THE ORVILLE S2, E1: "JA'LOJA"
- Thread starter Mudd
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The main plot seemed to be how various crew members are dealing with their love life;
Malloy is struggling to get the balls to ask out a new crew member, Alara goes on a first date, Mercer is still trying to get over Kelly, Kelly has her first fight with a new lover. The other subplot is Claire's parenting issues, and I guess the foundation story is the Orville diverting course to Bortus' home world and how this creates the need for the Orville's crew members to get dates. D.C. Fontana once said in defining a Star Trek story that you would have a main plot, and a subplot that would in some way "touch". This formula is evident in some of the better written TOS and TNG stories, though it wasn't always followed. This episode follows that format to some degree. What's interesting in this episode is that it was Isaac (the Android) that acted (unwittingly, but correctly) to win over Claire's love. Whereas Ed, Malloy, Cassius, and Dann all failed to win over the women they desire. Actually, Cassius succeeds but only with Ed's help in the end.
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Perhaps then it was a wink and a nod to us that we'll later find out -- if the theory above is true -- when Ed said he could really go for a Krill invasion right about now.
Good point. I forgot about that.
My favorite part of the episode was the part with Finn and her kids. Isaac’s brutal honesty.
Malloy’s part came off as cartoonish. I don’t get why so many people deem the ‘cartoonish dumb guy’ archetype as something believable.
I like the Mercer/Kelly part but it also borders on the cartoonish and if they draw out the sexual tension too long it’ll get tired quickly. I enjoyed when Kelly basically spelled out the TNG episode Lessons as the reason not to get together. But also refused to say she didn’t love him.
I find the TNG poker sequences much more human and relatable than all this cartoon hapless dumb guy hitting on women stuff. They substitute base oversimplified sitcom tropes for real nuanced human feeling.
Malloy’s part came off as cartoonish. I don’t get why so many people deem the ‘cartoonish dumb guy’ archetype as something believable.
I like the Mercer/Kelly part but it also borders on the cartoonish and if they draw out the sexual tension too long it’ll get tired quickly. I enjoyed when Kelly basically spelled out the TNG episode Lessons as the reason not to get together. But also refused to say she didn’t love him.
I find the TNG poker sequences much more human and relatable than all this cartoon hapless dumb guy hitting on women stuff. They substitute base oversimplified sitcom tropes for real nuanced human feeling.
Damn fine episode. Strictly character drama, and that's fine. With this cast, I could easily watch an entire season of their day to day shipboard life and be easily entertained. I especially like that they didn't try to sandwich in a sci-fi plot just to try and keep the show, well, sci-fi. Star Trek did this often, and Doctor Who has a mad tendency to insert alien threats to episodes that don't need them, so it is nice for once that a show left out the unnecessary threat and just let the character drama play out and entertain the audience that way. And it was all good. Ed dealing with Kelly and Cassius being a couple (best line of the episode: "I wanted to go out and get some air." "We're in space!"), John trying to teach Gordon how to score, Alara and her date with Dann, Isaac and Claire having family drama with the other parents. This episode had a lot going on for a quiet episode, and it all got served nicely. Solid premiere.
You must be surrounded by some very dull and boring people in your life.
If she is, then I have to wonder what it is about the name "Lt. Tyler" that it keeps getting used for alien infiltrators. Both Star Trek and Stargate had alien infiltrators named Lt. Tyler, if Orville continues this tradition, then all we need to do is automatically mistrust Lieutenants named Tyler.
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"Isaac, am I a bad mother?"
"Yes."
Well, Gordon seems the kind of guy who flies by the seat of his pants anyway, pun fully intended. I thought the stalker story was hilarious. John thought it was shocking that he dated his own stalker, and she dumped him because he was too clingy. In his profession, Gordon wants to be the one in control. When he's not in control, he loses confidence in himself. That can easily apply to life outside of his work.
Because she still loves him. You can know something is a terrible, terrible idea and still entertain ideas about engaging in that behavior anyway. Love makes us do crazy things sometimes. So she keeps herself dissuaded by quoting the rulebook.
No, they pointed out quickly that as dumb as the tropes are, sometimes they do work. John's advice to Gordon was essentially that he get his foot in the door, and then take it from there. There was certainly over-exaggeration when it came to the stereotypical club encounter, but it still made its point about just getting someone's attention and engaging them is half the battle. I did laugh that LaMarr's idea of "Level 10" is a married woman who carries a gun.
The 2CD score set is due sometime January.
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Please refresh my memory as to the former.
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Star Trek: Discovery's Lieutenant Tyler was a Klingon infiltrator.
