OOOOOOO. The episodes just keep getting better!

The show still has a wonderful pulp-action-serial feeling, and both this week's parallel storylines were really tense, cutting back and forth between Mensah and MB in the crashed shuttle, and everyone else dealing with an increasingly unhinged Leebeebee back at the habitat.

Gurathin's reactions to Leebeebee are honestly delightful (his FACE at some of the things she says! also his reaction to Bharadwaj inviting her to come back with them!) and I love how he very obviously twigs to Leebeebee being completely Not On Their Side and starts trying to put the brakes on giving her even more access to them and their stuff before she pulls the gun on them.

In general, this episode really showcased how differently he thinks than the native Preservationers and that was just fascinating, from his deadpan "Debt" about how Preservation as a society functions (I feel like Gurathin as an outsider is probably more aware that Preservation's independent existence is a bit precarious, as opposed to the native Preservationers for whom things are just how things are and don't really question it), to being far less willing to trust or open up to Leebeebee - justifiably, as it turned out in her case.

I also just need to point out that it wasn't Leebeebee shooting him in the leg that made him capitulate and agree to do what she's demanding; it was when she told him she'd start shooting his friends next.

Meanwhile over on the Murderbot and Mensah side of things, I am really delighted with how subtle yet clear the show has been with MB's slow relaxing and opening up to Mensah. MB is still awkward, but it's visibly more relaxed and natural and more "itself" when interacting with her in this episode. And Mensah gets to see MB's ridiculous nerdy side. "Sanctuary FUCKING Moon?" Perfect line delivery, A+++. xD And also the two of them helping each other, and pushing out of their respective comfort zones, and cooperating to get each other working again, and the shuttle working again, was just really satisfying.

(Murderbot cursing itself for having deleted the manual to make space for TV shows! HONEY.)

But then at the end, the humans and Murderbot slam directly into the uncanny valley of difference between them - because it *isn't* like them, and now they all have to deal with having that brought home to them in an extremely violent way.

Also, wow, did Leebeebee ever pick the wrong human to take hostage. I mean, MB would probably have done more or less exactly what it did regardless of whose head she had a gun pressed to - it might have had more trouble with Mensah - but Leebeebee picked the one that wasn't going to cause it an instant of hesitation. I assume Murderbot's matter-of-fact execution of Leebeebee is what's going to lead into

book/trailer spoilers

Gurathin telling everyone that it calls itself Murderbot and honestly .... I can see why! Like. As well as killing Leebeebee, it made it clear that it didn't particularly care if it killed him too, and this is in a situation when he's hurt and traumatized and covered in someone else's blood. Revealing its secret name for itself is not only a relatively small thing under the circumstances, but from his point of view, completely justified in protecting his friends from a rogue SecUnit that very clearly does not mind killing people. (Not to say that this doesn't come across as a betrayal from SecUnit's point of view, but it feels like he's been given ample setup for doing it.)

I am really curious what the last two episodes have in store! I know the very broadest strokes of it, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it happens.

Also, this is just complete speculation now, but

some book spoilers

the show has signposted clearly enough that Gurathin is narratively Important (he's probably the ... triteuroganist, I guess? after MB and Mensah) that I wouldn't be surprised if Gurathin and his corporate trauma come into play somehow in MB leaving the group - I'm kind of vaguely speculating that he is aware of it leaving and chooses to let it go without telling anyone, or facilitates it leaving; anyway, I halfway expect the show to give us some kind of closure on Gurathin and MB, because it's done too much with them so far not to.

Edit: Also a spoilery thing about show vs trailer.

It's really fascinating to me how differently that brief exchange with Gurathin's "You could have killed me!" and Murderbot's "It's a chance I was willing to take." plays out in the show vs. the trailer.

In the trailer, out of context, it reads like a brief action-movie quippy scene and gives you an idea of the show as a light, funny comedy-drama. (Which it is to an extent.) But the actual scene is just - really heavy and not at all funny, actually, except in a very bleakly funny way, when you've seen everything leading up to it so we know that Gurathin is injured and traumatized, in a room full of scared, traumatized people; we saw him trying not to cry earlier because he thought his friend was dead, and we know just how terrified he is; we know that what Murderbot just shot off him wasn't some kind of alien monster (which I think is a reasonable assumption just based on the trailer; it was certainly mine) but rather, a human being whose head it just blew off and covered everyone in the vicinity in gore.

In context, it's really not a quip, Murderbot is completely serious (it was okay with a risk of him dying to take out the threat) and it's a really cold thing to say to a shocky, traumatized person, actually! Not that it's out of character for Murderbot to say it, but it's fascinating how differently all of that reads when you have the full context.