Just call a whale next time
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Given the ensemble cast of The Orville, it’s kind of strange that
we haven’t really gotten an episode focused on just a few characters yet. Yes,
we’ve seen Alara, Bortus and others get the spotlight over the last few weeks,
but this was the first time we got an entire episode almost exclusively
dedicated to two characters.
The spotlight was on Ed and Gordon, as
they disguised themselves as Krill to infiltrate a Krill vessel to try and find
a way the Federation can make peace with them. Of course things begin to go
awry, and the mission changes from one of peace to one of “holy crap these
people are crazy we’ve gotta stop them”.
One of the coolest parts of the
episode was the Krill themselves. The makeup artists blew me away with how much
they accomplished this week, creating not just a few Krill, but an entire ship’s
crew of aliens, even including different genders and ages. Although the Krill
still look like Supreme Leader Snoke’s kid he had with Bossk, the amount of
work that was clearly put into this episode is worthy of applause.
The episode does need a little bit of
time to get going. After a pretty funny opening scene, once the guys are
onboard the ship, things get a little bit confusing. The point of their mission
is to investigate a Krill religious bible they adhere by to the letter to see
if there’s any common ground in there the Federation can use to relate to them.
Upon finding the bible, instead of just taking it and running away, they stand
by and scan every individual page. Why? Since they have Krill disguises all the
crew would think is that they were two crazy Krill who stole a book. Maybe I’m
looking into it too much, but it was kind of annoying.
Things get much better at the halfway
point, though, as much higher stakes are introduced. Turns out the Krill have
developed a bomb capable of destroying an entire planet. Obviously Ed’s first
instinct is to destroy the Krill ship before they can test it on a nearby
farming colony, but things get even further complicated when a classroom of
Krill children are found onboard.
This adds a lot of stuff to think
about. While it’s never directly stated in the episode itself it can be implied
that there might’ve been kids on the other Krill ships they’ve destroyed in
past episodes. It’s also really interesting seeing Mercer have to decide
between a planet of random farmers and a group of kids right in front of him,
albeit ones fathered by his enemies. It’s a really well done second half.
I do think the solution they come to
was a little too convenient though. They manage to kill all the Krill onboard
the ship using intense UV rays…except the kids because they can hide them in a
dark room. It’s not the most implausible solution ever, but one that seemed a
little overly simple considering the weight of the decision they had to make.
Overall this was another fantastic
episode of The Orville. From what I’ve
heard we might be at the halfway point of the show (apparently it’s only
running for 13 episodes), so if you haven’t gone onboard yet now is the time to
do so. This episode was funny, charming, and had some super smart ideas in the
second half with the morality problem presented to Mercer. I really hope this
episode has an impact on what comes next, because it’d be a huge waste if it
doesn’t.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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