FinFan

That was the first episode that left me a bit disappointed because it felt like a step sideways. And no real twists or surprises. Everything just happens.

Maarva's death was to be expected, there has to be a reason for Andor to get back. The escape from Narkina 5 was too convinient, as they just stumble over those aliens and nothing about the other escapees. Yes, they asked the question at the end but it seemed rather to find a reason to seperate the two then really answer the question. Mon Mothma has to agree to Davo's terms to save herself. I wrote last week the scene between them felt like a deleted scene and now more so. They could have just added a line or two of dialogue to explain what happened there. Finally, Luthen's escape from the Empire works mostly because we are back to stupid minion officers who are probably glad they can put on an uniform in the morning. Oh, and Kyril wants to still get his hand on Andor as he blames him for his dilemma. I really thought the character would go deeper.

Sorry for the rambling but I am used to better writing from this show by now. Let's hope that the finale next week can shift up at least two gears.

This show is taking Star Wars more and more away from the fairy tale and to places that are uncomfortable. And I love it !

I was suspecting their is a mole inside the ISB but I did not see that angle. Luthen is willing to send fifty people to their death to let the ISB think they are still ahead. That's what Rebellion really means. Sacrifice. Everyone has to sacrifice for something they might never see. That's what fighting means. Awesome scene that also drops a rather interesting piece of information. Luthen said HE started this fifteen years ago. That would take it to about Episode III or just before. So, who is he ?! What's his connection ? Is there more to it or is it just useless dialogue ?

The prison escape was great, too. Not over the top and well filmed. I hope this wasn't the last we've seen of Kino as he really grew on me the last couple of episodes. I wonder how they will escape from the planet, thought.

The Mon Motha part seems kind of filler. I suspect she'll be forced to turn back to Davo for moving money. Even if she didn't like his terms. Which is why right now the scene feels like a dropped in deleted scene.

But hey, I'm always cursing when the credits roll in because I want to know how it's going to continue. And that's a good thing, right ?

Well, the fuse is lit and I expect there will be an explosion of sorts next week.

The tension and build up is again what keeps the ball rolling. You are given just enough to be on the edge yet don't get bored. The acting was really great. You could see the doubt rising in Kino about what will happen once you reach the end of your sentence. We saw a very dark side of Dedra interrogating Bix. And Syril is about to break (with that mother, who could blame him ?). He will be a major player in the story I think. And the result could be devastating.

We discover that Val is Mon's cousin. Not a huge surprise but I still found it interesting how the connections are revealed. I found the scene in the Senat Chamber with Mon especially depressing as it shows again a connection to our time. I'm not used seeing that from Star Wars but they are doing it right and I like that. And althought it was different in a way, it reminded me of Padmé speaking in that same Chambers:

"So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."

which I think is one of the best quotes out of Star Wars. And the scene now seems to be picking up on that liberty is now really dead.

I wonder when they will discover that they already have Andor in custody. Probably after the break. But it makes sense that in a system like the Empire such details get lost in the amount of information at hand. Althought I found the reference "he was shaven and had money and the rebels on Adhani were shaven, too" a bit ridiculous.

Without lots of action, without much of the popular Star Wars lore like the Force, Jedi, Lightsabers, this show delivers with every new episode.

It was very interesting to see that Mon Mothma was reluctant to delve fully into engaging the Empire in open Rebellion. We've never seen that side. I also like that they adressed that people are and will be dying like Luthen told her. It's not much of romantisizing. It's war. And the Empire responds the only way it knows how. By asserting even more power. By being predictable, thus playing into the Rebels hands.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Which at least some inside the Empire seem to understand while others still think of their position.

We also see the glimmer of hope from the people that things are about to change for the better when they hear off the attack on Aldhani. And althought Star Wars is not known for portraying contemporary problems within the story telling, I wonder if the similarities are just random.

I really interested how characters like Syril and Dedra will develop moving forward. Could they actually (well maybe one of them) end up with the Rebels ?

Oh, and the world building in this show is also great: Bureau of Standards. It's the Empire put in a single building and again something that reminds me of our present.

Politics, relationships, sex, jealousy, religion - I know I liked this show when I watched it ten years ago. But right now I'm bored out of my fragging mind.

And nothing makes sense here.

The mysterious cradle of mankind is just about two months of travel away. While that might have been a massive distance way back when, with FTL by now its pretty much around the corner and someone should have already gotten there by shear accident.

The fleet made what, about 250 light-jumps estimated? And that's very conservative given they made about 240 jumps in the first episode alone. And now Starbuck can jump right back to Caprica in a Cylon Raider. Didn't they say something a while back those things can not operate alone to far away from baseships?

