It was the moment she said she was cold. I don’t know if it’s that Lt. Janel Tyler (Michaela McManus) just felt more like a plot point than a character from the start, or if consuming decades of pop culture trains you to detect the Chekov’s Gun from even the most innocuous statement, or if you’re just very attentive to The Orville’s IMDB cast page. Whichever of those is the case, it was the moment said she was cold and Ed draped his jacket around her shoulders that confirmed my suspicion she was some sort of alien or spy or alien spy. What I wasn’t expecting was by the time the episode revisited the scene by having Ed carefully draping his jacket over Teleya’s head to protect her from the being incinerated by the sun; it was a wholly earned and well executed moment.
“Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes” was an excellent callback to last season’s episode, “The Krill”, where Ed and Gordon disguised themselves as the titular aliens, boarded one of their ships and killed nearly the entire crew. One of the few survivors was Teleya, a school teacher who formed a bond with Ed. The episode smartly left her fate open-ended and now, finally, she’s returned. It turns out Lt. Janel, the dark matter cartographer brought on board during the season premiere, was a deep undercover Krill agent, tasked with seducing Ed, agreeing with his opinions on “The King and I” and “Taxi Driver”, and facilitating his capture by the Krill. I was disappointed in the climax of “The Krill” last season, because killing everyone on board with the light switch felt like a solution chosen because it was easy, instead of something clever or thoughtful. But that decision has returned dividends now hat Ed is forced to confront his actions. It was an episode packed with pathos, betrayal, spaceship battles, and orcs with laser guns. All in all, pretty good stuff.
To celebrate their relationship going public, Ed and a disguised Teleya decide to go on a vacation together. A trio of Krill fighters sniff ‘em out and they’re tractor beamed aboard a massive cruiser. The captain demands Ed give up his password the Krill can use to access Union data. If he doesn’t they’ll torture his girlfriend. They even supply a handy race-specific pain chart so Ed knows just how bad it will be. But alas, Ed relents only to discover the whole thing was a ploy, and Teleya had actually undergone a very handwavy procedure to pass as human and infiltrate the Orville. That dramatic reveal is conveniently punctuated by an unexpected attack by another militant species at war with the Krill. The invasion forces Ed and Telaya to find an escape pod and jettison to the nearest planet.
The strongest character work the series has done so far comes from the two as they trundle across the alien planet. The strength of their dynamic, especially thanks to a strong performance from McManus, is that it’s not the standard odd couple scenario where two people who initially hate each other find out that maybe they have more in common than maybe they thought? After all, these are a couple of people who’ve already been through some heavy shit and a couple of betrayals together. What makes it work so well is how the relationship builds on the real connection they’ve formed, despite each taking turn being completely deceitful about their roles. Ed is hurt and still searching for some sincere connection between the two, while Teleya is furious at the man who killed her family and colleagues. But she’s also gotten to know him really well. The best scene comes when the two are taking shelter in a cave. Ed keeps trying to get Teleya to confess to some sort of bond between the two, and she spits contemptuous observations back at him. She’s wielding her advice like a weapon, and while it’s meant to be hurtful, it’s also accurate and surprisingly constructive. Other than their interpersonal dynamics, Ed also ruminates on religion, and how, confronted with a galaxy of other life forms for the first time, species tend to either drop their faith or double down on it and become zealots. Such is the case with the Krill, who Ed eludes to having been far less violent in their beliefs before space travel.
Faced with escaping out into the sun, Ed gently places his jacket over Teleya and the two make a run for it. They get to the mountain peak with their lives and trust intact, if not a little strained, and safely return to the Orville.
Elsewhere, Gordon finally got an overdue b-story, and it was fine. He’s low on confidence and decides to take command courses under the excuse of expanding beyond just being a pilot. Other than one entertaining bit where he keeps seeing indescribable depravity in Dr. Claire’s Rorschach holograms, and another kind of funny bit where he tries to fend off a simulated Krill attack by extolling the virtues of our healthy diets, it was a perfectly serviceable and unmemorable filler about learning to love yourself a little better. Presumably he does. He gets a date at least.
Back aboard the ship, Kelly tries very strenuously to impress upon Ed that his decision to let Teleya go free will likely cause massive fallout and potential legal repercussions with the Union. He chooses to do so anyway, in hopes that the connection the two have is strong enough to help nurture a greater dialog with the Krill. It’s a risky thing, trying to maintain a romantically tinged relationship between a show’s lead and a bat-faced space albino. The earnest sincerity can come across as cheesy, even more so when one of the pair is covered in mounds of monster make-up. But as an allegory to demonstrate that we will never move forward as a species if we can’t look past those superficial things that may otherwise give us pause? Well, that’s just good science fiction.
- I’m trying and failing to come up with a reason why Teleya had to give her gun to Ed to fend off the space orcs. Was her visibility so hampered by the jacket? Do Krill have poor vision in the sunlight? Ah, well. Whatever.
- I’m really curious what kind of critical response a mostly enlightened 25th century guy would have to Taxi Driver. It would be like reading The Canterbury Tales in A.P. English and needing to have every single line explained to you.
- “Man. I liked you a lot better when you used contractions.” A fair observation by Ed to Teleya.
- I’m not the biggest fan of Billy Joel, or the show’s non-stop 20th century references, but closing the show with “She’s Always a Woman” was solid.
162 Comments
My husband walked in while I was watching this episode and upon seeing Seth McFarlane, noted that he hadn’t heard much laughter coming from the living room.I tried to tell him it wasn’t a comedy… well… it’s not a full on drama… it’s a space drama with comedic elements?I like that it’s an homage with a twist. I can’t take too much of Seth McFarlane’s gross-out based humour, but I do like this.
I think technically it’s a comedic pastiche. But the gags are far enough apart to forget sometimes.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark. You like that one? ”“I found the hero sympathetic. What was his name – Belloq?”
I thought she’d go for Travis Bickle.
