Yesterday’s Orville
(This review contains
spoilers!)
I’ll admit, when I heard the synopsis
for this episode the first words out of my mouth were “Oh no”. A plot where an
attractive and mysterious female comes aboard the ship (played by Charlize
Theron, no less) and the captain immediately falls head over heels for her
sounded like it was bound for disaster, especially when you consider the
mastermind behind this show.
But at the end of it all, I was
surprised just how good this episode is. Not only does it continue the hot
streak that doesn’t look like it’ll be stopping anytime soon, but it managed to
create a smart and funny story that easily became the new bar set for the
series.
There are some really big names
attached to this episode too, such as the previously mentioned Charlize Theron
as well as Star Trek legend Jonathan
Frakes as the director. This doesn’t really change the quality of the episode
overall, I just felt like bringing it up.
The crew has encountered a mysterious
woman named Pria on a mining colony on an asteroid destined for destruction.
Upon rescuing her she immediately begins to woo Ed, much to Kelly’s distaste. Things
get interesting when Kelly and Alara find a mysterious box inside her cabin,
but after saving the ship from certain death, it looks like she might be as she
seems.
She isn’t, of course, but one thing at
a time.
Meanwhile, a prank-off is brewing
between Gordon and Isaac, and much of the episode’s humour lies in that. This
is easily the funniest episode of the show yet, as the pranking is limited to a
few fun moments here and there and thankfully doesn’t take over the episode,
and the pranks themselves are legitimately funny. How Isaac’s prank affects the
rest of the episode is downright hilarious.
Things do start to get a little messy
plot-wise, however, when the concept of time travel is introduced. It turns out
Pria is from 400 years in the future, and she’s a businesswoman who saves
doomed ships from dying in the past to transport them to the future and sell
them to collectors. A fun concept, and how the crew deals with the knowledge
that they shouldn’t be alive as well as how they plot to escape back to their
own time is a lot of fun.
The last scene however could’ve been
done a little better. There’s a lot of confusing talk about how closing the
wormhole between the present and the future will fix everything, but while Pria
disappears when the gate is destroyed, the ship and crew remain intact. I’m
sure there’s a reason for it, but it wasn’t explained very well in the show
itself.
Despite the confusing ending, this was
easily the best episode of The Orville yet.
The humour and characters were all on point, and the concept of a time
traveling ship salesman is a lot of fun. The action sequences were all
fantastic as well. It’s a strange day when a Seth MacFarlane show ends up being
more Star Trek than the latest
iteration of Star Trek, but I’m happy
to get my fill wherever I can find it.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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