And, talking about Starbuck - she's being told that Adama never knew about Earth, but also he did it to give them hope. It's inconcevible for me she acts like she did. She loves him like a father and has massive respect for him. She would understand why he did it.

I probably should stop my re-watch right here and preserve my memory of this being one hell of a show.

It is not a bad episode per se but, in hindsight, it is totally out of place. This episode was produced at the beginning of season five but then added at the end of season four and it makes zero sense. The didn't knew if they get a fifth season so they decided to end all threads. Fine by me. Why go back and add this episode to season four instead of season five ?

You can see the story presented here as proof that it doesn't matter what we do because the end will inevitably come or, that no matter what, we will always stand up a rebuild. Works both ways for me and it probably depends on wether you're an optimist or a pessimist. And the human that looks like a Vorlon could be interpreted as history repeating itself. Maybe the Vorlons came from the future and that's why Kosh knew everthing. Maybe it even was Kosh. Sinclair went to the past, too and pretty much, through his knowledge of events to unfold, made sure everything plays out like its supposed to be. Nice paradox, though.

I especially like when Delenn showed up and what she said about those "experts"

You do not wish to know .. anything. You wish only to speak. That which you know, you ignore, because it is inconvenient. That which you do not know, you invent.

That's the kind of lines I so loved on this show.

If that wasn't the finale then I wonder how on earth they are going to top this or what the story even could be next week.

The alliance between the Moclans and Krill makes sense but I really did laugh a bit when they tried their "women are inferior" act after being thrown out of the union for pretty much that reason. Guess some never learn.

The SFX in this episode was crazy but there is more then enough story parts to make this more then just a display of budget. They tackle the question of morality in using a WMD to commit genocide to your sworn enemy. Naturally there are two sides to the coin. And both are heard.

I guess we do know now why the introduced the character of Charlie as they needed a way to make the Kaylon see the error of their ways without sacrificing one of the main cast. And while that sacrifice makes logical sense inside the story, the emotional impact is, sadly, small. She was displayed too much unlikeable for me to attach to her. They tried to rectify that in this episode by having her sing with Gordon (which was admittingly a blast) but it was too little, too late. And even in this episode she was still generally opposed to Kaylons and harboured doubts the deserve to live, until her final actions. I'm sure it was meant to be her redemption but, like I said, it didn't touch me.

The whole attack on the Moclan installation had a massive Star Wars vibe for me (Death Star anyone ?). It was well done in terms of editing and flow together with the other parts of the story. That's high level film making. Btw. am I the only one who thinks Adrienne Palicki looks much too comfortable with a gun in her hand ;-)

Then there is the matter of Teleya. She actually got too little time in this episode if you'd ask me. I think that's what we will see next week - her triall and maybe a conclusion to what happens to her daughter.

Remember, a forth season is still not confirmed so some things need to be resolved. Even if we get another season it will probably be again a long wait.

I know it's not about the qaulity of a show when it comes to renewal. But I really hope to hear soon that next week won't be the last time we fly with "The Orville".

It's a very good episode but I wish it would have come at a later time. Maybe even next season. But with a fourth season still not confirmed and all but given I think they wanted to set some things straight.

At almost one and a half hours this is practically a double episode and I must say that this was the first time I thought it was a bit too long. The first half was OK. I was really dissapointed by Haveena's decisions. Her motives might've been honorable but I was totally with Ed when he told her what he thought about it. What follows was a predictable way the story unfolded. I'm not sure where they wanted to go with the hinted possible romance between Kelly and Bortus. Especially since they already threw a wrench in it at the end.

Everything really picks up at around the time when Gordon speaks up and calls out the Moclans for what they are. What follows are some powerfull scenes f.e. when Bortus adresses the Council as a father who's child has been abducted and tortured. Those were some hard to swallow scenes seeing Topa being tortured (kudos to Imani Pullum) and MacFarlane once again shows he's not shy to go there if it helps the plot. And I fully expected Bortus to turn around once again and kill the torturer but he didn't want his child to see him kill another.

We finally get the only logical conclusion that the Moclans are thrown out of the Union because everything else at this point would be a cheat. Going back to Gordon, I too am sick and tired of people doing bad things from a position of power and always getting away with it. (Take that sentence for what it is - I will not say anything more).

There is the surprise return of Clyden (I expected him back at some point but not so soon) but I think his change of heart is genuine and believable. Almost loosing your child can change your perspective. And he also makes peace with Kelly. Like I said - all this might've worked even better at some point in the future but who knows if there is one for the show. Now, with Clyden back that hinted thing between Bortus and Clyden makes even less sense.