Seriously, “Taxi Driver” seemed to be wedged in there solely for the Abbott & Costello joke, but then it sort of stepped on the “Raiders” joke.
Nah. Probably reminds her too much of Ed.
This isn’t another fucking Bortas-heavy episode, is it?
Thankfully, no.
Maybe you should actually read the review before spouting off and making yourself look like an idiot.
You actually read the the reviews?
Well, you know – those Bortus episodes do really suck. So does Bortus. I mean, he literally sucks. Cock.
Fear not, Bortus only has a couple lines in this one. It’s an Ed episode. (Edisode?)
Minimal Bortus. But he does show up with Gordon to save the day in one scene
That’s good. That’s exactly how Bortus works best: as an extreme contrast character whose cultural divide is so great it serves as fantastic non-sequiturs. The Latchkum game was a great example.And when we do get deeper explorations of him, no, we don’t want to see tired Earth sitcom tropes, only just played out by rubbery gruff aliens. The episode dealing with their daughter was great, since it was an exploration of Moclan culture.The episode with Klyten and Bortus having marital trouble? Yeah. It’s not like we haven’t seen that a thousand times before everywhere else, in exactly the same way. It would’ve been nicer to see this subverted, like, say, Klyten getting offended that Bortus isn’t spending enough time at work because Moclan culture values dedication to work, and that their partner expects them to be neglectful.
But in how many of those marital disputes do you see one partner wake up to being stabbed in the chest? (Still, I get it)
True, but not spend a whole hour on that damn joke. It would’ve been a great B-plot to the actual A-plot of the ep (rescuing the people on the dying planet). It does get better when they go to counseling (“Do we get to choose our weapons?”) but again, that’s a whole plot that could be handled in about seven minutes of screen time.There’s plenty of opportunity for humour, but a humorous space opera it should get really fuckin’ weird, not simply “Seth MacFarlane’s Beloved 80s Sitcoms Meet Star Trek”. I’d like to see Bortus used how he was teased in the trailers. Sparingly, but jarringly so.“We’re getting our asses kicked at these negotiations. We need a new strategy. Anyone? Any ideas? I’ll take anything right now.”“Commander, on Moclan, when one is forced to negotiate and is failing as you are-”“-I wouldn’t put it so…succinctly-”“-the prudent action is to change negotiators.”“No, they’ll only negotiate with the commander of the vessel. That’s me.”“Not our negotiator. Theirs. We would simply kill the other negotiators until one was appointed who was amenable to our demands.”“Wha- no! We can’t just murder everyone until we get our way!”“It has been my experience that one need only murder two or three negotiators until the desired terms are agreed to.”“…”
Ha! I’m not sure how I’d like it but I’d watch your version.
But given he was saved in the 90 seconds of air time without a drop of blood pretty much relegates any “life-threatening drama” to the trash heap with this show. Unless they blatantly exploit the old red-shirt trope, if they haven’t already.
Good to see I’m not the only Bortus non-fan here.
I don’t mind him, but fuck me, is anyone watching this for the marital drama?
I hate Bortus. While they were giving Alara the heave-ho, they should have steal-toed those two fags back to Kentucky.
But, but…THE SEXUAL EVENT?? My wife and I have been having a blast with that phrase.
I feel like the AV Club could do a whole list of characters the creator seem to like more than the viewers. My current top 3:Quark – DS9Bortus – OrvilleCoach Steve – Big Mouth
That is a freaking excellent idea, matey.I’ll add:Tilly – Star Trek: Discovery (or, if I’m being uncharitable: STD)Elizabeth Keene – The Blacklist (WHO THE FUCK WATCHES THIS FOR ANYTHING BUT JAMES SPADER CHEWING THE SHIT OUT OF THE SCENERY AND BEING EVIL? I have been reduced to hatewatching this show.)
Must have discussion, or the A.V. Club will shut down reviews of this fine show.
Last night was busy around the house so I’ll be watching tonight. Can I come back and have discussion after dinner?
Well that and the fact this hit the site at around 1:30 EST means a good deal of “need to wake up, and get to my putz around on the internet portion of the day” before the wise-cracks start to roll in here.
as they have a many others I used to watch (most sadly cancelled now).
That ending was so perfect.
Loved it. Subtle acting by McManus under all that latex. She was better as a Krill than as a human, frankly, but I guess that makes sense in retrospect.
Solid episode.Side note, I was expecting the Teleya reveal because JP over at EgotasticFunTime predicted it months ago, hehe. (Fun channel, btw!) But yeah, the “I’m cold” line solidified it for me, too.
I was expected more of a Whedon ending, fully expected her to die the moment they talked about their feelings.
I wonder if were gonna see more of these new aliens, maybe theyre ok, I mean we only heard the Krill perspective of them, would be a nice twist if aliens that look that way are actually peace loving types just fighting because they have to
It’s weird how the new aliens were given all the traditional bad guy treatment, but after Teleya told Ed why they were attacking the Krill, it turns out they’re the good guys in this scenario. Sure, the “they never leave any survivors” thing isn’t good, but they have a legitimate reason to be at war with the Krill and to attack that Krill ship.My only concern now is that the survivors saw Ed with Teleya, shoot at them, and then both of them leave in a Union shuttle. Because of this they have no reason to not think the Union and Krill are allies.
I really enjoyed this episode, especially how it ended: not with a sweeping treaty or anything, but instead with the smallest of steps forward (maybe).But during the shooting scene, all I could think was: “I hope that nasty looking Krill weapon has a stun setting or something.” Because I guess Ed had no choice, but the aliens pursuing them really do appear to be the aggrieved party in the conflict between them and the Krill. Like you said, tracking down every last survivor is far from honorable, but they are beating back an invading force…. It will be interesting to see if these new aliens appear on the show in the future, and whether what happened in this episode has any consequences.
