{"id":10940,"date":"2025-08-02T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/?p=10940"},"modified":"2025-07-30T01:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:42:13","slug":"why-murderbot-misses-the-mark-season-1-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2025\/08\/why-murderbot-misses-the-mark-season-1-review.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Murderbot Misses the Mark: Season 1 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Rating :\u00a0\u2b50\u2b50<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\u2b50\ufe0f<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0Sci-fi
Year<\/strong>: 2025
Running time<\/strong>: 30 minutes per episode
Number of episodes: <\/strong>10
Cast<\/strong>: Alexander Skarsgard, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tamara Podemski, Tattiawna Jones
Kid rating<\/strong>: PG<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having finally finished Season 1 of Apple TV\u2019s Murderbot series, I only have one question: Why was this series not better? I mean, it is based on some wonderful, swashbuckling books – The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells<\/strong> – and this first season is based on the first book of the series All Systems Red<\/strong><\/a>. So they had the material. How then did it manage to be so underwhelming?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t read the books – here is a brief summary (detailed review at my book blog<\/strong><\/a>). Dr. Mensah (Dumezwani) and her team of intrepid scientists (of The Preservation Alliance) are exploring a new world in The Corporation Rim. For liability purposes they are forced into getting a Security robot, but with financial constraints they go for an older model. Enter Murderbot.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course he doesn\u2019t publicize the fact that he calls himself that or that he has surreptitiously disabled his Governor Module – the system software that keeps him obedient and prevents him from killing his clients. So Murderbot (or SecUnit as he is generally known) appears to be controlled by his clients, but he has plenty of free will which he spends downloading episodes of the soap opera The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and watching them as he \u201csecures the perimeter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the wonderful thing about Martha Welles\u2019s books is Murderbot – a dry, sarcastic, inadvertently funny, powerful robot, who wants<\/strong><\/em> to do the right thing. Oh, to be this smart and powerful enough to do what you want, and still want to do the right thing? See our hearts melting.<\/em> Altruism is a powerful drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murderbot is smart and sassy, but human interactions, especially the overtly friendly crew of Preservation Alliance, and their constant need to talk things over, give him the heebie-jeebies. During space jaunts, he\u2019d rather travel in cargo. He doesn\u2019t want to partake of social gatherings or make eye contact. Talking about feelings makes his system efficiency drop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you read the books, you form character images form in your head. I\u2019d imagined Murderbot as a more earthy, stocky creature, not a Nordic model like Skaarsgard, although I must say that Skaarsgard does do well in this role. Out of all the Preservation Alliance crew, Dr Mensah and Gurathin\u2019s characters are the most interesting. Rathee seems kinda annoying, and a tad juvenile. Arada is alright, but I didn’t expect Pin Lee to look the way she looked. Dr. Bharadwaj, to my surprise, is not played by an Indian actor (reminds me of Venkat Kapoor<\/strong><\/a> of The Martian<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew is underwhelming and inconsistent – which wasn\u2019t how I felt about them while reading the book. In the TV interpretation Dr. Mensah is a fearless leader but she is also given to spasms of duh! like when she ** spoiler alert ** expects Murderbot to still recognize the crew after a complete memory wipe. Erm . . . how? Whither logic? Isn\u2019t she a scientist? ** end spoiler alert ** . One minute Mensah could be a cool, calm, composed leader thinking on her feet, the next she could be making dithering, bombastic statements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gurathin has a decent backstory. Rathee, Bharadwaj, Arrada and PinLee were meh. Also suffered from similar spasms of duh. And then they introduced the throuple thing, which didn\u2019t make any sense or help the narrative structure any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1st season had 10, episodes of approximately 30-35 minutes each, which felt too short. Right when they\u2019d sink their teeth into an issue, the episode would end. Each short episode felt similar to the one before, featuring one of the three: a potential problem, a straight-talking SecUnit trying to steer clear of trouble, the dithering crew not able to decide on a firm (and logical) course of action. With the underwhelming supporting cast, the very average background music, this series felt forced. Like they were trying too hard to be funny. A middling show this one, but one to watch for Martha Wells fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first season of Apple TV’s “Murderbot” series, based on Martha Wells’s “The Murderbot Diaries,” struggles to capture the books’ charm. A middling show this one, but one to watch for Martha Wells fans. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[265,259,165,21,11,44,227],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-265","category-appletv","category-book-to-film","category-humor","category-rating-pg","category-sci-fi","category-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1",400,586,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=205%2C300&ssl=1",205,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1",400,586,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1",400,586,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1",400,586,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?fit=400%2C586&ssl=1",400,586,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?resize=400%2C198&ssl=1",400,198,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Murderbot-Series.jpg?resize=272%2C182&ssl=1",272,182,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The first season of Apple TV's \"Murderbot\" series, based on Martha Wells's \"The Murderbot Diaries,\" struggles to capture the books' charm. A middling show this one, but one to watch for Martha Wells fans. Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-2Qs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10940"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10978,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions\/10978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}