And why haven't we learned about the "Traitor" on Moclus ? Is that supposed to be falling into background noise or will that be re-visited.

Couple of other notes:

Dolly Parton- it's amazing Seth pulled that of. In hindsight it seems like a given but I never would've thought she'd do it.

LaMarr's "Yeah, Sherlock" had me spill my drink. That was so delivered on point.

It's the character moments at the end that had me somewhere between smiling and, yes, tearing up. Any episode that achieves that is never a bad one in my book.

So, let me start with some critique: the whole Janisi story line was really bad. And, NO, not because it put women at the center. I don't mind that. But trying to build trust by lying or misleading. When did that ever work out ? The solution wasn't very good either. But Bortus had some cool one-liners.

What I liked was to see into the history of the Kaylon. Now, of course we already knew about all of this but finally seeing it was great. It might be a common theme in scifi, the cration overthrowing its master, but when you see the treatment of K1 you actually find more than a shred of understanding. I was surprised though they showed the killing of the children. Most shows wouldn't go there. Of course the Kaylon then made the false assumption that all biological lifeforms are like that - just like Charlie assumed all Kaylons are evil. But she finally beginns to understand that she's on the wrong side here. And not too soon I might add.

We also delve again into the relationship between Claire and Isaac, two of my favorite characters (to be honest, aside from Charlie there isn't one I didn't like). When the possibillity appeared that Isaac's emotion are there to stay I wasn't sure where I stood. At the moment it felt to easy that he could get them just like that. It felt convenient to introduce another Kaylon with emotions and that we just copy/paste it onto Isaac. But the scene between him and Claire was amazing. Marc is such a terrific actor and it's almost a shame he has to hide his face behind the helmet most of the time. How he switched from an emotinal state to full Kaylon in an instant was great. Now, for the sake of the character I'm glad he can't keep the emotions. It also gave us another great moment when he offered, for all intense and purposes, his life. Because that's what erasing all his memories stands for. He would not be Isaac any longer. That's the definition of love. And for the same reasons Claire rejects his offer. That's the type of stories I love to see. Those moments between characters.

The "stuff" between John and Talla was also cool and funny. Althought I thought the final scene between them was a tad to much.

Overall some weak spots and maybe a bit too much thrown into one episode. But even with those small points of critique it was another great episode.

When I read the title of this episode I'd hoped they revisit that story because that was one of my favorites.

I wasn't very high on time travel stories in the recent past (yes, I mean that show) and The Orville already did it's fair share of them,too. But this works for me as it is more about the morales involved anyway and not as time travel as a means to an end. It's a relatable subject (in the context of scifi of course) what happened to Gordon. He had no intention of changing the timeline, he just wanted a life after three years of waiting. And who of us wouldn't have done the same ? The weight of the decision to bring him back was immense and I like they picked up on that within this epsisode.

There were some weak parts, too. And by that I mean the whole b-plot with Charly and Isaac. Now, I love Isaac and it was a blast to see Marc Henry out of costume again. But after Charlie's explanation towards him her stock has hit rock bottom. She's blaming Issac for her own mistake. It's not his fault that she was afraid to tell her friend about her feelings. She probably wouldn't have done it anyway I'd say. Some may see that different but that's my take.

You can take something out of that at least: that you should never wait for tomorrow because it might never come.

Oh, and LaMar and Keyali - that was hinted a while back and I think it works.

Wish I could say the show ended on a high note. But it didn't.

Shatner's portrayal of what he thinks a woman, even a mentally ill one, behaves is shameful. We had male characters that were mentally ill and they still behaved in a somewhat dignified manner. But a woman becomes hysterical. Now this show, despite being progressive when it comes to the portrayal of women, sure still had its issues concerning just that. If they weren't Starfleet they were mostly light clad, there for romantic involvement by one of the cast. More often than not in the form of James Kirk. There were still remnants of sexism and patronizing and I don't know if the studio was to blame or the writers and producers.

And the story in general was also weak. It should have been easy to prove who is who as Lester doesn't posess Kirk's memories. Which is only slightly indicated by Spock and than dismised by saying those infos were public record. So how about one that isn't ? And at the end, when all hope is dwindling away, the change just happens to reverse itself.

And the last words we hear from this show are: "she could have had a life as rich as every other woman....if only she'd....."

What ?

Because in a way Dr Lester was right. We never saw a female Captain in this show. Officers, yes - scientists, of course. But no Captain or even an Admiral. Now that was to lay at the feet of studio execs, I know that.

After all it still was the 60's

A civilization, which planet is bursting at the seams from overpopulation, has abducted Kirk to harvest a rare disease from him. So that they can introduce it to their own population in order to solve their population problem.

