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The Orville

The Orville season 3

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Kennedy Unthank
Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Sometimes people surprise you.

Take Ed Mercer, captain of the U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level craft in the Planetary Union. In the distant past—that’d be 2418, by the way—Ed got the shock of his life when he discovered his wife in bed with another … well, let’s just say sentient male. That led to a personal crisis that taxed his sobriety and nearly tanked his career.

But someone opted to give the guy a second chance and a captain’s chair anyway. Undoubtedly disappointing many a Planetary Union office pool, Ed hasn’t messed up yet.

Well, he hasn’t messed up badly enough to lose his job, anyway.

Detecting Life Readings on the Surface, Captain

Fox’s The Orville brims with these sorts of personal salvage operations—each that’ll come to find varied degrees of success as the story moves into the great horizon. Gordon Malloy may be as talented a helmsman as there is, but his career was nearly capsized by sheering off a spaceship door while trying to impress a girl. Navigator-turned Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr loves to drink soda at the helm and has a certain, shall we say, laid-back response to authority. Alara Kitan, the ship’s head of security, may be super-strong, but she’s just 23 years old. Are we supposed to believe this … this girl is up for that kind of responsibility (some on the ship wonder, much to her annoyance)?

And then there’s Kelly Grayson, the ship’s talented first officer. Oh, she’s efficient enough. But she just happens to be Ed’s ex-wife. And though they may still have feelings for one another (albeit ones that simulate a turbulent starship flight), Grayson knows that whoever a first mate may mate with, it can’t be the captain.

Only Dr. Claire Finn, the ship’s medical officer, actually seems qualified to serve on the Orville. Indeed, she’s overqualified. So why serve on the Orville when she could get a post on a much more prestigious ship? Claire says she always goes to the post where she feels she’s most needed … and boy, is the need here great. But while she might make a great doctor, she sometimes worries that she’s not a great mother—at least not the mother her two boys, Marcus and Ty, deserve.

So, maybe the crew’s interstellar resumes aren’t exactly stellar. Maybe their personal lives are problematic. But somehow the Orville’s crew manages to navigate the ship out of the airlock anyway. And as they cruise through the not-always-friendly cosmos, they find ways to accentuate their strengths, minimize their weaknesses and have a little fun, too.

That said, the Orville’s adventures aren’t always safe—for those on the ship … or for those watching the show.

I’m a Television Critic, Not a Doctor!

The Orville feels like a concept straight out of some sort of entertainment-centric Mad Libs exercise: a Star Trek clone-spoof, created by and starring gak-meister Seth MacFarlane.

MacFarlane’s work and Plugged In’s discernment ethos jibe about as well together as Kim Jong-un and Gandhi. We called MacFarlane’s Family Guy the “most obnoxious show on broadcast television.” We described American Dad as “MacFarlane at his most foul and MaFarlanest.” His movie Ted? “A veritable fire-hose stream of vulgarity.”

But frankly, MacFarlane—an outspoken atheist—couldn’t care less about what we say. He’s called the folks who work at the Parents Television Council (a conservative watchdog organization that shares some common philosophical ground with Plugged In) “terrible human beings” and compares their criticism of him as being akin to “getting hate mail from Hitler.”

So maybe you should sit down when I tell you that The Orville … isn’t awful?

This is not to say that The Orville makes for fine family viewing. It doesn’t. The show’s got a TV-14 rating, after all. It includes plenty of cheap, ribald jokes and has more than its fair share of problematic content.

But The Orville’s sunny, futuristic Star Trek vibe seems to dampen some of MacFarlane’s crasser inclinations. He clearly respects the original source material’s history and tone. He doesn’t undermine the heroic, erudite vibe exuded by fabled franchise so much as he just gives it a little good-natured ribbing. For those who’ve felt a bit put-off by modern Star Trek’s drifting away from that standard, The Orville may even feel like a breath of fresh air—albeit, one that still comes with a feeling of caution, like the first inhale after the airlock closes.

With Family Guy and American Dad, MacFarlane has given us some of the most salacious shows ever to sully television. He took humor befitting a middle school boys’ locker room and took it where no lewd televised joke had gone before. But The Orville, like its characters, aspires to be something a little higher, a little better.

But don’t take that as an endorsement. The Orville is relatively clean only when compared to MacFarlane’s other works—not, say, Star Trek itself. And viewers won’t have to be Language Arts teachers to discern various political themes which occasionally jot the Orville’s star-bound course. We’ll see storylines regarding LGBT issues and mob rule. A Season Two episode focuses on porn addiction, and the premiere episode of Season Three is a somber reflection on suicide.

Still, it’s an interesting corner to see MacFarlane turn, and it gives me hope that this talented-if-tawdry creator may continue to cruise in this direction, even on impulse power.

Episode Reviews

Jun. 2, 2022 – S3, Ep1: “Electric Sheep”

When multiple crew members express their distaste for Isaac, a Kaylon AI, Isaac opts to deactivate himself. That causes many of the crewmembers to deal with their grief in their own way.

The episode centers around the topic of suicide, straying from its typically jovial vibe. Many crewmembers reference losing friends and family members in a previous battle against the Kaylon—a species made up of sentient AI bent on destroying all biological lifeforms. We see clips of ships exploding and people dying in explosions or by being sucked into space. As a result, many people are wary of the seemingly friendly Isaac remaining a member of the crew.