An Lt. which is actually an double agent disguised as a human? Where have we seen it before? It looks like also a bit of a dig at Discovery, while being better executed in a single episode than DIS did in a season.
I can see totally see that Y.K. especially since Discovery premiered last night at 8:30 and new episodes will run be released every Thursday at the same time going forward.
WITH THE SAME FUCKING NAME! Seriously, I stopped watching after that. Really really GTFO Seth McFarlane, now all Lt. Tyler’s in any fictional setting are double agents
Yeah… no. It was done in a perfunctory manner in the few minutes accompanied by (WTF??) creepy Billy Joel songs about women. Really, what exactly was the licensing of Don’t Ask Me Why and She’s Always a Woman for other than make the audience cringe?
DIS set a very low standard, so don’t be surprised. Just about anything would have been than the nonsense DIS did with L’Rell/Voq/Tyler.
It’s called lazy writing
Well, it could be argued this is a Seth MacFarlane vanity project and like many Gen X-ers he’s nostalgic for old Billy Joel songs.
I indeed have argued many times, that yes, the Orville is indeed a Seth MacFarlane vanity project, even more so this year where it seems to dwell rather longingly on pathos surrounding his passive/aggressive nature. As a gen X-er myself, I understand that Billy Joel songs lend themselves to such tendency if you follow along with the lyrics. Many years ago, I also discovered that the songs in Joel’s catalog also lend themselves to being performed in in both the style of William Shatner (appropriate to the genre I suppose) and especially to the styles of Boris Karloff being often a bit creepy and kind of pompous as well and not a bit disturbing when used where it comes to backlighting romantic impulses.
Well, you’ve said that many times, but there’s no real argument to back it up – couldn’t be, it’s completely subjective. You’re an STD fanboy, a sign of a lack of intelligence and taste, so of course you hate The Orville – it’s more Star Trek than Star Trek.
I dunno. I think the whole series comes of a little perfunctory, but it’s still light years better than season 1 of Discovery. I’m ok with it. And I LIKE Billy Joel. But I’m old. Though, for pure comic mileage, make Snoop Dog the top surviving artist from the 20th century.
The Orville is light years in some direction, but I guess that’s why it feels like its 30 years out of date. The dick jokes certainly have travelled a long distance from when they might have been funny to 13 year old Seth.
Yeah…no, sorry, you’re talking out of your ass again. We know you’re an STD fanboy, but you’re just too stupid to make any real criticism of The Orville. Okay, you don’t like Billy Joel – great, thanks for letting us know about something no one gives a shit about. Well done.
“Creepy Billy Joel song about women”.
How old are you?
How old are you? Do I have to be a certain age in order for my opinion to be acceptable? Why should it matter how old or young I am, or if heard them the radio back in the 70s/80s or not? They are his songs and his lyrics, not mine.
What is creepy in your opinion?
As with many Billy Joel songs about women and his love songs in general, these two are at their core mocking patronizing condescension from the songwriter. This is emphasized from the manner that Ed treats Teleya and how earnestly unaware he is about it. A passive/aggressive utilizing passive/aggressive love songs to woo his love interest is understandable of course, their collective nature rather creepy, IMHO. Perhaps the saving grace of the ep is those songs are less reflective of her, than they are of earnest but seriously projecting Ed.
That’s one interpretation
Its pretty clear those songs weren’t chosen from Billy Joel’s greatest hits by random. Not to mention that his ex points out to him in that ep he has 11 “passive/aggressive” smiles and just one ”in-love” smile. Things that make you go hmm…
I like Seth, but I don’t believe that Seth is that self-aware or that nuanced in his character work. Also, your whole interpretation is something I don’t necessarily accept, but then I would have to spend time learning and analyzing the lyrics and re-watching the episode so I am not going to present any counterargument. Suffice it to say that I believe your interpretation may be valid, but it is but one.
Yeah. I agree. What’s creepy about those Joel songs? She is frequently kind
And she’s suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She’s nobody’s fool
But she can’t be convicted
She’s earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she’s always a woman to me…Ok. Still looking for the creepy there.
I’ve been an alien disguised as a human on Earth for twenty years. It’s very easy.
Fr’sn¥k? Is that you? How you been?
Tommy Wiseau?
He’s a great example of no matter how easy something is someone can still screw it up. 😉
Oh, so they dealt with the destructive effects of PTSD, sexual assault, and brainwashing in a single episode? How efficient of them.
DIS ‘dealt’ with that by providing a completely incoherent plotline, to the point you do NOT want to use it as an example of ‘dealing with PTSD, and sexual assault’. After all, last we see of that character, he goes with L’Rell. So the answer for dealing with sexual assault is staying with the abuser? I prefer to think that DIS was simply completely incoherent than take that ‘message’ seriously. By contrast, this plotline is coherent and ends with a typical Trek message rather than threatening to blow up a planet.
You really continue to be the worst human. Do no speak of sexual assault if you are a shitty white dude bereft of compassion and intellect.
last we see of that character, he goes with L’Rell. So the answer for dealing with sexual assault is staying with the abuser?
Except it wasn’t sexual assault, that was just how Voq-as-Tyler misinterpreted his flashbacks of Parmaq with L’Rell. Once he realized he was actually Voq, a Klingon, in a human skin, he went back with L’Rell because he wanted to be with her – though his relationship with Michael may have changed him a bit as well.
What looks to us like torture and rape was actually his real Klingon memories breaking through his Mind-Gloss which helped him be Tyler – the agony of transforming himself into a human, the sadness of very likely never seeing his lover L’Rell again, and the determination that this was necessary.
Yup. You may have missed it between the bodily fluids humor.
STD would drag that out over a whole season, with fanboys like AlanAlaricRoi drooling and cumming all over themselves.
Not only that but a nice dig at religious fundamentalism thrown in at no additional charge!
A Lt. named Tyler, too!
