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Murderbot 1x09
This show is such a freakin' delight.
I need gifs of that scene with the severed head.
Murderbot: There was only one who was suspicious of me. His name was Gurathin. So I did this to him.
*pulls out severed head*
Gurathin, listening on comms: What the fuck.
Anyway, that was simply great. Bickering, bravery, resourcefulness, teamwork! And of course, Murderbot and Gurathin being absolute little shits to each other. I am intrigued that the general vibe seems to have morphed from murderous distrust into simply being assholes to each other as gratuitously as possible.
MB: I noticed you have an issue with eye contact. *stares*
Gurathin: *the human embodiment of the 😑 emoji*
IT'S LEARNING TO TRASH TALK. It's somehow deeply charming to me that MB is objectively very bad at trash talk - in the sense that anyone else uses it - except it's very, very good at picking exactly the right thing to annoy Gurathin. And it's not quoting anything - well, except Gurathin himself. MB has figured out how to annoy him and it isn't afraid of being punished if it does (or maybe just figures it has nothing to lose). The annoyance is genuine, but there's also some deeply weird trust there.
It's also really interesting to me that Gurathin can read MB better than anyone else can. He can tell when it's lying. And Mensah trusts him on that.
The Mensah-MB tug of war on how to resolve the situation was full of sharp edges. I loved it. "There must be another way." But sometimes there's not. And she recognizes that.
Pin-Lee called it Murderbot! I also think it's really interesting who the group chose to send along on the mission vs who stayed behind at the PresAux habitat. Murderbot and Gurathin had to be there for their special abilities, Mensah clearly made the executive decision not to send her people into danger without her, but Gurathin's team needed someone else, and Pin-Lee is a logical choice - I think it's clear that someone (Mensah, probably) looked at the available options and was like "Yeah, those ones are staying behind."
For about 0.01 seconds I thought Mensah was sending Murderbot and Gurathin on a mission together, which would've been a prescription for murder, but Gurathin and Pin-Lee make a lot more sense. And they were a lovely team. Gurathin on why PL can't go alone to the habitat: "Do you have a plug in *your* head?" Pin-Lee braining the guy with the wrench! (I really liked the little bit of unexpected realism that Pin-Lee didn't mean to kill him, but hitting someone in the head with a wrench is in fact likely to be lethal whether it's meant to be or not.) And PL trying to reassure Gurathin about Mensah, and Gurathin letting them - lovely callback to their conversation at the start of the episode. I think one thing that gets to me there is that he knows that he could have killed Mensah (himself, directly and personally) and he doesn't know until a bit later if he did or not, but he sent the beacon anyway, because getting the beacon off was more important for the group as a whole. That duty-over-sentiment thing gets me every time.
[Edit: corrected PL's pronouns in the above paragraph.]
The doublecrosses inside of doublecrosses were also really excellent. We know that MB isn't going to betray them, but it was a lovely twisty time of not being sure what they knew vs what it had planned vs what it kept to itself.
MB's devastatingly terrible attempt to stall. I love that the one baddie caught on that he was using Sanctuary Moon dialogue, lol.
Mensah getting the cool flared-coat walk down the ramp of the hopper!
And MB sacrificing itself for her. 😠CLIFFHANGER!
Also, HUGS.
Only one more episode, and I can't wait!
I need gifs of that scene with the severed head.
Murderbot: There was only one who was suspicious of me. His name was Gurathin. So I did this to him.
*pulls out severed head*
Gurathin, listening on comms: What the fuck.
Anyway, that was simply great. Bickering, bravery, resourcefulness, teamwork! And of course, Murderbot and Gurathin being absolute little shits to each other. I am intrigued that the general vibe seems to have morphed from murderous distrust into simply being assholes to each other as gratuitously as possible.
MB: I noticed you have an issue with eye contact. *stares*
Gurathin: *the human embodiment of the 😑 emoji*
IT'S LEARNING TO TRASH TALK. It's somehow deeply charming to me that MB is objectively very bad at trash talk - in the sense that anyone else uses it - except it's very, very good at picking exactly the right thing to annoy Gurathin. And it's not quoting anything - well, except Gurathin himself. MB has figured out how to annoy him and it isn't afraid of being punished if it does (or maybe just figures it has nothing to lose). The annoyance is genuine, but there's also some deeply weird trust there.
It's also really interesting to me that Gurathin can read MB better than anyone else can. He can tell when it's lying. And Mensah trusts him on that.
The Mensah-MB tug of war on how to resolve the situation was full of sharp edges. I loved it. "There must be another way." But sometimes there's not. And she recognizes that.
Pin-Lee called it Murderbot! I also think it's really interesting who the group chose to send along on the mission vs who stayed behind at the PresAux habitat. Murderbot and Gurathin had to be there for their special abilities, Mensah clearly made the executive decision not to send her people into danger without her, but Gurathin's team needed someone else, and Pin-Lee is a logical choice - I think it's clear that someone (Mensah, probably) looked at the available options and was like "Yeah, those ones are staying behind."
