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THE ORVILLE - S1, E6: "KRILL"

Rate the episode:

  • ***** Excellent

    Votes: 29 33.7%
  • ****

    Votes: 42 48.8%
  • ***

    Votes: 10 11.6%
  • **

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • * Where is the garbage?

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • Total voters
    86
I dislike the whole notion that Alara intimidates all her boyfriends' masculinity. It feels really outdated not even in the future of the Orville but even in our world today. It's hard to believe that such an attractive and nice person would turn away so many suitors just because of their chauvinism. Then again, some of the things you see people say and do these days are pretty backwards it seems...

Hell, you'd think some would seek her out BECAUSE of her being stronger/more powerful. Some guys like that kind of stuff!
 
I dislike the whole notion that Alara intimidates all her boyfriends' masculinity. It feels really outdated not even in the future of the Orville but even in our world today. It's hard to believe that such an attractive and nice person would turn away so many suitors just because of their chauvinism. Then again, some of the things you see people say and do these days are pretty backwards it seems...
It really is only the 1 boyfriend though, & frankly it's kind of a throwaway subplot anyhow, just something to bring up in casual conversation. I'm not taking it too much to heart, therefore it doesn't bother me much. I'd be more interested to see if Yaphit lands a lady friend on the crew lol

I did like that Isaac was just hanging around the dinner table with everyone for no reason other than to observe, & that Alara had to let him down delicately :lol:
(there's absolutely no reason, at all, why someone living in the 25th century would know about a 20/21st century rental-car company that most people TODAY probably are barely aware of)
Well, there is one reason... because they do. It's that simple really. They have chosen to know about it for some reason. It's a period in history that holds interest for them, much like I can still see dudes dressed like Wyatt Earp in Texas, & visit whole towns that are kept looking how they did 150 years ago

Ultimately, the show wants to be relevant to its viewers, who live in the 20th/21st. So we need to suspend a little disbelief, & just accept that they reflect on this time in history as influential. I mean if they routinely watch Seinfeld, Friends, & The Muppet Show, why wouldn't they know about the car rental companies that advertised during those shows?

I'm still liking this show. This week didn't wow me as much as the bioship one, but it kept me interested, & did as good a job. Honestly, what Ed did here is going to be seen as very devious by the Krill, & not nearly as blundering & unintentional as it actually was. However, I kind of missed the rest of the crew more than I would on a Star Trek episode that would isolate 2 of the cast for an episode. I like their group dynamic a lot now, & feel like something is missing when we get away from it. Just my personal preference though
 
I like to think the references are being "universally translated" for the audience. For example, when Mercer makes a joke about Rebo and Zooty, we hear a joke about Murtaugh and Riggs.
 
I liked this ep, I was slightly dissapointed that the Krill were so "One Demensional" I thought it might have been interesting if they had met Krill on the ship that were just "regular guys" like them, and managed to sneak off the ship with their help, but I understand in the context of the show why they didn't choose this route. I'll admit, I actually thought Mercer and Gordon were going to get caught when their holo-emitters failed in the "Chapel". It was pretty neat seeing what I presume was a Union Heavy Cruiser. I wonder if all crews are as laid back as the Orville crew? maybe life is much less stressful and cheerful, so people just come across as more chill and lighthearted compared to us now.......man, wouldn't that be nice.
 
So was this episode a commentary on religious fanaticism? I don't mean Islam in particular. It talked about holy wars, what we would refer to as jihad or crusades in our history books. But I do remember Seth MacFarlane stating that he would like to use science fiction as a medium to send a particular message to the viewers, not just to entertain. I don't remember his exact words; I'll have to look it up.

Not a bad episode, except it could have been better if Ed and Gordon had used their time on the Krill ship to "educate" the children a little more about humans and show them a different perspective. Then again, their mission was not of diplomacy or cultural understanding; it was espionage that also led to sabotage. The theme of the children's presence aboard the ship was not necessary if the whole plot was about a covert mission behind enemy lines.
 
