Murderbot 1×07 Review: “Complementary Species”

Murderbot’s seventh episode spotlights the emotions of its titular character, the PreservationAux team, and even the alien creatures.

TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses suicide.

The episode opens with a flashback set a month before the PreservationAux team went on their mission. The team are eating at a restaurant together and are playing a game where they say something positive (“sweet”) and negative (“bitter”) about each other. The game is initially awkward but light, with Bharadwaj sharing a story about having unrequited feelings for Pin-Lee.

Gurathin is the only member of the team feeling really uncomfortable during the game. When it’s his turn, he opens up to the team about his past working as a spy for the Corporation Rim, including his experiences with drug addiction and feeling suicidal. Gurathin was supposed to obtain information from Mensah, but her compassion helped him to leave behind the Corporation Rim and his previous life.

The books don’t really provide any backstory for Gurathin, so I found this to be a really interesting scene. Knowing more about his past, the audience has a lot more context for why Gurathin can be standoffish and why he is so distrustful of Murderbot.

The show has really fleshed out, not only Gurathin, but all of the other humans, and I find myself more invested in their characters, compared to in the book of All Systems Red.

Back in the present, the PreservationAux team is preparing to leave their habitat in the hopper before Leebeebee’s employers find them. Although they (with the exception of Gurathin) had started to grow closer to Murderbot, the members of the PreservationAux team are now distrustful and even fearful of it after Murderbot killed Leebeebee in the previous episode.

Murderbot, meanwhile, is frustrated with the humans for not recognizing that it did what it felt it had to do to save them. It is now avoiding the humans by doing perimeter checks.

The negative atmosphere continues on board the hopper, with Murderbot rejecting Ratthi’s attempts at friendliness. “Complementary Species” really highlights Murderbot’s thoughts and feelings about Leebeebee’s death, especially compared to the ending of the previous episode, which I had found a bit too brief.

The team lands the hopper in a faraway forest area. There are differing perspectives amongst the PreservationAux team as to whether they think Murderbot will try to kill them, and they even discuss whether they should just leave it in the clearing and fly away.

No one, including Murderbot, has any real plan, other than to wait for the Company to rescue them. In an unusual scene, Murderbot imagines itself melding into a tree when its battery runs out. I can’t say I was expecting to see that.

After he was shot by Leebeebee in the previous episode, Gurathin has been struggling physically, as well as emotionally. He is using a cane to walk and has a very high temperature. Mensah asks Gurathin if he wants to return to the habitat to use the medbay, but he refuses, believing that it’ll be too dangerous for the team to go back.

There is then a very awkward moment where Gurathin speculates that Mensah has romantic feelings for Murderbot. Mensah is so baffled by his assumption that she doesn’t know what to say!

It doesn’t take long before there’s a confrontation between Murderbot and the team. Murderbot won’t budge on its perspective that it was only doing its best to protect the humans. It does, however, remove its helmet – which the team had asked it to do – after Mensah assures Murderbot that she knows that, all along, it has just been trying to help.

Before things can progress any further, two alien creatures show up. The first is one of the centipede-like creatures that Murderbot and the PreservationAux team have become uncomfortably familiar with, but the other is something different. It’s purple and kind of resembles a squid. The alien designs in the show look really cool!

Murderbot and the humans initially think that the two creatures are fighting each other, only to realize that they are actually mating. There is some debate, but most of the team wants to leave the creatures be.

The creatures end up leaving of their own accord, after laying eggs on the hopper. Once again, the group has different opinions about what to do, but they ultimately decide not to disturb the eggs, which Arada is especially keen to keep safe and study.

Unexpectedly, a more advanced SecUnit shows up out of nowhere and attacks. Murderbot fights the SecUnit, and the PreservationAux team tries to help it. Their attempts are very unsuccessful, but Murderbot appreciates their efforts. It’s sweet to see the progression of the relationship between Murderbot and the humans – despite their earlier conflict, they’re doing their best to assist it and Murderbot in turn is grateful for what the team tries to do.

I am surprised, though, that the show didn’t explicitly draw attention to the fact that whoever is trying to kill the PreservationAux team managed to find them even in the middle of nowhere, because that is a very significant problem for the team and Murderbot.

During the fight, the other SecUnit destroys some of the alien eggs. One of the parent creatures then returns and kills the advanced SecUnit as revenge, before leaving with the other eggs.

The battle is quite short, but I don’t think that hurts the story’s pacing, as this episode was much more about the characters’ emotions and relationships.

Just when it seems like Murderbot and the team are safe, Gurathin’s injury takes its toll and he collapses.

The rest of the PreservationAux team wants to take Gurathin back to the habitat to heal him. Murderbot, however, is against the idea, believing that their enemies will already be there and will kill all of the humans. I like the parallel the show created between Murderbot and Gurathin, as Gurathin said essentially the same thing to Mensah earlier in the episode.

Despite Murderbot’s concerns, the team insists on going back to the habitat, willing to take the risk for Gurathin. Mensah invites Murderbot to join them, but the episode ends before Murderbot makes its choice.

This is the first episode of the show that hasn’t included a scene of ‘Sanctuary Moon’ or another one of Murderbot’s soap operas. I didn’t even notice this absence until the episode was finished, though, because so much happened during “Complementary Species”.

This episode really highlighted the characters’ emotions and differing perspectives, and I imagine this will continue to be important in the remaining three episodes.

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.

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