You have a terrible case of Orville Syndrome. The debilitating mental disorder where you fellate garbage because you cannot bare to live in a world of strong characters who are women of color. It blinds you to the rank fecal pellets that assault your eyes and ears when Seth McFarlane is on screen. It causes you to forget that every plot on a TV show is recycled from 1994. There is no cure.
Also, both characters’ human last names were Tyler.
It was basically the awful Seska plot from Voyager (done much better here) crossed with Enemy Mine.
“eludes to having bee” – with respect I’m fairly sure you mean “alludes” there…that said, I was pleasantly surprised by much of this episode – although between the krill looking somewhat like a blend of a cardassian & the jem’hadar & the new aliens somewhat resembling the mangalores of the fifth element the fact that the plot was seemingly a riff on discovery’s “big season twist”™ it was hard to decide if it was a deft bit of referencing or laziness to go the way they did…once again, though, although there seem to be less gags per minute, more of the ones that are still there seem to be landing for me than they were at the outset…
Haven’t watched this week’s episode yet, but anyone
who read my comments last week knows I’m pretty critical about The Orville. I’m
a fan of TNG, not so much of Voyager, and I consider The Orville more of a
Voyager clone than TNG. However, I have noticed something that The Orville does
better than probably any Star Trek series: Orchestral music.I don’t
know how Seth MacFarlane managed to get 3 of America’s most accomplished
film/TV composers to all work on his show, but the combination of Bruce
Broughton, John Debney and Joel McNeely is extraordinary. And I don’t mean that
figuratively, I mean it is literally extraordinary to have 3 composers of this
calibre working on one show. Jeez, any show would be lucky to have one of these
composers. And much like I only watch Walking Dead for the zombie makeup and
effects, I now pretty much watch The Orville because of the music. There are
many moments it sounds like 90s Star Trek (as intended I’m sure), but there are
also moments where they just let the music take centre stage, say during the
Orville docking at a space station or Alara riding an alien horse on the beach,
and holy shit the music raises the quality of the entire production. Can’t wait
until the soundtrack comes out, which I see it does Jan 22nd on
La-La Land Records.
I definitely notice the music more than usual during this episode; it was marvelous—even scene-stealing at times. I recall reading an interview with MacFarlane many years ago where he talked about how important he thought a live orchestra was for ‘Family Guy’, citing the Simpsons as inspiration to do so for all of his shows. He is a very musical guy, too, having (I think) made a living as a Sinatra impersonator at one point in his life. I guess it makes sense that he would step up the soundtrack game even more for a live action sci-fi show.
You are aware that he has recorded 4 albums (thus far) and been nominated for several Grammy awards, right?
nope!
I feel like during space battles it channels Star Wars, while its sweeping establishing shots channel Star Trek.Which is cool.
I really hate how everyone in these online review sites criticize the show and base it on one episode that was meant to be more of a tie in with the Moclan sex change fiasco in season 1 and how Bortus has been unable to look at his spouse the same way since.However, season 2 episode 4 can only be summed up as being an out of the part hit! The effects, the story, the acting, directing (Jon Cassar), the writing (ahem, Brannon Braga, André Bormanis).Teleya couldn’t shot Ed or those freaky look orc like creatures because was weakened by the exposure to the sun. Her hand was shaking when she was aiming the phaser on Ed. Her vision is probably bad in sunlight as well. Loved this episode and i will continue to love the show!
I totally enjoyed last night’s episode, I would love to see Teleya return and Ed and her form a permanent relationship. It will.be interesting now that new Discovery and Orville episodes will be released and broadcasted the same night now.
Yeah, the balance was perfect. She did not relent and fall head over heals for Ed but there was hope that he affected her somehow and that this might soften relations between the two species in the future… or not. We’ll see.
I mean, yeah, you can’t really shoot at people if the only thing stopping you from dying almost instantly is a cheap pleather jacket perched precariously overhead.Really dug the episode, I knew she was a spy almost immediately, it’s that old ploy of being too perfect we’ve seen before, but I had no idea who it would be or why, and boy was that a big payoff. The show is doing a good job of stringing along old threads in fun ways, that’s a really satisfying thing, to keep things serial instead of go the “thing of the week” route.I have no trouble understanding English plays written hundreds of years ago, I don’t think Ed would have difficulty understanding Taxi Driver.
As soon as the Krill turned around I thought, “She’s a Krill, they went Disco.” However, I feel like they did a better job than Star Trek: Discovery did with it. I chuckled with “Mellow Alert” and Belloq being the hero of Indy.
I wondered about the reason she gave up her gun to Ed too, but he was a pretty decent shot. (By the way, I’m a relentless grammar Nazi and in the sentence “Ed eludes to having been far less violent,” you wanted the word “alludes” which means referencing indirectly, not “eludes” which means evades.)
Even though Ed did “give up the codes to save her” the fact that the codes that Ed gave up were not even the “real codes” but just something to spit out heaps of pseduo data that would lead to busy work until they could be rescued or escape was a good touch.
And another example of why torture doesn’t work.
Funny, when you said “torture” and “doesn’t work” I immediately started thinking of Discovery. 😉
I actually missed the first season episode with Teleya and didn’t know about her history with Ed. Now that I know, it makes the emotional tension between them make a lot more sense. Their interaction did come off as a bit cliche (you know she wasn’t going to kill him). But I think she gave him the gun because, not having a jacket over his head, he could maneuver and aim better. She couldn’t risk the jacket falling off and exposing her to the sun. And those guys were coming fast. I agree that the show needs to cut back on the 20th Century references. I imagine some stuff with be held onto as “classics,” but can’t they even just have some throwaway lines about contemporary musicians/authors/movies?
The 20th century references are a total throwback to Star Trek, though. Particularly Voyager where as I recall Paris was obsessed with 20th century culture for no apparent reason.
It would have been nice to see them stretch this out. She only appeared on the show an episode or two ago, then they out her immediately? What’s the rush? They should have kept their relationship going for half a season, then do this episode. It would have had a much bigger emotional impact.