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I thought it might have been interesting if they had met Krill on the ship that were just "regular guys" like them, and managed to sneak off the ship with their help, but I understand in the context of the show why they didn't choose this route.
That would've been an interesting approach. The Krill definitely played it straight though, I guess maybe they don't want to undermine their credibility.

It was pretty neat seeing what I presume was a Union Heavy Cruiser.
Leviathan class per Seth's twitter, though he wasn't 100% sure if that was it.

I wonder if all crews are as laid back as the Orville crew?
Even on the Krill ship the crew seemed to be able to interact pretty freely with the captain and chaplain.
 
This is the first episode so far not written by Macfarlane. It was written by former ENT writer David Goodman. David used to post on this bbs, don't know if he is still active or not. If you are reading this DG, then good job :)

Either Ed and Gordon are experts in Krill language or the UT is really good. They could even understand the written stuff.

A little too many avis/car rental jokes.

I don't know who Bret Easton Ellis is but he got roasted.

Seems like no new episode next week.
 
So was this episode a commentary on religious fanaticism? I don't mean Islam in particular.

I'd say it definitely was, and I think it's pretty clear that radical Islam was the target. There were too many parallels with (radical) Islam for it to be a coincidence. To be frank, I was surprised at how blatant the references were!
 
The Krill are like the Imperium of Warhammer 40K. Mixing religion, space travel and war together and seeing non Krills as soulless.
 
Why didn't Mercer just steal the whole book? Taking pictures like he did of each page one by one of such a large book would be very time consuming and a very inefficient way of completing the mission. It would have been better to just take the whole book, sneak back on board a Krill shuttle and escape as fast as possible. It would just look like 2 odd acting Krill stole the Krill Bible for some unknown reason. It would be suspicious but there would be no concrete proof that it was a Union operation.

Mercer's solution was very ingenious but why not just try to sabotage the weapon instead? The Krill would probably just chalk up any malfunction to the weapon being a prototype still in development.

I did appreciate that the episode did not take the easy way out. TNG probably would have had Troi or Picard give a speech to one of the Krill children. And, we probably would have gotten a final scene where that one Krill boy is looking at Earth through his telescope, hinting to the audience that one Krill is starting to change their mind. Instead, we got an interesting ethical dilemma where Mercer trying to do the right thing by human ethical standards, destroying the weapon but not killing the children, actually ends up making the Krill hate the Union even more.

But overall, a good episode that gave us more insight into the Krill, gave us an interesting moral problem and inject some good humorous moments as well. I am starting to really like the orville universe.

Oh and the shot of the Orville next to the huge Union flag ship, made me thing of a baby animal next to its mother. Too cute.
 
Anyone have a screen shot of that Union heavy cruiser?

Oh, if this were Trek and I were nitpicky I'd wonder why no one on the Admiral' s not doubt huge crew was better experienced to undertake a covert operation than Ed. ;)

Nice continuity touch there, BTW, to credit Isaac with building the mobile version of the holographic imager he back-engineered in "Command Performance." This show keeps the continuity concerns at a nice, reasonable level. :)
 
Overall, I thought this was a solid episode, with a good balance of plot and humor. The show might be improving. It hasn't really hit "great" territory yet, but it's early yet so there is a chance.

...I did appreciate that the episode did not take the easy way out. TNG probably would have had Troi or Picard give a speech to one of the Krill children. And, we probably would have gotten a final scene where that one Krill boy is looking at Earth through his telescope, hinting to the audience that one Krill is starting to change their mind. Instead, we got an interesting ethical dilemma where Mercer trying to do the right thing by human ethical standards, destroying the weapon but not killing the children, actually ends up making the Krill hate the Union even more...

This bit with the children possibly hating the Union actually reminded me of an element of the DS9 episode "Defiant". The moment is when Sisko and Dukat are discussing tracking the stolen Defiant and Dukat starts talking about missing out on taking his son to the (very Cardassian-sounding) "amusement center" and how his son will not understand. Sisko says that as fathers they should hope that in time, as their children age, they will be able to look back with understanding that their father's had important jobs to do to keep everyone safe. Dukat replies that his son won't look back with understanding but with hatred for Starfleet and the actions of the Starfleet officers who kept his father away from him on his birthday.
 
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