S03.E02: Shadow Realms

[paulvdb]

Quote

The Orville explores a mysterious region of space.

Premiere date: June 9, 2022

[AnimeMania]

Why is Charly there, is she that high a ranking crew member? Why is Gordon sitting right next to Isaac, I thought he was so scared of him, Gordon even has his back turned to Isaac. Is Dr. Finn the only person with any backstory? Dr. Finn is the only person at the fancy social gathering without her jacket fastened. So I guess it is okay for Dr. Finn to have kids without being married, since Kelly Grayson didn't ask where the kids came from or if they were Admiral Christie's. I am surprised that Isaac couldn't continue to work and talk to Admiral Christie at the same time. There is no isolation, quarantine or lockdown protocols for a bizarre infection. I think they gave the new episodes too much time, they really drag, we already guessed what happened, just show us already. Doesn't Isaac have any internal scanners? The Orville is surprising devoid of crew members wanting to help restore the power. Oh now they have some weapons. I didn't see Charly in the last scenes, here is hoping she is spinning a cocoon somewhere deep in space.

Edited June 9, 2022 by AnimeMania

[MSterling]

I've figured it out, my question for last week's episode. I don't like Charly Burke and I'm not a fan of Anne Winters. MacFarlane, why didn't you pick a more talented actress to date if you must cast her in your show? I don't like Klyden but I think Chad Coleman is great in the role, and it's not the same with Charly. Except for the conflict last episode, Charly doesn't add a lot by way of character and I don't think Winters is talented enough to make the most of it. I didn't care for her performance at all this time and it's too bad. I wanted to like a new main cast member.

Why didn't they wear space suits? Seriously, a new place and like in Galaxy Quest, is there air? Isaac can't catch biological problems so why not use that to their advantage and have him in the landing party?

Brannon Braga needs to stop writing characters transforming. At least this was better than Threshold from Voyager and Genesis from Next Gen. Really Braga, stop it. Just stop.

Independence Day solution to the episode. Didn't hate this one, but it's not on my list of favorites. I liked the scene with Claire and Isaac at the end.

Favorite exchange: "You might get the sniffles."  -"I am prepared."

Edited June 9, 2022 by MSterling

[Chicago Redshirt]

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Why is Charly there, is she that high a ranking crew member? Why is Gordon sitting right next to Isaac, I thought he was so scared of him, Gordon even has his back turned to Isaac. Is Dr. Finn the only person with any backstory? Dr. Finn is the only person at the fancy social gathering without her jacket fastened. So I guess it is okay for Dr. Finn to have kids without being married, since Kelly Grayson didn't ask where the kids came from or if they were Admiral Christie's. I am surprised that Isaac couldn't continue to work and talk to Admiral Christie at the same time. There is no isolation, quarantine or lockdown protocols for a bizarre infection. I think they gave the new episodes too much time, they really drag, we already guessed what happened, just show us already. Doesn't Isaac have any internal scanners? The Orville is surprising devoid of crew members wanting to help restore the power. Oh now they have some weapons. I didn't see Charly in the last scenes, here is hoping she is spinning a cocoon somewhere deep in space.

The Orville has imported the Trek tradition of having a bridge crew ensign sit in on meetings that should be above their paygrade. It happened pretty frequently with Wesley on TNG and Kim on Voyager.

Gordon wasn't "scared" of Isaac, per se. He thought having him as part of the crew was a bad idea. Gordon has no reason to think that Isaac is literally going to go berserk and attack Gordon.

Every character obviously has some backstory, but we happen to have done two in a row about Claire. Hopefully they do more about her backstory than who she used to screw. I was worried that it was going to be a take on #MeToo at first. Hey, we have gone two episodes without mention that Ed and Kelly used to be married or that they might/might not have residual feelings for one another.

Why wouldn't it be OK for Dr. Finn to have kids without being married? There is no particular reason for Kelly to think that the kids might be Admiral Christie's. Putting aside that they don't appear to be biracial and Kelly might know who the father is through emergency contact info, the timing wouldn't work. Marcus and Ty are like 14 and 11 or something like that, and Claire told her that the marriage broke up not too long after she graduated med school. That's got to be 20+ years ago. 

Isaac probably could work while Christie was talking to him and seemed to be somewhat until Christie started asking about Claire.

Yeah, there really should have been a lockdown procedure, but then the show wouldn't happen. 

And yeah, it seems like the dampening field should have affected Isaac. But I don't think he himself has built-in scanners. 

I'm afriad the show will continue trying to make Charly happen. 

[Boofish]

It was explained in season 1 that Dr. Finn's children were adopted. I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge among the crew.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Boofish

[marketdoctor]

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Why is Charly there, is she that high a ranking crew member?