“I’m trying and failing to come up with a reason why Teleya had to give her gun to Ed to fend off the space orcs” If she lost the jacket during the gun battle, she would have been incapacitated by the sun’s rays.
I wonder how much it cost to get “Always a Woman.” That seems like it would be pricey.
Fox pays out $7 million an episode. All that money has to go somewhere. This week it went to Billy Joel.
I’m one of those people who saw it coming that Tyler was Teleya in disguise. I didn’t IMDb it either. Tyler just seemed too perfect for Ed, and in thinking about what Ed and Gordon did last season in “The Krill” I figured they were going to get some payback from the Krill coming their way. Using their same trick against them made sense. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the reveal and the episode, but I saw it. I appreciated that this episode showed Ed’s capabilities as a captain, physically, strategically, etc. He’s a good captain and officer.
At the same time, while obviously I can see why the Krill would consider Ed’s actions against them a “sin”, I don’t think they are at all in the larger sense. He went on a mission and stopped them from wiping out a Union planet filled with innocent families. That’s what they were planning to do in that episode. Also in that episode we saw how the Krill are indoctrinating their children with hatred of Humans. They have plenty of their own sins as a militaristic society.
“Man. I liked you a lot better when you used contractions.”—Great joke. Many Aliens (Betazoids being an exception) and androids/robots never use contractions. Why would she suddenly, instantly, perfectly, stop using them? Because she’s really an ALIEN!
I agree about the 20th century references. The Avis/car rental jokes in The Krill episode last year drove me nuts. Gordon doesn’t know about the United States of America being the country his ancestors are from, but he knows the name of a 20th century car rental company and can make joke after joke about the Krills god being named Avis? Kind of silly. I had a big discussion on that in that episodes review comments and don’t want to go into it any more here. It just seemed like too much of a stretch to me.
Hope these reviews keep coming Nick!
That comment about contractions was one of the best things I’ve seen in sci-fi, and bless Seth for calling it out in such a natural way. I also liked the idea that the command codes would work but spit out useless info – that was a great touch I haven’t seen before (but has probably been used).
I don’t know, I figure everyone would have picked that up but that they knew it – a lot of this show is covering old ground with a new twist. It wasn’t important that the reveal wasn’t shocking, the point of the show was what came after. Not the first time two enemies were stranded together on a planet, but with a slightly different take on it.
It was strange to see all the car rental jokes when they obviously knew they couldn’t name drop Enterprise.
While I want it to happen naturally, damn it, I’m now shipping Ed and Teleya. What’s weird is I thought they had more chemistry with her as Teleya than they did with her as Lt. Janel. It’s largely because as a Krill she no longer exists as wish fulfillment for Ed and pushes back against him.
I admit that I didn’t suspect anything from her feeling cold, or even when the Krill ships showed up. As soon as they doubled back though… Ed is so besotted with 20th century pop culture you’d think he’d have figured this out too.
I only suspected she was a double agent when the torture started. I think the clever thing with this aspect of the episode was starting out with them being 10 weeks into their relationship. As an audience member, you’re asked to fill in the gaps. Once done, you’re in gap-filling mode the whole episode, and basically the show has you. The jacket call back was way more nuance than anyone could/should expect from this show. Grateful to have it.
Clever and Orville do not belong in the same paragraph. I’ve taken shits with more depth.
I figured out she was a double agent during their movie night together. Yes it was that obvious, at least to me. But then, its a running joke now that he always endangers the ship when he’s looking to get laid, so there is that.
I doubt you did pick that up – the rest of us did, the author seems to think most would not, for some reason. But I doubt you would have.
Clearly you didn’t. Or you wouldn’t feel the need to attack someone who did. That’s what’s called projection, fyi.
I thought she was a plant when she was introduced last season. Guess I’m the suspicious type.
Yeah, I actually like them together too, even if it’s just recurring sexual tension once or twice a season. It would be awesome if there’s eventually a Krill-human peace treaty and the two of them are part of the negotiations.
I had the reveal spoiled for me by reading a review that mentioned that it was the same actress for both characters. And I was surprised that they moved this fast with that plot (I figured it’d be a backburner season or half-season arc, only blowing up at the finale), I though they handled it pretty elegantly. There’s a lot of handwavy stuff and places where you just have to deal with storytelling conceits (there is no logical way everyone on a ship this big would all share a fixation with 20th American media to the point where that’s all we see, so you either accept that as a conceit that makes the show work or the show just doesn’t work for you), but the core beats were all very well done.
It almost feels strange saying that Ed had more chemistry with Teleya as herself than with her as Janel, but damn, I got on board quickly (even if the vibe is straight out of Pocahontas). I wasn’t really feeling their connection when she was first introduced this season—I was even on the Ed-and-Kelly train beforehand—but it quickly became more interesting and appealing after the Teleya reveal and throughout the rest of the episode. In a short amount of time, the writers have built a surprisingly compelling dynamic with a tragic history, short as it may be, and complex emotions and beliefs.In addition to questioning why Teleya had to give Ed the gun at the end, I’m also wondering why she didn’t just go with him the first time to set up the distress call? Me thinks she’s not the smartest soldier—in fact, there is potential to explore the fact that she is a teacher-turned-spy—but I agree: whatever. The rest of the episode was quite strong.What has made this series stand out for me is its lighthearted elements, mostly illustrated by including everyday things like dating and pop culture (something I assume Star Trek has never done?), which works nicely with its heavier sci-fi action. That balance is what made this episode great: there are, like I said, all of the dark and complicated aspects of Ed and Teleya’s relationship, but there are also fun little asides like Teleya’s preference for the Nazis in Raiders and telling Ed he snores. I hope The Orville doesn’t forget to utilize that mix of comedy and drama, because I think that is what makes it uniquely entertaining.
Are you saying that you never saw Star Trek? Is this even possible? You need to start streaming NOW.