In Star Trek we have Lt. Ash Tyler on Disco, who is in fact a surgically altered Klingon.
In Stargate, an alien used a chemical on the SG-1 team to make them think he was human and a member of the team named Lt. Tyler in the episode The Fifth Man.
I am so happy that The Orville is back. The show is like if Galaxy Quest and TNG had a baby.
This episode was definitely not a traditional season premiere. It felt more like a mid season filler. It had some good moments. It was a very pleasant episode that showed us what the characters are dealing with in their personal lives. I do feel like the show has really found its footing and is doing humor a lot better than the pilot. The humor flows organically from the scenes instead of the pilot where it felt shoehorned in.
The weakest part of the episode for me, was Ed's behavior. I get that he loves Kelly and he is really hurting that he can't be with her. We've all been there. But I feel like his behavior was grossly unprofessional. A boss who acted like he did would be in serious trouble, plus the co-worker would immediately quit and get another job. There is no way that they would continue working with a boss who can't seem to accept that a relationship won't happen and even stalks them on their dates.
This episode was definitely not a traditional season premiere. It felt more like a mid season filler. It had some good moments. It was a very pleasant episode that showed us what the characters are dealing with in their personal lives. I do feel like the show has really found its footing and is doing humor a lot better than the pilot. The humor flows organically from the scenes instead of the pilot where it felt shoehorned in.
The weakest part of the episode for me, was Ed's behavior. I get that he loves Kelly and he is really hurting that he can't be with her. We've all been there. But I feel like his behavior was grossly unprofessional. A boss who acted like he did would be in serious trouble, plus the co-worker would immediately quit and get another job. There is no way that they would continue working with a boss who can't seem to accept that a relationship won't happen and even stalks them on their dates.
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Yeah, but it should be understandable, to some degree, how being in love with someone kind of kills professionalism. The Orville's humans aren't buttoned up "stiff upper lip" types, they're very clearly affected by things that happen to them, which is another reason I love the show. If I had an ex-wife who was my second in command, and she started dating another person on the ship, I'd start displaying some pretty odd behavioral tics, too.
I mean, you know, more than usual.
Also, it is notable that Kelly is clearly the more professional of the two. She does love Ed, but she's trying to keep things civil, professional, and the lines clearly marked. Ed's dependent on her, his personality is such that while he makes a good commander, when it comes to his personal life he needs someone else to support him.
This episode was easily better than one of those.
This is the episode held over from last season - they've been swapping the air dates for this one back and forth for some weeks.
This is NOT the holdover episode. Thursday's episode is the holdover.
This episode did what it was supposed to do. Reintroduce the characters and their interpersonal relationships (or lack of).
It was after the big football game and was aimed at Orville fans and non-fans (who stayed on after the game).
This episode did what it was supposed to do. Reintroduce the characters and their interpersonal relationships (or lack of).
It was after the big football game and was aimed at Orville fans and non-fans (who stayed on after the game).
Give me a frigging break. This is about the biggest "homer" comment I've ever seen on this board.
Those were two pretty classic episodes of TNG, which was arguably an iconic science fiction series. This episode of Orville was a low point for the series, which is most certainly NOT an iconic series.
This was kind an odd choice for our season premiere, it felt more like a mid-season bottle show. I expected them to start off with one of the big action episodes.
This was a good character episode though, almost everyone got a chance to shine and dealt some with their relationship issues.
Really liked the stuff with Isaac and Claire and her kids. At the end there it felt like she was starting to like Isaac, so it should be interesting to see where that goes.
Ed spying on Kelly and Cassius was a bit stalkerish, but other than that most of his behavior was pretty understandable. I did like him going to talk to Cassius at the end.
John trying to help Gordon talk to women was pretty fun, although the zipper jacket was a bit scary.
It sounds kind bad, but I was a bit disappointed we didn't actually see Bortus pee. After all the build up I was expecting more than him just standing on the cliff.
This was a good character episode though, almost everyone got a chance to shine and dealt some with their relationship issues.
Really liked the stuff with Isaac and Claire and her kids. At the end there it felt like she was starting to like Isaac, so it should be interesting to see where that goes.
Ed spying on Kelly and Cassius was a bit stalkerish, but other than that most of his behavior was pretty understandable. I did like him going to talk to Cassius at the end.
John trying to help Gordon talk to women was pretty fun, although the zipper jacket was a bit scary.
It sounds kind bad, but I was a bit disappointed we didn't actually see Bortus pee. After all the build up I was expecting more than him just standing on the cliff.
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