Warning: This review contains spoilers for the fourth episode of The Orville. You have been warned.

Season 1 of The Orville has impressed me so far. Seth McFarlane has turned what was advertised as a Star Trek Spoof, into a Star Trek-inspired series with its own identity and its own message. I’ve always had a mixed reception of Seth’s work, but this series has not disappointed me so far. In fact, after watching Episode 3, I’m even more curious to see what comes next.

To recap the last episode, we got a bit of backstory and worldbuilding of Bortus and Klyden, as we saw that the Moclan culture sees being female as a detriment. The fate of Bortus and Klyden’s child (or at least their gender) brought a lot of character development, but also brought up interesting interactions with the crew. It wasn’t a perfect episode, but it handled the topic respectfully.

Let’s move on to this week’s episode and see what Ed Mercer and the crew are up to next.

Episode Spoilers Begin Here!

The episode begins with Bortus and Klyden in bed. Bortus is asleep, but Klyden can’t seem to rest. He asks Bortus to talk because Bortus has been spending a large amount of time with work. He tells Bortus that he has needs, and that work should not be more of a priority than him or their child. Bortus in return mentions that Klyden knew what things would be like when they got together, and as a Bridge officer, his work is important.

Bortus decides that if he can’t sleep, he’ll start his shift early. Due to this, Klyden spends the morning watching feel-good movies and eating Rocky Road, typical depression (or trouble in paradise) food from Earth. Bortus goes to the bridge and evades questions about why he is early for his shift. It is clear that since the last episode, he and Klyden have been fighting, considering Alara seems to be aware of it.

The crew is exploring the boundary of currently explored space, where they find a large artificial mass. The mass is too big to be a ship, and none of them have any idea what it could be, so they choose to investigate. They discover that it is, in fact, a derelict ship, far larger than any they have seen before. It seems to be drifting on inertia alone, with all of its engines inactive.

After scans and analysis, they discover that the ship is 2000 years old. However, they cannot penetrate the hull to scan for life signs, due to the material that the ship is made from. They discover a port for the shuttle to dock at, but Isaac is the only one capable of making the adjustments to do so fast enough due to artificial reflexes.

So, Ed, Isaac, and Kelly go for the shuttle, leaving the rest of the crew in case something goes wrong. Something tells me this ship is going to be a problem, and that’s not my experience with Mass Effect, Star Trek, and other Sci-Fi series talking… Oh, wait, yes it is.

We get another scene of Yahphit at the infirmary, trying to get into Claire’s union-issued pants again. Luckily for her, Bortus calls her to the Shuttle Bay in case something goes wrong with the shuttle excursion to the new ship. Alara, Claire, Ed, Isaac, and Kelly go onto the ship, which is approximately the size of New York City.

The door to the ship doesn’t seem to have been opened in centuries, and it takes Alara’s full strength to open it. We also learn that Claire is afraid of heights, as they walk across a long catwalk of the ship. Isaac isn’t particularly helpful here either, mentioning that a fall would most certainly kill her. His deadpan style is somewhat hilarious though.

Beyond the catwalk, they discover that the ship is known as a Bio-ship, or a ship containing a planet-esque ecosystem inside. They realize they will have to make contact, since there are millions of people in the ship that is hurtling toward a star. Do they even know they’re on a ship? Do they know that they’re adrift?

The crew splits up, with Ed, Claire, and Isaac exploring a bit to try and make contact. Claire wonders who would make such a bio-ship, while Isaac begins asking questions about why Kelly felt the need to cheat. He surmises that Ed must have done something to prompt it, and also asks if he intends to get back with her now that she is on-board the Orville.

They find a home of one of the ship’s natives, but before Ed can ask any questions the woman looks afraid and slams the door in their face. The second time he knocks, a man comes out with a shotgun and attempts to shoot Ed. Isaac stuns him, and after talking to the other residents of the house, including the son, Tomalin, they realize that these people do not know they are on a spacecraft at all.

Ed, Claire, and Isaac also hear from the family that there are “underlands” and that they follow some being called Dural. Kelly and Alara have a conversation in which Alara expresses that her nature as a Xelayan, and being so strong as a result, has some social ramifications. She also asks about Ed, because he never seems to treat her differently because of what she can do.

She also asks why Kelly and Ed didn’t work out, other than the obvious infidelity thing. Kelly mentions that Ed had an issue with balancing work and home. Before they can talk too in-depth about it though, they are driven upon by a police sort of vehicle. After being asked to show identification (which they lack) Alara is shot, and Kelly is knocked out.