I’m also wondering why she didn’t just go with him the first time to set up the distress call?
Yeah. She couldn’t and then she just did. The jacket is so obvious, I thought there must be a reason that wouldn’t work, like it wasn’t just direct sunlight that’d kill her.
Lots of fake drama at the end.WE HAVE TO GET TO THE BEACON, BUT THE SUN WILL KILL YOU!!!“If there was only a way to shade you a little. Oh wait, we’ll shade you from the sun with this jacket. I guess one of us should have thought of that for the last trip.”THERE’S NO PLACE TO LAND!!!! HOW WILL WE PICK THEM UP????“Not to worry. I’m the best pilot in the fleet. I think I can somehow manage to make this space ship hover above the ground like a helicopter while they climb in. Good thing I’m here.”
Nah, leaving her behind to set up the beacon was fine. They had no idea how rough the terrain would be and having her stumble along under a jacket would slow the trip down. #2 was pretty dumb, though. Felt like it was shoehorned in there just to give Bortus something to say.
He also mentions it must have been hard to deal with the lights on The Orville that they handled with a little more hand waving and “I dealt with it”.
#2 was pretty dumb, though. Felt like it was shoehorned in there just to give Bortus something to say.I thought it was just a weak way to reaffirm his decision. His eyes lit up when Bortus said it.
I had no problem with Teleya giving Ed the gun. She was wearing a jacket over her head and it was likely to obscure her view, plus, she’d need one hand to keep the jacket safely on her head. Ed could wield the gun unimpeded.Gordon’s reaction to the Rorschach holograms was entirely predictable but it worked anyway.Did Isaac have a single line in this episode?The captain needed rescuing so why didn’t Kelly also send Interim Security Chief Tharl with Gordon and Bortus on the shuttle? She had no way of knowing they shouldn’t have to leave the shuttle. Granted, I’m glad they didn’t since a little Tharl goes a long way. I’m guessing Tharl’s species does not have much respect for military protocol and the Union respects their beliefs. Or perhaps Tharl is just a dick and will be replaced soon.One thing I like about the entire show is the lack of transporters. It forces them to come up with more physical solutions to some of their problems.I don’t think I want to see a romance between Ed and Teleya in the future. But another episode with just the two of them talking for an hour would be fine.
I had no problem with Teleya giving Ed the gun. She was wearing a jacket over her head and it was likely to obscure her view, plus, she’d need one hand to keep the jacket safely on her head. Ed could wield the gun unimpeded.Gordon’s reaction to the Rorschach holograms was entirely predictable but it worked anyway.Did Isaac have a single line in this episode?The captain needed rescuing so why didn’t Kelly also send Interim Security Chief Tharl with Gordon and Bortus on the shuttle? She had no way of knowing they wouldn’t have to leave the shuttle, and in that scenario you want trained ground forces.
Granted, I’m glad they didn’t since a little Tharl goes a long way. I’m guessing Tharl’s species does not have much respect for military protocol and the Union respects their beliefs. Or perhaps Tharl is just a dick and will be replaced soon.One thing I like about the entire show is the lack of transporters. It forces them to come up with more physical solutions to some of their problems.I don’t think I want to see a romance between Ed and Teleya in the future. But another episode with just the two of them talking for an hour would be fine.
I’m guessing that Tharl is gone by next week. Looks like Jessica Szohr (Shameless, Twin Peaks) is joining the cast.
I completely agree re the lack of transporters. Some have argued with me that it’s too much of a break in the action, but I like that pause sometimes. Like with Star Trek before it, shuttle rides are good opportunity to try different character combinations or just have a quiet conversation. And The Orville has done a couple of great gags there too, like the seat belt bit from the pilot. One of last season’s best episodes, Into the Fold, wouldn’t have even happened without a shuttle ride. Nor would have this week’s come to think of it.
Oh, and Lt. Snork is a temp and yes, he’ll be replaced soon.
Yeah, replaced with basically the same character that left, what’s the point of that? I like Tharl.
Because Seth can’t bang Wharburton. I believe they’re replacing her in kind with another young woman, maybe from the same planet. That means they can keep that alien-but cute makeup effect going.
I like Tharl, and he’s not being a dick – he’s just super laid-back. He must be competent – his previous Captain had a professional boner for him for a reason. Yes, I like the lack of transporters – balance by them having cloaking devices.
I’m constantly amazed that they (mostly) successfully manage to include both legitimate drama and slapstick comedy in every episode.
It’s also nice that they don’t have an existing decades long continuity that they feel honor bound to vivisect every single episode, but I digress.
Alludes. Not eludes.
This was one of their best. When Ed climbed out of the cave and whet up to the broadcast point, I caught myself doing a little knowing gasp: “They’re filming on the same terrain as the old Star Trek shows – practically the same location.” You could imagine Kirk and the Gorn climbing around in the background, not to mention Picard and Dathon by the campfire down the way. I also found myself thinking that Kirk would be more likely to pull the jacket off Teleya’s head in the sun and shrug. Kirk wouldn’t, of course, but he’d be more tempted. Also, Kirk would have turned on the charm in the cave and gotten over on her the night before. Just the fact that I’m thinking of Kirk, Picard, & Ed in the same brain, is a mark in the show’s favor. Are they trading on nostalgia? Maybe, but it helps when The Orville backs it up with descent episodes.
The area is Rocky Peak in the hills above Chatsworth, CA. I saw the location signs for the Orville last summer so I knew to be on the lookout for hills that look like home this season. And yes, the original series filmed in the same area back in the 60’s.
Thanks for the reply.
Really? Did you have to ask if they were trading on nostalgia at this point in the show? That has been blatant from episode one. Unfortunately, for some people its as is Seth is spray painting his name on their personal memories with this vanity cosplay project of his.
Oh, come on. The newer star treks suck. I think Gene Roddenberry would appreciate this take on the subject matter. Let people enjoy things. It’s a great show.
