Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Murderbot season 1, episode 4 & All Systems Red.Yet another cliffhanger ending in Apple TV+‘sMurderbotleft Murderbot’s (Alexander Skarsgård) life in the balance in episode 4, and it’s not clear if the SecUnit survived its rash decision. After being ambushed by another SecUnit inMurderbotepisode 3, Murderbot was attacked with a combat override module that hacked its system and would have made it kill the rest of thecharacters inMurderbot. Though the combat override module covered its tracks, Murderbot realized what was happening, and it decided to shoot itself in the chest to prevent the hack from forcing it to kill the members of PreservationAux.
While we would normally have to wait a week to see Murderbot’s fate,Murderbotis based on theMurderbot Diariesbooks by Martha Wells. The Apple TV+ show has varied in its faithfulness to the books, but it has managed to hit most of the major plot points ofAll Systems Redso far. Because of that, we can glean what will happen next from the novellas, and what happens to Murderbot after shooting itself in the chest. Plus, there were a few new scenes inMurderbotepisode 4 that could use some explanation beyond what the books can tell us.
Is Murderbot Still Alive After Shooting Itself In The Chest?
PreservationAux Will Repair Murderbot & Remove The Combat Override Module
After it was infected with the combat override module, Murderbot had a few moments where it both realized what had happened and figured out the only way to stop it. The combat override module was going to force Murderbot to kill the humans in PreservationAux, and since it was nearly done downloading, Murderbot’s only chance to stop it was by being killed. It quickly sussed out that Mensah wasn’t going to shoot it, though, so it stole her gun and shot itself in the chest.Despite shooting itself in the chest, Murderbot is not dead, but it is gravely wounded and offline.
InAll Systems Red, Murderbot also shoots itself in the chest to stop the combat override module from taking over. The book then quickly cuts to the next chapter, when Murderbot awakens in its cubicle after having extensive repairs done to its body.PreservationAux brought Murderbot back to their habitat, had it repaired, and uninstalled the combat override module. That procedure did save Murderbot’s life, but it also gave Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) a chance to inspect its systems while the SecUnit was offline. He discovers Murderbot’s hacked governor module, which is responsible for forcing it to comply with orders, and outs it as a rogue construct.
Murderbot Doesn’t Like Being Forced To Do Anything, But It Also Cares Deeply About PreservationAux
Image via Apple TV+
Murderbot’s decision to shoot itself in the chest did save PreservationAux’s lives, but it also caused countless issues down the line. Murderbot has, after all, expressed a desire to murder humans indiscriminately, so some viewers may not understand why it would be willing to sacrifice its own life to prevent the humans from being murdered.The most direct answer is that Murderbot hates being forced to do things, and it hates being forced to murder even more. Murderbot says “f–k that” just after explaining the combat override module, and it also bears extreme guilt from theGanaka Pit massacre inMurderbot.
That alone makes Murderbot’s decision to shoot itself sensible. It didn’t want to kill humans again and have another massacre on its conscience, and it didn’t want to forego control of its own body. However,Murderbot also deeply cares for the members of PreservationAux - though it won’t admit it at this point - and it wanted to save their lives. PreservationAux is the best group of clients Murderbot has ever worked for, and they’re some of the only humans Murderbot has ever gotten along with. It may want to kill humans, but it doesn’t want to killthesehumans.
The Other SecUnit Likely Wanted To Frame Murderbot For PreservationAux’s Deaths
One of the more confusing moments inMurderbotepisode 4 was when Murderbot realized that the other SecUnit wanted it to kill PreservationAux itself. The other SecUnit had a prime opportunity to murder both Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) and Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), and waiting for Murderbot’s combat override module gave Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) and Arada (Tattiawna Jones) a chance to kill it.It seems that the other SecUnit wanted Murderbot to kill PreservationAux both to prove that the combat override module was working and to give it a plausible scapegoat for the slaughter.
Making Murderbot kill them, then killing Murderbot itself, would explain their deaths when the Company in Murderbot eventually started its investigation.
The other SecUnit wanted to kill PreservationAux, but four of its members were at DeltFall Survey, and it needed to explain how they died. Making Murderbot kill them, then killing Murderbot itself, would explain their deaths whenthe Company inMurderboteventually started its investigation. Alternatively,watching Murderbot slaughter PreservationAux would be irrefutable proof that the combat override module was working, and that it could trust Murderbot to follow its commands. The other SecUnit is trying to recruit Murderbot to its owners’ cause, and it needed to ensure the combat override module would make Murderbot compliant.
Why Did Ratthi Return For Mensah & Murderbot?
Ratthi Was Feeling Inadequate Due To Missing The Weapons Training & Wanted To Impress Pin-Lee
Earlier on inMurderbotepisode 4, Ratthi left the hopper to attempt to rescue Mensah and Murderbot from the DeltFall Survey site. That was a clearly bad idea - Ratthi hadn’t had any weapons training, and he quickly knocked himself out as soon as he got into combat - and it didn’t make much logical sense why he would do that.Ratthi returned to save Mensah both because he was feeling inadequate about failing to complete the weapons training and because he wanted to impress Pin-Lee. Murderbot noted that Ratthi had a crush on Pin-Lee in the premiere, and he thought that playing hero would get them interested in him.
Ratthi also said some very self-deprecating and self-loathing things earlier, while he thought the hopper’s communication system was muted.Ratthi was clearly kicking himself for not doing the weapons training, and he might have felt emasculated that he was the only one on board who couldn’t help in a combat situation. Saving Mensah was a chance for him to prove his worth to himself and his friends, even though it went hilariously wrong.
Why Murderbot Was Hallucinating Itself As Part Of Sanctuary Moon
Murderbot’s Organic Parts Are Capable Of Giving It Human Dreams & Hallucinations
ThroughoutMurderbotepisode 4, Murderbot was experiencing hallucinations where it was part of its favorite entertainment feed,The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon. Murderbot did explain why it was watching the show at that moment, as its queue could only pull up the last thing it watched after Murderbot was injured. That doesn’t explain why Murderbot thought it was actually part of the show, though, or why it was talking to Mensah like an “intrepid explorer.“Murderbot is mostly an android, but the organic parts of its body are still capable of creating human dreams and hallucinations, which is how it thought it was insideSanctuary Moon.
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After Murderbot lost its fight and had the combat override module installed, its organic parts seemed to go haywire.That, coupled withSanctuary Moonplaying in its damaged technological parts, made it hallucinate itself as a NavigationUnit within the show. That made for one of the funniest scenes inMurderbotso far, but it also revealed Murderbot’s true feelings about Mensah and its desire to escape from the boring, often awful reality it lived in. Hopefully,Murderbotwill continue having great character building moments like episode 4.
