Reviews

Even though it was predicable that Part 1 had to be resolved by the evil guy turning good and obtaining partial redemption by sacrificing himself, a la Vader throwing the Emperor down the vent, or the Terminator shooting the T-1000 and asking to be lowered into molten metal, they kept some interest with the rebellion and Krill aspects of the plot, and the obvious effort put into effects and music.

For me the Orville has become a must-watch, though no episodes so far have been re-watchable "keepers". I like how they've (mostly) found how to use humour to humanise the characters, rather than shoehorning the comedy.

However the selection of writers and cast seems to be overly incestuous, taken from Seth's other projects, and from cosying up to ex-Trekkers. I wish they commissioned top SF writers, or even do what Trek did in the 90s and allow anyone to submit a spec script. A lot of great Trek people and episodes came from this process. Yes, I have one in the drawer.

A fair episode, though a bit too much soap for my taste. Avery Brooks and Penny Johnson did however act well a relationship going through a rocky patch.

I didn't pick the "already dead" twist, thinking instead of a Dominion espionage or ambush ploy. (Debra Wilson's somewhat overacting made Lisa sound a bit suspect.) But I would have preferred an ending where Lisa's voice was still alive when they reached the planet. This would have allowed her to "attend" her own wake once everyone was outside the energy barrier, which could have been a truly moving scene rather than the "learning experiences" that we got.

And it was out of character for Odo to let goods be smuggled. He would have been more likely to intercept the goods but "accidentally" fail to link them to Quark.