So The Orville is back with the first episode of its third season or is it the first episode of a new season, given the name alteration? I'll let you decide on that front but diving into the episode without spoilers is very very difficult as even discussing the subject matter would pretty much give away much of what's happening but we can talk about some other elements of the show.
Firstly the episode is dedicated to Norm Macdonald who sadly passed away, Norm played Yaphit on the show and the first episode is in his honour.
The cast as a whole seemed to have all returned, at least I didn't notice anyone not present and at least one addition has been made with the addition of Anne Winters who plays Charly Burke in season 3 and she looks very young in character - based on a quick profile google, she has been in a ton of other stuff and well received in most of her roles winning a daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Mia Phillips in Zac & Mia - I cannot honestly comment on the body of work outside of this episode as I don't think I have seen her in anything but this episode...
I do feel the writers could have put the actress into the idiotic crosshairs of stupid fans, the character of Charly, as shown through flashbacks, during the battle with the Kaylon her best friend sacrificed herself to save her and let's just say Charly does not like Isaac, she's not alone with those feelings but she really lets us and the storyline know... she doesn't like, forgive or want anything to do with Isaac or the Kaylon.
Now the concern of mine is dumb fans of the show that like the character Isaac (like myself) may not be able to tell reality from a story and may opt to talk crap on social media...but that could just be me judging the world in advance, whatever happens, I enjoyed her hostility and portrayal of someone hurting and angry all at once.
She's not alone in her mistrust however as the show opens with what looks like a massive battle scene between the Union and Kaylon and we get the perspective of BJ Tanner who plays Marcus Finn and based on what's going on around him, he survives several near-death moments before he finds his way to his younger brother Ty Finn as played by Kai Wener
As they meet in comes Isaac and we get this...
Which had my jumping several miles out of my skin, thankfully it's a dream sequence but it does the effective job of showing that while, yes they did beat back the Kaylon - the emotional scars he and many others are suffering are very real and sadly for Isaac his presence is only serving to amplify those feelings.
I'm not planning on doing a step by step literal walkthrough of what happened in the episode but I felt it made sense that the tone of the episode was established early on, this episode is devoid of humour and appears to be looking for that emotional angle - I'm not sure if they nailed it but I enjoyed the episode so ... moving along after the opening sequence.. which is all new and shiny by the way!
The Orville is in space dock getting a bunch of upgrades done which I'm guessing is how they explain away that it looks the same, but not the same .. upgrades baby! Isaac is working away in the science and whatnot place when John lets him know he needs the spot, Isaac heads down to the mess hall and asks if he may join others already sitting at the table, they reluctantly say he can sit and as he does, they get up and leave...
Charly returns moments later and apologises for being rude before quizzing Isaac about his feelings and if he is capable of comprehending why he's being treated the way he is, Isaac, being Isaac advises her that he's incapable of processing such emotions and then we get to where I started with Charly telling Isaac all about her best buddy Amanda. She lets Isaac know in no uncertain terms that she wishes he could feel everything, all at once and for it to never end!<
She goes from this
to this
to this
quickly...
Isaac returns to his lab seemingly unfazed, he is an artificial lifeform after all and on the way people avoid him and look at him with a scowl, yet worst of all on his arrival into the lab he left he finds the words murderer not really a spoiler since it's in the trailer
meanwhile, Talla 😍 played by Jessica Szohr has overheard what was said to Isaac and reported all of what she heard to the captain.. along with the obvious vandalism in the lab also.
... now we cut to the intro!
Captain Ed Mercer played by Seth MacFarlane, his first officer Commander Kelly Grayson played by the ever wonderful Adrianne Palicki, Talla and Isaac discuss recent events and the crew's attitude towards him, Isaac says that he's noticed it's a reoccurring thing which seems to startle the captain and commander - in short bullying sucks
So a conversation with Charly occurs and the moments she requests permission to speak freely we all know where this is going, Ed makes the obvious comments about Isaac being perhaps the only one that can help them stop the terror that is the Kaylon destroying all life in the universe, she isn't buying it and states that she isn't alone in feeling this way either .. having Isaac on the bridge hurts her and others like her that cannot forgive him for his supposed actions.
A new shuttle/fighter thing is then tested out with Gordon taking it out for a test flight while Charly flies a bunch of drones for him to test again, Gordon of course comes out on top and the new shuttle/fighting thing is declared a success - I feel like this thing is a plot device for later in the season but time will tell on that front, I kinda liked the highly impractical shuttles with 8 chairs and no storage.
Lieutenant Gordon Malloy as played by Scott Grimes (almost forgot that bit) lands in the shuttle bay and talks with Charly and lets her know, to my surprise that he agrees with her 100%... I feel like this one will be picked up later in the season but Isaac did cut his leg off that one time.
We are now about 20 minutes into the episode! a lot happens!
So we find out who did the murdered sign and it was...
Marcus Finn, it could have only really been one of two people really had they chosen to take it further (the investigation, which they did) and Marcus outright refuses to back down when Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald) confronts him in the captain's office after a big of back 'n forth he declares that it's bullshit (his words) that he is being persecuted for this petty crime while a murderer walks free...
He also lets his mother know that he no longer sleeps, he has nightmares and is tormented by the idea of Isaac being on the ship at all.
