compatriots, hedonists & fabulous folk

The Murderbot episodes only being about half an hour each and released weekly really worked for me because it meant I didn't put it off and have it remain on my 'to watch' list infinitely like so many other shows. I actually watched the season finale on the day it was released.

Murderbot S1 (spoilers!)

I really enjoyed the show overall. I came for Alexander Skarsgård and admittedly mostly stayed for Alexander Skarsgård, but the wry humor of Murderbot's narration was really fun, and I loved his delivery and how sympathetic he made the character. And him just wanting to be left alone and watch his soap operas in peace is so relatable! It took me a bit to warm up to the team, but they grew on me (like they grew on Murderbot… so this might or might not actually have been an intentional writers' choice) with their earnest sincerity and their often misplaced optimism. Mensah in particular was very sweet and easy to like, and I was quite fond of Ratthi – bless, he's so hellbent on being 'Seccy's' friend! :D

I'm feeling conflicted about Gurathin because a lot of his attitude and prickliness rubbed me the wrong way, but on the other hand, him downloading Murderbot's memories and storing them in his mind in the finale was touching. I think him gradually overcoming the antagonism and suspicion might have been ship fodder for me if a) I found Gurathin more attractive and b) his change of heart had been given more room to breathe.

The finale was the weakest point of the season for me in many ways. There were many moments in it that I liked, but the shift between the penultimate episode and the finale was too jarring for me. Yes, the time-skip made sense narratively because we got almost everything from Murderbot's POV, and he was not online for whatever happened between the episodes. But he was also not present for some scenes they included in the finale (like the PresAux team negotiates with Corporation Rim for Murderbot's release) so if they broke POV anyway, they might as well have given us the aftermath of the beacon launch and the trip back home.

And I admittedly also disliked the ending. I haven't read the books, so I don't care about following the book storyline, and Murderbot taking off like that was just disappointing, and if they hadn't renewed the show for a second season, that would have been a downer ending. I'm not sure how I feel about a S2 that has less focus on Murderbot's interaction with the team because now that they made me care about these characters, I really want to see more of them.