So, let people enjoy things, unless they happen to be the newer star treks? That’s you’re takeway? Smooth.I’m pretty sure that Roddenberry would be appalled and would have probably sued MacFarlane if he was still alive. And I’m pretty sure that a lot of the scripts Seth wrote/okayed, Cupid’s Dagger comes to mind pretty strongly, that would have ended up in Gene’s shredder.
i suppose i should say in my opinion, the new star trek sucks. at least as far as star trek goes. i mean they are fine action movies, but not exactly star trek.
I guess there’s a lot of past Star Trek you don’t consider Star Trek then.
A lot of people dismiss this but clearly Seth is a huge fan of Trek and it shows. The Orville is more of a Star Trek show than Discovery will ever be.
I loved the first season and wondered if I would enjoy as much when they toned down the humour on the second, but can honestly say, I am enjoying it more.
The music at the end was incredibly well done. It helped deliver the emotions of the scene very well.
Reezus Rice. If I sing Roxanne at karaoke, am I more the lead singer of The Police than Sting is? The Orville is Seth MacFarlane’s fanfic, safely going where we’ve been hundreds of times. Discovery at least has the ambition to change and be new. *That* is more Trek than The Orville will ever be.
Discovery is the bastard half-brother of Star Trek. It’s barely acknowledged in the family and given plenty of side-eye.
If they had come out and said, Discovery was just a sci-fi show and changed the names so as not supposed to be Trek races etc, it would have done fine, even with the ridiculously poor science and issues.
You can not call it Star Trek though.
Just another friendly reminder that the Krill keep children on their ships. So every time we see one of their ships destroyed, either by our heroes or someone else, we are seeing dozens of children die.A nice subversion from TNG Star Trek. See? This is how you do that!
But all the Orvillies claim this is the true, hopeful, happy moral Star Trek. And invade Discovery reviews to try and Spread The Good Word.
Her name was literally Lieutenant TylerJanel TylerAsh TylerHi double agent
Most of the shows episodes have had covers of songs by soundalikes. I was so acclimated to this that it took me a while to realize that was really Billy Joel. At first, I was thinking, that’s a really close cover.
As a Trek nerd, I noticed the reference to previous TNG and DS9 episodes (one of DS9’s best episodes, “The Ascent,” has Odo and Quark climbing a mountain to get out a distress signal in a brilliant odd couple take and the 7th season TNG episode “Thine Own Self” contains a B-plot about Counselor Troi taking the command test), instead of the jacket clue, but that was good. Also, I’m an unapologetic Billy Joel fan for life, so forgive me if I was singing along at both scenes. Derivative and cheesy? Most definitely. Despite that, is this my favorite episode of “The Orville” so far? Yeah.Also, of COURSE Telaya would consider Belloq the good guy in “Raiders.”
Enemies in distress or holed up in a cave together stories are some of the best. There’s an episode of Star Wars Rebels that did a similar story and it’s absolutely perfect and ends up changing the course of the series.
Sure, but its a little hard to take when one of them is passive-agressively trying to get the other to admit she has feelings for him. Then it can get kind of cringeworthy.
The DS9 episode Waltz comes to mind, with a very enjoyable Sisko/Dukat trapped-in-a-cave-together dynamic.
Is it just me or does Nick here look exactly like the sort of white man that Fox is trying to Target for this show.Too bad the ratings have tanked.
Of course the ratings have tanked. The show is entirely made up of TNG filler quality eps made in a style and with production values that is 30 years out of date. All you have left are TNG nostalgists desperate for new background noise and a few Alt-righters who think the Orville is their Star Trek, you know, because its not liberal like that other show that’s on.
So, her being cold didn’t register as an alien tell to me since I figured she was just being coy with a bit of cuddle foreplay.
But when she said “is that another Earth guy” about Billy Joel, followed shortly by the Krill patrol showing up, I commented, “Oh, she’s a Krill,” at which point I remembered that the actress had played a Krill in the earlier episode (which had escaped my mind until that moment).
At least they didn’t drag it out for the whole episode thinking the audience wouldn’t catch on at any point.As for her not firing the gun at the end, I figured it was the risk to being exposed to the sunlight for having to move too much. Not that it mattered, I guess, since she and Ed were openly exposed standing on the top of that rock and made no effort to seek cover, yet the aliens were such bad shots they missed like 5 or 6 times. Blatant stormtrooper marksmanship on display.Since Ed didn’t know who those aliens were, I assume the Union hasn’t encountered them yet either to any great degree, so my guess would be at some they’ll pose enough of a threat to the Union that the Union and Krill would have to align to stop them.What also seemed weird to me was that Ed and “Janel” were on the way to a planet a couple of light years from where the Orville was, then the Orville goes on its supply run while the shuttle is captured. So when Ed and Teleya escape, they note that there is a planet nearby. But the way the planet they ended up on was depicted, I would guess that wasn’t the vacation spot they were originally planning on heading to. The Krill ship must have been in transit for a while before the escape, but not far enough away that the Orville didn’t detect the distress call, which was on another planet just a couple light years from the ship (just a weird coincidence that the show would mention the ship being 2 light years and change away from a planet twice during the same episode. It being different planets is reasonable given the expanses of spaceflight, but I would think most writers would just make it the same planet).
But when she said “is that another Earth guy” about Billy Joel, followed shortly by the Krill patrol showing up, I commented, “Oh, she’s a Krill,”I didn’t even catch it there, sadly; I assumed that she grew up on a remote colony and had minimal exposure to old Earth culture.
Eh, I prefer current pop culture references to endless Shakespeare and Mozart.
Best episode of the season. Besides the customary campy humor, there was some real depth in this one. Loved it.
I’m trying and failing to come up with a reason why Teleya had to give her gun to Ed to fend off the space orcs.
