It's amazing--I hated last week's episode. It was not funny at all, and kind of gross. But this week? Night and day. This was an awesome episode, where so much happened, it was hard to believe it only lasted an hour. Homerun.
I liked it... I had the same thoughts about the trees, though I didn't think about the mountains. I wondered what's in the water that would allow it to behave as if under Earth's gravity? And the fabrics of the clothes and the sheets must have have incredibly high surface tension not to be pressed down flat..
God, I forgot about "The Orville". I guess I'll check out this new episode on my cable station's ON DEMAND section.
I have mixed thoughts. The Alara stuff was very sweet. A nice send off (which I hope is not really the end). I still have the sense of...meandering. Three episodes in and I really don’t feel like anything has happened. Not every week needs to be an “out of this world adventure”, but I feel the momentum from Season One has slowed a bit. Next week looks like a more “conventional” episode, so we’ll see. PS: That soup scene...yikes!
I honestly thought we'd see something happen before he did that, but man, that almost hurt when he put his hand in the boiling soup. I also love the way the scene was done. Everything was nice and friendly right up until the moment it wasn't, and then I just started feeling a little ice pit in my stomach when he said he wanted Ildis to reach in with his hand. I didn't know yet if he was crazy, or what, but John Billingsley is way too damned good at that.
The tension was built pretty carefully, there. I kept thinking that Alara's dad would avoid the scalding, somehow - he didn't, and they briefly showed the damage, so later when Billingley's character was about to cut off the other daughter's finger, I was covering my eyes and close to shrieking.
IRL, John’s a left wing, tree-hugging, Prius-driving peacenik. I imagine he had a lot of delight playing that role. Villains are always more fun.
It shocked me when he actually did it (or I should say when Ildis stuck his hand in the pot of boiling sauce). It was the perfect setup for later, when it looked like Alara's sister was about to lose an appendage. I honestly didn't know whether she would or not. The first scene had set up a level of uncertainty that kept me on the edge of my seat, and hoping that things would work out. It's worth watching. Yes! I had a part in a radio play once, as a villain. It was so much fun. There's nothing like being deliciously evil in a story, while knowing in real life you'd never engage in such activities.
Yeah, the scene was very well written and executed. At first, when Billingsley's character says "the spoon is dirty, get another one", I thought he was just a weird OCD germaphobe or something. And when he says to use his hand, I thought he was just a weirdo. But then when he pulls the gun out and demands he burn his hand, I realize what was going on. So there was a nice progression there. And Billingsley acted the scene perfectly, with just the right level of crazy and menace.
OK story enlivened by great acting. I don't mind that it was quieter episode, or that the season seems to have started without major fireworks, but the story seemed very cliche and the dialogue bordered on cheesy. Who ever thought Alara dreaming of riding (what was effectively) a unicorn on the beach should be run out on a rail. However, Picardo and Billingsley really dug into their parts in ways that really surprised me. I thought Scott Grimes also had some solid scenes.
Another great episode. I think the show is going to miss Alara more than we know but I still think the show will be great. I know it had me teary eyed a few times. Also did anyone notice at the beginning I think we got a little nod to Tasha Yar's last episode when Bortus showed his support for Alara in the arm wrestling match? Reminded me of the Worf/Yar scene in her final episode were she is talking about people she is fighting on the holdedeck during combat exercies I think it was. Jason
One review described it as "part airbrushed conversion van painting, part backdrop for the song title scroll of an as seen on TV, 6 CD/12 cassette collection of rock ballads".......and I could not argue it.
BTW, is the boiling point of water different on a high-gravity planet? I imagine sea level air pressure would be higher, 'cause, ya know, the air weighs more.
It's always hard to argue snark, because it's essentially a posture rather than observation. Nicely rendered sequence. I liked it. They kind of wasted an incredible costume, there, though - you really couldn't see much of it:
I actually thought the scene was pretty hot. The actress is very attractive and the costume is great. I'd definitely ride with her into the sunset.