THE ORVILLE S1, E9: "CUPID'S DAGGER"

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Serveaux, Nov 8, 2017.

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Rate the episode:

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  2. ****

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  3. ***

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  5. * Fear the banana

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  1. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure if he was infected. It was suggested that he was a carrier but if he was affected it didn't show in the same way as he wasn't too distracted to do his job and seemed to be carrying on as normal after his night with Claire.
     
  2. eschaton

    eschaton Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Indeed, there was a whole episode of Voyager about just this subject. Tom Paris turned down B'lanna when she was somehow under the influence of Vorik's pon farr.

    I'm not sure I agree that Yaphit was a rapist, because even if you argue that he should have known from her state of mind, a gelatinous entity might not think through things identically to us. Darulio definitely is though, and I find it shocking that anyone would defend his actions. If you have sex with someone who is drunk or intoxicated in the U.S., you can be charged with rape (even if you are also drunk or intoxicated). Given Darulio knew the effect his chemicals would have on the people around him, it was like purposefully getting a woman stumbling drunk so that you can screw her.
     
  3. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    It didn't seem to me Yaphit was effected, he could carry the pheromone without being affected by it. Were he affected by it he would've fallen in love with ARL just as Kelly and Ed had. But he was able to carry it and transfer it to the doctor (and somehow in the process his body made the pheromone his "own" so the doctor fell for Yaphit instead of the original owner of the pheromone, ARL.)
     
  4. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Could we talk about Kirk raping Rand for a while? Or something?

    Nick Wanserski has been doing pretty observant reviews of The Orville over at AV Club - I don't agree with all of his thinking, I'm a much bigger fan boy for the show than he is - and he has a good one about this episode.

    Where was Darulio coming from? Well, I think he's actually from Planet Los Angeles, and Rob Lowe's casting was inspired in that regard.
     
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  5. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Especially in light of the current news cycle of men using their power to commit sexual harassment and assault, I found this episode gross and unwatchable. Just about the only decent thing about the episode was the running gag about the elevator music.
     
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  6. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Something I forgot to mention earlier, I found it totally awesome they thought up a convoluted means of using their shields to create a barrier between the two fleets, but were unable to implement the plan all because Yaphit never made it to engineering in time.
    You talking about the ones in the purple robes? They kind of reminded me of Time Lords from Doctor Who. The robes especially.
    Now that is a messed up episode. Chakotay and Tuvok keep telling Tom he has to take sexual advantage of B'Ellanna for her own good. Which as it turns out, he didn't have to in the end after all.
     
  7. Salinga

    Salinga Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I simply dont give a f*ck about these relationship issues between Mercer and Kelly - this gag is a dead horse beaten to death weeks ago. Plus the Doc behaved like an asshole. This episode annoyed me as hell and I stopped watching after 15 minutes or so, because I had better things to do with my life.
     
  8. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I think so. The robes were sporting blue and green gems. I got a B5 G'Har vibe too from both their dress.

    I feel like we're all doing the parable of the blind men describing the elephant. :lol:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
     
  9. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    I think that's what makes the episode so hard to digest, it's one they probably should have delayed given all of the news the last few weeks. It's like in the past when there's been a terrorist act or mass shooting some crime-show on TV postpones an episode that dealt with similar subject matter. If there wasn't so much BS about sexual power abuse coming out right now the episode probably would've went down easier.
     
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  10. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    At what point? Finn was all over the map. :lol:

    I thought that, as is often the case, Grayson was the most interesting character in the story. She's the one who got something, however unsatisfying, out of the encounter with Darulio. Mercer's shtick is simply to go on being angry about the affair (or, this week, to be thoughtlessly euphoric); Kelly has something like an internal life. She's processing.
     
  11. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    The writers don't see it as rape even though it clearly is. The writers see it as no different than what happened in Fascination.

    I don't think Yaphet had any serious reason to think that Finn was inebriated though. Blue Cosby is the one who did anything wrong intentionally.
     
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  12. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It doesn't just make him more attractive to people though, it makes people fall in love with him. The big difference here would be Ed's situation, if it just made them more attractive then he probably wouldn't have been affected, but the pheromones actually made fall in love with him to the point that he was ignoring his mission.
    I doubt the people who make those kind of decisions were aware of enough of the that interpretation of what was going on to make that kind of a do that.
    I was thinking before that I didn't notice it myself, but thinking backing there were a few times where it was making me uncomfortable and I'm thinking now that I did kind of pick up on the questionable aspects of it without realizing it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2017
  13. cylkoth

    cylkoth Commodore Commodore

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    Not necessarily...Stargate Atlantis gave us Luscious Lavin, neer do well con man who while using an exotic herb had an entire village enthralled, where he had relations with the women folk. In what was presented as a light hearted comedy episode... We were pretty queasy over that back then as well. :barf2:
     
