# The Orville Season 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966 "2018-12-31T06:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 63
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1241 "2019-04-18T13:24:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I suppose the firefight soundtrack could have been worse. It might’ve been: > > \*Better keep your hands off my > > Better keep your hands off my > > Better keep your hands off my potential new boyfriend \* Or the theme from the Benny Hill Show. [https://youtu.be/AYVa6tqfF6Y](https://youtu.be/AYVa6tqfF6Y) ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1242 "2019-04-18T23:55:02Z")
Finally watched this. > [@RickJay](#): > > This thing is that the kid telling on his father turned out to be essentially an irrelevance. The ship they subsequently took vanished from its stated flight plan. That right there could have been the moment of crisis; there was no narrative purpose for Bortus’s stupidity and dishonesty. The fact they had a baby wasn’t even something they had to hide; they could have simply claimed it was male, and no one would have known. Then the ship makes a run for it and the story proceeds as planned. Until Topa finked on Bortus, there was no reason for anyone to check the flight plan of the research vessel. It would have dropped off the kid, and then continued to it’s final destination. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’d have to rewatch it, but I thought the females were picking up rifles dropped by soldiers who’d been stunned by Kelly or Bortus. Most of them were, but at one point a group came out of a house, armed and shooting. My personal issue is that for some reason, it appears that all of the Union admirals are human. Although I guess maybe the various alien ones just didn’t attend the Congress session. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1243 "2019-04-19T00:27:47Z")
Admiral Perry and Admiral Halsey? Where the hell did they come up with those names??? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1244 "2019-04-19T00:49:00Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Admiral Perry and Admiral Halsey? Where the hell did they come up with those names??? We’re so sorry, Uncle Albert. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1245 "2019-04-19T04:52:01Z")
So, better or worse than two Rikers? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1246 "2019-04-19T05:05:31Z")
It was an OK episode but I am “OK” about the whole series now. They just aren’t very good at making a consistent logic. And possibly worse is they don’t follow through on the consequences of their actions: So…a whole bunch of Moclan soldiers were killed? And zero colonists? And the Moclans are cool about both that and the two ships engaging in combat? If it was a stun fight that should have been made clearer. I can’t enjoy a battle if at the end it’s just “Good guys won, so…don’t worry about any consequences” and zero explanation or cleanup happens. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yeah. The pee corner, I thought was decent comedy, right in the sweet spot of where the humor works in this show. The delegation thing was really one of the worst moments we’ve seen in the entire run of the show thus far, IMO. Agreed, best and the worst of the show’s humor right there. The pee corner made me laugh but also was a somewhat plausible thing to happen, while at the same time not being a thing they could ever do on trek. The cavity search meanwhile did not make any sense within the logic of the show; it would have destroyed the peace process just to give Mercer a few pointless minutes of thumb-twiddling time, _and_ wasn’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1247 "2019-04-19T05:43:38Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > So, better or worse than two Rikers? Better. And worse. Thomas Riker eventually became a traitor to the Federation, but Second Chances was a better episode than Tomorrow cubed. Still, it was nice to see an episode that I had no idea where it was going. What’s with the Kaylon cruising around looking for a fight? that came out of no where. It doesn’t seem like the Kaylon would retreat and then go into a skulking “bush war” with the union. Their “superior intelligence” means they’d reason they should attack, or not, and stick to one decision. Poking the enemy doesn’t seem like a good decision.\* So, what does that ending mean? Did she keep her memories, or just a “feeling” that it wouldn’t work? Does that mean there are two timelines? Or are they building something big for the finale that will bring it all together? Will we see Young Kelly again? \*Or do I just not have a superior enough intelligence to see the long game? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1248 "2019-04-19T13:06:09Z")
It did bother me that they didn’t see and do something about the obvious difficulties of having two members of a crew with exactly the same name. Doesn’t Kelly have a middle name or nickname or anything they could have used? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1249 "2019-04-19T13:28:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > What’s with the Kaylon cruising around looking for a fight? that came out of no where. It doesn’t seem like the Kaylon would retreat and then go into a skulking “bush war” with the union. Their “superior intelligence” means they’d reason they should attack, or not, and stick to one decision. Poking the enemy doesn’t seem like a good decision.\* I don’t know what they were up to but you can’t be saying that a skulking bush war is never an intelligent decision. Or poking the enemy. Sometimes those are perfectly legit strategies. But, maybe they just want to make sure to keep the Union out of certain sectors. Maybe they want to capture some ships for some reason. Maybe something else. > [@](#): > > So, what does that ending mean? Did she keep her memories, or just a “feeling” that it wouldn’t work? Does that mean there are two timelines? Or are they building something big for the finale that will bring it all together? Will we see Young Kelly again? I am also curious. Are we going to see a disruption in the timeline next episode or was there split? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1250 "2019-04-19T13:48:26Z")
