Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Murderbot season 1, episode 3 & All Systems Red.Murderbotseason 1, episode 3 has already hit a high point with one of its fight scenes, but the moment from the book is even better. Apple TV+‘sMurderbotfalls under a lot of genres. Aspects of the show, likeThe Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moonand Murderbot’s (Alexander Skarsgård) awkwardness, make it a comedy. Other parts, like theevil Company inMurderbot, make it a high-concept science fiction show. On top of both of those, however,Murderbotis also an action series, and episode 3 just proved that it can absolutely dazzle audiences with a good fight scene.
The books thatMurderbotis based on -The Murderbot Diariesby Martha Wells- have more than a bit of action in them. Just as in the show, the first novel,All Systems Red, starts out with Murderbot fighting a massive, multi-toothed monster to protect Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski), and it only gets more violent and gory from there.Murderbotepisode 3 got to the second main fight ofAll Systems Red, and it certainly didn’t disappoint in its brutality and coolness. As awesome as that fight was inMurderbot, however,All Systems Red’s version is somehow still even better.
Murderbot’s Fight Against The Hacked SecUnit Was One Of The Apple TV+ Show’s Best Scenes Yet
Apple TV+ Brilliantly Translated Murderbot’s Technological Capabilities Into TV
At theend ofMurderbotseason 1, episode 3, Murderbot investigated DeltFall Survey’s habitat and realized that the SecUnits there had been hacked before getting into a fight with it.Murderbot’s fight with the hacked SecUnit was easily the best moment inMurderbotseason 1 so far. Everything about it, from the actual mechanics of the fight to the physicality of the SecUnits’ combat choreography, worked tremendously well. While it could have been longer, it was a great display of both Alexander Skarsgård’s action abilities andMurderbot’s potential for even better fights in the future.
The most impressive part of Murderbot’s fight, however, is easily the predictive technology it uses.The way Murderbot predicted the other SecUnit’s every blow reminded me of Guy Ritchie’sSherlock Holmesin the best way possible, and it made an already great fight scene into a truly memorable one. Watching the hologram of the SecUnit play out an entire fight right before watching Murderbot perfectly counter every move was simply awesome. It was a real high point ofMurderbot’s first three episodes, and it makes me very hopeful for the future of the series.
Murderbot’s Fight With The SecUnits Was Even Better In The Books
I Still Wish We Could Have Gotten To See Murderbot Fling Itself Face-First Into Danger
As great asMurderbotepisode 3’s fight scene was, it still wasn’t as good as the same fight in Martha Wells' books. InAll Systems Red, Murderbot comes to the same conclusion that the SecUnits at DeltFall were laying in wait for it, but it decides to do something very different. Murderbot sneaks around, ambushes two of them from behind, and flings itself directly into a hail of energy bolts while returning fire. There’s something really special about the way Murderbot analyzes the situation and fights other SecUnits by jumping into the fray and seeing “whose parts give out first” that the show just doesn’t convey.
Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) also had a much cooler role to play in Murderbot’s fight in the books than she did in the show. After Murderbot realized that the other SecUnits had staged a body and set a trap for it, Mensah subtly picked up on its hints and said, out loud over the comms, for it to return to the hopper.Mensah used her keen situational awareness to give Murderbot the perfect cover for its ambush in the books, but in theMurderbotshow, she’s completely in the dark. Mensah’s not involved in Murderbot’s fight at all, and her quick thinking could have made the moment even better.
The Perimeter
July 11
I really wish we could have seenAll Systems Red’s version of Murderbot’s fight. The visualization of Murderbot getting shot to bits while taking out the other SecUnits could have been done really well with Apple TV+’s budget, and it could have been one of the more visually impressive and visceral moments in the entire show. That being said, I’m still glad to have seen Murderbot’s predictive software, and it added a new element to the character that I didn’t even know I wanted to see.Murderbotmay not be a one-to-one recreation ofAll Systems Red, but it is great in its own right.
