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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 think that is the implication from the pilot actually, that Mercer was always a really good captain who just became dispirited when his marriage fell apart. Now, we get a chance to see what the pilot was alluding to.

Now we have to wait for what happens when he finds out Kelly made this command possible. Regardless of her motives, he's going to be crushed, pissed, etc. I wonder if this is something they even plan to do in S1, possibly after more thawing between Ed and Kelly.
 
Now we have to wait for what happens when he finds out Kelly made this command possible. Regardless of her motives, he's going to be crushed, pissed, etc. I wonder if this is something they even plan to do in S1, possibly after more thawing between Ed and Kelly.

As I just added in my edited post, I think Kelly requested that he get the Orville to make up for what she did to him. She knows that he is a good captain and did not want her mistake to jeopardize his career.
 
As I just added in my edited post, I think Kelly requested that he get the Orville to make up for what she did to him. She knows that he is a good captain and did not want her mistake to jeopardize his career.

I think that's Kelly's motivation exactly, but how do you think Ed will react when he (inevitably) finds out? Sure, he will eventually settle down.
 
It was pretty much out-right said in the first episode that Ed was on his way to getting his own command when the divorce happened and he began slacking off.
 
I think this had a decidedly Get Smart feel to it as far as it being a comedy of errors where the powers that be send two bumblers in who just manage to get the job done.

So far I've counted three people in this thread so far who didn't like the humor. This show really polarizes people based on their underlying taste. Either they like it or they don't. I found that this episode by far had the BEST humor because it was situational rather than Seth throwing in obligatory dick-jokes. Now that I think of it, their terrible role-playing abilities and the way the people around them failed to get a clue remind me a bit of Bosom Buddies or Some Like it Hot. It works similar to a drag routine.

Now, it is difficult to handle the tonal shifts because humor in most cases short-circuits your empathy. If anything it asks you to laugh at the suffering of others (hence "black" comedy). So Seth attempts to have his cake and eat it too for Mercer to display mercy and empathy in what is essentially a "war is hell" or "Hatfield and the McCoys" parable while simultaneously running around like a goofy videogame.

In MASH, the rationalization was that they used humor as a defense mechanism to avoid emotional trauma. But in MASH it wasn't on the front-lines. They were indirectly exposed to warfare but rarely had to lift a gun and kill anybody themselves. That's not the case here.

Unlike, let's say, Get Smart, the bad guys are not intended to remain nothing but cardboard cutouts, but again, this is inconsistent. Here, they're at least somewhat humanized (although wrapped up in ISIS like brainwashing) whereas in the previous episode we had our bridge crew casually dispatch their ships like it was nothing but a videogame.

So while I like both halves of the show individually, I feel a little disoriented following the tonal shifts back and forth and back and forth. I really don't know if there's a way to make that feel more seamless. I think they're trying but it's still kind of jarring sometimes.
 
Really liked this one as well. Another four star outing.

While I liked the Avis jokes, the funniest thing about the episode was some of the looks Mercer gave Malloy. :lol:
 
[QUOTE="Tesophius, post: 12207863, member: 70276" I think Anhkana is a reference to the Ancient Egyptian word "Ankh" which was one of the key sacred symbols in that ancient society and there are theories that it inspired the Christian cross when the two religions coexisted in Alexandria,.[/QUOTE]

Really? More inspiring than the crucifixion cross?
 
Was an excellent episode really.

Enjoyed watching it. The ending was quite a surprise actually, probably very real however.
 
As I just added in my edited post, I think Kelly requested that he get the Orville to make up for what she did to him. She knows that he is a good captain and did not want her mistake to jeopardize his career.

I think that's Kelly's motivation exactly, but how do you think Ed will react when he (inevitably) finds out? Sure, he will eventually settle down.

I get this vibe from the show in which the women are more in charge than the men. Indeed, this sixth episode is the only one in which only men were leading the story. In all the others, Kelly, Alara and the doctor all played integral roles in story, and in the case of the fourth episode, Kelly outshone Mercer in her resolution and calm-headedness. I even speculated that Kelly is either secretly in charge, or maybe she would take Mercer's place at some point. It might be that MacFarlane is still becoming accustomed to acting in front of a camera: he doesn't convey a lot facially or physically, and that makes him seem weaker.
 
One thing I did notice the second viewing of this ep. The Admiral said that they had just captured the first functioning Krill shuttle, but weren't two Krill shuttles left befind on the research outpost in the pilot ep? I suppose the krill left on the planet could have taken them and ran.....
 
Not sure if it has been mentioned already, but it was funny when Isaac volunteered to have sexual relations with Alara. So he is fully functional?
 
Yet, MASH did it before with the tone back and forth.

Watch some of the first couple of seasons, and you have Hawkeye and Trapper serving as prop comedians, with gorilla suits, Sherlock Holmes outfit, and the like. And, within the same episode, you have them move in to the OR, with a crisis, or someone dying, or Hawkeye wrestling with the horror of war.

Maybe I'm too forgiving, but I think Orville does ok with it, for only 6 episodes in.
 
Well it's a good thing Malloy didn't ask Mercer if he wanted to see something real scary during their trip to Krill space.

I was sure that I was the only one who thought of the Twilight Zone movie during that scene.
It's nice to know I'm not alone.
 
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