Mini-Review TV: The Orville - Episode 2, "Command Performance"

My Review: 

Following a disappointing, yet hopeful pilot, episode 2 of The Orville came back strong at maximum warp (or whatever it is they use). This week Security Officer Alara Kitan takes charge of the ship after the captain and first officer get kidnapped by a technologically advanced (and somewhat racist) alien species. To do so she must face her insecurities and lack of experience in command.

The second episode of The Orville, "Command Performance" emphasizes character over plot. For most of the time we follow Kitan and her struggle to effectively command the ship. In fact, the plot is quite secondary since it obviously borrows from an episode of the twilight zone, and as such the director choose wisely not to focus on it. If anything, it's played for comic relief. The character moments on the other hand are truly inspiring. Whereas the first episode lacked any character development whatsoever, "Command performance" takes a deep dive into one of The Orville's cast and grounds the conflict to something powerful and meaningful. We really get to know Kitan. She becomes vulnerable, real, and most of all, relatable. She's grown by the end of the episode.

In a few key scenes the episode also sets up the character of Bortus well enough to be the center of the next episode, ending in a nice cliffhanger. Though he's mostly joked about throughout episode, jokes that fell quite flat in my opinion. And this is where it becomes clear that the show is still going through some growing pains. Except the very final joke (a brilliant comedic twist) which had me fall of my chair laughing, most of the humor didn't really do it for me. MacFarlane is trying too hard to be funny, and doesn't quite realize it. Of course, comedy is subjective, so I don't rule out that someone else may appreciate the humor more than I do. One thing I'm sure of, however, is that the show still hasn't figured out how to effectively deliver exposition. It's almost as clunky as the first episode (thankfully there's much less of it).

All things considered I really enjoyed this episode and I'm looking forward to the next one. Oh, and as a last bit of trivia, this episode was directed by Robert Duncan McNeil, a Trek veteran known for the portrayal of Tom Paris in Star Trek: Voyager.

Score: 8/10

Title: The Orville - Episode 2: "Command Performance"
Writer(s): Seth MacFarlane (Creator / Screenplay)
Director: Robert Duncan McNeil
Main Cast:
  Seth MacFarlane
  Adrianne Palicki
  Penny Johnson Jerald
  Scott Grimes
  Peter Macon
  Mark Jackson
  J. Lee
  Halston Sage
  Chad Coleman


Release Date: 17 September 2017
Running Time: ~45 minutes