Read this review to see if the Murderbot episode “Complementary Species” is worth watching.
About Murderbot
- Season 1, Episode 7: “Complementary Species”
- Directed by Roseanne Liang
- Written by Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz
- Synopsis: Murderbot deals with fallout and detects a threat; in hopes of evading danger, the team heads to a new locale full of surprises.
- Airdate: June 20, 2025
- Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tamara Podemski, Tattiawna Jones,
If you want to avoid spoilers for this episode, skip to the overall section at the end.
Warning: Spoilers for Murderbot Season 1 Episode 7 “Complementary Species”
Recap Murderbot (2025): S01E07 – “Complementary Species”
Talk it out. It’s a recurring theme in Murderbot’s stressful and fast-paced seventh episode, “Complementary Species”—a sort of catchphrase among Preservation Alliance members. Although the episode’s intriguing cold open shows that the core crew is somehow even more romantically incestuous than previously depicted, it sounds wonderful on paper as an homage to open communication and does help explain why they normally get along so well. However, how effective is the “talk it out” mentality for someone reluctant to speak? At what point does the invitation start to sound more than a request?
Take a look at Gurathin’s really deep discomfort in this week’s opening scene, which is a flashback to the night before PresAux set out on its disastrous journey to the nameless planet where they are all currently in grave risk of being murdered. While dining at Port Freecommerce, where their unrestrained behaviour attracts admiration from the audience and humiliation from Gurathin, the Preservation Alliance crew engages in an awkward “party game” that combines Truth or Dare and therapy. It could be therapeutic to disclose one “sweet” and one “bitter” emotion between various crew members. (After confronting his unrequited feelings for Pin-Lee, Bharadwaj appears to be genuinely feeling better.) However, none of the Alliance-raised individuals appear to recognize the extent of the collective pressure they are exerting on the outsider within their community.
During this team-building activity, Gurathin discloses that he was formerly a Corporate Rim spy who was given addictive medications that they could only supply to keep him in line. Then, while on a mission to target her, he encountered Dr. Mensah, who adopted him and transformed his life. Despite the hazards, he went on this expedition because he admired her optimism about other people.
Team Murderbot, consisting of Mensah, Arada, and Ratthi, is grateful for the sentient construct’s help and hopes it will stay by their side. Suddenly, a giant two-ended centipede creature surfaces, forcing the team to return to the hopper. However, the creature is after more than just a meal and is attempting to mate with a member of its species from the opposite sex on the roof. Once the hopper stops rockin’ (don’t come a knockin’), they discover egg sacs hanging from the vehicle’s exterior.
Suddenly, a more advanced black SecUnity attacks, and the team struggles to help Murderbot and defeat the android. But, in an attempt to save its eggs, the centipede bites the bot’s head off. It (she?) retreats to the desert with its surviving eggs. Gurathin collapses, and the team must return him to their habitat medbay, which is likely swarming with enemies. Murderbot has a choice: protect them or stay behind.
Overall: Watch Murderbot (2025) “Complementary Species”
The tense, emotionally painful “Complementary Species” reminds us how scary the show’s titular character can be.
Despite a few minor criticisms, this is a concise and frequently emotionally honest 22-minute television program that examines the boundaries of attempting to reach an agreement and communicate with a mind that is preoccupied with only surviving. After all, when you have the time to process it, it’s great to express the bitter and the sweet. However, you cannot “get past the violence” while the violence is still occurring, as Mensah implores Seccy to do for the PresAux crew during a confrontation in the middle of an episode where all the cards are on the table.
In a less intelligent version of this show, one viewpoint would have surely already prevailed over the other, most likely with the space hippies winning over the heartless robot. However, this is much more exciting and suspenseful, and it will almost likely bring up a climax with more agonizing content than just bursting skulls or severed heads.
This episode is slow compared to others since it’s focused on character development. But it’s still worth watching.
Murderbot airs Fridays on Apple TV+.
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