OK, that's a good start. But really nothing else makes sense. Where did they get the plans for the Enterprise from ? And for that matter, why even build it in the first place ? They could beam Kirk down to the council chamber, take him prisoner and lock him up. They seem contempt to hold him there for the rest of his life - even if that wouldn't have been nessessary as we learn later. And in another variation of "Kirk and the Women" it's all centered around a beautiful young girl longing for Kirk to fall in love with her. Why ? She thought she was going to die anyway.

The fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself, or the father his daughter, shows their desperation. That's one of the strong points. And the diplomatic dialogue between Spock and Hodin was, unwillingy (?) funny.

But at the end the romance seems to be more important then finding another solution to Gideon's problem.

Best episode ever because lightsaber fight !

Seriously ?! It was in parts better but it couldn't save the show as a whole.

OK, I admit I was wrong and there was another match between them. And it was better then the first. But no stupid writing ? Why did Vader just leave Obi-Wan under the rocks ? He couldn't feel he was still alive ? Well, he couldn't feel him sneaking up behind him, couldn't he ? But he knew he was on the little ship. And if that is how it went down why didn't Obi-Wan just kill Vader right there? Could have saved the galaxy lots of trouble. He clearly had accepted that Anakin was gone, he even called him "Darth" (which by the way is wrong because that's a title, the name would be Vader). And they now established that the Empire, and Vader, knew all the time that Kenobi was alive and where he was.

Luke having no memory of being chased in the night by a lady with a crimson lightsaber ? OK, maybe it's one of those selected memory losses.

Reva standing on the surface of Tattoine after taking a lightsaber in her guts just mere hours before ? How is that not convinient writing ? And wanna bet we see her again? Maybe in a spin-off?

Qui-Gon appearing at the end was nice but ultimately useless. This final episode was just ticking up boxes to preserve canon but it also creates logical errors by doing so. And there was never any danger towards the characters.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but after watching what I had high hopes for, I can only say it would have been better it didn't happen.

Yeah, a little bit on the nose. I know they got away with a lot of things because they where using sci fi as a means to "talk" about certain issues. But in this episode they explicitly talk about South Asia and I'm surprised that got through. As it was a total no no to have that on a TV show back then.

The character of Nona was not very good. It would've helped to give her a less sexy outfit. And all the time when she was attacked by the villagers and holds the phaser - why not just use it ? She'd seen how it worked, how to operate it. But she had to die for the sake of the story so that war can break out. Which is also a bit thin that her death then brings a sworn pacifist like Tyree over the edge.

Would have liked to see more of the Klingons, some interaction with Kirk. Althought we had that before already in other episodes. And what was the reason for the Klingon intervention, anyway ? What was their endgame ?

The Mugato is cool, even thought it's just another guy in a suit. But I like the look.

Not going to lie, this was better than the previous episode. I still just want to make it through the end. And for a show I had high hopes for, that's a statement of disappointment.

The flashback with Obi-Wan and Anakin was really good but should have been in the movie in the first place. It would have explained more back than as it did today. Seeing Vader stomp through the hallways and holding of the transport was another great sequenz. Overall it's still nowhere near what could have been. Because of the writing...

When the Stormtroopers land and take position in front of the door, that's about as un-military as you can get. Line up for an enemy to maw you down. Is this overconfidence or stupidity ? If Reva could have just slice open the door with her Lightsaber than why not do so in the first place ? And when the door does open, Stormtroopers are dropping like flies and I counted three (!!!) "rebels" being killed, including Tala. And Reva stands just behind in the background. The revelation of her story was anything but a surprise, but it's another reminder that this show has the wrong title. And how many other force sensitive people did she kill or helped being killed to get back at Vader ? To avenge what he has done as Anakin ? Killing what was in your words your family for revenge ? Yeah, that totally makes her one of the good guys instantly. (Attention sarcasm)

But here is one thing I really have a beef with and it hasn't even directly to do with the story or show itself:

Why is Qui-Gon dead ?

He got punched in the gut by Maul's saber once. So did the Grand Inquisitor, and so did Reva. Apperently twice !!! And both are alive.

Right now, even another fight between Vader and Kenobi, which would at this point nake no sense, can't save this show.

The Orville is back! And it looks amazing. Although we maybe spend a little too much time looking at space docks and starships. But they compensated with additional runtime so I take it.

The story is again what this is about. It was great that they picked up on the fact that Isaac was re-instated and what that meant for the crew onboard. Althought I think they are all wrong about him. Yes, it's human to hate and they need a scapegoat. But Isaac did only follow his programming, he did what he was supposed to do just like your PC does what you tell him. But he then overcame his programming, choosing (!) to help defeat the Kaylons. He became more then his program.

