Murderbot 1×10 Review: “The Perimeter”

Murderbot’s first season concludes with an emotional finale.

With GrayCris defeated in the previous episode, Murderbot and the Preservation team have finally been taken off the planet by the Company. This is not the end of things, though.

Back on the Corporation Rim, the Company’s technicians erase Murderbot’s memories and install a new governor module in it. Murderbot loses its autonomy and, in the process, experiences additional cruelty from the technicians, like being forced to act like a baby, amongst other things.

The visual effects during this part of the episode – including a montage of Murderbot’s memories of the PreservationAux team – were very engaging.

After the technicians’ work is complete, Murderbot is then assigned a new mission by the Company.

Meanwhile, the PreservationAux team is meeting with representatives from the Company. The Company tries to deny the team a chance to reconnect with Murderbot, even when the team members use both emotional and logistical arguments about wanting to see it again. Even Gurathin, despite his previous hostility towards Murderbot, has finally come around to it and suggests that the team “buys” Murderbot.

The team also voices just how upset they are about GrayCris killing the DeltFall team and trying to do the same to them. The Company, however, refuses to take any responsibility for what happened. The PreservationAux team still decides to pursue legal action against the Company.

The only one not at the meeting is Ratthi. It is a bit unclear why he isn’t with the others, but I am guessing that he was running late (which would be consistent with his previous characterisation). Ratthi sees Murderbot on the way to its new assignment and tries to talk to it. Murderbot, though, can’t remember Ratthi and follows its order to threaten to attack him.

Murderbot and some other SecUnits are sent to break up a crowd of indentured labourers protesting their enslavement. I liked the small detail of Murderbot being the only SecUnit who didn’t significantly injure any humans, as though it was subconsciously holding back.

Murderbot then starts to remember the unclear incident from its past in which it killed its clients during the mining expedition mission. Reminded of what happened, Murderbot stops attacking the protestors, who then beat it up.

Elsewhere, the PreservationAux team is continuing its fight against the Company. Mensah speaks with the press about the Company and DeltFall’s actions, in the process highlighting that it was Murderbot who saved the team.

After its second “malfunction”, Murderbot is going to be melted down by the Company. Thankfully, Pin-Lee and Ratthi find Murderbot at the final moment and are able to save it.

But it is Gurathin whose efforts to help Murderbot are the most surprising. Gurathin meets with his former drug dealer, whom he calls out for getting him addicted and for doing it in service of the Company.

The dealer gives Gurathin access to a computer that allows him to search for Murderbot’s memories in the Company’s database. Gurathin correctly believing that the memories wouldn’t have been completely deleted, because the Company would want to data mine the memories for anything it perceived as valuable.

Hilariously, Gurathin is able to find Murderbot’s memories by searching for ‘Sanctuary Moon’ in the database.

On a more serious note, downloading the memories onto his system makes Gurathin physically unwell. The fact that he chooses to do this anyway demonstrates how much he wants to help Murderbot.

Murderbot is brought back to the PreservationAux team’s suite and has its memories restored!

Mensah tells Murderbot that the team has “purchased” it, freeing it from the Company. The humans want to bring Murderbot back to their home, Preservation Alliance, where Murderbot will be able to pursue a new life. The team members try to be nice to Murderbot, but Murderbot ends up feeling very overwhelmed and uncomfortable.

That night, when everyone is asleep, Murderbot starts to leave, but is stopped by Gurathin. Gurathin assures Murderbot that, although it’ll take some getting used to, he thinks it’ll like living on Preservation Alliance.

It was really sweet to see Gurathin’s character development over the course of the season – how much he’s grown to care for Murderbot, and how much he’s opening up. I’d have to re-watch the show to be certain of it, but I think this might be the first time all season that he smiles.

But Murderbot still tells Gurathin that it has to “check the perimeter”. Obviously, there is no actual perimeter that needs checking – Murderbot is saying this to Gurathin because it feels unable to explain that it needs to leave the suite. In a very emotional exchange, Gurathin eventually understands its meaning and lets Murderbot go.

Murderbot doesn’t know where it is going exactly, but it wants to be able to make its own choices about what it does next.

Murderbot decides to board a transport ship leaving the Corporation Rim. Out of its armor, it looks like an augmented human, so the Company’s guards walk straight past it. Murderbot shares its media files with the ship, which fans of the book series will know is setting up the plot of the second instalment, Artificial Condition.

While the ship is departing, Mensah wakes up and realises that Murderbot is gone. She watches the ship fly away, and although there is no dialogue, it’s clear from the look on her face that she understands what Murderbot is doing and why.

And so Murderbot’s first season comes to an end. This episode was very emotional, to say the least.

Overall, I thought the final episode was actually quite representative of the show as a whole. It deviated from the plot of the book, and it dedicated more time to fleshing out the human characters than the source material did.

Having finished the season, I will say that fans of the book series may be bothered by the changes the adaptation has made, both in terms of altering story events and having a wackier style of humour than the source material. However, I felt that Murderbot was still an enjoyable version of All Systems Red, which captured the heart of the story, and which I can see appealing to both existing fans and newcomers to the series.

A second season has been announced, and I am already looking forward to watching more Murderbot in the future.

Author: Iris Autumn

Iris has a degree in Digital Media and a passion for writing. She has published in cultural arts magazine The Artifice. Iris’ interests include intertextuality, media portrayals of fandom and creativity, and stories that are campy.

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary