‘Murderbot’ Episode 5 Review

Episode five of AppleTV+’s sci-fi comedy ‘Murderbot’ brings us to the halfway point of the show, and is something of a change in direction.

After the Murderbot shot himself in the previous episode to prevent himself being taken over, he’s taken back to the base and fixed up. During the process, Gurathin finds out the big secret that he’s been hiding.

I’ve not been the biggest fan of this show so far, and while I wouldn’t exactly say that I liked this episode more, I certainly disliked it less. It was a bit better than the previous four and there are a few reasons for that.

Really the show hasn’t moved on very far despite the fact that we’ve now reached the halfway point. I think this is partly to do with the runtime, which is very short for a streaming show. When you add together all five episodes, it comes to barely two hours. Cutting it into a six-part series would have been much better. As it is, there are either entire episodes that achieve nothing, or just as you’re beginning to get into the story, the credits roll.

But even so, this episode was a bit better paced, with less time spent on pointless, cringey attempts at humor that go on for far too long. We get a change in the story, too, as everyone finally realises that the SecUnit has broken his programing, and doesn’t have to actually do anything they say. It creates a nice shift, as now they know he’s been helping them, and has saved their lived multiple times, simply because it’s the right thing to do. It also allows for some more “natural” conversations, as Murderbot doesn’t need to hide his true thoughts, and can actually speak his mind out loud, which gives some opportunities for some funny lines.

There’s also the introduction of a new character Leebeebee, a member of the other survey team who apparently survived the attack on the base when their SecUnits went rogue. I don’t think she’s telling the truth though, or at least not the whole truth. It seems like she’s keeping something back about why she was on the planet. After all, why would such an advanced base, with so much expensive technology, need someone to do the laundry? It’s just not adding up.

Guess there will be more revealed here, as we still don’t know who’s been sabotaging the mission, and we end with another quick cut, as the emergency beacon, which would have summoned help to get them off the planet, is destroyed, and the hopper spins out of control.

All in all, then, a bit of an improvement from the previous four episodes, though there’s still the same number remaining to get through, and I’m not entirely sure what direction the show will go in, but hopefully it keeps improving in this way.