Claire decides unwisely that the best way to handle this is to get Isaac to apologise to Markus - this goes about as well as you expect it to with Markus telling Isaac he wishes he was dead for what he has done.
We then Isaac walking to a specific point on the ship and gazing out of the window, it's presumed (by me) he's looking at Kaylon, his home he can never return to.. after a brief moment he's back in the lab, working on some machine while leaving a message of some sorts detailing upgrades that can be made to the ship, he then offers his best wishes to the Finn family and .. completes his purpose... which is to end himself.
Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr (J. Lee) lets Ed and Kelly know that the ship's upgrades are going well and they can get underway and out of the space dock soon... Talla interrupts to let Captain Ed know an emergency has occurred onboard
John, Talla, Ed, Kelly and Claire are all present as they listen to the message he left them before John goes over how he ended himself but it's Claire that utters the words that will make up the rest of this episode and it's talking points when she says
"Captain, he committed suicide"
John agrees with her assessment, making the argument from the technical standpoint at least that there is no other reason to do something like this, Kelly who seems to lack words in this episode asks the obvious, can you revive him - John concludes the only one with the ability to get in and take a look is Yaphit
However, it's quickly concluded that not much can be done and he is, indeed gone.
The crew then go through the obvious stages of dealing with it, Markus is upset but perhaps confused as he's still angry, Claire is heartbroken, Ed and Kelly act as falls backs for the others to discuss and of course, Charly is mad (it's episode one after all) a funeral is held with some turning out - the main cast, for the most part, Markus peeks in by the door and listens
Later we see Claire heading towards the hollow deck things and we find Ty inside, talking to Isaac in what is really quite a disturbing revelation that I had honestly never thought about.. despite everything that went wrong with them in Star Trek (and the porn virus) I never thought about the idea that you could just be stuck in agony as you can I theory bring back the dead, former lovers ..it's quite creepy how far the tech can go when you consider all the applications
Claire tries to tell Ty that Isaac is gone, but how can you tell a kid that their dead friend is gone when they can wish them back at only a voice command, Ty leaves and Claire loads the location of her and Isaacs first date... it's here we see Claire break, a heartbreaking scene .. despite it all she still loved Isaac and he's gone
It's about now that the upgrades are completed and The Orville (2.0) gets out of the space dock and on its way
The Orville goes kicks on its Quantum drive and off it goes, we then cut to what John does best - sex, he's just finished getting piggy with a very white female sonic the hedgehog and well they then get into a debate about suicide - white sonic the hedgehog then drops a bit about memory lives on forever... John gets an idea and jumps to live running to engineering .. long story short he thinks Isaac has a backup that Isaac doesn't know about that they can restore him from...
Long story short, only Charly can bring him back due to some complex method and she is the only one capable of doing it, Ed asks her to do it, but she refuses saying he's dead and deserves to be. Ed tries to convince her but she refuses outright to help at all ... and on queue the Kaylon attack!
Captain Ed then asks Charly to report to engineering to assist the chief with his work on Isaac she refuses, he relieves her of duty, to the surprise of a few on the bridge.
We catch up with Charly in the mess where she's having a drink, Markus approaches and introduces himself, he asks her to help Isaac .. which seems to perplex her, she questions why and Markus tells her that he told Isaac he wished he was dead and Markus says he said it and he at the time meant it.. she declares suicide as pointless
Markus asks her if she is glad he's dead, and she says "yes, I am"
After a bit of back and forth, we cut to a Tron like scene that shows Charly and John working to try to help Isaac get back up and running and then Isaac is once again alive and functional if somewhat confused.
The captain lets Isaac know it was Charly who brought him back, Isaac asks her to explain, and she retorts that she didn't do it for him.. perhaps despite her hate she didn't want Markus to live with the guilt of his words.
Later... Claire in counselling asks Isaac why he did it, he responds he noticed that the crew was not optimal with him around so he was trying to help them be better optimised... Claire tries to get under his shell .. eventually snapping back at Isaac that what he did was not acceptable.. she then argues that she is superior in human understanding than he is and that change can occur..
and of course Claire reminds Isaac that should he have any further thoughts of suicide, he should come to her to discuss it, he concurs and she lets him know she is glad he is still here, Isaac of course, thanks to her.
AND that would be the end of episode one of season 3, I expected it to go all-in with the jokes, the laughter and the funnies but no, the episode planted itself on a very real subject and made no effort to try to turn it into a joke and I can't speak for others but I while caught off guard did welcome this approach, while I do hope the funnies will appear in other episodes I do think a lot of ground in what is a murky area of the human psyche was discussed... and remember if you ever feel this way .. please, reach out to someone, anyone
In terms of the series so far? I was concerned and I still am that Hulo is so American specific that it could result in low initial views, I'm no expert in this area but I'm hoping it wasn't sent to Hulu to die because I really do enjoy the show.
The upgrades to the visuals and new intro are fine, I had no prior massive attachment to the ship, imagine attaching a fourth engine? Would I care? probably not, if it happened to the enterprise .. well that's a different story!
If I was to voice one concern about the show, Kelly said practically nothing, Bortus carried a few missiles and acknowledge a few things, it was a little weak on coverage of cast but it's episode one let's see how it pans out.. no large story arc so far... the longer epodes were interesting too - think I prefer this way but I need a joke or two 😛