For about 0.01 seconds I thought Mensah was sending Murderbot and Gurathin on a mission together, which would've been a prescription for murder, but Gurathin and Pin-Lee make a lot more sense. And they were a lovely team. Gurathin on why PL can't go alone to the habitat: "Do you have a plug in *your* head?" Pin-Lee braining the guy with the wrench! (I really liked the little bit of unexpected realism that Pin-Lee didn't mean to kill him, but hitting someone in the head with a wrench is in fact likely to be lethal whether it's meant to be or not.) And PL trying to reassure Gurathin about Mensah, and Gurathin letting them - lovely callback to their conversation at the start of the episode. I think one thing that gets to me there is that he knows that he could have killed Mensah (himself, directly and personally) and he doesn't know until a bit later if he did or not, but he sent the beacon anyway, because getting the beacon off was more important for the group as a whole. That duty-over-sentiment thing gets me every time.
[Edit: corrected PL's pronouns in the above paragraph.]
The doublecrosses inside of doublecrosses were also really excellent. We know that MB isn't going to betray them, but it was a lovely twisty time of not being sure what they knew vs what it had planned vs what it kept to itself.
MB's devastatingly terrible attempt to stall. I love that the one baddie caught on that he was using Sanctuary Moon dialogue, lol.
Mensah getting the cool flared-coat walk down the ramp of the hopper!
And MB sacrificing itself for her. 😠CLIFFHANGER!
Also, HUGS.
Only one more episode, and I can't wait!
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I bet there are some relevant G'Kar/Londo exchanges that could be incorrectly text posted over some of their expressions in this episode.
It's also really interesting to me that Gurathin can read MB better than anyone else can. He can tell when it's lying. And Mensah trusts him on that.
And it works even when it isn't lying to them: Gurathin's the one who figures out what the real plan is under the apparent double-cross and rolls right with it.
(I really liked the little bit of unexpected realism that she didn't mean to kill him, but hitting someone in the head with a wrench is in fact likely to be lethal whether it's meant to be or not.)
I really like the way the violence on this show remembers to ground itself any time it threatens to get too sfnal with the arm cannons and torrenting enough Sanctuary Moon to pull a Mars Attacks! Gurathin spends this entire episode looking like someone has beaten him with several baseball bats because it wasn't that long ago he was crashing out from gas gangrene. The random guy dies messily and Murderbot at the bottom of the cliff with lubricant soaking out of every joint in its body doesn't look too good even without the faceful of blood. It's necessary realism, but it also feels like part of the show's recurring friction between dramatic conventions and reality. I bet people get clocked in the head all the time on Sanctuary Moon and they just black out for a narratively convenient length of time.
I think one thing that gets to me there is that he knows that he could have killed Mensah (himself, directly and personally) and he doesn't know until a bit later if he did or not, but he sent the beacon anyway, because getting the beacon off was more important for the group as a whole.
Yes! And that is also part of what he's doing in the field. No one else on the team is going to be able to make that follow-through.
(He's also a lot more unguardedly talkative in this episode, which seemed like its own perversely good sign in the face of almost certain doom. Gurathin tight-lipped and locked down is not doing well. Gurathin snarking about which one of them has the plug in their skull is actually coping.)
Mensah getting the cool flared-coat walk down the ramp of the hopper!
And in the incredibly unflattering survey coat, too. Definitely intrepid galactic explorer.
Also, HUGS.
And Gurathin being the first to notice that Murderbot is flickering out, and beginning to move toward it.
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There are certainly noticeable similarities.
And it works even when it isn't lying to them: Gurathin's the one who figures out what the real plan is under the apparent double-cross and rolls right with it.
Yes! I love his "oh .... OH" series of expressions in that scene as he catches on to what it's doing, apparently before anyone else does.
(It was also not lost on me that his limping down the hill, unarmed, into the enemy stronghold to unleash the beacon was at least partly motivated by realizing that MB is alone, surrounded by enemies who are not all about to die like MB thinks they are.)
It's necessary realism, but it also feels like part of the show's recurring friction between dramatic conventions and reality. I bet people get clocked in the head all the time on Sanctuary Moon and they just black out for a narratively convenient length of time.
Yes! I feel like the wrench strike in particular was a deliberate dose of realism in contrast to the kind of show that Sanctuary Moon is. And also the impossibility of Mensah's desire to resolve things diplomatically. She risks her life to try to save everyone. And she can't. Sometimes the enemy really is going to just keep coming and you have to meet them where they are, not where you want them to be. (And if Gurathin isn't sure whether he killed Mensah, there are probably a few similar moments for Mensah, too, when she's sitting with a dying SecUnit and must be wondering if she's the sole survivor of the group of people she led out to launch the beacon.)
