Murderbot Season 1 Episode 2, “Eye Contact,” offers some terrific scenes with Alexander Skarsgård and David Dastmalchian. They really go toe-to-toe in scenes as tense as they are hilarious. Skarsgård continues to be painfully relatable as our antisocial, sardonic SecUnit through which we view this world. “Eye Contact” is a fun, action-packed episode — surprisingly so for its short 26 minutes.
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Murderbot, “Eye Contact”
We open with Gurathin (Dastmalchian) informing the group that the SecUnit is in stasis. He’s killed all the security cameras in the area, too. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) believes they must travel to one of the blanked-out areas on the maps to figure out what’s going on. Again, why wasn’t the creature that attacked Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) and Arada (Tattiawna Jones) categorized as “hazardous fauna”? Well, Mensah means herself. After all, she’s a terraforming expert. She can take samples and measurements and leave quickly.
Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) asks about taking proper safety measures. Gurathin volunteers to accompany Mensah, citing that he has weapons training. Mensah insists he must remain behind in the habitat for monitoring purposes. Arada suggests that Mensah take Murderbot. Gurathin vehemently opposes this. Ratthi (Akshay Khanna) realizes this is why Gurathin asked them to meet in the hopper — to get away from the SecUnit.
Stupid F*cking Humans
Mensah remarks that the SecUnit seems to be going through something. Gurathin reminds her that those bots are killing and maiming machines. He insists he’ll see to Murderbot’s liquidation personally when they return it to Port FreeCommerce. Bharadwaj boards the hopper, surprising the gang. She’s healed quite miraculously thanks to her time in med bay. Bharadwaj volunteers to accompany Mensah to the survey site.
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Later, Murderbot (Skarsgård) realizes its clients are going exploring without it. “Stupid f*cking humans,” it mutters to itself. True that. We are. Meanwhile, Mensah wonders aloud if this is stupid of them to do without the SecUnit. She also wonders if Bharadwaj should’ve stayed behind. Bharadwaj insists she feels better. She needs to get back out there. Murderbot watches them from stasis.
Then, Gurathin calls our titular bot into the other room. Once it complies, Gurathin asks it to remove its helmet. Perhaps because this somewhat humanizes it. Gurathin orders it to sit. He observes that the SecUnit has an issue with eye contact. Murderbot forces itself to connect with him, as uncomfortable as it is. Listen, eye contact sucks. Hate it.
97 Percent
Gurathin pivots, asking the SecUnit how its system is doing after the attack from that two-mouthed creature. Our titular bot remarks that its efficiency is at 97 percent and rising. Gurathin wonders what it’s like to be a SecUnit. Murderbot reveals that it’s always been a SecUnit — it doesn’t know anything else.
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Bored and unstimulated by the conversation with Gurathin, Murderbot checks in with Pin-Lee and Arada. The couple is too lovey-dovey for Murderbot, though. Gurathin asks the SecUnit if it knows why he advised Mensah not to take it along for the survey trip. “Because I look at you, and I feel something’s wrong,” Gurathin says. Uh-oh.
Later, Mensah and Bharadwaj land the hopper at the survey site. Mensah urges Bharadwaj to stay aboard and keep watch in case they need to escape. Gurathin logged the creature’s sound footprint, so if Bharadwaj hears one coming, she should let Mensah know.
Threesomes and Interrogations
Elsewhere, Pin-Lee admits that almost losing Arada scared the crap out of them. So, if Arada wants to have a threesome with Ratthi, Pin-Lee gives it the stamp of approval. However, it must remain above board. They’ll have him sign a consent form. Meanwhile, Murderbot tries to escape Gurathin, but the latter lures it back in. Did you know that the Preservation Alliance doesn’t have SecUnits? Murderbot tips its figurative hat to Gurathin for his impressive interrogation techniques.
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According to Gurathin, in the PA, they view AIs and constructs as people. He joined the PA six years ago after befriending Mensah. He adds that the Corporation Rim considers it property. It must do everything the PreservationAux team says — unless this endangers them. So, Gurathin orders it to make and maintain eye contact. Ouch. Murderbot slowly turns to face Gurathin. It’s uncomfortable. You can feel it.
