Murderbot TV: Spoilery Thoughts

Spoilers for Murderbot episode 5, Rogue War Tracker Infinite. If you do not wish to be spoiled, read no further. You have been warned.

I've loved the book series before I latched onto the TV adaptation, so I was vaguely recalling where the plot points were. I know that adaptions mess with the original narrative. So I was as surprised by a non-cannon character as the rest of the book addicts. Spoilers from this moment on.

Leebeebee is not in the books. She turns up as the crew finishes with the threats in Deltfall Camp, and is more or less adopted into the Presaux crew. Her manner is just... weird. Anomalous and offputting. So of course she's theory bait.

I have several, including one of the more popular ones:

She's Just Autistic

Her lines are delivered with a flat, nigh-monotone affect. She seems to have no idea how to interact properly with Presaux people. Talking about sex, violence, and trying to get other people to infodump, and attempting to hit on people.

Her -shall we say- socially awkward topics are disturbing under this theory because she's operating on Deltfall scripts.

Anyone who follows my daily tales would be familiar with a classification of Terran Colonies known as "Deregger Worlds". Where industry is entirely deregulated, profit rules above all, and women are generally property. Not nice places, to cover them with an understatement of epic proportions.

It's easy for me to assume that the Corporation Rim, and therefore Deltfall, have a similar philosophy. Leebeebee would be an object for the Deltfall crew. She may have even been used by the Deltfall crew. Judging by her speculative dialogue regarding Murderbot, she believes some highly unhealthy sex myths.

She's obviously traumatised by the Deltfall event, and doesn't want another SecUnit wandering around. Then her manner chances when she realises our main character is not your average SecUnit.

She tries to display warmth and intimacy to Murderbot. When that failed, she turned her attention to Gurathin. Neither effort worked, so it's going to be interesting to see if she picks another target... and who that might be.

She's a GreyCris Plant

As Murderbot points out, she has the perfect avenue for infiltration. She's pretending to be a Deltfall survivor in need of help. And the Presaux crew also simply let her in. She might have ways to give away her position to the Battlebots like the one that attacked Deltfall.

And it seems very unlikely that a laundress/maid to have survived when everyone else and their SecUnits were destroyed. The blood on her uniform looked as if she was wiping blood off her hands. Which meant that she had to be close to the massacre at some point.

She's immediately fascinated by Gurathin's data, peering over his shoulder and -perhaps- feigning ignorance. Perhaps looking for weaknesses in the Presaux security so she can signal GreyCris.

She's an Escaped Comfort Unit

You never know, someone might be into that. The infantile vocabulary, the autistic vibes, the sex speculation. Which could mean her name is a variation on L3B11B11 or Le Bébé - literally, "the baby".

She pronounces it "La Bee Bee" initially, then stresses the "LEE" later on. Hence the more accepted spelling of "Leebeebee".

As a ComfortUnit, all she knows is either sex or trying to be appealing to whoever has ownership of her. Like Murderbot, she could be a "cheap rental" and therefore misused, abused, and maltreated. It would be in her programming to attempt to appeal to the people around her. Perhaps, even selecting the most socially awkward people in her aura - Murderbot and Gurathin.

She could have been acting according to her programming, which might also be limited on purpose.

All this speculation might be moot. She could really be a maid hired to clean and tidy Deltfall because bots were more expensive. She could be someone plucked from the throng by Deltfall to do the stuff none of the professionals wanted to do. Then used and abused according to Deltfall society. She could be exactly what she says she is.

But I doubt it.