I can think of two overlapping reasons, both set up in the pilot:

1.  The Union is stretched thin, and is grabbing/fast-tracking all the talent they can.

2.  When someone is super-talented (like Alara from the pilot) they fast-track them.

Usually I avoid "teacher/student dating" plots, but the acting and writing sold this one really well.  The framing (starting with the apology, and Dr. Finn not really accepting it, but appreciating the gesture; Issac and the admiral bonding over feelings and regrets, etc.) was really well done, and is so often the case, Penny Johnson Jerald for the win with her acting.

I also find it fascinating they didn't seem to have Kelly and Ed as ex-spouses; I wonder if they're going to mention that or do a return to last season's change to the timeline in a bigger way.  I'm open to that just not happening, or a passing reference to Kelly remembering that it didn't work out, and having told Ed, and them both (now) being cool with it.

[tennisgurl]

I knew that this was a Brannon Braga episode the second Claire's ex husband's face started getting messed up, the guy is weirdly obsessed with people turning into mutated creatures. I know its a classic Trek trope, but it might be that way at least partially because he loves it so much. Its weird Braga, you need to find a new story. Not a bad episode, certainly a lot more action packed than last weeks and I think they used their "look at our budget!" shots a lot better and in a way that was a lot more plot relevant, the creepy alien space shop looked really creepy, very Mordor in space, although not really a classic either. I knew that Claire's ex was toast, no one old partner/friend shows up on shows like this and isn't the bad guy or gets killed, or both, but I still feel bad for her, especially after everything that happened with Isaac. They had a nice scene at the end at least.

I still don't much like Charley, and its really hard not to see her and think that Seth just wanted to cast his girlfriend on his show. She isn't bad, but I am not sure what point she serves quite yet. 

I like how they used the new Krill alliance as an excuse to let the Orville explore a new section of space, even if it seems like the Krill might have been onto something about this place being filled with demons. Those monsters were creepy and it seems like this part of space is going to be full of weird stuff. I bet that desk is looking pretty good to Claire's ex right about know though.

[blueray]

First I was like "oh no a diplomatic episode". I'm glad that they skipped that completely lol. Though I do feel like setting it up wasn't necessary either, other then maybe for a later plot? Because without it there could have been more time with them fighting the creatures instead of the end being pretty quick.

Anyhow, the rest: Predictable, I knew as soon as the thing spit on him that was infected by an alien. Then once he "changed" I made the connection that was what they Krill were referring too. And called that they would leave at the end, as they were a new species now not the host anymore. 

I liked how Talla kicked butt I'm glad they remembered her strength. And I liked the part when Isaac confused the creature lol. 

Also it was bothering me the whole episode where I knew the admiral from and thought it was Charmed. Of course looked up after and confirmed he played victor in Charmed. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by blueray

[phalange]

Claire's backstory was surprising to me. I did like the scene between the Admiral and Isaac where they talked about how they both missed Claire, and the final scene of Claire inviting Isaac to sit with her at the restaurant.  

The episode had a horror movie feel to it with the ship losing power and everyone running around in the dark with those creatures popping up out of nowhere. I lost count of how many times I jumped out of my skin. I like that we got some truly gross aliens that even the Krill are terrified of. I knew nothing would happen to him, but I was scared for John when one of those aliens chased him through the tunnels. I wonder if these aliens will come back later this season; they did say they wouldn't stay away forever.

I do miss the humor of previous seasons, though. I chuckled when Bortus said he was prepared to get the sniffles. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

25 minutes ago, blueray said:

First I was like "oh no a diplomatic episode". I'm glad that they skipped that completely lol. Though I do feel like setting it up wasn't necessary either, other then maybe for a later plot? Because without it there could have been more time with them fighting the creatures instead of the end being pretty quick.

Anyhow, the rest: Predictable, I knew as soon as the thing spit on him that was infected by an alien. Then once he "changed" I made the connection that was what they Krill were referring too. And called that they would leave at the end, as they were a new species now not the host anymore. 

I liked how Talla kicked butt I'm glad they remembered her strength. And I liked the part when Isaac confused the creature lol. 

Also it was bothering me the whole episode where I knew the admiral from and thought it was Charmed. Of course looked up after and confirmed he played victor in Charmed. 

I liked that it was a diplomatic episode, and hope that it gets tied back to the Krill. I imagine that if the Krill could be shown that their "demons" were a different sort of life form rather than something supernatural, it might serve as a crack into loosening their religion's hold on them. 

