Murderbot – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review
Free Commerce
Episode 1 of Murderbot begins at the Mining Station Aratake, in Corporation Rim. A whole bunch of miners celebrate finishing their job, but they're overseen by a security unit android, or SecUnit for short! Its spent the past six months protecting them all from danger.
This android has been built to obey humans but also has disdain for humanity, who continue to act like an asshole with him. He has a built-in safety feature called the Government Module, which prevents this sentient bot from harming humans. Well, not anymore though as this particular bot has been working tirelessly to hack the code for the Module and is finally freed from the oppressive shackles supressing his instincts. Thus, the Murderbot is born.
Interestingly, Murderbot doesn't leave the Company. It continues to work for this corporation, deciding to bide his time before striking given the threat of a nasty acid bath. He's cynical about his job though, especially when he's sent out to help the Preservation Alliance, who are a bunch of hippies from outside the Corporation Rim.
However, they're enticed into the company and given a SecUnit (the Murderbot) to oversee their current mining operation. So who are these guys? Well, there's the biologist Arada, married to a lawyer called Pin-lee. However, Arada has a thing for Ratthi, who happens to be an expert on wormhole travel. To complicate matters further, Ratthi has a thing for Pin-lee, confirming that this is just one big, messy, love triangle.
Mensah is the head of expedition though and an expert in terraforming. She has 7 kids while Gurathin is an augmented human working alongside them all, able to interface with data programs but he doesn't have the same processing power as the Murderbot. Finally, there's Professor Bharardwaj, a geochemist who's hoarding soap in her room for some reason.
The Murderbot has managed to hack into the entertainment channels and decides to watch a good deal of content, until a threat presents itself in the form of a giant sand worm that pops up from underground during one of the initial mining operations. The robot gets to work and makes short work of the creatures, before bringing Arada and the Professor back to base. Arada is in shock though, so the Murderbot shows off its face, breaks its own strict protocols and decides to be more empathetic.
This has big ramifications, because back at base the group review Arada's footage of the Bot acting out of character and believe it's malfunctioning. It's acting outside its protocols and are worried that it could turn on them all. For now, they decide not to call this in to the Corporation and launch the beacon to pick up the SecUnit. The stakes are too high, it'll take too long for the rescue ships to arrive and to be honest, they need the security.
After patching itself up, the Murderbot is encouraged to join the humans in the common room but wearing a crew outfit like one of the group. Mensah thanks it for its work and Murderbot is uncomfortably forced into giving a speech. It struggles to get its words out and things are rather awkward for a while. However, it does become clear that the survey maps that the Company have given the Alliance may have been hacked. It doesn't show any signs of tampering but some areas are greyed out as if there's interference or a problem while syncing.
In the midst of this, Murderbot is troubled by seven seconds of his past which seem to include a lot of bloodshed. Furthermore, we also see a lot of shots from Bot's cheesy sci-fi shows its been watching, which include a romance between a Bot and the ship's commander. Is this foreshadowing? Well, it probably is because Mensah shows up and speaks to Murderbot, asking if its okay.
The Episode Review
So the first episode of Murderbot introduces us to our titular character, the general world and the rabble of characters we'll be following across the 10 episode series. For the most part, it does well to hone into Murderbot's inner-voice and the cynicism its graced with. You can understand why the Bots would go crazy and hit back after getting rid of the Government Module but it would appear that this Bot is going to start softening and getting acquainted with this friendly group.
This works well to give the show a slightly comedic edge, and it would appear that the Preservation Alliance may have been subjected to the Company intentionally sabotaging their efforts but we'll have to wait and see if that bears any fruits.
The show is shaping up to be a promising watch though, leaving the door wide open for where this may go next.
