The Orville

Reviews of The Orville were written from 2017-2022 during the original run of the series. Note: All reviews contain spoilers.

Season 1 (2017)

  • 9/10/2017. Old Wounds 1.5 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 1.5 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 2 stars — As the crew studies a dying star system, Bortus finds himself descending into a pornography addiction amid his struggling marriage.
  • 1/10/2019. Home 3 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 2 stars — The Orville makes first contact with an alien world, but the encounter unexpectedly leads to conflict.
  • 1/31/2019. A Happy Refrain 2.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 3.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 3.5 starsThe 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 3.5 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 1.5 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 4 stars — 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 3 stars — 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 2 stars — 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 3.5 stars — A visit to the sanctuary of female Moclans unexpectedly pulls Topa and the Orville crew into a dangerous political firestorm.
  • 7/28/2022. Domino 3 stars — 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 2.5 stars — 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.

◄ Home Page

▲Top of Page | Menu | Copyright © 1994-2023 Jamahl Epsicokhan. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication or distribution of any content is prohibited. This site is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or authorized by any entity or company referenced herein. Terms of use.