Overall, I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the previous one. I was a little bothered, to begin with, that it seemed, again, to be centered around personal relationships, but that whole aspect was well done, and both tied into the episode and furthered the general plot. And I do actually tend to like human interest stories more than techie stuff, or certainly more than battles, so my initial misgivings were more a worry that the show might alienate more viewers by going so far down the Soap Opera path than a personal issue.

Seriously cracked up over Bortus' being prepared to get the sniffles. So I was just a tad disappointed that no virus ended up being released. A Moclan Man Cold could be hilarious!

[shapeshifter]

The transformations reminded me of Jeff Goldblum in The Fly.

The device on the wall that initially zapped the Admiral reminded me of that episode in Stargate SG1 in which O'Neill leaned in to look closely at a similar device and got his head zapped and was mentally taken over. 

I paid more attention to the music this time since so many commented about it being annoying. I liked it. It too reminded me of the various Stargate productions.

So it seems this is not the last of the creepy creatures or of Admiral Paul Christie, right?
If they bring them back after Claire has developed a cure, it could be interesting to meet some of the others in their pre-creepy-creature forms. 
Maybe some creatures will turn out to have originally been Krill, and that will be a reason for the Krill to want to have closer relations with the various Orvillians. 
Or not.
Possibly the Orvillians have now repopulated an army of Krill-attacking demons. 
 

Regardless of whether the creatures return and/or get de-transformed, the most meaningful lines were, IMO, between Christie and Isaac about Claire:

• [ISAAC] Am I to understand that you find it a challenge to process her daily absence?
• [ADMIRAL PAUL CHRISTIE] Yes. You could say that. 
• [ISAAC] It is another common experience we share.
  
   

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I knew that Claire's ex was toast

At one point I leaned toward the TV to try to see if Admiral Paul Christie was wearing a red-hued uniform, but the lighting was too dim to tell.
And I guess he's not necessarily toast. 

 

1 hour ago, blueray said:

I liked how Talla kicked butt

Yes, but Talla's butt kicking went on a bit longer than necessary. *Yawn*
The actress deserves more lines.

Speaking of lines:

• [CLAIRE] You look healthy. Time's been good to you.
• [ADMIRAL PAUL CHRISTIE] Maybe on the outside. But you know what they say: Unmarried men look younger, feel older.

Who says that???

Edited June 9, 2022 by shapeshifter

[dwmarch]

5 hours ago, marketdoctor said:

I also find it fascinating they didn't seem to have Kelly and Ed as ex-spouses; I wonder if they're going to mention that or do a return to last season's change to the timeline in a bigger way.

It was there but very subtle. When Kelly left the reception, Ed took her drink and poured it into his.

[blueray]

48 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

The transformations reminded me of Jeff Goldblum in The Fly.

The device on the wall that initially zapped the Admiral reminded me of that episode in Stargate SG1 in which O'Neill leaned in to look closely at a similar device and got his head zapped and was mentally taken over. 

I paid more attention to the music this time since so many commented about it being annoying. I liked it. It too reminded me of the various Stargate productions.

Me too. Then when he starts turning into a bug, it reminded me of what happened to Shepard lol. 

[Lugal]

I've never been much of a horror fan, so this one didn't appeal to me as much.  Admiral Victor Garber was right, if it feels like a horror movie, you should stay out of the house.  Not only did they wander over to the alien ship (that looked like a spider no less) but they have no protection, and they have not only the captain and commander, but an admiral as well.  Once none of the main cast was transformed, I figured there was no going back for any of the unfortunates.

Admiral Victor Garber was also right that the Krill live in the area, maybe you should listen to them, even if they did filter the experience through their religion.  Doesn't invalidate what they're saying.

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I knew that this was a Brannon Braga episode the second Claire's ex husband's face started getting messed up, the guy is weirdly obsessed with people turning into mutated creatures. I know its a classic Trek trope, but it might be that way at least partially because he loves it so much. Its weird Braga, you need to find a new story.

Hadn't thought about it at the time, but yeah, it's pretty obvious now.  Clearly the years away from Trek have not recharged his creative batteries.

[Chicago Redshirt]

11 hours ago, Boofish said:

It was explained in season 1 that Dr. Finn's children were adopted. I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge among the crew.

I don't think that it was said that they were adopted. According to a wiki, she said in the pilot that the kids were the product of artificial insemination.

[greekmom]

35 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't think that it was said that they were adopted. According to a wiki, she said in the pilot that the kids were the product of artificial insemination.

Exactly.

I rewatched the episode where Claire got her groove back with Issac and she said they were part of artificial insemination.

I was hoping that the Admiral was a DS9 alumni. Oh well.

Last week's episode was awesome. This week's episode fizzed bad.