Next Episode
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
19 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
‘We drank to excess and had debauched sex parties – but one drug split the band'
Sir Rod is getting the band back together for Glasto's Legends slot. But the last time Rod, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones played in the Faces, they were more famous for their partying than hits It will have been 55 years since old Faces Sir Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood were on stage together, when they reunite for the Legends slot on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage next weekend. Back then, they were in the Faces with drummer Kenney Jones, before Rod left for his solo career and the band split in 1975. In the 1970s, the Faces were just as well known for their drinking, drug-taking and debauchery with groupies in the 'Party Room' as they were for their hits. And their concerts were either brilliant or shambolic, depending on the amount of alcohol and drugs they'd consumed Yet, despite this excess, Sir Rod, 80, Ronnie, 77, and 76-year-old Kenney are still going strong. In the five decades or so since they played hits like Stay With Me and Had Me A Real Good Time, the faces of the Faces have changed… a lot. Originally called the Small Faces, the line-up in 1969 was guitarist singer Steve Marriott, bassist Ronnie Lane, drummer Kenney Jones and organist Jimmy Winston, who was replaced by Ian 'Mac' McLagan on keyboards. Very much a 1960s pop band, they mimed along to their charttoppers like Sha-La-La-La-Lee, Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday on Top Of The Pops and were popular with teenyboppers. But they were also getting a reputation for their acid trips and hard partying, especially when hanging out with The Who and Rolling Stones. In his 2018 autobiography Let The Good Times Roll, drummer Kenney recalls a six-date tour where the late Keith Moon provided the outrageous entertainment back at the hotel. He writes: 'Lying on my bed, beginning to drift off, I heard a strange scratching sound coming from beneath the desk up against my wall. Got to be mice, I thought. 'The noise grew louder. As I got up to investigate properly, there was a loud crunch, followed by an explosion of dust and clattering of bricks., 'I bent down to take a look under the desk, and found myself staring into the bulging eyes of Keith. 'Fancy a drink, Ken?' Another time Keith was told to move his purple Rolls-Royce when he arrived at a hotel and drove it straight through their front door, right up to the desk. 'He threw the keys at the startled receptionist and said, 'Can you park this please.' The Small Faces fell apart when lead singer Steve Marriott, fed-up with trying to shake off their pop image, walked off stage on New Year 's Eve in 1968, yelling: 'I quit,' and formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. When the remaining members of the band met Rod in a pub in 1969, he was a fresh-faced 24-year-old singer known as 'Rod the Mod'. He and guitarist Ronnie Wood quit the Jeff Beck Group to join Ronnie Lane, Mac and Kenney, and dropped the Small to rename themselves the Faces. Kenney recalls the band being great mates who loved to play pranks on each other. 'We were like naughty boys whenever we had the chance,' writes Kenney. 'One of the things you learned from the very early days of touring with the Faces was never fall asleep on a plane. 'Ronnie Lane made that mistake. Once. When we were coming back from Scotland on a private jet, he received the butter treatment – knobs of it delicately placed in his hair while he snoozed.' But it was the sex-parties the Faces became infamous for while on tour. ''Party back at our hotel!' Rod's announcement at the end of gigs wasn't the least bit subtle,' writes Kenney. 'It was an invitation to the girls looking for some fun. How many Faces, roadies and girls could we pack into one motel room? Answer, well over a hundred. 'It was a huge pain if the party formed in your room. So we paid for an extra suite, and designated it the 'Party Room'. 'After each gig, we could take our time, have a shower, get changed and one by one make our way to the Party Room. The fans would be there already, and it really was a case of walking in, having a few drinks, taking your pick of the girls and disappearing to your own room. 'An hour later, the others were most likely back at party HQ for a second sitting.' But their hedonistic reputation soon spread. 'When playing gigs in southern US states, we'd be met at the airport by the Country Sheriff plus a police escort,' writes Kenney, saying the police were protecting innocent citizens from the excesses of rock and roll. Ronnie, now 77, also wrote in the Faces' biography: 'We were the sponsors of Holiday Inn and Marriott, and anywhere we could get banned from. We used to call them the Holiday Out. 'We used to check in as Fleetwood Mac – no hotel chain would have the Faces because of the damage and madness that went on. 'Half the audience would come back with us to the hotel. We would party with whoever was there and they'd all end up staying with us.' In 1973, a disenfranchised Ronnie Lane quit the Faces, and was replaced by Japanese bass player Tetsu Yamauchi. 