Back with Ed, Claire, Isaac, and Tomalin, the young man explains that Dural is who they are taught created the universe. There are some who have begun to question scripture, and believe there is more to the universe than what they can see. Tomalin leads them to a building where “The reformers” gather, and show them that there truly is more to the world than they know.

In the meantime, Bortus, Gordon, and John get a distress signal from a colony ship that is being attacked by the Krill. They decide to go intercept and assist, which means there will be no backup should Ed and the others need it. This doesn’t seem like it will bode well.

While talking with the Reformers, they discover that the people who follow Dural are not allowed to speak of a “Beyond,” because it is heresy. Anyone who does is put to death. Essentially, they are in a dictatorial theocracy, where the religious body rules with an iron fist. As they are talking, Alara patches in to let Ed know that she’s been shot and Kelly has been taken. Just like that, they’re off to rescue Alara before she bleeds out.

Kelly, meanwhile, gets to witness a reformer being sentenced and killed by an angry mob, led by the religious leader. It doesn’t particularly look good for her either, as she is now in custody, and anyone who calls Dural into question is put to death on the grounds of heresy. The Enforcers bring her in to meet with the leader, dragging her into the judicial building.

She has a tense talk with this leader Hamelac, who tells her that he didn’t kill that man; the people uphold the word of Dural themselves. She, in return, will be their guest for quite some time, essentially telling her that she is now their prisoner.

Ed and the others find Alara, and Tomalin gets to see Claire use medical technology to heal Alara of the bullet wounds she sustained. Alara tells them what happened, and Tomalin explains that Kelly was probably taken by Enforcers to the city.

Isaac returns to contact the Orville for backup, only to get the message left behind on a communication buoy that the Orville will return from their rescue mission as soon as possible. The Orville, on the other hand, has succeeded in their rescue mission, but the ship sustained some damage. Bortus mentions that he hopes the team is not in danger.

At the same time, Kelly is being tortured, because Hamelac wants to know where Ed and the others are. Rather than telling him anything, she gives as good as she gets, telling him off every chance she can. Ed and the others have disguised themselves as natives, and plan to rescue her somehow, though with just a few of them, doing so is no easy task.

Hamelac, the leader, injects Kelly with a painful truth serum and offers her a deal. If she gives him the knowledge of what he wants to know, he’ll give her the antidote. I find this to be hilarious though, because she doesn’t actually know where they are.

They confront Hamelac, and after telling him that in less than six months their ship will be headed into the gravity well of a star, they discover the truth. He fears that the truth will destabilize their society; Or rather, he doesn’t wish to give up control of it. So, Ed shoots him with the stun gun, and off they go.

The reformers take Ed and the others to the only functioning door on the ship. They never knew what it was for, but Isaac is able to bypass the lock to enter it properly. Ed, Kelly, and the others find their way to the bridge of the ship, and see a recording from Dural’s namesake. He was the last captain of the ship, who just so happens to be played by Liam Neeson.

Dural tells them that the ship was meant to only house three generations of natives from their remote planet. They were meant to live out their lives, but eventually reach the nearest inhabitable planet. Instead, the ship was hit by an ion storm, being unable to repair their engines they found themselves marooned and adrift in space.

Isaac also discovers that the ship has a retractable roof, so that the people could see real night-time. The repairs on the engine would also only take about 24 hours, so they could actually save these people. They open the sunroof, and tell the Reformer leader that they will contact the Union so someone can teach them to pilot their own ship. Their future is theirs once more.

Just like that, the Orville is on its way, and another episode is done. I have to mention that this episode, while a little lighter on the comedy, was more enjoyable for me than Episode 3. It felt like an episode of Stargate SG-1, or even just Star Trek: The Next Generation. On top of that, I am very pleased that Bortus and Klyden’s relationship didn’t just go back to normal, like a sitcom.

This episode of The Orville was probably one of my favorites so far. The idea of a civilization being adrift in space is just incredible to think about. On top of that, we saw the crew of the Orville doing what they do best, helping people. Next week’s episode is going to really get a lot of excitement, because Charlize Theron guest stars in it.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

The Orville

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great set pieces
• Solid Sci-Fi storyline
• Isaac is pretty funny here
• Bortus and Klyden get more development

Cons

• The Villain was a little bland