[Chaos Theory]

Well that was a fun horror movie.  But it acknowledged it by actually using the line "Don't go in the house."  not once but twice.  Loved the idea that The Union is making headway with the Krill who due to religious ideology and fear have a vast amount of space they just haven't explored but the Union being the Union blindly go where no Krill has gone before and of course stuff happens because they take zero real precautions.   Still there was alot of fun horror action in this and it all worked for me.   And yes I am a huge fan of horror.   

Plus there was forward momentum on my OTP of Claire and Isaac by adding Claire's backstory of a past love that just happens to be the Admiral who is finalizing the treaty with the Krill.  I thought his scene with Isaac was really fun.  Having them commiserate over both losing Claire and seeing he Isaac understands that his life is less without her is a big step for him.  

Also yes Claire and Kelly gossiping over a bottle of wine every week would actually be kinda fun.

And Bortus straight line about the sniffles was hilarious.  

"You might get the sniffles."

I am prepared."

Edited June 10, 2022 by Chaos Theory

[PurpleTentacle]

It was annoying when Isaac said that star cluster was 2 million years old, but there were stars in late stages and 347 habitable planets. 2 Million years is nothing on a cosmic scale. Those stars wouldn't even be old enough to have fully formed planets yet, let alone habitable ones.

I always thought the Orville writers were better about these kinds of things, but man, that is New Star Trek level of bad science.

I don't even know how they could have made such a mistake? It's so fundamental. Did their word processing software autocorrect billion to million and the actor just read it that way? But then still, how come nobody on set or in editing caught it?

-

Man, it's surprisingly easy to disable that entire ship.

Also you didn't lock somebody, who was transforming into an alien creature, in a force field? Yeah, all those deaths are on the doctor and security. Should get court marshaled for that much incompetence.

-

I don't know. Do we have to have new big bads again? Can't we have a few episodes that are just about exploration. Maybe a minor bady here and there? And if we had to have a new big bad, did it have to be one so over the top? I think I'm having a major case of ott-fatigue.

22 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

So I guess it is okay for Dr. Finn to have kids without being married, since Kelly Grayson didn't ask where the kids came from or if they were Admiral Christie's.

I mean I assume she knows where those kids come from. Also it's in the far future, I doubt anybody bats an eye if you have kids out of wedlock.

Edited June 10, 2022 by PurpleTentacle

[kay1864]

21 hours ago, MSterling said:

Why didn't they wear space suits? Seriously, a new place and like in Galaxy Quest, is there air?

NFS!

16 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Man, it's surprisingly easy to disable that entire ship.

NFS!

16 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Also you didn't lock somebody, who was transforming into an alien creature, in a force field?

NFS! Not to mention you don’t lean over them and breathe in whatever they’re exuding.

As someone above said, overall this episode fizzled. I mean, fun episode for Halloween, but 3 SMH in one episode equals bad writing.

Edited June 10, 2022 by kay1864

[Commando Cody]

I think that this episode was better than last week's episode. It did drag a lot, but it picked up a lot when they got to the mutations.  I thought it was possible for John to get mutated and then Claire would have to find a cure. Although I have to question letting the mutants go.  "I am prepared" made me laugh.   The episode was "Charlie light" which was good. Even though with the few lines she had, she didn't deliver them very well. She really got shoehorned into this show and it isn't working. She's an expendable role.  

At the beginning when Claire said she wasn't sleeping well, I thought maybe she was secretly seeing Isaac again.  It was weird that the admiral left her yet seemed to be still pining for her after 20 years.  I assume his mutant character will return some day.  His little bit of humanity will still be there because he can't let go of Claire. 

I liked the action sequences and the mutants crawling all over the walls.  The eye thing was creepy.  The rest bored me. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

7 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Speaking of lines:

• [CLAIRE] You look healthy. Time's been good to you.
• [ADMIRAL PAUL CHRISTIE] Maybe on the outside. But you know what they say: Unmarried men look younger, feel older.

Who says that???

Maybe that becomes a thing centuries from now?

7 hours ago, dwmarch said:

It was there but very subtle. When Kelly left the reception, Ed took her drink and poured it into his.

I don't know if that's so much a "they used to be married" thing as it's a "Ed is a guy who doesn't want to waste booze/used to have a drinking problem" thing. 

6 hours ago, Lugal said:

I've never been much of a horror fan, so this one didn't appeal to me as much.  Admiral Victor Garber was right, if it feels like a horror movie, you should stay out of the house.  Not only did they wander over to the alien ship (that looked like a spider no less) but they have no protection, and they have not only the captain and commander, but an admiral as well.  Once none of the main cast was transformed, I figured there was no going back for any of the unfortunates.