The whole story is an analogy about online mobbing and how it can drive people to commit suicide. Claire's words toward Isaac at the end make that clear. It's great to see we still follow that formula and wrap the stories around real problems.

But despite the fact that Burke helped at the end, I still don't like her. That's probably what they wanted to achieve with the character. It would have been easy to make her come around and a part of me is glad the didn't take that road. But for her to get on my good side there will be a lot of redeeming involved.

The feminists of today must have a field day with this episode. And that is also my biggest critique. A genetically enhanced super-human needs a, from his perspective, weak woman to accomplish his goals. Lot's of things in this episode that make little sense. But I'm willing to sweep it under the carpet of the 60s TV landscape and way of storytelling.

Nobody knew back then knew that this would be the basis for the second Star Trek movie. If you discount that fact the episode itself is good but not great. Montalban is great (althought he is even better in the movie) and he displays the arrogance you would assume someone like Khan must have. What Khan definately is lacking is knowledge of people. He's dumdfounded that no one is willing to join him and can't understand the motivation behind it. He doesn't understand loyalty and how could he? Someone like him demands, he gives orders. He doesn't inspire his followers by example but rather by fear. And my guess is the writer wanted to show how you can defeat such a dictator. By building a united front against him. It's a bit of a romatic notion, but I'll take it.

This episode is among the best of the show's whole run.

Not only is it a thrilling cat-and-mouse game between the Enterprise and the Romulans. It shows their commander as much more than just a one-dimensional enemy. He wonders if everything he does makes sense. If there isn't a better way. But he can't escape his drilled in sense of duty. That alone would have make this story stand out. And even Kirk has it's moment showing a little doubt if his decisions are always right. It's basically the question if war is always unavoidable given certain cirsumsatnces, or if it isn't better to avoid it and search for other solutions.

We also have the character of Stiles who openly hates Romulans because his anchestors dies in the war at their hands. When he learns their is a connection to the Vulcans his hatred reflects upon Spock. Stiles only comes around when Spock saves his life despite everything. Yes, it's very on the nose. But for a TV show in the 60s, openly showing that form of bigotry, is exceptional and a reason for Star Trek popularity to this day.

The drama of the young couple supposed to get married at the beginning, with one of them being killed in the line of duty, looses a bit of impact under the weight of everything else. But it leaves us with a final word from Kirk:

"There's always a price to pay"

I needed some time to think about what this episode in the end was. For the most part it was what I expected. Putting everything together in a hurry to get to the finale and trying to explain everthing more or less satisfactory. But it did also something no Star Trek episode or movie did for a very long time: it genuinely surprised me with a plot twist I did not see coming and I thought was really great. That came about half way into to an otherwise rather uninteresting episode.

The Europa Mission plot was solved within minutes and seemed at this point like an afterthought. It was completely clear it wasn't Reneé that came out of the room. Talinn's talk with Reneé and her death scene felt empty for me.

The most brilliant scientist on earth doesn't even have a backup of all his life's work ? C'mon - really ? And then he pulls out the Khan file. I hope it's not a pre-cursor for season three. Because Khan doesn't work without Kirk.

And then came Wes. And that was amazing how they incorporated the whole thing with him and the Travelers into everything, including TOS. And I wonder how they can do that and at the same time come up with episodes like pseudo-Mulder who did zilch for the story. But why does a Traveler need a transporter I wonder ??

The next thing was another talk with Seven and Raffi that really pulled things down again. I'd rather had them continue with the scene where Q finally explains to Picard his motives. That was a great dialogue that raises many questions not so much about Picard than about Q. And I for one was more sad to see him go then for what Picard went through. While I like the fact that he learned to accept himself the way he his and be open for others in his life, I still don't like it needed a mentally ill mother who commited suicide in his past.

The rest of the episode I could've lived without. I am not even mentioning Rios because what happened to him was obvious probably since the middle of the season. Likewise who the Borgqueen on the Stargazer was. Althought you could write a dissertation about all the paradoxons needing to happen for this to take place. And the big Galactic Event was something that felt like added in post. Hey , let's have some galaxy threatening event at the end. Didn't Q just say "why does it always have to be the fate of the universe ?"

Summary: Give me a 2+ hour made for streaming release movie with all the essential parts of the story, leave all the rest along the wayside and I probably would have sung high praise. But there was so much going on I couldn't care less about that overshadowed the few parts I really liked.

Like always this is my personal point of view. I'm happy for everyone who liked it. Because Star Trek is about tolerance.