Murderbot – Eye Contact

By: Quinn Que

The episode opens with the PreservationAux team gathered in the hangar for the Hopper, one of their aerial transport vehicles. They’re having an emergency “secret meeting” to determine their next move. Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) presides with calm authority as they assess both Professor Bharadwaj’s medical condition and their compromised security situation. The professor’s injuries have been stabilized and she’s recovering fast, wonders of future tech. But the attack has raised serious questions about the reliability of their survey data.

Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) notes that they can’t trust their geological charts without inspecting the areas directly. Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) thinks they can’t trust their SecUnit (Alexander Skarsgård), again raising pointed concerns about its behavior. “Its response patterns have been repeatedly inconsistent with standard SecUnit protocols,” Gurathin argues. His concerns are somewhat justified, as we know the SecUnit has surreptitiously disabled its governor module and ironically named itself Murderbot.

“It saved Bharadwaj’s life,” Mensah counters firmly. “And Arada’s. Whatever it did worked.” But he’s undeterred. “That’s precisely my point,” Gurathin insists. “SecUnits don’t improvise solutions. They follow programming. Ours isn’t behaving within normal parameters.” As they continue to debate, the hangar door slowly opens. The team is nervous, worrying who could be coming to see them at this late hour.

But it’s just Professor Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski), who’s miraculous recovery was even faster than expected. She excitedly asks, “is this a secret meeting? I love secret meetings!” They embrace and continue the discussion. Gurathin argues that if the team must do recon on the maps, and the SecUnit is still repairing itself anyway, then they might as well leave it behind at the hub habitat. He’ll keep an eye on things there as well. The team agrees.

Meanwhile, alone in its charging cubicle, Murderbot is methodically conducting self-repairs on damage sustained during the creature attack. We got an intimate look at Murderbot’s hybrid nature last episode, and now it’s almost entirely healed. Murderbot wakes up and realizes their clients are going off without him. “Stupid [expletive] humans,” it mutters.

The two scientists decide they need to conduct a comprehensive mapping verification mission to determine what other inaccuracies might exist in their survey data. As Bharadwaj’s condition has stabilized enough for her to do field work again, and she is the resident geochemist, she volunteers to go with Mensah on the mapping expedition.

Murderbot won’t get a simple day off though. Gurathin remains behind, ostensibly to keep an eye on the hub, but actually to monitor the SecUnit while the others are away. Murderbot finds itself in its most uncomfortable situation yet: unavoidable one-on-one interaction with the team member most suspicious of its behavior. Just as Murderbot realizes this was Gurathin’s doing, the augmented human summons the SecUnit.

Dr. Mensah and Bharadwaj fly over the rocky terrain, discussing their distrust in the company they’ve contracted with, their mixed emotions toward Murderbot, and whether Bharadwaj is ready to start working again so soon. As they land the Hopper, they compare their specialties and argue over who should do the field work. Bharadwaj ultimately stays in the aircraft, both to prepare in case of an emergency escape takeoff and to minimize strain after her injuries.

Meanwhile, in another part of the compound, the relations and conversation between Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Arada (Tattiawna Jones), and Pin-Lee take an unexpected turn. What begins as casual banter evolves into something more intimate when Arada broaches the subject of relationship dynamics within their enclosed environment. She suggests bringing in Ratthi and becoming a throuple. Pin-Lee, ever the lawyer, already took the liberty of drafting a tripartite relationship contract, which Arada responds to with glee. Though Pin-Lee’s emotions are more subdued, she smiles to herself and says “I’m happy she’s happy.

Unknown to them, Murderbot observes this entire interaction through the hidden security feeds, which it can access remotely from the habitat. “I don’t need to see this,” its voiceover complains, yet it continues watching with what seems like anthropological curiosity about human mating rituals. Murderbot also seems to see value in keeping an eye on things, at least when it’s not watching “Sanctuary Moon” or being hounded by Gurathin.

Speaking of which, back in the common area of the habitat, the episode’s most tense sequence unfolds as Gurathin attempts to get more acquainted with Murderbot via conversation. Gurathin probes for anomalies while Murderbot deflects and tries to stay within normal programmatic responses.

