Episode 483 – Fast Cars, Sad Bots, and a Super Meh Box Office

Looks Like Antarctica Wasn’t the Only Place Superman Crashed

This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are talking about the Super(Meh) Opening Weekend Box Office, the last 3 episodes of Murderbot season 1, and they review F1.

Episode Index

Intro: 0:07 Superman Box Office: 7:17 Murderbot: 17:00 F1: 35:55

Superman (2025) Box Office

Opening weekend performance: Domestic 3‑day sitting at ~$100–130 million Worldwide debut crossed $200 million Forecasts suggest long‑term haul could reach $1 billion if word‑of‑mouth holds

Overall sentiment: Some critics and audiences praised Corenswet’s optimistic Superman, slick humor, and DC’s tonal reset. Issues cite an overcrowded plot and CGI-heavy final act that didn’t fully capitalize on its potential.

Murderbot (AppleTV+)

Episodes Covered: 8 “Foreign Object”, 9 “All Systems Red”, 10 The Perimeter”

Highlights: Ep 8: Secrets revealed—Murderbot admits a shadowy past weaponizing its crew’s memories Summary: Murderbot accompanies the PresAux team back to the habitat. The recording of the security cameras shows that in their absence, more superior SecUnits and a representative of the hostile third party—now identified as GrayCris—visited the habitat and left an invitation to meet at a rendezvous point to negotiate terms for their survival. After a security check, the PresAux team take Gurathin to the medical bay. While Bharadwaj performs surgery on Gurathin’s leg, Murderbot plugs into his data port to turn off his sense of pain. The connection allows Gurathin to find out what it calls itself, and that the SecUnit was involved in the deaths of 57 clients, which Gurathin reveals to the group and condemns Murderbot for. Murderbot admits it’s not sure if it killed the clients or not and agrees with Gurathin’s assessment that it could be defective and dangerous, then it leaves the group to go out on its own. The PresAux team concludes that GrayCris is illegally pursuing the alien remnants and that they will liquidate them once they locate their whereabouts. After mulling over whether to abandon or betray its clients, Murderbot comes back and announces that it has a plan.

Ep 9: High-stakes deception! Murderbot fakes betrayal to take down GrayCris agents and saves Dr. Mensah in a cliffside showdown Summary: Murderbot puts a dangerous plan into motion, pretending to betray the PresAux team in order to leave the planet. While the team expresses doubts and tension rises, Murderbot keeps the true plan hidden: to have Gurathin hack into GrayCris’s HubSystem using a drone as a transponder and launch their emergency beacon. The ruse includes offering to help GrayCris capture the Preservation team in exchange for being listed as destroyed inventory. Murderbot stalls the enemy using awkward small talk and quotes from Sanctuary Moon, while the PresAux team manages the remote connection. As the plan begins to succeed, GrayCris prepares to torture Murderbot for the information they seek. Mensah intervenes and is caught in the crossfire. In the end, Murderbot shields her from the beacon’s launch blast, which kills the GrayCris team, nearly sacrificing itself. Before Murderbot’s systems fail, it quietly admits to itself that these humans have become its clients not just by contract, but by choice.

Ep 10 (Finale): An emotional farewell—post-rescue reprogramming, autonomy restored, and Murderbot walks away into an uncertain future Summary: As Murderbot’s systems reboot, Corporation Rim technicians delete its memory and install a new governor module. At the same time, the PresAux team negotiates with company representatives to find the SecUnit. They offer to buy it and threaten with a lawsuit, but the company refuses, telling them that its memory has been wiped anyway. So Pin-Lee files an injunction to seize Murderbot for evidentiary reasons, while Gurathin manages to retrieve the data that was downloaded during the memory wipe. He locates Murderbot’s personality files by searching Sanctuary Moon episodes. The team saves Murderbot from being destroyed, and Gurathin uploads its personality. It recognises that without its armour it looks like an augmented human. The team invites Murderbot to live as a free agent on their home planet. That night, Murderbot attempts to sneak away but is intercepted by Gurathin, who tries to make it feel welcome. Murderbot insists that it needs to check the perimeter. When Gurathin relents, Murderbot thanks him. Posing as a servant bot, it boards a transport ship that departs as Mensah awakens and realises that it has left.

Creators: Paul & Chris Weitz (writers, producers)  Directors: Episodes 8 & 9 by Aurora Guerrero & Roseanne Liang; Ep 10 by Paul Weitz  Rating: Episode 8-10 Out of 10 Murderbots Loose In the Worlds Darryl: 7.4/10 Brian: 7.79/10

Season 1 Out of 10, Who Knew a Novella About a Murder Robot