Reviews of The Orville were written from 2017-2022 during the original run of the series. Note: All reviews contain spoilers.
Content Listing
Season 1 (2017)
9/10/2017. Old Wounds — Following the collapse of his marriage, Ed Mercer is named captain of the USS Orville, an exploratory vessel whose first mission is to answer the call of a science team that has invented a device that can accelerate time.
9/17/2017. Command Performance — When Mercer and Grayson vanish unexpectedly without a trace, the inexperienced Lt. Alara Kitan finds her resolve tested as she faces her first command experience.
9/21/2017. About a Girl — When Bortus' child is unexpectedly born female — something considered abnormal among his people — he asks Dr. Finn to surgically change the baby's gender, prompting a controversy among his shipmates.
9/28/2017. If the Stars Should Appear — The Orville encounters a massive starship adrift in space that is actually an alien bio-dome housing an entire civilization that does not know the true nature of its world.
10/5/2017. Pria — After the crew rescues a woman from a crashed mining ship, Mercer begins to fall for her while Grayson suspects she is not who she says she is.
10/12/2017. Krill — Following an unprovoked attack on a Union colony by a Krill vessel, Mercer and Malloy go undercover to infiltrate a Krill ship in the hopes of learning more about the mysterious enemy.
10/26/2017. Majority Rule — The Orville crew investigates the disappearance of two Union anthropologists who vanished on a world governed solely by popular opinion.
11/2/2017. Into the Fold — When a shuttle carrying Finn, her two young sons, and Isaac crashes on an unfamiliar planet, Finn must escape her alien captors while Isaac looks after the children.
11/9/2017. Cupid's Dagger — While mediating a dispute between two warring societies, the Orville takes aboard a specialist who turns out to be the man at the center of the affair that ended Mercer's and Grayson's marriage.
11/16/2017. Firestorm — While struggling with guilt over the death of a crewmate she was unable to save, Kitan begins experiencing strange events aboard the ship that are not easily explained.
11/30/2017. New Dimensions — Grayson discovers LaMarr has hidden potential that might make him a candidate to replace the departing chief engineer, so she gives him a challenging assignment when the Orville discovers a realm that exists only in two dimensions.
12/7/2017. Mad Idolatry — A seemingly small action has massive consequences when Grayson heals a wonded girl on a primitive planet, which leads the society to establish an entire religion around Kelly.
Season 2 (2018-2019)
12/30/2018. Ja'loja — The crew has some down time while traveling to Bortus' home world so he can carry out an annual personal ritual.
1/3/2019. Primal Urges — As the crew studies a dying star system, Bortus finds himself descending into a pornography addiction amid his struggling marriage.
1/10/2019. Home — Alara returns home after discovering that prolonged exposure to lower gravity is causing her body to deteriorate.
1/17/2019. Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes — When Mercer takes his new girlfriend on a romantic trip, they are captured and interrogated by the Krill for military information.
1/24/2019. All the World Is Birthday Cake — The Orville makes first contact with an alien world, but the encounter unexpectedly leads to conflict.
1/31/2019. A Happy Refrain — Claire finds she has feelings for Isaac, resulting in a challenging relationship between a human and an artificial intelligence that does not have emotions.
2/14/2019. Deflectors — A visitor from Bortus' past is involved in an incident aboard the Orville that reveals a disturbing aspect of Moclan culture.
2/21/2019. Identity, Part I — When Isaac unexpectedly shuts down, the Orville travels to his mysterious and isolated Kaylon homeworld to try to establish a relationship with its society of artificial intelligence.
2/28/2019. Identity, Part II — The Orville crew reaches its most desperate hour as a fleet of Kaylon ships begins its invasion of Earth's solar system.
3/7/2019. Blood of Patriots — On the eve of peace talks to broker a treaty between the Union and the Krill, tensions are raised when an old friend who saved Malloy's life escapes after 20 years in a Krill prison.
3/21/2019. Lasting Impressions — The Orville crew opens a 400-year-old time capsule from 2015, and among the relics is a smartphone containing the life details of a young woman from a long-ago era.
4/11/2019. Sanctuary — The revelation of a colony of female Moclans leads to a moral dillema that could have serious political consequences for the Union.
4/18/2019. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — A version of Grayson from seven years in the past is pulled through time onto the Orville, leading both versions of Kelly to ponder decisions made in the past and future.
4/25/2019. The Road Not Taken — In an alternate timeline where humanity has been nearly wiped out by the Kaylon, Grayson assembles the crew of the Orville in an attempt to change history from the past.
Season 3 (2022)
6/2/2022. Electric Sheep — With the Orville docked for a retrofit, the crew must deal with their feelings about Isaac in the aftermath of his betrayal that led to the deaths of thousands during the Kaylon attack.
6/9/2022. Shadow Realms — After negotiating passage through an area of Krill space, the Orville enters an unknown and unexplored area the Krill warn is full of demons and certain death.
6/16/2022. Mortality Paradox — The crew investigates a previously uninhabited planet that suddenly shows signs of intelligent life. Upon landing on the surface, the away team finds themselves trapped in a series of shifting realities.
6/23/2022. Gently Falling Rain — The Orville carries a delegation to the Krill homeworld to sign a landmark treaty between the Krill and the Planetary Union — until an unexpected election result upends the political intentions.
6/30/2022. A Tale of Two Topas — Topa's unshakable sense that something is wrong with him leaves him confused and unsettled — prompting Grayson and Bortus to consider whether they should tell him the truth about the gender reassignment he underwent shortly after his birth.
7/7/2022. Twice in a Lifetime — Malloy is accidentally sent back in time 400 years, where, after years of waiting and then abandoning hope for rescue, starts a life and family in the 21st century.
7/14/2022. From Unknown Graves — As the Orville attempts to negotiate an alliance with an alien culture, a Kaylon with unique abilities comes aboard the ship.
7/21/2022. Midnight Blue — A visit to the sanctuary of female Moclans unexpectedly pulls Topa and the Orville crew into a dangerous political firestorm.
7/28/2022. Domino — The breakthrough development of an anti-Kaylon superweapon leads to the ethical question of whether the Union might be justified in using it to destroy all of Kaylon civilization.
8/4/2022. Future Unknown — While Isaac's surprise marriage proposal to Claire has the Orville crew abuzz, the ship takes on a passenger from a world visited during a prior mission.