“The prevalent philosophy in Preservation Alliance is that sentient constructs are people,” Gurathin notes, while using the food fabricator to prepare a lunch. “In the Corporation Rim, you are considered equipment, and you have to do what we say,” Gurathin adds, with a tinge of menace. “Unless it would endanger you, yes,” Murderbot responds in a deliberately flat, mechanical tone—a stark contrast to the sardonic personality we hear in its internal monologue.

The scene builds tension masterfully as Gurathin’s investigation comes dangerously close to discovering Murderbot’s hacked governor module—the modification that gives it autonomy and free will. If exposed, Murderbot knows it would likely be decommissioned, its body destroyed in an acid bath and its memory wiped.

As Gurathin initiates a deeper scan that could reveal these secrets, Murderbot makes a calculated decision. It redirects Gurathin’s access to live security footage showing Arada, Pin-Lee and Ratthi beginning an intimate encounter. Gurathin’s reaction provides the episode’s most unexpected moment of levity, as his normally composed demeanor shatters at the awkward interruption. “That’s…not relevant to the diagnostic,” he mutters, terminating the session and giving Murderbot a much-needed reprieve.

The scene demonstrates Murderbot’s growing understanding of human psychology. Gurathin seems placated for the moment, albeit with the addendum that it wants Murderbot to alert him of any anomalies and try to recover any lost data, like memory fragments from past assignments. As it is about to excuse itself, they get an alert that Dr. Mensah is in danger.

Murderbot receives an alert from the expedition team’s security feeds. Dr. Mensah is on her own, trying to examine an unusual geological formation in a perilous canyon, and her life signs are showing elevated stress patterns. She has discovered something far more concerning than map inaccuracies.

While examining the canyon formation, she notices unusual energy readings emanating from a crevice. As she approaches, the air around her begins to distort visually—rocks, soil, and even atmospheric particles seeming to warp and stretch as if reality itself is unstable. Dumezweni delivers an intense scene as Mensah struggles against wind, unstable terrain, and, unbeknownst to her character, another centipede monster borrowing up nearby.

Just as Mensah is about to be consumed by the phenomenon, she manages to anchor herself to a clifftop formation and pull back. The visual effects in this sequence are particularly striking—matter doesn’t simply move but transforms, suggesting that this is not merely a gravitational anomaly but something that alters the fundamental properties of whatever it touches.

Bharadwaj gets the alert as well and rushes to pick up Mensah with the Hopper. The lead scientist returns to the transport, visibly shaken. The team’s scientific curiosity battles with growing concern as they compile their findings during the return journey to the habitat. Untrustworthy maps, anomalies in their survey area, giant bug monsters, oh my.

Gurathin meets his teammates at the door and addresses them with uncharacteristically high emotion, mainly concern and a bit of guilt. He apologizes for recommending they leave without the SecUnit. A still shook up Dr. Mensah greets Gurathin brusquely, saying she just needs to shower. Her anxiety may again be getting the better of her.

After everyone is safely back home and calmed down, the PreservationAux team do another debrief. “We encountered phenomena that don’t match any known geological or physical processes,” Mensah explains while looking over the 3D renderings of their findings. They consider a range of possibilities before settling on the most likely: alien remnants, ones which would be highly dangerous, capable of warping their data feeds, destroying drones, and so on.

It is illegal to work on sites where such remnants are found, for financial and safety reasons. Some scavengers do flout these laws, Gurathin acknowledges. The team’s subsequent discussion reveals a critical decision point: they need more information, and the logical source would be DeltFall, another research expedition operating elsewhere on the planet.

Following protocol, Dr. Mensah initiates communication. Forebodingly, there is no answer, but in the most chilling moment as we the DeltFall habitat in ruins—structures damaged, equipment scattered, and most disturbingly, the lifeless bodies of multiple humans and SecUnits, all brutally decapitated. This all whilst an emergency alarm from DeltFall’s base blares in the background.

PreservationAux decides it will go to the DeltFall habitat and see what’s going on with the incommunicado second survey team. Murderbot whines to itself sarcastically, “Sure, what could possibly go wrong?”