'Testsu was talented… but he was basically a bottle of Teacher's whisky on the stage. You just lifted his head and filled him with scotch.' But all good things come to an end, according to Kenney, who recognised by 1975: 'We were drifting apart. Rod was spending more time on his solo career, and when we did get together, drink and drugs were adversely impacting our performances more than before. Where previously we'd all been half cut on stage, now we were screwing up. 'Booze played its part, but it wasn't the primary problem. When we were together, the alcohol intake was pretty even across the band – bucket loads. 'Drugs, coke specifically, was the real issue. Rod wasn't interested and neither was I. But Mac and Woody, they were all over the white powder, which would keep them up for days.' In 1975, Rod moved to LA with his girlfriend Britt Ekland. 'We now had a transatlantic gap adding to our problems. Telephone calls took an hour to step up. 'Then Woody announced that the Stones had asked him to fill in for Mick Taylor, who'd quit,' writes Kenney. That September, the band and wives and girlfriends reunited in Hawaii. But a mix-up at the hotel caused a falling out with an Aussie singer and her husband manager, and the Faces played a joke on them before Rod and Britt checked out to let them have their suite. 'Messing with hotel rooms was a Faces speciality,' says Kenney. 'Rod and Britt's suite was the target. The telephone was dismantled, dimes put in the lamp socket, so they would blow when turned on, towels down the loo, the bed rigged to collapse as soon as someone sat on it.' A punch-up afterwards in the hotel lobby had the police turning up, and the band legged it for the airport. But the hi-jinx were getting out of hand - with Mac even chopping up Steinway pianos with an axe on stage! 'When it finally came, the split was unavoidable. Rod loved being a Face, but having to deal with Mac and Woody being out of their trees all the time eventually became too much.' Many of the old Faces are no longer here. Sadly Ronnie Lane died in 1997 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. Dogged by cocaine and alcohol addiction for years, Marriot died, aged 44, in a house fire in 1991, and keyboardist Mac died in 2014 following a stroke. Meanwhile, Kenney replaced his old mate Keith Moon in The Who in 1978 after his death, Ronnie stuck with the Stones, and Rod went on to be one of the best-selling solo artists of all time. The Faces reformed a number of times before finally coming together again in 2015 at Rod's private 70th birthday party. In a birthday speech, Rod said: 'Being in the Faces was a mad and brilliant time for all of us and although we don't have Ronnie and Mac with us any more, this is our chance to remember them and say Had Me a Real Good Time.' Then in 2021 Jones, Stewart and Wood announced they were recording new music for an album due to be released in 2026 – their first in over 50 years. Rod also revealed recently that he was reuniting with Ronnie and Kenney to work on a new documentary. Rod himself looks set for a busy 80th year, as he embarks on a world tour. He says: 'I enjoy going on tour now more than ever, at this ripe old age of 80. "I'm doing seven concerts in Vegas and then I am around the world. You have got to be fit to do it. "I would probably die if I didn't do it. I have seen so many guys that have to give up and retire and they have nothing to wake up in the morning for." Their Faces may be a bit wrinklier now, but Rod, Ronnie and Kenney are still rocking!
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Paralysed jockey details the ‘glimmer of light' that has given him hope
The once star rider who won the Grand National over jumps and Gold Cup on the Flat, but now has no movement from the neck down, has opened up about the challenges he now faces Graham Lee has revealed he is holding on to a 'glimmer of light' that could put an end to the brutal reality of his life since he suffered life-changing injuries in a racing fall. The 49-year-old was left paralysed from the neck down after sustaining an unstable cervical fracture which damaged his spinal cord when he came off exiting the stalls at Newcastle in November 2023. Lee was a highly successful jockey who became the only rider to win both the Grand National at Aintree and Gold Cup at Royal Ascot during a career in which he excelled at both jumps and on the Flat. Now he needs round-the-clock care and regularly visits Jack Berry House in Malton, Yorkshire, the Injured Jockeys' Fund rehab facility which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. Funds are also being raised for the ex-jockey through the The Graham Lee Racing Club. Club horse We've Got This won for the first time at Redcar on Friday. Lee's latest visit to Jack Berry House was to attend the ten year anniversary celebration event. "This is an amazing place run by amazing people," he said, in a Racing Post interview."Racing can be a very lonely place. As a jockey, you're permanently hungry, you're doing loads of miles and you have to deal with defeat every day. 