Admiral Victor Garber was also right that the Krill live in the area, maybe you should listen to them, even if they did filter the experience through their religion.  Doesn't invalidate what they're saying.

I was kind of rooting against Ed when he was like, "ha ha stupid Krill with their backwards religion." You should thank Avis that you only lost like  a half-dozen crew members and no one of import.

4 hours ago, greekmom said:

I was hoping that the Admiral was a DS9 alumni. Oh well.

I know Avery Brooks has long since retired from acting, but I would probably have paid good money for him to just take that role for old time's sake. 

[thuganomics85]

This episode was certainly embracing some horror elements I see!  Really giving me some The Fly and other David Cronenberg films vibes for this one.  Great work with the prosthetics (no surprise there) and some pretty solid jump scares.  Sounds like this won't be the last of this species.  Being set-up as another possible major threat going forward?

So far, this season certainly seems to be all about putting Claire front and center, which I'm perfectly fine with since Penny Johnson Jerald is the best.  Knew her ex was a goner, but I'm glad they had a chance at reconciliation.  A little surprised he wasn't a "name" actor of any kind, but he did a good job.  One of those faces I've seen in a lot of stuff, including a Star Trek connection as he was in the two part Workforce episodes on Voyager.  Always fun when former Trek folks pop up here.

Liked seeing Talla kick ass and show why she's the head of security!

Can easily see why Victor Garber makes it to Head Admiral of the Union: he knows not to just dismiss superstition and stories from alien species, because it usually comes from somewhere!

Certainly hope the Orville gets some kind of upgrade so that next time an admiral is compromised, he can't single-handily power down the entire ship... 

Still not enough Bortus yet, but his deadpan "I am prepared" about possible sniffles was the highlight.

[Zaffy]

So... did we just meet Orville's BORGs?
 

Oh and Charlie still cannot act to save her life. 

[chaifan]

I thought it was a decent episode.  I'll agree that Penny is the best actor among the cast, and I'm glad they're giving her character some more meaty plots this season. 

My questions regarding the demon aliens...  if Seth & crew hadn't gone onto the space station, would the aliens a) have known they were in their space, and b) attacked without an inside man to start converting the crew from the inside?  And are the aliens confined to their area of space?  Why aren't they expanding out, seeking out the Krill or anyone else nearby?

I totally agree with everyone above that not putting the Admiral in some sort of chamber, force field, etc. was really stupid.  Considering we know that technology exists because they have it in the brig.  They could have put him in an isolation chamber just to find out it doesn't hold that species.  That would have been better than nothing.  And to not put a guard on him while he's transforming - that was also just stupid. 

Apparently, the entire budget has gone to CGI and not extras - how was the entire ship empty with only the main cast around to handle things?  No one in any of the halls or anywhere.

I thought the alien's weakness was going to be light, and that Claire's kids would have figured that out accidentally when they dropped a flashlight or something.  I like the new approach of giving them all a cold. 

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Apparently, the entire budget has gone to CGI and not extras - how was the entire ship empty with only the main cast around to handle things?  No one in any of the halls or anywhere.

Probably Covid restrictions contributed to the lack of extras?

[kay1864]

26 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Probably Covid restrictions contributed to the lack of extras?

There were plenty of extras in the reception scene. 

Edited June 10, 2022 by kay1864

[RedHawk]

3 hours ago, Zaffy said:

So... did we just meet Orville's BORGs?

I thought the same thing, and then, oh please NO. Aren't the Kaylon enough? I'm only interested in seeing this horrific species again if somehow the Admiral's and the other crew members' DNA transforms them for the better and makes them interested in peaceful contact and interaction. THAT would be intriguing.

This is an episode I won't watch again. It was tedious and too obviously owed too much to previous films. Does Braga think most of the viewers are too young to have seen seen "The Fly" and "Alien"? Not enough tension in the drawn-out scenes while we waited for the monster to jump out.

What is the SOP for the crew when all systems go down? Lock yourself in your quarters and wait for instructions? Assemble in designated areas? Who gets to huddle on the bridge in life-threatening emergency situations? Are there only 25 people on the ship now? And where are Klyden and Topa?

Dr. Finn's younger son is the smart one, urging his older brother to follow her instructions to stay in their quarters instead of foolishly going in search of mommy. Last week the older son's storyline was fine and BJ Tanner is a good actor, but now I'm ready for him to ship out to Starfleet Academy or Hogwart's or somewhere.

"Don't go into the scary house!" was good advice and they should have made a log note about the strange space thing and moved along.