I think the excuse I could see is that if she’s having to protect herself from the sun with the jacket, presumably holding it with both hands, then she’s not going to be able to shoot her gun. Or, she wouldn’t be able to extend her arm as her hand would be exposed to the sunlight. I think there’s quite a few explanations that could be offered along those lines that aren’t so far-fetched.
Also I imagine her vision would be pretty impaired in that situation. Normal daylight would be like snow-blindness. Not effective for aiming.
Yeah. If sunlight is strong enough to burn her skin, then even indirect light must be blinding. She could probably barely make out Ed as a vague shape.
When we first meet Teleya – was that Amanda Tapping’s voice?
The “frenemy relationship” plot worked perfectly, seemed straight out of Star Trek. But the reliance on Gordon for comic relief feels lazy at this point. If this show’s going to work as a comedy the laughs need to be spread out better.
“He will fail.”Best line of the night.
This was probably my favorite episode so far. The moment between Gordon and Ed in the mess hall was absolutely genuine (even Gordon asking if they’d “done it” didn’t ruin it) and I actually thought Gordon’s interest in joining the command program was well done and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t abandon it at the end and that it wasn’t totally about picking up women. It was an interesting contrast with Tilly on Discovery – neither of them (to me) seems particularly well suited for command, but there are hints in both that they might actually make something of themselves.So I didn’t think anything of the cold comment (honestly I’d forgotten that entire episode) but I was starting to figure it out during the shuttle attack scene – I figured she was either a bad actress or the character was in on it. Even with a number of moments in this episode requiring serious suspension of disbelief (even for sci-fi), I thought the entire Ed-Janel-Teleya plot was very well done, and I liked how Ed’s reaction to the reveal wasn’t revulsion and that he seemed to still be attracted to Janel/Teleya in spite of the betrayal. I like her and I hope she’ll be back. (And obligatory “I can’t believe they actually NAMED HER TYLER” comment.)Bortus’ “he will fail” and the cut to the next scene was great. Now if they could replace that new security guy that would be terrific – he’s the only thing I think is still way too broad and not working.And the “King and I” scene was adorable with Seth singing softly, it almost seemed like that wasn’t in the script and he just couldn’t help it.
As for the constant use of late 20th century music and pop culture, is it really any different than in TNG where everything was classical music and Sherlock Holmes simulations? Seriously noone in TNG ever put on a little Marvin Gaye when in the mood, or grooved to a little Michal Jackson or anything?I like Orville. Humans are better overall, but still have normal human hang ups. We are imperfect, but trying to get better. TNG they seemed stuffy and self righteous sometimes. Between the two universes i’d go orville. Heck already we got more diversity. TNG was almost all humans, one beta zed (or what ever they are called), an android, and a Klingon. (Not really counting Whoopie)This is the premier flagship of the fleet. Orville we got gelatinus blob, Mocklans, alien robot, elephant guy, rhino bartender, Bob, etc. VERY diverse and it is a run of the mill ship.
There were quite a few of you who commented on Janel’s first appearance that you suspected that Janel was really Teleya in disguise since you knew it was the same actress. (I don’t recall seeing Michaela McManus’s name in the credits of Janel’s first appearance.) Well done to you. With that said, when I saw the Krill in the preview of this week’s episode, noticed Janel in the episode and Michaela McManus’s name in the credits this time around, I was anticipating that reveal.This is where having all their interests be from the 20th and 21st centuries fails. Is everyone of their time period hip to stuff that would be ancient history to them? Now if this show developed more interests that fit their timeframe and Janel didn’t know what their modern interests were, then I’d be more suspicious of it. I wasn’t that suspicious when she didn’t know about “The King and I,” “Taxi Driver,” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”I am glad that they didn’t have Teleya fall into that typical “woman/female character does develop feeling towards a man/male character that she’s the enemy to,” though I got worried at points. She could’ve easily killed Ed at any moment, but she chose not to. I still felt her Krill dogma was too strong for her to though.
Basically, the reason all of the characters are obsessed with the same media as Seth McFarlane is because that’s a necessary conceit to his writing style. It’s one of those things that you either just accept as necessary to the make the show work (like how you have to ignore a lot of basic science to enjoy superhero movies), or the show just doesn’t work for you.
This is a beautifully-told story, with nice in-universe continuity. But the only part that doesn’t make sense is how Teleya was able to join the fleet and orchestrate an assignment to one particular ship. We have already seen that the Union doesn’t know enough about Moclan culture; and now we see that it doesn’t adequately vet its human fleet candidates.Anyway, these implausibilities notwithstanding, this show is a joy to watch.
I miss a few things that were in the pilot, but we haven’t seen since:
– The Krill being part of the comedy, such as the Krill captain getting dragged into Ed and Kelly’s relationship argument.
– Isaac introduced as “incredibly racist”, but it’s mostly been middling-matter-of-fact arrogance.Since then, it’s just been primarily straight up action sci-fi, with just a little light humor sprinkled in to make it seem relatable.
I knew it was going to hit the fan when they decided to go on vacation. Vacations never went well on ST:TNG.
*alludes
B+??? Tropey story aside, even by Orville standards this was bad. They outfitted extras in monkey masks and had them shoot like Imperial Storm Troopers. About as goofy as Season 1 when they landed at a office park on a Sunday afternoon for filming. They drove 20 minutes from the studio and ran around some rocks. I mean CGI the sky a different color or something. Jeebus… Pick a little moral lesson per episode with some humor and stick to that. This show can’t do action AND that.
Isn’t the disguised alien spy on that other show also named Tyler?
My problem comes from the fact that two plot points are cribbed directly from Star Trek.The spy in disguise with Ed and Gordon’s shield that will reflect back whatever is thrown at it is James T. Kirk 101.
I suspected her when they got attacked on the shuttle
This was much better than the last few episodes. This season really didn’t start off very strong in my opinion (which is really unacceptable when you only have a 14-episode order), but this episode was more like it. I hope the rest of the season is more like this and less like “Home.”
Solid episode!!!