Going further in both directions. The Orville goes further than it's ever tried to go in both directions and as a result of aiming for a target higher than they've ever tried, they simultaneous reach higher heights than previously but also miss by as large a margin. Or do they? I can't tell anymore... "About a Girl"
The Story: So our macho Klingon wannabe character Bortus laid an egg last week with his husband Klyden. He comes from a species with only one gender and it turns out that gender is all male. When the egg turns out to be female, they want the doctor to perform a surgery to "correct" it and everyone on the ship freaks out at how weird this is. They argue with him and try to explain that girls are cool too, even subjecting him to lose boxing match to a girl from a super-strong species. But it's getting drunk with the fellas and watching -- no you'd never guess it -- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. You know, the really old one from decades ago they still play on TV at Christmas because it was your grampa's favorite? Well, this convinces him, but his husband (and entire home planet) disagrees so they have a contrived trial to sort it out. Classic Star Trek. So what are the issues they try to implicate? Let's start a list. Are men inherently better than women (or conversely, is it an inherent defect to be female)? Is it okay to alter your child before the age of consent (anything here from cleft pallet to circumcision or a third leg removal)? Is it up to the parents or the society? Is being transgendered a bad thing to do to a child? Is it okay to let an entire "culture" do what makes sense them, without limits? Is it okay to interfere with that "culture" based on what makes sense in your culture? Is it okay to leave your baby with a couple drunk dudes who like to watch four-hundred year old Christmas classics? So what are the jokes? Well, "Did he just leave is baby with a couple drunk dudes?" was a line that actually caught me off guard and made me laugh out loud, following the pivotal Rudolph turning-point of the show, which itself made me chuckle at the sheer nonsensical audacity of such a gag hidden in a plot point. Especially since they frame it such that you figure out the applicable "moral of the story" just as Bortus does and instead of roll his eyes as you do, he is profoundly moved by the "Tale of Rudolph". Other jokes like quoting "I am survivor" as important literature and then following it up with who wrote it by saying, "Like fifteen people, probably." There were also some humorous nods to an all-male society when they reach Bortus' homeworld, a place of rampant military industrialization, where bombs are shot off just randomly and where the men play shoot-em-up video games on their first dates. These were the standouts that worked, despite continuing to be written as if MacFarlane came in after the script was complete to tack on some jokes. Otherwise it's the usual dick jokes and arbitrary casualness with which they gossip on the bridge and say, "Dude" and "You're being a dick" while on duty. Does any of it work? Well, the earnestness of the episode works better than I expected and the acting had enough depth to take both the serious stuff seriously and still sell a quick joke once and a while without feeling any more incongruous than normal. For the most part, I was surprised at the balance of the moral relativism at play here and the restraint it must have taken to write and issue like this and not tip your hand too early. I honestly wasn't sure which side I was supposed to be rooting for since they tried to be fair to both. This devolved by the end as they simplified the complexity of the issue they'd created to one of mere gender-value and then wrapped up on a tragic and somber note. Logically, you want to look at this one from a distance and with your eyes squinting or you start to see the cracks. The writers just weren't able to manage the nuances of such social issues without glazing over half of them. And not just the progressive social commentary stuff, but even the sci-fi internal consistency was... how should I put it... inconsistent. Missed opportunities all around. And even though the jokes make me laugh more than normal, I'm still not sure the juxtaposition adds anything artistically to the equation. I would much prefer jokes like the Rudolph thing where the humor comes in the subtlety of the silliness while still making you think. Something where the humor is as subversive as the social issues rather than merely petty potty-humor. Conclusion: Okay, Orville, you got three good weeks out of me. Now I'm gonna go watch some new REAL Star Trek and come back with an answer... UPDATED: I saw the new Star Trek Discovery and you can read my review here. After seeing the new Star Trek, I think Orville will not survive to a second season. I think a small number of people will stick with it until the end and claim they like this lighter fare better than the darker Discovery, but the truth is, Discovery just looks better. It looks adult and it makes the Orville look adolescent. Its acting is better, its writing is better, and its budget is bigger. Artistically, at least so far, Discovery knows what it is, and the Orville is a weird mess. It's like going home for the holidays and sitting between the cousin getting a PhD in Middle Eastern Sociology and the other cousin who wants to tell another fart joke while expecting you to take his political views seriously. It's especially hard to respect the one in the light of the other, even if you don't like sociology and the fart jokes make you snicker. Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 4
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