A confession: This dispatch won’t be coming to you from one of many long-devout Martha Wells trustworthy. I’m a convert, a curious reader who turned to Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries sequence after studying my colleague Meghan Herbst’s improbable 2024 profile of the writer, which left me questioning who could be challenged with taking up the sequence’ title character in Apple TV+’s adaptation and why it was Alexander Skarsgård.
Put in a different way, I needed to know if the actor recognized for taking part in blood-sucker Eric Northman in True Blood and a berserker prince The Northman could be the fitting match to play a safety robotic, or SecUnit, scuffling with social awkwardness after hacking his personal “governor module” to offer himself the liberty to not obey human orders. If the bizarre affection he types for the scientists he’s charged with defending, and the stunted approach he goes about displaying it, would translate to Murderbot.
After watching the primary episodes of the present, which debuts Friday on Apple TV+, I obtained my solutions—and located myself asking much more questions. Specifically: Why is Skarsgård each so unsuitable and so proper for this function? Why is Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), a cool and assured extraterrestrial expedition chief within the books, anxious and not sure onscreen? Why is her PreservationAux crew portrayed as hippies who appear to have character quirks as a substitute of personalities? Why does the tone of this factor really feel so off?
The rejoinder to any of those boils all the way down to “as a result of TV,” reasoning that’s more likely to be Murderbot’s doom and salvation.
Readers love Wells’ books. They’ve gained Hugos and Nebulas, the best reward bestowed on science fiction writing. Learn the feedback on virtually any evaluate of Murderbot’s first season, which intently follows the unique Murderbot novella All Programs Pink, and also you’ll discover hand-wringing from loyal followers; they’re hoping the present will get it proper. Wells resembles George R.R. Martin or Hugh Howey in that regard. The factor about sci-fi followers is that they have opinions—and so they’re onerous to please.
Not that Murderbot’s flaws lie in pandering. Murderbot (the character) narrates All Programs Pink, and likewise the sequence, and its tone could be very particular. (Sure, Murderbot’s pronouns are “it.”) To not spoil something—and this piece will stay largely spoiler-free—but it surely’s a safety robotic, and interacting with folks isn’t its forte. When it finds itself wanting good issues for the individuals who, for as soon as, don’t deal with it like a servant, it struggles. It desires to cover that it’s jailbroken itself to achieve free will whereas additionally appearing regular, and within the course of both acts very flatly or simply repeats dialogue from the hours of streaming content material it binge-watches with its newfound freedom (that Murderbot has turned The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon right into a show-within-a-show is a plus right here).
Murderbot’s narration, each in All Programs Pink and its adaptation, offers the story its voice. It’s what folks, though they’re human, determine with. Murderbot does alright with this, however fumbles all the opposite stuff. Characters, like Mensah, like Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), are given tacked-on traits like nervousness or creepiness in an effort to make them well-rounded however usually really feel disjointed. Polyamory, a matter-of-fact a part of life in Wells’ books, will get was an pointless B-plot, trying so as to add drama by stating that throuples exist.