Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Murderbot Episode 5.
Despite its noble intentions, Murderbot‘s titular star (Alexander Skarsgård) is still alive and well – sort of. Alive and unwell might be more applicable circa Episode 5, “Rogue War Tracker Infinite,” written by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz and directed by the former. Last week’s episode ended in an especially dramatic fashion, as Murderbot, its programming contaminated by a combat override module, tried to sacrifice itself rather than be brainwashed into killing its innocent clients. The tactic worked, but Murderbot’s survival means a certain secret it’s been keeping is out in the open this week. Overall, the season’s halfway point (hopefully, “the season” — we’re waiting and hoping for a renewal announcement, Apple TV+!) introduces new emotional conflicts, either deepening or straining the dynamics that have been building.
“Rogue War Tracker Infinite” opens with Murderbot fading in and out of consciousness to the sounds of the Preservation Alliance crew manually repairing its injuries. Thankfully, for their collective sakes, that anxious tending includes Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) noticing and extracting the wires installed by the combat override module. She covers their bases by rebooting Murderbot, hoping the restart wipes out the corrupt programming, and puts Gurathin’s (David Dastmalchian) augments to good use — he’s on watch duty, monitoring Murderbot’s system for any remaining strains of bad code.
The Team Saves Murderbot’s Life and Meets a Human Stranger in Episode 5
Before it enters restart mode, too weak to do anything else, Murderbot taps into various camera logs and gets up to speed on what happened in the aftermath of its failed death. Frantic, the group starts dragging its limp body toward the hopper. Arada (Tattiawna Jones), armed and jumpy, fires her gun at the first sign of approaching movement — a terrified woman in a blood-soaked uniform named Leebeebee (Anna Konkle), who claims to be the only survivor of the DeltFall massacre. As an eyewitness, she confirms that one of their SecUnits went rogue, attacking the habitat without warning or reason.
On the hopper itself, a pensive Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) smells something fishy. Although she doesn’t question Leebeebee’s integrity, Mensah is the only team member who saw — and escaped — the same carnage as Murderbot, and they both suspect an anonymous third party forced one of DeltFall’s SecUnit to murder them. As for their new tagalong, Leebeebee rambles about Murderbot’s “not unattractive” face and its considerable, ahem, bedroom potential. Poor Murderbot is grateful it was unconscious for that tactlessness. The only behavior rivaling Leebeebee for sheer awkwardness is Ratthi’s (Akshay Khanna) response to witnessing violence. Life is short, and he asks Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) how many children they want to have — one of which he plans to name “SecUnit” to honor Murderbot’s sacrifice. Pin-Lee passes on the name and the kids, especially since the demise of this polyamorous arrangement seems imminent. (Even Murderbot, a soap opera fan who you know must also be a gossip not-girlie at heart, eats up this drama like popcorn.)
Murderbot Is Forced To Have an Honest Conversation in Episode 5
Once Murderbot’s system reboot and automatic repair unit have done their jobs, it wakes up surrounded by the concerned team. Reclining in a chair and “looking at their hopeful faces,” it muses, “I was glad I didn’t murder them. Mostly.” The surprisingly pleasant reunion turns ominous when a vindicated Gurathin announces the inevitable result of his snooping around in Murderbot’s brain — he knows it hacked its governor module. “On the entertainment feed,” Murderbot summarizes, “this is what they call an ‘oh, sh*t’ moment.” It chooses the silent treatment as Guratin explains Murderbot’s free will to the others and blames it for sabotaging their mission. He’s also taken precautions by paralyzing Murderbot from the neck down, courtesy of the habitat’s HubSystem.
Unlike Gurathin, Bharadwaj, who’s seen the same data as her colleague, advocates for Murderbot. Everyone else sides with her, since defying the Company’s inhumane practices can only be a good thing — and especially since Murderbot has repeatedly risked its life to protect them rather than assassinate them in their sleep. Murderbot finally chips its two cents into this discussion: if the Company wanted to kill them, there are much subtler ways to get the job done. Plus, dead clients would negatively affect the Company’s image and cost them a pretty penny (the horror!). Gurathin still resists, claiming that Murderbot’s extensive media library must be its way of sending and receiving secret messages. Worse of all, he’s a snob about The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. Ratthi settles the debate by testing Murderbot’s Sanctuary Moon knowledge; when it corrects him about “such a deep-cut” plot point — with vitriolic passion, no less — Murderbot passes the fan test with flying colors.
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Skarsgård also talks about how he wants to keep doing the unexpected, taking on the “kinky gay biker movie” ‘Pillion.’
However, Murderbot’s temper ruins the goodwill it’s gained. In the blink of an eye, it disables Gurathin’s paralysis command, crosses the room, and shoves the human against the wall, choking him with one hand. Murderbot doesn’t actually want to kill him — just vent its pent-up frustration while scaring some silence into him. When it veers toward the door, Mensah halts its path, swearing to keep its secret about the governor module and emphasizing its autonomy. That said, she hopes it’ll consider staying with the team until they’re safely off-planet. Afterward, they can reconvene about what kind of future Murderbot wants. Not believing her promises, Murderbot agrees; both of them have free will, but what else can they do except cooperate?
Cooperation involves finally launching their habitat’s distress beacon — or trying to. It doesn’t respond to commands, which isn’t suspicious at all, of course. Leebeebee, still hovering in corners or over various shoulders, can’t answer whether DeltFall activated their own beacon; she was busy sweating out her indenture on the cleaning team. The Murderbot and Mensah Detective Duo form a plan: they’ll travel to the beacon together and trigger it manually, while the rest of the group prepare to move somewhere less conspicuous than the habitat. That includes Leebeebee, who shoots her shot with the very asexual, very mortified Murderbot and sends its performance reliability status plummeting. Nearby, Gurathin and Mensah share a sweeter moment of mutual appreciation. He seems to be gathering the courage to confess some potentially non-platonic feelings — and Murderbot exacts delicious revenge by brusquely cutting him off, insisting it’s time to leave. When Leebeebee tries cozying up to Gurathin, his sour muttering counts as her second rejection of the day.
Murderbot and Mensah Run Into Explosive Complications in Episode 5
During their flight, the M-and-M partnership swap theories about the how, the why, and the who of what they’ve stumbled into. Given humanity’s persistent greediness, there are too many options and too little information to narrow down the “who” part. As for the “how,” they agree — Mensah with dawning horror — that the murderers preyed upon DeltFall’s goodwill by impersonating the PreservationAux team. Even though it’s a grim conversation, their unfiltered exchange prompts Murderbot to reflect on having a real conversation for the first time. It sounds more curious than disgusted, its eyes occasionally seeking Mensah out before darting away. As nice as it is to not just receive orders and report information, Murderbot still isn’t tempted to pour out its heart.
Once they fly within range of the beacon, Murderbot tries launching from a distance. When that, too, fails, they prepare to land, guiding the hopper closer. The moment Mensah raises the incident with Gurathin, probably wanting to talk Murderbot through its hostility and guarantee her friend’s safety, Murderbot’s emergency sensors detect imminent danger. Mensah tries to turn around, but she’s not fast enough — the beacon explodes, fire engulfing the hopper.
New episodes of Murderbot premiere on Fridays on Apple TV+.
Murderbot’s secret is finally out in the open in Episode 5.
- Release Date
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May 16, 2025
- Network
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Apple TV+
- It’s great to see the full cast reunited, and their chemistry keeps firing on all cylinders.
- Exposing Murderbot’s secret shifts the relationship dynamics and complicates the emotional tension.
- Anna Konkle’s Leebeebee introduces a new mystery.