(He's also a lot more unguardedly talkative in this episode, which seemed like its own perversely good sign in the face of almost certain doom. Gurathin tight-lipped and locked down is not doing well. Gurathin snarking about which one of them has the plug in their skull is actually coping.)
I also really enjoyed that. It's an obvious contrast to not just his locked-down battle to stay upright two episodes ago, but also the ground-down, trauma-fueled bitterness of the way he related to Murderbot in 1x08. Here, he's bickering with everyone around him (Pin-Lee most notably, other than MB), and even his deliberate dickery to Murderbot isn't nearly as spiteful and angry.
And Gurathin being the first to notice that Murderbot is flickering out, and beginning to move toward it.
Yes! He looked really distressed about it, too.
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It's also particularly nice because Gurathin has spent so much of this season getting in his own way (I remain fascinated by the way that he wasn't just stopped-clock paranoia right about Murderbot and the Company, he correctly sussed out almost every hinky thing about the survey except that Murderbot did not actually mean his team harm and interpreting all his evidence through that assumption turned him ass-backwards from interpersonally useful, although it made him narrative gold) and here he's just extremely whumped and stubborn competence kink. "I didn't expect to live this long anyway."
(It was also not lost on me that his limping down the hill, unarmed, into the enemy stronghold to unleash the beacon was at least partly motivated by realizing that MB is alone, surrounded by enemies who are not all about to die like MB thinks they are.)
And sounding exactly like one of Murderbot's much-mocked serials when he told Pin-Lee that they had better haul ass, which was beautiful.
And also the impossibility of Mensah's desire to resolve things diplomatically. She risks her life to try to save everyone. And she can't.
It contrasts nicely with the GrayCris team leader casually shooting her own teammate who had gone for the hopper.
It's an obvious contrast to not just his locked-down battle to stay upright two episodes ago, but also the ground-down, trauma-fueled bitterness of the way he related to Murderbot in 1x08.
I mean, Murderbot turned out to be a lot more openly snarky when not petrified, too.
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And the ending with the fierce hug that evidently works to avoid serious harm to Mensah, and Gurathin being the first to move from thank-God-you're-ok to helping Murderbot <333
Also I am choosing to read the severed head casually toted along in the cute raffia shopping bag as a Bujold reference.
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But yes - tropey delicious goodness, daring rescues, fake betrayal, HUGS (including vital saving-people hugs!) and general all-around excellence! So much good character stuff! I really love how full of characterization even the action scenes are; it's great.
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Yes, entirely in character! That's part of why I was screaming at that moment. It's so awful, so funny, and works perfectly all at the same time.
And Murderbot knows Gurathin is listening. GrayCris doesn't care about the name of the guy he killed; that's just aimed at Gura!
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Not just you thinking of Cordelia with the shopping bag :-)
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And now we get a whole episode of falling action and we get to see Preservation Alliance Station!
Woo hoo!
Next week I will be bingeing the whole thing! That will be fun; like a long movie.
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Sheer delight.
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That moment was AMAZING.
I think Pin-Lee was the necessary choice, but ALSO imagine if Mensah had taken Bharadwaj and left the dissolving polycule to run the hub. Mensah is probably a good enough manager to know that taking Pin-Lee out of that situation means there is no drama on either side when they cannot afford any drama.
And I loved the moment back when all three of them pressed the button together to let in GrayCris.
As they say on tumblr, why was that guy at the devil's sacrament.
And such a wonderful scene/moment for getting the "yeah I am the President of my planet" "what are you doing HERE???" :D
no subject
Eye contact taunt!
But at the end of the episode, Gurathin looks deeply upset and is moving towards Murderbot. As you say,
The annoyance is genuine, but there's also some deeply weird trust there.
And I felt like Gurathin was the one who really understood why Murderbot plotted to kill GrayCris and why he didn't tell the others, and he fully respected that. Mensah got there in the end, but Gurathin understood as it was happening.
I love Mensah. She did the best she could, even knowing she'd probably get killed; she even wanted to save the GrayCris people though she knows they're killers. She did what she had to do to save as many of her people as possible, whether it was risking her own life or risking Pin-Lee's and Gurathin's.
Pin-Lee and Gurathin make a good team—I was going to say a surprisingly good team, but it shouldn't be a surprise. Outside of the throuple, Pin-Lee is a highly competent person. (Inside the throuple, we had three highly silly people!)
I really appreciate the GrayCris guy's face as he tried to work out why this SecUnit's words seemed familiar. Also, the GrayCris team seemed just a little too baffled by Murderbot to respond effectively! They should have just killed it, but they wanted the data—and they couldn't quite imagine it as a threat.
When MB dove to the ground and said something about there being little people to explain the move, I thought, "Murderbot has been watching the opening sequence!"
I felt a little bad for Pin-Lee killing that man without meaning to; I really identified with them in that moment! They did what they had to do, but they didn't intend to use lethal force!
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"Boldness is all" when the beacon didn't go off was so funny and touching.