#murderbot tag

The issue with that line of thinking is that they haven't managed to separate human from person. Because Murderbot is not a human, it is a construct. It see itself as a construct, it likes having its armor on, it likes having guns in its arms, it likes being strong and it doesn't like a lot of things it deems as "human" things. It's the team that wants to see Murderbot as a human rather than a person, and Murderbot can't be a human, not even if the crew repeats it over and over again.

Murderbot, obviously, is mostly frustrated that the team doesn't understand that violence is necessary here. It points out that Dr. Mensah was willing to kill a SecUnit, that's basically the same thing. Dr. Mensah... acquiesces but I wonder if she's truly grappled with the personhood of constructs. I say this, because, similarly to the previous episode ending on Leebeebee's decapitation, this episode ends on the decapitation of a SecUnit.

The difference being that Leebeebee's body was looked upon with horror and ongoing grief, but the SecUnit is looked upon as an eliminated threat. Or rather, it's barely even glanced at!

Whereas Leebeebee has remained a constant horror, that they've been replaying through their minds, delaying their own escape/safety as they think about her death and frustrating Murderbot when it just wants them to move onto the next self-preserving move, the SecUnit's death is forgettable.

When a human dies, they struggle to prioritize their immediate safety, because how could they? But when a SecUnit dies and, say, one of their crew faints, they are immediately prepared to prioritize his immediate safety.

For Murderbot, there is no difference between the death of a dangerous human or a dangerous construct. But for the humans, they have not yet grappled with this difference.

So they ascribe personhood to Murderbot, but they are not truly prepared for what it means to consider Murderbot, and associated constructs, a person. And Murderbot may be forced to wade through the consequences of this.

I also want to note this moment:

She's accusing Murderbot of not caring about the team, but, functionally, is enforcing the idea that humans are the priority (to be mourned, to be saved, to be sympathized with) and that Murderbot is solidly the outlier.

Because, look, we (meaning Preservation Alliance and accidentally implying humans) take care of each other! And you, Murderbot?

You kill people, including your own (meaning humans you should care about and accidentally implying constructs you're the same as).

What an amazing episode to show that the crew is not yet prepared to understand Murderbot! And Murderbot, despite how it will probably feel justified in thinking these humans are irrational, continues to deeply crave a chance to have... something. I'm sure it hasn't figured it out, yet. There's a reason why it showed its face when Mensah insisted. It didn't have to, but it chose to.

And to top this off, I'd like to acknowledge this bit I wrote yesterday:

i feel like the point about bharadwaj being attacked at the beginning of the show where it has to be asserted that “it wasn’t a monster, its just an animal doing what animals do” is interesting as well...

The animals make another appearance as well! Look at me, making well-timed observations. And this episode, the animals do what animals do. They fulfill their instincts and mate and lay eggs. And then, they protect their eggs from those that have harmed them, through what they've determined is the easiest route to safety, by killing and eliminating the threat.