Wow, what a deep emotional rollercoaster this episode was! From the outset, it tackled the conflicting perspectives of survivors of the Kaylon War in a truly powerful and amazing way. The smattering of action/showcase scenes - the opening battle scene, the refitted Orville, the Pterodon and the close-up scenes of Malloy in the cockpit which put me in mind of Star Wars pilots in their X-Wings, the surprise Kaylon attack later in the episode - helped to ease the weight of the psychological elements. That last one (the Kaylon attack) was fab for demonstrating just what a strong, top-calibre captain Mercer can be, when he isn't being an obnoxious creep about the whole Kelly love quagmire. It was a clever solution to a situation that would otherwise have been a bit of a Kobayashi Maru moment. Ultimately though, in the context of this episode, all of that was was a sideshow because the psychological aftermath of the war was the real focus. I actually got teary over a few scenes, particularly Claire telling Ty not to use the holodeck (oops, "simulator") to recreate dead people because it hinders the grieving process, but then using it herself to recreate her "happy place" that she shared with Isaac - which was a brilliantly-directed and acted scene. I even almost welled up for Isaac (for the first time ever) when he was clearly gut-punched by the level of hatred and loathing from the rest of the crew, especially Marcus, with whom he was very close. I thought they may do a tearful "I'm so sorry" thing between Marcus and Isaac (obviously no tears from Isaac) at the end, but I'm relieved that they didn't, as it would have been incongruent with Marcus' behaviour. What they did do allowed Marcus to maintain his cool-boy image whilst also visually conveying everything necessary. Perhaps he will apologise directly to Isaac off-screen, perhaps he won't; it matters not for now. A truly awesome start to season 3 in every way, with absolutely no bad jokes/acting from anyone.
Review by TygerboiBlockedParent2023-08-12T19:09:35Z
Wow, what a deep emotional rollercoaster this episode was! From the outset, it tackled the conflicting perspectives of survivors of the Kaylon War in a truly powerful and amazing way. The smattering of action/showcase scenes - the opening battle scene, the refitted Orville, the Pterodon and the close-up scenes of Malloy in the cockpit which put me in mind of Star Wars pilots in their X-Wings, the surprise Kaylon attack later in the episode - helped to ease the weight of the psychological elements. That last one (the Kaylon attack) was fab for demonstrating just what a strong, top-calibre captain Mercer can be, when he isn't being an obnoxious creep about the whole Kelly love quagmire. It was a clever solution to a situation that would otherwise have been a bit of a Kobayashi Maru moment. Ultimately though, in the context of this episode, all of that was was a sideshow because the psychological aftermath of the war was the real focus. I actually got teary over a few scenes, particularly Claire telling Ty not to use the holodeck (oops, "simulator") to recreate dead people because it hinders the grieving process, but then using it herself to recreate her "happy place" that she shared with Isaac - which was a brilliantly-directed and acted scene. I even almost welled up for Isaac (for the first time ever) when he was clearly gut-punched by the level of hatred and loathing from the rest of the crew, especially Marcus, with whom he was very close. I thought they may do a tearful "I'm so sorry" thing between Marcus and Isaac (obviously no tears from Isaac) at the end, but I'm relieved that they didn't, as it would have been incongruent with Marcus' behaviour. What they did do allowed Marcus to maintain his cool-boy image whilst also visually conveying everything necessary. Perhaps he will apologise directly to Isaac off-screen, perhaps he won't; it matters not for now. A truly awesome start to season 3 in every way, with absolutely no bad jokes/acting from anyone.