By: Quinn Que
Dr. Ayda Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) is directing the team as they pack for a long aircraft journey. Following multiple monster attacks that nearly claimed hers and Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski)’s lives, troubling inconsistencies they’ve found in their survey data and the discovery of dangerous and legally protected alien remnants, Mensah proposes visiting DeltFall—the other survey team working on a different section of the planet who haven’t responded to routine check-ins for days.
Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) disagrees with this course of action. He thinks they should stay put, maybe send up an emergency beacon and wait for the company to intervene. Mensah counters that the Corporation Rim would love for PreservationAux to fail, it would prove that free planets can’t handle themselves. Besides, if the citation was reversed, she’d want DeltFall or any other survey team to come check on them for help.
Though the decision isn’t technically unanimous, Gurathin is the only one with deep reservations. The rest of the team are excited to go on an adventure, with Arada (Tattiawna Jones) in particular still flying high off the honeymoon vibes of her new throuple, even as Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) struggles to adjust and Ratthi (Akshay Khanna)’s overeagerness begins to grate.
Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård), already disgusted by the human’s romantic foibles, is also concerned that the team is running headfirst into danger. The camera lingers on it standing silently in the corner as Dr. Mensah approaches. She asks it to keep its helmet off during the ride towards DeltFall’s base, as she thinks this will help remind PreservationAux that the SecUnit is part of the team. Its internal monologue bristles at the idea, “Who the hell said I was part of the team?”
While the humans converse in the Hopper, we get another delightful glimpse into Murderbot’s private entertainment consumption. We see it simultaneously monitoring the meeting while streaming an episode of “Strife in the Galaxy.” Murderbot doesn’t enjoy this series as much as “Sanctuary Moon,” but says it’s “still fun.”
Ratthi makes persistent attempts to befriend Murderbot during the journey to DeltFall. Ratthi slinks away and his teammates chide him for bothering the SecUnit.
The beauty of this scene is how it highlights both characters simultaneously—Ratthi’s well-intentioned but boundary-crossing enthusiasm and Murderbot’s deep-seated aversion to human interaction.
While performing a routine check with the security feed, Murderbot notices Bharadwaj having a mild panic attack due to memories of nearly being eaten alive in the first episode. Gurathin comes to comfort her, but inadvertently startles her instead. He has a habit of being very sneaky and quiet, which he says he’s still struggling to break out of.
Gurathin offers Bharadwaj a therapeutic of some sort that may help her. It’s unclear, but the implication is this is generalized medication, akin to oxies or benzos. She politely declines and Gurathin goes upstairs. As Murderbot continues to watch him and notes how creepy he is via internal monologue, we see Gurathin sneak into Mensah’s room.
Murderbot thinks it has found the smoking gun, proof that Gurathin is actually up to no good. It hypothesizes a scenario wherein Gurathin is a corporate spy, all inspired by a plot from episode 418 of “Sanctuary Moon.” Yet the scene slowly reveals that Gurathin is actually, secretly in love with Mensah and unable to express his feelings openly. Murderbot finds the whole thing “truly depressing.”
On the way over Pin-Lee reveals that she’s been tracking satellite outages. Ratthi, still smitten with her, is surprised and impressed. Murderbot mentions that he’s verified her work, but in doing so accidentally reveals that he has access to hidden cameras and data regarding all of the PreservationAux team. Mensah asks it to explain itself.
The team suddenly gets suspicious of Murderbot and wonder if it might be behind the network outages. Mensah tries to resolve this by asking Murderbot if it means any harm. It pauses for a long while, with its internal monologue suggesting that it still has doubts about what happened to its former clients. After a beat, it says its job is to protect them.
Ratthi comments on the pause and Murderbot has no satisfactory rejoinder. The PreservationAux team commits themselves to stay on course towards DeltFall, insisting that they’ve committing to helping a fellow survey team on principle, no matter the danger. They circle up for a group hug, which Ratthi invites Murderbot to join. The SecUnit rebukes the offer.
Later, after most of the team are asleep, Dr. Mensah tries to bond with Murderbot. Dumezweni delivers a nuanced performance as Mensah struggles to maintain her composure as a leader whilst venting about her uncertainties, revealing the toll that leadership responsibility is taking on her. Murderbot becomes increasingly uncomfortable and eventually excuses itself under the pretense of checking supplies.
When the team finally reaches DeltFall’s coordinates, they find the survey base seemingly intact but with no response to communication attempts. The tension builds as they debate how to proceed. “I should scout ahead alone,” Murderbot suggests, in what becomes the episode’s pivotal scene. Mensah makes the call: “SecUnit goes first, maintains constant communication. We’ll wait here.”
What Murderbot doesn’t say—but its internal monologue reveals—is how desperately it wants to be away from the humans and their constant emotions, questions and complications. It is feeling overwhelmed, yet externally maintaining the appearance of dutiful protection and certainty.
The discovery of DeltFall’s fate is unsurprising, but the severity of the carnage is a bit shocking, especially compared to how calm, intact and seemingly well put-together the DeltFall habitat looks from the outside. The camera follows Murderbot’s perspective as it methodically clears each room, eventually revealing the brutal truth: the entire DeltFall team has been murdered, their bodies arranged in what appears to be an attack by their own SecUnits.
“Habitat secure,” it reports, buying time to process the scene independently. “It was better to keep them in the dark. Humans, when threatened, do irrational things,” it thinks to itself. This moment of reflection is shattered when one of the DeltFall SecUnits, previously assumed to be inoperative, launches a surprise attack.
The battle culminates with Murderbot finally disabling the rogue unit by targeting its power core, a maneuver that requires knowledge of SecUnit architecture that only another SecUnit would possess. In the aftermath, as Murderbot examines the defeated SecUnit, Murderbot makes a chilling discovery: “It’s been hacked. Comprehensive override. Someone reprogrammed it to eliminate its own clients and anyone who investigated.”
This realization connects directly back to Murderbot’s own fears about its hacked governor module being discovered, creating an interesting parallel—both units have been hacked, but with dramatically different outcomes.
A shadow falls across Murderbot as it kneels beside the disabled SecUnit. Looking up, it sees another security unit unlike any in its database—sleeker, matte black, and clearly more advanced—standing in the doorway.
The episode cuts to black before the inevitable confrontation can commence.