01-03-2019, 10:07 PM
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#244
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Norm!
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Very strange but brilliant episode to say the least
Spoiler!
This was an episode that pushed a lot of barriers, some people might be really uncomfortable about it, but at the center of this episode there was a lot of strong writing, character study and most of all heart.
This was a Bortas episode. We find that the straight laced third officers private life was actually a mess as he went to the holo deck to run sexual simulations and actively cheated on his mate Klydan.
Now the first thing that came to mind was this, when I used to watch episodes of TNG used the holodeck for things other then playing cards with the most brilliant minds in history, or hiking through alien worlds and had hard core pornographic sex. The Orville answered that tonight as Bortas was indulging in hardcore sex fantasies and the imagery was all male.
Like I said, I think that this will bother some people that watch this series, and I expect that there will be a vocal group that screams out, "Gross" and "I hated it".
I will admit that I was uncomfortable with some of the imagery. The dungeon scene was probably a little bit over the edge, and I'm stunned that it got past the network.
The stunning thing was that this wasn't played as an expected joke until later in the episode.
But Bortas' actions lead to Klydan asking for a divorce by ramming a knife into Bortas' chest which is their way.
At that point this is where the episode took our pre conceived notions of this being light science fiction and kicked it right in the a$$.
In couples therapy we found out that Bortas carried heavy resentment over the decision to make their daughter under go gender reassignment and blamed Kyldan. It was an admission that was a long time coming and it lead to Bortas' cheating on his mate. This was a big emotional scene and the actors really pulled it off.
At the same time the crew was watching a planet being eaten by a star and they discovered at the last minute that there was a civilization in the planet and they had to effect a rescue. This is where two themes really collided.
Because Bortas in his thinly hidden porn addiction had ordered a hard core orgy program from a crew member the ship was infected by a virus that started to make the ship fail.
this is where the episode really ramped up the emotional timber of this episode for Bortas as he and Isaac went down to the planet to rescue the 75 last members of a society but only had one trip to do it in and had to leave half of the people to die. In that moment Bortas while watching the interaction of a husband and child who were selected had to leave the mother to die and she stated that there was never enough time in a relationship but they always had the time together.
Bortas and Isaac returned to the Orville which was being ravaged by the Virus and started spinning into the sun that we got the pay off of the joke as John and Isaac had to kill the virus on the holodeck while getting molested by the pornographic images and John Muttered that he was never going to watch porn again.
In the end Bortas reconciled with Klydan and promised to try to accept the decisions made.
All and all this episode was in a lot of ways ground breaking, it addressed male on male relationship and stuffed it full of imagery designed to create a awkward feeling with some viewers. It addressed porn addiction, the unhealthy ability for people to bury resentment without addressing it.
The writing and characters were strongly done. But this was a Bortas episode with a strong assist from Isaac who was amazing in this episode especially in the shuttle conversation with Bortas where he exhibited his self superiority and was rebuked by Bortas.
In a lot of ways this episode also stepped up in other ways.
I mentioned last week that the effects looked amazing, but this weeks episode stepped that up big time. The imagery on the planet being destroyed by the sun was amazing to look at.
The other thing that was amazing and where they Star Treked the crap out of this episode was that they really upped the music using a classical sound track that heightened the sense of jeopardy as the ship spiraled towards the sun desperate for the last minute fix.
But this episode still had some great comedy moments.
The Masturbation talk between Bortas and Gordon with Kelly replying that the ship was gross.
The couples counseling where Bortas asked the doctor if there was an injection to cure his porn addiction and Klydon grumbled that he'd had too many injections all ready made me spit my coffee out.
also the discussion between Bortas and the alien when he was looking for a hardcore orgy simulation and the alien asked him if he wanted some pills as well was hilarious.
I don't know, I loved the episode. The image of an hologram molesting Isaac as he tried to fix the ship was just so out there that you had to laugh.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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