The Orville - Season 1

[Ryujin]

We don’t know what Alara knows, true. But as to the face? We already had one species on board spreading pheromones. Yaphit’s species could just as easily used chemicals to bliss out their prey to immobility, a la the giant slime mold in X-Files’ “Field Trip” episode.

Could, but it's not exactly reasonable to jump to that conclusion when everything leading up to walking into that room has been headed in a completely different direction. When you see Picard ordering Earl Grey from the replicator in the majority of ST:TNG episodes would you assume that he had Scotch in his cup when he's on the bridge?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But Alara didn’t see all that happen like we did. She saw the 1st officer acting odd (don’t recall if she knew about the being caught in bed thing). She heard the report of the captain acting odd and the kids reporting being locked out. But all the sexually charged interactions she knew of were with people whom she knew had directly interacted with Darulio. WE knew Darulio had had contact with Yaphit, she didn’t.

Besides, as I said, I wouldn’t have jumped to the conclusion she had because of my past Sci-Fi viewing. Her past experiences could have included a lot more discussions with the doctor about Yaphit’s advances, which would have let her make that intuitive leap.

 

[CapnZapp]

Guys, let's not forget the Orville isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. There's no reason to get upset just because they don't meet the standards set by Picard & Co.

For instance, I loved the way Malloy had the chance to solve the puzzle only to get exactly nowhere. Which is just what I expected from the man who thought the capital of the United States was "the Moon?"

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[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh, we KNOW they’re not the best & brightest The Union has to offer!

 

[CapnZapp]

TNG Trek enough that it was no surprise. And the biggest upside is that they can now walk away from all of the cheating references.

I hope you won't be dismayed when they replace that with all the ribbing Dr Claire's gonna get, if my hunch about MacFarlane's humor is correct

 

[CapnZapp]

My ONE problem was the Yaphit/Doctor love scene.

I’ve seen too many movies like The Blob to have so rapidly reached the conclusion Alara Kitan did that it was sex and not supper she was witnessing. Kind of like when Lal (Data’s daughter in TNG) saw the couple kissing and exclaimed “He’s biting that female!” I was expecting her to go in with fists & feet flailing. Awkward!

Nah. The scene was played for "awkward sexytimes". Alara has probably not seen even one The Blob movie.

(Unless it is later shown she has. Perhaps they're Yaphit's favorites?!)

 

[CapnZapp]

I must confess, my enjoyment of the episode is to no small extent based on the high-brow anger at the episode. Seth, you've successfully trolled them yet again - high five!

Allow me the indulgence of copying a few choice comments from one place discussing the show (AV Club in this instance):

"I was not expecting the episode to deal with an alien with roofie powers but here we are. He got off pretty goddamned light considering he knew what was happening and did nothing to really stop it."

"Okay, we can stop pretending that Orville is “more positive” than Discovery now."

"My biggest problem with this show is how utterly unprofessional all these people are." (Allow me to reply using another quote: "When Gordon points out that people are acting irresponsibly, you know something is very wrong." )

 

[CapnZapp]

The way 1) noone bothers to check up on alien powers beforehand is definitely turning into a theme (whether the Union is arrogant or the Orville crew is just lazy doesn't matter - I like it, and it does make it easier to tell stories) 2) nobody expects daarulio to take any responsibility for his own powers 3) amoeba sex is apparently much less traumatic / more common in The Union (and don't say you didn't know it was coming, given how Yaphet has essentially not been shown doing anything except court the good Doctor) 3b) liked how the "oh, I stepped in the cat puke puddle" was used several times before, and thus served to mask the pheromone transferral plot point 4) people are very fast to dress post-coitus (oh what a missed opportunity to allow Kelly time to wash away the blue stains this time) 5) now we know Yaphit's occupation, and it makes a lot of sense he's a tube engineer 6) On a less sordid show, none of this would never be mentioned again - luckily The Orville is not a less sordid show 7) even though I spotted the end solution a mile away, the point of the ep wasn't the drama and excitement, so that didn't bother me one bit. In fact, the show itself arguably understood this, pushing "Daarulio fixes everything" off-screen 8) please continue with the "Alara steps into awkward cannot-be-unseen scenes theme"

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nah. The scene was played for "awkward sexytimes". Alara has probably not seen even one The Blob movie.

(Unless it is later shown she has. Perhaps they're Yaphit's favorites?!)

My expectations were just as awkward. Imagine having a security officer barge into your boudoir and forcibly seperate you from your lover because she thought you were hurting the other person. Some parents* have experienced this when they’ve forgotten to lock the door and their toddler charges in, yelling “Stop hurting mommy!!!”

Of course, that would have involved a longer scene, and that might not have fit as well into the flow of the story. We’d have lost out on some of the “strategic camera angle shots” post the Lowe/MacFarlane lovin’ scene.







* for the record, I’m not a parent, and this has never happened to me. But I’ve been told by parents...

 

[CapnZapp]

I wouldn't mind Horseton barging in on me, if you know what I'm sayin...

(Actually, I quite understand if you don't understand, since I only wrote that because of this weird IMDB glitch... Her name isn't "Horseton".)

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