The Orville has always been a fun, lighthearted Science Fiction adventure show with a lot of humor and some outstanding comedy at just the right times.
For two seasons The Orville was a bright light giving people something fun and entertaining to watch. It made the viewers feel good.
Now, in a dark time (a pandemic that has killed millions, a horrible war in Eastern Europe, the fallout on the world oil market raising gas prices through the roof, overall inflation, mass shootings, people losing their rights in the highest courts, and dark political stuff that is truly frightening) - we NEED that lighthearted, fun, escapist adventure more than ever!
So what did Seth MacFarlane do?
He went ultra serious. Not just serioius, but unhappy, UN-fun, and somber. That bright light that made people feel good went out, and left only darkness.
To make matters worse, MacFarlane retconned a bit of Season 2 to match the story he wanted to tell here. Isaac was a hero who saved not only everyone on the Orville, but everyone on Earth. He was also the Planetary Unions greatest ally and weapon in fighting the Kaylon. No one knows the weaknesses of the Kaylon more than Isaac.
Yet, somehow, MacFarlane has turned a huge part of the crew against him, treating him like a villain. They hate Isaac. Never mind that he saved their lives and betrayed his own, "People," in doing so. He gave up EVERYTHING to save them. But, no, that doesn't count. He's a villain in their eyes.
Now, that would almost be fine if he had set up this turn of events in previous episodes (following Identity Parts 1 & 2). A line of dialogue here and there indicating some kind of resentment towards Isaac in the last 4 episodes would have set this up so that at least it made some kind of sense.
But Seth didn't do that.
He also didn't set up ANY kind of negative feelings from Gordon towards Isaac. All of a sudden Gordon is a racist jerk. He hates his good friend and practical joke buddy, Isaac because... He reported on the biological life forms that he encountered so Primary and the other Kaylon in charge could decide whether or not they believe the biologicals (as they call them) should be preserved. Isaac wasn't part of that decision making process, and once he found out about the decision he constantly tried to keep Primary from killing people (the guy who got spaced as one example). When Primary told Isaac to kill Ty, Isaac destroyed Primary and shut down all the Kaylon on the ship. He saved everyone on the ship.
And people hate him?
Please.
The topic of suicide is rather heavy, and arguably inappropriate for a show like The Orville (where the tone has been upbeat and fun, even in the serious episodes).
This was just a huge disappointment, and the retconning of details from Season 2 made it even worse. It wasn't a bad episode, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first episode in three years should have been.
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