Edited June 10, 2022 by RedHawk
more thoughts

[Welshman in Ca]

But are there any laughs this time?

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

I thought it was a decent episode.  I'll agree that Penny is the best actor among the cast, and I'm glad they're giving her character some more meaty plots this season. 

My questions regarding the demon aliens...  if Seth & crew hadn't gone onto the space station, would the aliens a) have known they were in their space, and b) attacked without an inside man to start converting the crew from the inside?  And are the aliens confined to their area of space?  Why aren't they expanding out, seeking out the Krill or anyone else nearby?

I totally agree with everyone above that not putting the Admiral in some sort of chamber, force field, etc. was really stupid.  Considering we know that technology exists because they have it in the brig.  They could have put him in an isolation chamber just to find out it doesn't hold that species.  That would have been better than nothing.  And to not put a guard on him while he's transforming - that was also just stupid. 

Apparently, the entire budget has gone to CGI and not extras - how was the entire ship empty with only the main cast around to handle things?  No one in any of the halls or anywhere.

I thought the alien's weakness was going to be light, and that Claire's kids would have figured that out accidentally when they dropped a flashlight or something.  I like the new approach of giving them all a cold. 

We'd of course only be just guessing about how the aliens operate, but it seems like they set this up as a trap, hoping to lure people on to the abandoned ship to infect them. It would make sense this is at the fringe ends of their space and nobody was monitoring it regularly since no one had been stupid enough to go there for centuries. Since the admiral needed to let Unnamed Aliens know that they were there, presumably they would not have known to check things out. It may be that there is some property of this expanse that keeps them there, or it may be that they've opted to expand in other directions.

It's easy for us to say that they should have put the admiral in a chamber or forcefield because we are all genre-savvy and we know what happens when a strange infection gets loose because we've seen a half-dozen stories like this (and we're smart enough to put together the stories of demonic possession and strange infections). But the admiral didn't seem hostile and didn't seem infectious on the face of things until it was too late.

I think it would be consistent with a lockdown protocol/common sense that non-essential people would remain locked in quarters. 

The Krill already have light as a weakness so hopefully they don't duplicate that.

22 minutes ago, Welshman in Ca said:

But are there any laughs this time?

The one part that was amusing to me was Claire saying that to get rid of the aliens, she would give everyone the sniffles, and Bortus going "I am prepared."

[RedHawk]

37 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The one part that was amusing to me was Claire saying that to get rid of the aliens, she would give everyone the sniffles, and Bortus going "I am prepared."

Bortus' stoic response seems to have given many of us a giggle but for me the "If you pull it and it doesn't pop out right away you're doing it wrong" joke fell flat -- both times.

And I hope the "Hey, will you open this jar of pickles" line -- which Ed pulled out in the last episode -- is never uttered again. It doesn't need to be a thing.

Edited June 10, 2022 by RedHawk

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Welshman in Ca said:

But are there any laughs this time?

In addition to:

48 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The one part that was amusing to me was Claire saying that to get rid of the aliens, she would give everyone the sniffles, and Bortus going "I am prepared."

11 minutes ago, RedHawk said:

Bortus' stoic response seems to have given many of us a giggle but for me the "If you pull it and it doesn't pop out right away you're doing it wrong" joke fell flat -- both times.

And I hope the "Hey, will you open this jar of pickles" line -- which Ed pulled out in the last episode -- is never uttered again. It doesn't need to be a thing.

Malloy deadpanned: Entering haunted house
I think this may have been the first time in my many years of TV watching that a punchline fell flat because it was delivered too seriously.
Grimes and Palicki got married and divorced since the show's previous season aired, so maybe that's it?

[Colorado David]

weak episode. spider bug beings, ooooooh scary. as someone not creeped out by spiders, this came across as so lame. charlie can just be vaporized at any point - it would irk me if the show's producer just arbitrarily cast his/her girlfriend in a 'lead' role. an extra, fine, but no lines for you. more lamarr please. or bortus. yeah where was klyden and the kiddo??

worst episode thus far.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

We'd of course only be just guessing about how the aliens operate, but it seems like they set this up as a trap, hoping to lure people on to the abandoned ship to infect them. It would make sense this is at the fringe ends of their space and nobody was monitoring it regularly since no one had been stupid enough to go there for centuries. Since the admiral needed to let Unnamed Aliens know that they were there, presumably they would not have known to check things out. It may be that there is some property of this expanse that keeps them there, or it may be that they've opted to expand in other directions.

