I'm not sure why I gave this episode 7/10… it's not that good. All the relationship drama is boring because I don't have any reason to care about the characters. Maybe I'm just happy to be on a starship, even if it is one rife with anachronistic references to our recent past.
(And I lied about not caring for the characters. Alara deserves everything and more!)
Can’t wait for The Orville’s new adventures...
... Well that sucked.
Talk about a boring drama heavy episode
[5.8/10] It feels weird to say, but I miss the days when Seth MacFarlane just did raunchy, free association style pop culture gags. I’m not going to say that Family Guy was the greatest show ever, but when it was pitching its fastball, it had a freeform comedy vibe that generated laughs, even if most of its stories were paper thin. I’ve soured somewhat on MacFarlane’s comedic stylings in the years since I was in high school, but you can feel his zany Airplane! influences on display in the show with its rapid-fire, anything goes gagwork.
Because the alternative is this, an episode where MacFarlane attempts to represent relatable human relationships in a funny and organic way and makes an utter hash of it. I’ve said before that I like The Orville best when it’s just initiating Star Trek, and the least when it’s trying to be a romantic comedy or, heaven forbid, a romantic melodrama. Sadly, this one is practically all romcom, with only Bortus’s Moclan pee ceremony to give it even a whiff of Trek wonder and exploration.
The rest of the episode tries to Love Actually its way through a series of different romantic entanglements with a vague anchor of the Space Prom that Bortus is hosting after his cultural rite is complete. Sadly, it’s about as successful as that abomination of a film in terms of representing how love and human relationships work.
The worst offender on that front is Captain Mercer himself. Just to be clear about what’s going on here, Mercer not only pressures his subordinate officer into rekindling a relationship with him, despite the fact that she’s made her wishes clear and has to report to him, but then he stalks her on a date and lies about it. It’s utterly despicable, making Mercer seem like a total, boundary-violating asshole. But we’re still supposed to like/sympathize/root for him because hE’s iN lOve.
Give me a break. I know that The Orville is trying to go for a Casablanca vibe, with MacFarlane fancying himself some modern day equivalent to Humphrey Bogart. But this behavior is totally unacceptable. I had truly thought this show turned a corner on that front at the end of last season, with Mercer realizing that whatever his feelings, it was inappropriate for him to date Grayson while he was captain of this ship, and being a real adult about it. Instead, here, he’s a creepy jerk, and it poisons the well even before the series sets up some hacky love triangle.
The gender politics of this storyline are just awful. God help me with the advice Mercer gives Cassius, to basically be a dope rather than someone who’s understanding and empathetic. It’s supposed to be a sign of maturity that Merer helps out his erstwhile romantic rival, but his advice is so retrograde that it doesn’t aid in making the captain seem like less of a self-centered manchild. Cassius, for his part, is in the wrong for trying to excuse Mercer’s behavior. As bad as it is to say, Grayson getting mad at him for his “calm down” comment is such a hoary trope. All of that is on top of the silly fact that we get a scene of a lovelorn Mercer looking through what looks like a J.Crew catalogue of him and Grayson together.
It just sets up a bad love triangle that I already have no interest in between Mercer, Grayson, and a dimestore Bradley Whitford. At best, the show is trying to slap Mercer together with the new dark matter cartographer (???) or, heaven forbid, Kitan.
Speaking of which, Kitan’s storyline is at least half-amusing. While I really hope the show isn’t trying to position her to get together with the captain, I like Bortus of all people trying to set her up on a date. I’m glad that Mike Henry is back as Dan the big-headed alien, and as corny as some of the humor is, the two of them together at least have comic chemistry with Dan’s utter awkwardness and Kitan’s polite toleration of it. Her totally fair takedown of his poem was particularly good, and you feel for her.
You vaguely feel for Malloy, with his reticence to ask out the new cartographer, but it doesn’t go anywhere. All we get is a lame scene in the simulator where Malloy’s lesson is...improvise (read: lie) to women when you have to. The gags about LaMarr two-timing a two-headed alien is pretty weak to boot.
That just leaves the one story I really did like, which was Dr. Finn dealing with her son having fallen under the influence of a bad kid. Like a lot of storylines on the show, the setup is pretty generic and cliché -- Marcus gets into trouble at the behest of his delinquent friend James. But the execution is endearing.