Then, Bharadwaj asks Mensah for an update as the latter braves dangerous terrain to the survey site. A drone from the hopper monitors Mensah. No hostiles detected … yet. At the habitat, Gurathin continues to make Murderbot uncomfortable by mentioning that SecUnits aren’t designed to be empathic. Comfort Units, on the other hand, are made for *whispers* sex.
What Planet Are You From?
Gurathin finds it curious that the SecUnit comforted Arada the day before. How would it know to do that? Our eponymous bot responds that it has a combat trauma module for just such a situation.
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Then, we learn that Murderbot learned quite a bit from watching Episode 537 of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, its favorite show. “What planet are you from?” “Do you have children? Tell me their names.” It’s dialogue plucked verbatim from this episode. Also, 537 episodes of a show? If this is the future, I’m in.
Gurathin is a tough nut to crack. He doesn’t fall for Murderbot’s “I must check the perimeter” bit. Worse, Gurathin tries to probe Murderbot’s recent files. So, our SecUnit shows him something different. We see Arada, Pin-Lee and Ratthi sign a consent form before getting it on. Threesome time!
A Ping
Murderbot asks Gurathin if he’s alright after watching his fellow expedition mates start having sex. Then, the SecUnit pivots, reassuring Gurathin that if there were a threat, it would be eliminated. However, their verbal sparring session is (mercifully, for Murderbot) cut short when our bit gets a ping from the hopper’s sensors.
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Mensah continues climbing a steep hill with her supplies during a storm. She contacts Bharadwaj, revealing that something in her equipment is glitching, making her sensors “go crazy.” The SecUnit notes that Mensah is having another panic attack, but she’s too stubborn to turn around. Mensah orders Bharadwaj to send a drone ahead to scan the area. Murderbot contacts Mensah, informing her that it detected a potential threat. It asks her to return to the hopper.
Gurathin chimes in, revealing that the SecUnit is using satellite comms to conduct surveillance. Behind Mensah, we see the creature burst through the surface before diving beneath it again, like a giant sandworm. Mensah hears it growling. Murderbot contacts Bharadwaj, who reveals she’s detecting a vibration identical to the attack the day before.
Map Lacuna
Suddenly, the two-mouthed creature emerges behind Mensah. She cowers before lying flat on the ground. Thankfully, it soars above her, heading toward the center of the map lacuna. It grounds to a halt beside others of its kind. These other creatures are either dead or asleep.
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The drone flies ahead of Mensah, but when it lowers into the atmosphere above the creatures, it explodes. A peculiar — and inexplicable — type of force field seemingly absorbs the drone debris as it scatters. What could make the drone explode like that? Murderbot informs Gurathin that Mensah is returning to the hopper. It asks for permission to patrol the perimeter, which Gurathin grants.
Gurathin encourages Murderbot to recover its missing memories, the ones the Company wiped when it was refurbished. He offers to do it himself. “No,” Murderbot replies. This takes Gurathin aback. “I mean, I’ll try,” the SecUnit adds.
Aliens, Y’all
Next, after Mensah and Bharadwaj return, Gurathin expresses his relief that they’re back and unharmed. Later, the gang reunites to discuss their findings at the survey site — the one the Company didn’t want them to explore. The consensus is that those creatures aren’t connected under the surface. They’re also not alive. So, confirmation that they are, indeed, corpses.
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Gurathin surmises there’s something beneath the surface that drew those creatures in and killed them. The discussion pivots to aliens. Like the ones on TV! Ratthi explains that alien synthetics could have glitched the survey satellites, causing those gaps or blanks in the maps. This could be old alien remnants from millions of years ago that shot their drone out of the sky.
Does this mean they stop surveying? Or is the Company aware of the alien synthetics, marking them as invaluable and preventing anyone else from having a stake? Pin-Lee remarks that it’s illegal to exploit something like this.
DeltFall Is DeltDead
Mensah reveals there’s another survey team on the other side of the planet, DeltFall survey. Should they ping them? Murderbot observes from afar as the gang tries to contact the other team. Mensah introduces herself and urges the team to respond. Unfortunately, the DeltFall team can’t come to the phone right now … or ever. We see they’re all dead in their hopper, including their SecUnit. Mensah assumes their comms are down, so she proposes they check in on the other team in person and bring Murderbot along.
What could possibly go wrong?
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Murderbot drops new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
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