I guess this would make sense, but I was thinking that it might be more interesting if, maybe they were a species that wanted to be left alone. They move to what is a space "desert" to stay away from other alien races because every new alien race they meet just becomes more of them. They leave a few people unchanged to tell the story of what happened to spread the rumor to never go into that area. Then they send a ship to pick up and welcome the new members of their community. The only thing that ruins this theory is that they are sending out a "distress signal" instead of a "warning" to stay away from this area. It might have been an interesting story about an alien race that wants/longs for diversity, but know that they can never have it.

[Lugal]

15 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I was kind of rooting against Ed when he was like, "ha ha stupid Krill with their backwards religion." You should thank Avis that you only lost like  a half-dozen crew members and no one of import.

No one other than the admiral who seems to be one of their top diplomats.  Oops!  But the show gets a little too much with the atheism sometimes.  Given how dedicated to science they are, they should know that most religious taboos have mundane and practical origins rather than any inherent sense of evil.

9 hours ago, Zaffy said:

So... did we just meet Orville's BORGs?

I kinda hope not.  The Borg (in their early appearances at least) were genuinely frightening enough that they didn't need to jump out of the shadows.

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 minutes ago, Lugal said:

No one other than the admiral who seems to be one of their top diplomats.  Oops!  But the show gets a little too much with the atheism sometimes.  Given how dedicated to science they are, they should know that most religious taboos have mundane and practical origins rather than any inherent sense of evil.

I kinda hope not.  The Borg (in their early appearances at least) were genuinely frightening enough that they didn't need to jump out of the shadows.

It's interesting...when Picard got assimilated in BOBW, the crew all was like HOLY SHIT!!!THIS IS FUCKED UP!!!OMGOMGOMG!!!

No one seemed to give much of a crap about Vice-Admiral Whatshisface except Claire, and even she was completely willing to infect him to death if she had to.

Which I guess brings up the question of pragmatically if it was a good move to let him and his knowledge of the Union go over to the enemy. Seems in particular that they would have been better off to kill them, bug out and call it even. The other aliens would have little information about the Union, and if they got stirred up to want to do something, the Krill would presumably be a buffer. 

[marketdoctor]

As soon as Claire offered to engineer a virus, I wondered if they'd do "War of the Worlds" comparisons.

Or they did and I missed it, because it's been too long for me.

I'm also open to the Krill pointing out that until recently, their words for "demon" and "alien" are/were the same, and any mis-translations aren't their fault.

[PurpleTentacle]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It's easy for us to say that they should have put the admiral in a chamber or forcefield because we are all genre-savvy and we know what happens when a strange infection gets loose because we've seen a half-dozen stories like this (and we're smart enough to put together the stories of demonic possession and strange infections). But the admiral didn't seem hostile and didn't seem infectious on the face of things until it was too late.

It's also easy for us to say because we just went through a damn pandemic. If somebody is infected by an unknown pathogen, you isolate them. Any doctor should know that. Especially a doctor on a space ship.

Also are any of these people not genre savy? All they do is talk about the TV they've watched.

I'm not a fan of letting bad writers off the hook, by saying "maybe these highly trained starship officers are just secretly morons!"

[DoctorAtomic]

On 6/9/2022 at 4:24 PM, shapeshifter said:

Who says that???

I sure don't. I can assure everyone here I look younger and feel great. 

The plot is something we've all seen before, but it was well executed by tying it to the krill mythology. tbh I totally forgot who the krill were until they showed them. 

The abandoned station totally looked like the Shadows from B5. 

We got a little humor back with Bortus, and Ed's not so great speech, but it's interesting that they know 'may the Force be with you' is still known. 

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

We got a little humor back with Bortus, and Ed's not so great speech, but it's interesting that they know 'may the Force be with you' is still known. 

I couldn't tell whether "May the Force be with you" was supposed to be an inside joke between Ed and Kelly, or if it was supposed to be a random phrase Ed concocted that was supposed to be an inside joke among us, the viewers——which killed the humor for me.

[rtms77]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:44 PM, Jynnan tonnix said:

I liked that it was a diplomatic episode, and hope that it gets tied back to the Krill. I imagine that if the Krill could be shown that their "demons" were a different sort of life form rather than something supernatural, it might serve as a crack into loosening their religion's hold on them. 

If the Krill find out what's really going on, i forsee them going in and eliminating that station/species. That alien made a very huge threat. The Krill will see it as a duty to cleanse the sector of evil.

