Horny Or Evil? What Is Leebeebee Up To In ‘Murderbot’

AppleTV+’s Murderbot series just took its biggest departure from the novels in last week’s episode, “Rogue War Tracker Infinite,” when it introduced Pen15’s Anna Konkle as Leebeebee, a survivor of the DeltFall massacre. In the books, there were no survivors at the DeltFall encampment, so seeing Leebeebee emerge from the bushes likely made readers raise their eyebrows in surprise … or suspicion.

On the surface, she seems like a traumatized victim who is happy to be safe, and very happy to be in the company of Murderbot (relatable!). Her addition to the show paid off almost immediately when she attempted to plant a kiss on our deeply uncomfortable cyborg, but is she just here for comedic relief, or does her character have some other hidden agenda beyond seeing if SecUnits have genitals? I’m betting it’s a bit of both.

One thing the show has excelled at is lifting the story off the page, where it exists entirely from Murderbot’s POV, and letting the other characters do some of the heavy lifting. It’s helped cut down on some of the technobabble, but it means the show has had to find ways to explore the themes or hit plot points without relying solely on Murderbot to explain everything or figure it all out. In that respect, Leebeebee could simply be a fun foil to demonstrate just how uninterested Murderbot is in human relations (wink wink). The downside is that the show runs the risk of removing some of Murderbot’s own agency. Though its personality remains delightfully, sarcastically intact, it isn’t always the one pushing the plot forward, and I have a feeling Leebeebee was created to bring the threat of the mysterious third expedition crew closer to home.

That’s right — my money is on Leebeebee being a big horny spy, but oddly enough the reason I think so is because of a scene the show did lift from the book. Toward the end of the episode, when Mensah realizes that there was no sign of forced entry at DeltFall, she wonders if the DeltFall staff knew the intruders — otherwise, why let strangers in at all? “You’d do it, if another group of scientists showed up at the habitat, said that they had just had an equipment failure. You would let them right in, without asking any questions. Even if I told you not to,” Murderbot responds, in a speech that is close to verbatim from the novel. Mensah then speculates that whoever killed DeltFall actually pretended to be from PresAux, supposedly the only other team stationed on the planet, and Murderbot agrees, saying, “It’s what I would do.”

The scene goes down slightly differently in the book, of course. It’s a conversation between the whole PresAux team, not just Mensah and Murderbot, and also they haven’t just taken in some random stranger who says they’re from DeltFall. I love that this interaction I recognized from the source material took on a whole other meaning when played out in the show, all because of the unexpected addition of Leebeebee to the mix. It’s not something Mensah hypothetically would do, it’s something she literally just did. She opened her doors to a person just because they claimed to be part of the team she recognized.

If Leebeebee isn’t who she says she is, if she is in fact a member of some murderous third party, then plenty of other moments in the episode take on a different meaning as well. Leebeebee initially seemed fearful of Murderbot when Gurathin revealed that the SecUnit had hacked its governor module and had been rogue the whole time. Was she really scared it would go on a rampage, or was she trying to drum up fear to inspire the PresAux team to destroy Murderbot, leaving them vulnerable? Likewise, was she really just horny for Murderbot, or was she trying to get close to him to implant a new combat override module, or to find out just how rogue he really is and why he’s protecting his team if he doesn’t have to? All of the above, probably! She claims she was just a maintenance/cleaner at DeltFall, which is a great cover story if it’s fake: she can convincingly pretend she doesn’t know much about what DeltFall’s operations (which she wouldn’t, if she were an outsider) and ask lots of questions about PresAux’s emergency beacon, their only hope of rescue.

The episode ends on yet another cliffhanger, as the hopper carrying Mensah and Murderbot gets caught in the explosion that destroys that very same beacon. Did Leebeebee feed the location to the third party, or was it simply a coincidence? We’re only halfway through the season, so there’s plenty of time to unravel this new character and see where this deviation from the books takes the plot of the show. Or maybe she’s just here to kiss! I’m fine either way, really.