  14. SAndrews10

    SAndrews10 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I can't remember the last time I laughed so consistently at a show. I can understand people's issues\concerns with the thematic issues viewed through the eyes of today's news cycles. I guess I just viewed it through the eyes of the 25th century setting and the silly love drunk episodes Trek has done and I didn't give it a second thought
     
  15. Gryffindorian

    Gryffindorian Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I believe the words Ed used are "Bang or be banged." :lol: Rob Lowe was one of my crushes when I was growing up, so if I were to meet an alien guy like him, pheromones or no pheromones, I'd say, hell yeah!

    I don't think Malloy was repulsed when he observed that Ed might be having romantic inclinations toward Rob Lowe's character. He was confused, and Ed's response was that it didn't matter and there was no need for labels.
     
  16. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I really love this show. This episode had us all howling with laughter, and I'm genuinely glad to see this show on the air. It's the first show in a long time that has me really looking forward to it week after week.

    Bortus and the Karaoke scene... classic! :lol:
     
  17. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    Yeah I don't get why there are several people here trying to make Malloy out to be a Homophobe, He just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that after one meeting with the guy, Ed went from hating this guy for banging his ex wife, to developing a pretty obvious crush on him, Something tells me Malloy is a pretty free spirit in his own right
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2017
  18. Turd Ferguson

    Turd Ferguson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That's the feeling I got too, from the "whatever makes you happy," line. He was just confused as to why Ed was excited about going to go for drinks with the guy who his wife cheated on him with (even wearing *gasp* COLOGNE! :lol: )

    The guy in the elevator was cracking me up, and my girlfriend even mentioned "Is riding in the elevator this guy's job?" just before Kelly asked him the exact same question :lol:

    The Orville is a wonderful show with characters I love. It is one of my TV-viewing highlights of the week and while I figured it would be funny when I first heard about it, it has grown on me in ways I couldn't have imagined.
     
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  19. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    If we can't laugh at our deepest fears & pain, then of what use is laughter at all? I think the only reason comedy ever even existed is to take things we might otherwise find soul crushing & ease our suffering about them. There's a word for that. It's called healing. Comedy is salve for the soul. You're supposed to rub salve on places that hurt. Anyone who can do that is a shaman, IMHO, & it'll be a sad day when people no longer recognize that, maybe the end of a world worth living in

    That said... while I like this show, that episode was pretty lame. It's got MacFarlane's ham-fisted fingerprints all over it. Next week's looks SO much better, but to somehow associate this goofy, half-assed plot with the current sexual misconduct coming to light is a major stretch. The character is not predatory. The outcome is unintentional, & it's an uncontrollable physiological condition. About the worst you can say is he's blasé about it, which could just be acquiescence, or an uncontrollable response that's part of the condition. All they did was gender swap TNG's The Perfect Mate for parody. Forgive me saying so, but anyone offended by that might need some thicker skin
     
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  20. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Oh, this episode was hilarious from start to finish. :rommie: I think it was the single most well-integrated story in terms of the comedy. Nothing seemed forced, for a change. I knew that the Blue Guy would have to show up eventually, and I figured it would be kind of a drag, but this just cracked me up-- apparently these Blue People are descended from Bonobo-like primates. "It's considered impolite to refuse sex." :rommie: The character of the Blue Guy was quite well done-- just kind of easygoing, taking his effect on people for granted, and helping out in the end when he realized he had caused a problem. Where I had once dreaded his appearance, I'm now kind of hoping he'll come back. Excuse me while I go pluck my eyebrows.

    And Claire and Yaphit having sex-- that was a sight to see. :eek: :rommie: That actually didn't quite work out how I expected or wanted. I figured that Claire's brush with death would make him realize how he really felt and he'd change his approach. And maybe that's what happened and they just didn't say so. In any case, the cool thing is that he is sincere and I wonder how this encounter might change their dynamic in the future. It was be interesting to see an inter-species romance where one party is non-humanoid. Also, I like sexy Claire-- she's just as hot as she was on DS9.

    I also like how Kitan really rose to the occasion when both of the top officers (and CMO) were compromised. And it wasn't the first time, either. Ostensibly, it was Bortus who was in command, but she was the one who put everything together and took charge.

    Also, we once again had some really cool alien races hanging around. Once again this show out-does post-TOS Trek in the exotica department. This show really looks futuristic and like a Space Opera should.

    And it was nice to see Victor Garber again, but I hope he gets a more meaty part before the end of the season.
     
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