[Chaos Theory]

The Union and Ed didn't completely discredit the Krill and what they said about the Shadow Realms but they had a unique opportunity to explore and weren't sure how long it would last.  They were only allowed to have one ship in Krill space so they had to decide if they were willing to go "go into the house" or not and The Union like the Federation are explorers so they did.  Of course the episode is filled with tropes that are there just to move the plot along.   The first group explores a new area with zero protection.    Kelly who is first officer had to be scolded not to touch the walls.    And the exploration party is just as often TOS as Kirk would never have passed up a chance to be the first one on an unexplored space station in unexplored territory.    But again its horror movie topes.   And the Admiral gets sprayed with some spores and since return procedures are questionsable at best...we get a fun horror movie of "something is on the ship."    What I did like was that we didn't get an easy answer or Claire realizing the ring was the answer to saving everyone and everyone is now human again.  Instead it became how she talked the her ex husband who was now a monster down and told him they found a way to kill them but not save them and gave them a choice.    I thought it was a good way to introduce a new enemy.  I mean its not like the show doesn't have a fair amount already.  

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

Kelly who is first officer had to be scolded not to touch the walls. 

Kelly being warned against touching the alien ship with her bare hand was a Chekhovian premonition to the viewers, but also, more importantly (at least, to me) in a post-pre-Covid world, at least demonstrated an acknowledgement of the importance of avoiding infection or contamination.

So when Claire is back in her lab with no barriers like masks or gloves, I guess it's because the Admiral was her ex with whom she'd been intimate 25 frackin' years ago??? 🤷‍♀️

At least in the second visit to the organic-looking ship (makes Farscape's Moya look like a robot in comparison) the crew is wearing space suits with face shields. 
And I recall that before they first went aboard the alien vessel, it was announced that the interior was survivable or something like that.

[Ceindreadh]

On 6/10/2022 at 6:21 AM, Commando Cody said:

At the beginning when Claire said she wasn't sleeping well, I thought maybe she was secretly seeing Isaac again.  It was weird that the admiral left her yet seemed to be still pining for her after 20 years.  I assume his mutant character will return some day.  His little bit of humanity will still be there because he can't let go of Claire. 

I thought that Claire was lying about not sleeping well and it was just to cover for her reaction upon hearing that her ex-husband was about to show up.

[DoctorAtomic]

She definitely had the reaction to his name. 

[ketose]

On 6/10/2022 at 7:50 AM, Zaffy said:

So... did we just meet Orville's BORGs?
 

Oh and Charlie still cannot act to save her life. 

These things are like the Magog from Andromeda.

[DoctorAtomic]

2 minutes ago, ketose said:

These things are like the Magog from Andromeda.

Hey, it's the other person that watched Andromeda!

[shapeshifter]

20 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Hey, it's the other person that watched Andromeda!

Whatami? Chopped liver? 🤣
Actually, I only watched Andromeda in reruns, not all episodes, not necessarily in order.
But I recall Andromeda having witty dialogue, right? 
This show could take a few lessons in that area.

[Bort]

I wonder if they went back to the Krill and said, “Yep! You were right! Demons.”

At the very least, I hope they left a beacon at the edge of the expanse that said, “Don’t fall for a distress signal in there, it’s a trap.”

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm wondering if the Krill would be responsive to the intelligence that the Orville gathered on the 'demons' or if they'd be hostile to them for deconstructing their 'religion'. I mean, it's important intelligence for I guess 'Krill national security', even though they don't go into that region of space. 

I enjoyed the negotiation scene. I thought it was weird that both Ed and Kelly were there. Only the Admiral would really have the authority to issue guarantees. I suppose Ed should be there because he would have final authority on where the ship goes, but I wouldn't think he has anything to do with actually negotiating. 

I wonder if those Krill knew Ed and Gordon infiltrated one of their bases to steal their bible? 

26 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Actually, I only watched Andromeda in reruns, not all episodes, not necessarily in order.

At the old place we had a lively discussion thread for the final two seasons on SciFi.

Edited June 11, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[ketose]

59 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I'm wondering if the Krill would be responsive to the intelligence that the Orville gathered on the 'demons' or if they'd be hostile to them for deconstructing their 'religion'. I mean, it's important intelligence for I guess 'Krill national security', even though they don't go into that region of space. 

I enjoyed the negotiation scene. I thought it was weird that both Ed and Kelly were there. Only the Admiral would really have the authority to issue guarantees. I suppose Ed should be there because he would have final authority on where the ship goes, but I wouldn't think he has anything to do with actually negotiating. 

I wonder if those Krill knew Ed and Gordon infiltrated one of their bases to steal their bible? 

At the old place we had a lively discussion thread for the final two seasons on SciFi.

Andromeda definitely took a different tone when Robert Hewitt Wolfe left.

I think the Krill would look at this new race as evil, sort of like the entire Union. By definition it's a parasitic race, needing to end the lives of other beings to procreate. The Orville will probably not look at them as evil, since one already talked to them.