'Racing can be tough but when you get something like what happened to me, it comes together like no other sport. I've been humbled by the support and love I've received. I've been blown away by it, to be honest." Lee, who rode Amberleigh House to win the 2004 Grand National and Trip To Paris to win the Gold Cup in 2015, went on to describe his new life, which in September last year close friend Sir Anthony McCoy said was 'horrific'. Lee said: 'Don't get me wrong, I know there are people worse off than me, but with my injury, every day is groundhog day. "You think, how am I going to get through today? You see no light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how small the tunnel is, you don't see a glimmer, but then Becks found something on Facebook the other day about an operation you can have in China. 'After Jack read about it, he said, 'It looks like we're going to China, then'. I wouldn't think it will happen but it's a glimmer of light, a little bit of hope." He went on: "I was a very moderate rider who was told, 'You can't and you won't,' but yet I did. I had lots of broken bones and plenty of head injuries along the way but my body always overcame the obstacles. It always healed. This ain't healing. "That makes me angry at my body, which is probably very unfair because my body is okay, it's just the spinal cord that is broken. I'm angry because in the past my body collapsed but then came back. At the minute, there is no coming back. "When you're a jockey, you always dream of getting on that one horse who will take you to the next level. My situation is the same. I'm hoping and I'm dreaming. That's what keeps us going. "I'm just hoping that somewhere, some day, there will be that glimmer of light."
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
'I was on ITV's 1% Club and was gobsmacked by what I saw behind the scenes'
ITV's quiz show, The 1% Club, which is hosted by Lee Mack, pits contestants against each other to try and win £100,000 by answering questions only 1% of the UK get right ITV's game show The 1% Club has become a huge success since it first hit our screens in 2022. Hosted by Not Going Out star, Lee Mack, the primetime programme features IQ-style questions based on logic and common sense, as opposed to general knowledge. A total of 100 contestants are slowly whittled down as they attempt to make it to the end and successfully answer a question in 30 seconds, that only 1% of the population can get right in a bid to bag £100,000. However, what viewers don't know about the show is that some of the scenes are actually fake - according to a former contestant, who has lifted the lid on the smash-hit series, which she filmed in October last year. Spilling the beans on the programme, Heidi Phillips, 49, said she bagged a place on the show after seeing an advert on Facebook and then having a mock 1%-style quiz on Zoom. Revealing what really goes on behind the scenes of the series, which is one of ITV's most popular offerings, she claimed some of the scenes were fake, revealing that Lee's jokes are not filmed at the same time as the contestants are answering the questions. Heidi explained, while talking to Fruity Slots: "While contestants are answering questions on the tablet, Lee usually takes the time to make a joke to the audience at home. But all his comical parts are filmed later. "When we're answering the question, he remains silent. Then he has to be filmed asking the question again and we have to pretend to put our answers in. That was a bit weird!" Heidi also said the contestants had to abide by a very strict rule on the show, which, if flouted would mean they would be forced to hand back any prize money - immediately. The contestant, who bowed out of the programme at the 35% question, said: "When we got put in our seats in the studio, they gave us the tablets and told us it was important to keep our eyes firmly locked on the screens and not look at each other. "There were actually invigilators who go back through the show episode to make sure every contestant plays the game fairly. "You could have won the cash prize but if they go back through filming and see you glanced over at another contestant's screen before answering, you'll forfeit the prize." Heidi added: "That's not happened yet - but it was a stern warning!" Despite the strict warning from producers, Heidi said host, Lee, is very charming and "naturally funny", sharing: "He's honestly really funny. Very naturally funny. He also has banter with the warm-up comedian and creates a nice atmosphere." She also said she'd jump at the chance to go back on the show again and praised the programme's staff for "going back over the funny anecdotes I'd shared with them and make sure I'd be happy to discuss it on the show if Lee (Mack) wanted to". Heidi, who also said contestants had to make sure they were dressed appropriately for the show, wearing "nothing low cut", added: "They seemed really concerned about our welfare and us being happy to share things on TV. They really took the time to check in with us." And her advice for anyone wanting to go on the show, who has made it to the audition round? "When they ask you how you'll spend the winnings, don't say something boring like paying off the mortgage. Give a really wild question," said Heidi, adding: "I made silly jokes that if I won the prize, I'd spend it on opening a trifle sandwich shop."
