Murderbot Episode 4 Recap: Escape Velocity Protocol

The world is equally bleak for humans and robots in Apple TV+’s ‘Murderbot.’ The fourth episode of the sci-fi comedy opens with a flashback, in which we get a look at the factories where SecUnits are made. Over the narration, Murderbot talks about how he has seen human-making factories where babies are born and what a menace they are as they come out screaming and kicking. In contrast, making robots is a much better process because, at least, there is quality control. Or so the robots think. The human workers in the factory are overworked to the point that even when they dream, they dream about working in the factory.

Regular power cuts and other problems hinder the creation of the robots, but no one seems bothered by fixing that problem anytime soon. A young worker asks why every robot is given a different face and why it goes through all that trouble for a machine. He is told that this is because the robots are known to go rogue quite often, and with a distinct face, they are easier to track down. Or at least, that’s the theory so far. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Murderbot Risks Losing More Than His Life

At the end of the previous episode, Murderbot found himself face to face with another SecUnit, which turned out to be much more powerful than he was and immediately knocked him unconscious. When he comes to, his mind plays the clips of ‘The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon’ because this was played most of the time in his head. Unable to control his motor functions, Murderbot finds himself at the mercy of his enemy and wonders why he hasn’t been killed yet. He gets an answer pretty soon when he realizes that the SecUnit wants to attach a combat override module to him, which would rewrite his programming so that he would lose control over his free will as well. And that is something he is not willing to give up.

Using his favourite show’s theme song as a distraction, Murderbot buys time to regain his strength and fights the enemy. Still, he ends up losing as the SecUnit successfully instates the module on him, which means that Murderbot will soon be under the SecUnit’s control. He would even forget that a module has been used to override his programming. Luckily, Mensah shows up just in time to stab the SecUnit and help Murderbot flee. Within seconds, the module has done its job of making Murderbot forget that it had a module attached to it that needed to be removed immediately.

As he tries to remember the important thing he is supposed to tell Mensah, the SecUnit wakes up and chases after the duo as they try to run away. While Mensah worries about finding an escape route, Murderbot’s mind takes him into the ‘Sanctuary Moon’ universe, where he imagines Mensah as the inspiring captain while he sees himself as a clueless crew member who can’t seem to remember any commands or functions that are necessary to save them. The real and immediate danger appears to him as a hostile starship appearing on the TV show. Luckily, help is on the way.

Murderbot Makes a Difficult Decision to Save His Team

In the previous episode, while he looks around DeltFall’s unit, Murderbot asks the team to stay back. The more he ventures into the ship, the more he realises how they’ve walked into a dangerous trap. He asks Mensah and the others to go back to the ship and stay there until he comes back. While Arada and Pin-Lee heed his advice, Mensah is too emotionally attached to let him die for them. She refuses to go back to the ship, though she does order her team to stay there. While she finds a way to help Murderbot, Arada, Pin-Lee, and Ratthi think about a way to bring her back on the ship. Eventually, Ratthi decides to go to DeltFall’s place, even though he has no idea how to handle a gun or what is waiting for him there.

By the time Ratthi makes it to the ship, Mensah and Murderbot make their way out of the place, but the murderous SecUnit is right behind them, and it attacks the humans. By this time, the module has worked its magic, and despite the danger in front of them, Murderbot doesn’t move a muscle to stop the SecUnit. In fact, he wonders why the other robot hasn’t already killed the humans, which is when it dawns on him that the SecUnit wants Murderbot to kill his team so that no one suspects an outside intervention. When the investigation happens, they will believe that Murderbot went rogue and killed his team.

Around that time, Pin-Lee and Arada enter the picture, but they bring the ship, which they use to attack SecUnit and smash him to pulp. As soon as the SecUnit goes offline, Murderbot remembers about the module, but by the time he removes the device, the job is already done. His programming has been changed such that, in about a minute, he will have no control over his actions, and he will attack and kill the entire team. Realising what is about to happen, Murderbot warns Mensah and tells her to kill him.

They are unable to grasp the gravity of the situation and refuse to hurt him, which is why he takes it upon himself to solve the problem. He takes the gun from Mensah and shoots himself. While he falls down, it is unlikely that he is dead. Most likely, he has injured himself enough to be incapacitated, such that he cannot go through with killing the team, which will give them ample time to make their way back to the base and have Guranthin fix their SecUnit. Even with that, the question of the module’s impact remains, and more importantly, we still don’t know who orchestrated the massacre of the DeltFall team and why.