There’s some real conflict when James’s parents blame Marcus for hacking his way into a bottle of vodka when James was the real ringleader. It feels more real when both sets of parents are convinced that their kid is good-at-heart was simply swayed by a bad influence. We even get to see more of the unusual but heartening blended family that Isaac is drifting into with the Finns, when he proves (or at least suggests) Marcus’s innocence and James’s guilt, earning an “I love you” from Dr. Finn. I’m curious where they’re going to go with Dr. Finn and Isaac as a pairing, but it’s the only even quasi-romantic relationship on the show I’m even a little invested in or intrigued by.
Overall, this is a disappointing start to the new season, one that leads into the series’s unavailing romcom side, with the attendant array of cheesy tropes and failure to understand how real relationships should, let alone do, actually function. Hopefully the rest of the season leans more into the speculative fiction aspect of the show.
And they're back to give Discovery a run for its money!
Well, actually... This wasn't the best season opener ever (in fact, it was one of the weakest episodes, so far), and that last scene was soooo predicable, but I'm glad to be aboard the Orville, once more. And I'm also happy to be there for Bortus during such a special moment of his life. We all take peeing for granted, unaware of how unique and beautiful of an event relieving oneself can be.
It's great to see The Orville back but this episode was a bit to relationship heavy for my taste. When I read written and directed by MacFarlane I was worried a bit because his episodes weren't the best in season one to be honest.
But "The Great Release" - that is a hilarious idea to come up with.
Aaaannd, nobody thought to check any security cameras in the room where James meddled with the food synthesizers? There’s gotta be security cameras on this ship right? Not even a mention of James tampering with any cameras to not get caught? Come on.
The Orville is back (finally) and gave us what may be my favourite episode so far. That's odd, because nothing really happened in it as such. This was a pure character piece that juggled a lot of different plots and did it well. It's mostly made me realise how much I enjoy these people, and how fun just spending time in their lives is.
This was definitely a drama first, with comedy in the background. I like that arrangement, and I hope that the show continues in a similar fashion. I'm sure there are going to be mysteries, space battles and all sorts of thrills in later episodes, but for now this was a great re-introduction.
I'm really becoming a fan of the Claire/Isaac interactions.
I am a little surprised at the direction that Captain Mercer is going, he's not exactly presenting a good role model for the commander of a ship! I'm also disappointed that the Ed/Kelly relationship is still such a thing. It hasn't worked for me since the first episode, and I was hopeful that it was done with given the way season 1 ended.
Leave it to me to often find "filler" episodes the most enjoyable.
I really liked Jason Alexander in the bartender's role...couldn't even guess it was him. Just a crusty, mature edge to the character...kind of a cross between Humphrey Bogart and Robert Loggia perhaps, but he disappears into the role -- and, it's not the mask!
I want STAR TREK with a lot of funny and clever dialogue. This was DAYS OF OUR LIVES set in space, and mostly not funny..
Who needs Discovery when we can have this? The best Star Trek series currently out there.
And I was expecting Bortus to say something like "I can't pee when you're all looking at me."
I wait it for so long
This is a terrible season opener; a very weak and boring episode where virtually nothing of any plot consequence, or interest, happens except for Bortus urinating - a scene which, unsurprisingly, took less than two minutes. The situation between Marcus and James was the only saving grace, although even that was confusing as to why nobody (even Isaac, but perhaps he was deliberately not intervening for research purposes?) thought to check security camera footage or the logs as soon as it became clear that a serious conflict was occurring, just as @WillKatePatterson said in their comment. Isaac made this entire side story worthwhile as it helped to cement a really strong bond between himself and the Finn family. The love stories are just boring and irritating, with the exception of Alara's and Dann's 'date', which was mildly amusing. I'm glad that subsequent episodes returned to the previous fine form seen at the end of S1, because this one is the worst in the entire two seasons.
Relationship drama is the least appealing aspect of this show. Let me forget this first episode.
We return to this series that seems more Star Trek than Discovery itself. Parents who do not know their children and you have to be surrounded by friends for your "important acts"
man this show is lit!!!!!
It cracked the hell out of me laughing when Gordon went to speak to the new girl, and instead of talking to her, he goes in a circle! LOL XD
That was a good first episode tbh.
Really loved this episode. Gets better and better....
I thought him and Kelly were an item at the end of last season. I didn't expect her to pull this "but what if you have to sacrifice me and you refuse to" crap.
I want Malloy's jacket for my halloween costume
Shout by Brian O.VIP 10BlockedParent2018-12-31T16:02:24Z
"Level 10 is she's married and has a gun."
I love this show.