It's highly ironic how the plot of this episode is the same as one of the plot lines in Star Trek: Discovery's first season...
In this episode, the show abandons all pretences of being a comedy. I've been going back and forth on whether I think the humour adds to the show or if it would be better without it all together (just like the show itself has seemed unsure of exactly what it wants to be) but after this episode it's clear to me that the show absolutely NEEDS the comedic aspect. Without it, it becomes all the more obvious just how much of an unoriginal clone of Star Trek: The Next Generation it is. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Captain Mercer. Without the jokes, he's nothing more than Seth MacFarlane cosplaying as Captain Kirk (I guess Seth prefers to see himself as the dashing and daring Kirk over the bald and "boring" Picard) and I just can't take his botoxed face seriously.
With all that said, this episode and the show overall is still enjoyable to watch and I definitely prefer it to Star Trek: Discovery, which I gave up on in its third season because watching the next episode increasingly felt like a chore that I had to force myself to do. With The Orville, I'm still looking forward to watch each new episode. It is, however, far from the masterpiece that all the 'Disco' haters make it out to be.
P. S. The ending of this episode was pure cheese.
In this episode, the show abandons all pretences of being a comedy. I've been going back and forth on whether I think the humour adds to the show or if it would be better without it all together (just like the show itself has seemed unsure of exactly what it wants to be) but after this episode it's clear to me that the show absolutely NEEDS the comedic aspect. Without it, it becomes all the more obvious just how much of an unoriginal clone of Star Trek: The Next Generation it is. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Captain Mercer. Without the jokes, he's nothing more than Seth MacFarlane cosplaying as Captain Kirk (I guess Seth prefers to see himself as the dashing and daring Kirk over the bald and "boring" Picard) and I just can't take his botoxed face seriously.
With all that said, this episode and the show overall is still enjoyable to watch and I definitely prefer it to Star Trek: Discovery, which I gave up on in its third season because watching the next episode increasingly felt like a chore that I had to force myself to do. With The Orville, I'm still looking forward to watch each new episode. It is, however, far from the masterpiece that all the 'Disco' haters make it out to be.
P. S. The ending of this episode was pure cheese.