didn’t get to watch it. Woe! But I shall tonight!
I feel like a lot of the intimidation from the books is actually socially ingrained intimidation. Seeing a suited up SecUnit would be much like seeing someone in any uniform, where depending on circumstance they might represent hope or terror equally easily – not because of the individual inside, but because of the system the uniform represents. The Company is scary, the SecUnit is the tiny part of The Company that people face and can feel immediate feelings about.
But as far as the show, Loving it! The faces are great, not just Skarsgard, but there’s a lot going on with the faces of the Preservation crew too, the actors are absolutely doing great! In both book and show Ratthi is just the most adorable bundle of sincerity and puppy-energy, and I adore him.
And the little moment between Gurathin and Mensah where he’s clearly worried he’s messed up too much, and she knows him well enough to know to pop her head back out “I just have to shower”. He really is a little Murderbot-lite, more human, but augmented where the rest aren’t. Familiar enough with the group to care, but still unsure that the acceptance is going to continue if he isn’t “good enough”.
I was a little nervous when I read that Alexander Skarsgård would be playing Murderbot. I had a different look in mind. But he’s owning the part. His awkwardness is perfectly portrayed. He’s not human and he’s not a robot and he’s trying to not fit in with the humans or care about them. I thought his scene with Gurathin was interesting. I’m fully on board with the series.
I did watch last night, and I really enjoyed it. I haven’t read the books so that might have helped. I have a soft spot for Alexander Skarsgård from True Blood, though it’s strange to hear his natural higher voice. He deepened it for True Blood, but it definitely works for this show.
I saw these reviews from NPR. They sound super promising. But I understand the concerns about this series finding a wider audience.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/16/nx-s1-5393659/murderbot-review-apple-tv
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/nx-s1-5393654/on-tv-this-week-murderbot-joan-rivers-tribute
Sorry that I don’t know how to make the links live!
Delightful all around!!
@Minerva
Thanks for the NPR links. Importantly, the review is written by Glen Weldon who I 100% trust. He’s a science fiction nerd but is no pushover. If something isn’t good, he will say so. His review of the show verifies to me that this is a good show to watch! Presumably, critics have seen more episodes than us.
I am so here for The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon! Really enjoyed first two episodes and my only quibbles are things I knew going in.
I didn’t picture Murderbot looking so male, and I am not happy about it, although the actor is great.
It’s weird that the episodes are so short, to me half an hour says sitcom, and I did definitely laugh at plenty of things but idk it just seems weird having the episodes be so short. The books arent very long themselves though, maybe this was just the best way to adapt it.
Watched the first two eps with the family tonight. I really enjoyed it, although there were things that were different from the book (or at least how I remembered/envisioned them from the book) so it took me a bit to adjust. I also agree with a few other commenters who said Skarsgard was not really how they pictured Murderbot, but I think he’s doing a fantastic job with the role so far. I was a little bummed to see the episodes are only like 21 minutes without the intro theme, but that’s mostly just because I wanted more immediately! Keeping my fingers crossed that they do the books justice.
I am not in love with the depiction of Arada’s marriage and what it says about her character. (Arguably, some of Arada’s command decisions in Network Effect could also be described as selfish and insensitive, but when you bring that down to the most intimate levels, it’s just uglier.)
I am in love with The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and how the show is immediately leveraged by MB. (Though my MB-buddy points out that TRaFoSM is supposed to be a legal soap, not neon!StarTrek, it’s so good I can’t bring myself to care.)
I loved it! No notes, just: can’t wait for next week’s episoe!
I’m charmed by some characters but underwhelmed overall, and struggling to identify why.
I convinced husband to watch with me on a rewatch last night. His favorite part: The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. He keeps coming in to talk about it. today.
Ok, after a power outage stopped me from watching when I wanted, I am caught up. Overall: I really liked it. Both episodes balance the horrors of what is happening on the small- and large-scale with sarcasm and humor. I particularly love Mensah – casting Noma Dumezweni was genius – and Skarsgård was hesitantly awkward while doing massive amounts of acting with minute facial movements. Akshay Khanna (Ratthi) is perfection. Sanctuary Moon made both my older child and my husband start shouting names at the screen in delight. I was happy when I started watching and happy when I finished – and ready for episode 3 and the rest.
What I didn’t like, though I understand, is removing Overse (not Arada as I wrote earlier) and making Pin-Lee Arada’s partner. Pin-Lee is one of my favorite characters in the books because she is fierce and intelligent and doesn’t fuck around, and is a really nuanced human counterpart to Murderbot. Removing Overse makes sense in terms of number of characters, screen time, dialogue, etc, but it also means that Pin-Lee is a very different character. It seems they’ve given Pin-Lee some of Overse’s characteristics. I miss the iciness and law-trained strategic thinking from Pin-Lee, especially since she likes to call Murderbot an asshole. Gurathin seems to have been some of BookPin-Lee’s characteristics.
Like I said, though, I completely understand the reasoning behind some of the changes I noticed, and I trust that the writers, producers, and showrunners know what they’re doing, based on everything else in the first two episodes.
@SB Sarah – a small correction:
AAAAAG I mixed them up – AFTER I double checked. Thanks, brain! LOL And thank you for the correction.
I watched both episodes and I wanted to like them more than I actually did. Still trying to articulate why. Part of it is the tone – the mix of humor and drama isn’t working as well for me as in the books. The humor is too broad and the dramatic parts so far don’t feel earned to me. Like the scene where Murderbot took down its face shield to be comforting. It wasn’t as compelling as I remember it being in the books
I also realized something reading the comments here – I don’t pay any attention to the human characters in the books. Except for Dr Mensa. But I had no idea that they eliminated a character in the show and changed another’s personality. Didn’t notice that At All.
> I watched both episodes and I wanted to like them more than I actually did. … Part of it is the tone – the mix of humor and drama isn’t working as well for me as in the books. The humor is too broad and the dramatic parts so far don’t feel earned to me.
@cleo Yes, this! Murderbot’s narrative voice feels different to me than it does in the book (maybe it’s in line with later books, I don’t know). And the Preservationists are presented in an almost cartoony way that perhaps is meant to read as affectionate ribbing but feels more mocking. Most of the humans in “All Systems Red” are barely distinguishable from each other, but even when MB snarks about them it feels like the book respects them as people (even with foibles) more than the show does. That makes it harder for me to connect and makes me view the writers with some suspicion. It feels like their sympathy is farther toward the Corporation than Well’s is.
Also the voiceover feels off in some way. It’s very…sonically dry and flat? But not in a good way that evokes a robot/cyborg feeling? And there’s a trace of regional accent that feels like it shouldn’t be there.
I just read “All Systems Red” for the first time and liked it but don’t (yet?) feel the passion for MB that others do. Watching the first few episodes right after reading the book unfortunately highlighted the differences. I enjoyed the episodes well enough, and many of the changes are neutral, but noticing them so much distracted me.
Letting us experience some of MB’s shows is a good decision. They’re a little too exaggerated in my opinion, but on the other hand the exaggeration is fun.