One person tells Isaac that he wishes Isaac was dead. He vandalizes a wall, calling Isaac a murderer. In a nightmare, Isaac’s robotic face turns into a frightening face with sharp teeth. Isaac deactivates himself by using a powerful shock, effectively killing himself. An alien woman says in her culture, suicide is viewed as simply a personal decision.

Kelly commands a crewmate to get another crewmate “wasted.” One crewmate says that he could drive a spaceship while intoxicated. Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr lies in bed with an alien woman after sex. John mentions evolution in passing.

The s-word is used once. God’s name is paired with “d–n” once. We hear “d–n” two additional times. “H—” is heard three times.

Dec. 30, 2018 – S2, Ep1: “Ja’Loja”

Lt. Commander Bortus, a member of a one-gender race from the mysterious planet Moclus, needs to return home for Ja’Loja, a ceremony in which Moclans perform their yearly urination rite. He invites the rest of the personnel on the Orville’s bridge to attend. But given that it’s “unlucky” to go without a date, several people scramble to find their plus-one. One person who needn’t worry: Kelly Grayson, who after rekindling and dousing her relationship with Capt. Ed Mercer in Season 1, is trying to move on with a new boyfriend, the schoolteacher Cassius. Meanwhile, Dr. Finn struggles with adolescent son Marcus, whose new best friend is a bad influence.

Marcus and his newest bestie, James, hack into the Orville’s replicator and conjure up a bottle of vodka (which they at least partly drink). A subsequent investigation reveals that James has also fabricated his report card. (His parents, believing the kid to be a veritable angel, are shocked.) James also calls Marcus’ mom an “a–” within her earshot and talks back to his schoolteacher. But Marcus is hardly innocent himself, also swearing and talking back to Dr. Finn.

Gordon, a lieutenant, has a crush on a new shipmate and asks John (his best friend and the ship’s navigator) for help. John, who admits to once having had a relationship with a two-headed entity (neither head knew what the other was doing during the fling) agrees to help, shepherding Gordon to a simulation of a bar to practice pickup lines. One simulated woman (in a low-cut top) immediately invites Gordon to her place; another, more difficult simulation only agrees to let Gordon buy her a drink after he tells her that he’s got six months to live. (She complains that she’s been hit on by four different guys, including one whose “organs were on the outside.”)

Meanwhile, Bortus facilitates a blind date between security chief Alara and one of his employees named Dan (whom the Spock-like Bortus says is “also a failure in the practice of mating.”) Bortus tells Alara, “If you wish, I will order him to mate with you.” Alara says that won’t be necessary, but agrees to go out for drinks with Dan, who writes a poem for her that includes some rather frank, overwrought imagery. When she says the poem could use some improvement, Dan says that while he wanted her to be honest, he didn’t want her to “take a dump all over my spirit.”

We “see” part of the Ja’Loja ceremony: The camera stays pinned to Bortus’ serious face, but we hear some buckles being unbuckled below.

We see characters kiss one another. Gordon confesses that he dated, and then got dumped by, his own stalker. Ed drinks heavily; the barkeep says that he’ll need an extra monthly shipment of bourbon “just for you, Cap.” He quips to Alara that they’re “both alcoholics,” and he accepts a drink from Cassius, too. There’s a reference to drugs and forced underage drinking. We hear several uses of “a–,” “d–n,” “h—,” “p-ss,” “crap” and “sucks.” God’s name is misused about 10 times.

Sep. 10, 2017 – S1, Ep1: “Old Wounds”

Ed officially takes control of the U.S.S. Orville and is introduced to his new crew … including his first mate, who happens to be his ex-wife.

We see why Ed and Kelly divorced: In flashback, Ed walks in and finds Kelly in bed with a blue-skinned alien who spurts blue goo from his forehead all over the white room. (We see both only from their shoulders up.) We later hear several uncomfortable verbal references to that infidelity, though Ed’s lingering hurt indicates his apparent belief that marriage was intended to last a lifetime. Ed’s good friend, Gordon Malloy, becomes helmsman, despite his admitted penchant for drawing penises on things. When someone asks him why his career hit a bump, Gordon says, “I let my cousin shoot a porno in the back of a shuttle in exchange for some pills.” (He’s kidding. Or so he says.)

We see a dog lick its privates in the background. (In case viewers miss it, crew members recall the incident later.) When the Orville travels to a planet devoted to science, crewmembers ask whether it has any bars or strip clubs. (It has neither.) We hear several crude references to testicles. Kelly makes a joke referencing the male anatomy.

A woman is thrown in front of an energy ray that ages things: She ages several decades in a second or two, then dies. Several people get hurt or killed by laser blasts. (Ed is hit in the shoulder. When Dr. Clair Finn patches him up, Ed asks her if she has any drugs he can take.) A holographic ogre gets slashed in the gut several times (bloodlessly) and is eventually beheaded (though we don’t see that, either).

Gordon drinks a beer in the morning to calm his nerves and nearly hits another ship as he flies. We learn that Ed has shown up for duty hung over at least six times.

Bortus, the Orville’s second-in-command, comes from a species in which everyone is male. (Ed jokes that it must solve a lot of problems about whether to keep the toilet seat up or down, to which Bortus says that members of his species only urinate once a year.) Isaac, the robot-like science officer, comes from a planet that is “legendarily racist.” We hear “a–,” “b–ch” and “d–n” twice each and “h—” six times. Language concerns also include three uses of “sucks” and a couple of f-word euphemisms (“freaking” and “frigging”). God’s name is misused nine times.

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Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He doesn’t think the ending of Lost was “that bad.”

paul-asay
Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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