Last night’s show was just OK until the final scene. If it’s a different timeline, then OK, we move on. If it’s the same timeline, though, everything changes. Ed is not made commander, and Malloy is unlikely to be on the ship at all. Logically, the next episode should have Kelly as the commander and Ed as her second-in-command. And at the end, Ed leaves the series, either by getting a promotion to commander or by dying. I could imagine Macfarlane wanting to cut back. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1251 "2019-04-19T13:55:54Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > And the Moclans are cool about both that and the two ships engaging in combat? I was thinking about it and it seems analogous to a British navy vessel finding an uncharted island full of ex-patriot Americans who have fled the U.S. because they didn’t want to undergo mandatory gay-conversion therapy (this is a slight alternate-universe U.S. where such things exist). The Brits feel compelled to announce the island’s existence for some reason and a U.S. Navy ship soon arrives to forcibly repatriate all the exiles. The Brits think this isn’t cricket, but the Americans maintain that gay-conversion is an important part of their moral code and if NATO won’t respect their moral codes, then why even _have_ a NATO, so they threaten to pull out, and this is all happening at a time when the Soviets have recently attacked and it is expected they may do so again in the near future. The U.S. Navy sends a bunch of marines ashore to grab the exiles, and the Brits intervene and soon the two ships are blasting away at each other. And then abruptly everyone calms down and we’re back to business as usual. Global crisis averted. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1252 "2019-04-19T14:09:23Z")
More homage to _Star Trek_ with the MacBeth episode title. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1253 "2019-04-19T14:24:16Z")
I think this is now my favorite episode of the series. DISCO had a shockingly good season finale too. What a night of TV! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1254 "2019-04-19T14:38:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And then abruptly everyone calms down and we’re back to business as usual. Global crisis averted. It’s reminded me of the made-for-TV movie Assault on the Wayne, where Soviet agents infiltrate an attack sub in order to steam ABM technology. The Soviets were going to sink the sub to cover their tracks. But, the crisis averted, then one of the crew notes to the captain, “You know, that was an act of war.” And the Captain says, “Yes, and outside of a few closed rooms, no one will ever know.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1255 "2019-04-19T14:59:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Last night’s show was just OK until the final scene. > > If it’s a different timeline, then OK, we move on. > > If it’s the same timeline, though, everything changes. Ed is not made commander, and Malloy is unlikely to be on the ship at all. > > Logically, the next episode should have Kelly as the commander and Ed as her second-in-command. And at the end, Ed leaves the series, either by getting a promotion to commander or by dying. I could imagine Macfarlane wanting to cut back. Not necessarily. Seems to me the whole point about the talk about quantum physics alludes to the theory that all possibilities can happen in parallel universes. In the other universe, Kelly and Ed do not get together, but in the universe we’re in, they do. Just showing that things could have gone very differently in a different universe. There is not only one timeline. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1256 "2019-04-19T15:12:31Z")
Splitting off universes is the only form of time travel that makes any kind of intuitive sense to me, but it can still be fun when they do it the other way if it’s well handled. I’m okay if this is dropped forever, and also if it becomes a big plot point for next episode. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1257 "2019-04-19T16:14:10Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I was thinking about it and it seems analogous to a British navy vessel finding an uncharted island full of ex-patriot Americans > […] > And then abruptly everyone calms down and we’re back to business as usual. Global crisis averted. Yeah, in fairness, of my grumbles that one is probably answerable. There’s plenty of precedent in real history of (fatal) skirmishes being basically ignored because neither side wants to escalate right now. One side will usually throw up a stink but not always. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1258 "2019-04-19T17:07:01Z")
The Moclans seemed downright _eager_ to escalate things, declaring their intent to leave the Union. This wasn’t just a couple of lower-echelon commanders getting into a fistfight and then higher-ups deciding to stop an escalating pattern of retaliation - to Moclans, the mere existence of Moclan females is so very fundamentally abhorrent that they’re willing to go all brinkman over it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1259 "2019-04-19T19:15:11Z")
Can I just say how tickled I was to see Bortus and Klyden tearing it up at the dance club? The description of next week’s episode seems to indicate there is going to be fallout from Past Kelly’s (god, what an awful wig) decision not to pursue a relationship with Ed. Now, if Present Kelly thinks having a romantic relationship with her captain is a bad idea, why in the ever living hell would Ed pursue a relationship with a lieutenant?? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/1260 "2019-04-19T20:47:48Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > So…a whole bunch of Moclan soldiers were killed? And zero colonists? > And the Moclans are cool about both that and the two ships engaging in combat? But again, that’s kind of in keeping with what we’ve seen of Moclan culture. They seem pretty okay with violence, even fatal violence. After all, they’re a hyper masculine culture, so hyper masculine that they even deny the existence of female Moclans. They were introduced as the weapon manufacturers of the Union, and we see them conducting live weapon tests in the open, with little regard for the possibility of collateral damage to bystanders (Remember, “We said no torpedoes!”?) Their divorce involves literal murder of one member of the couple. So, yeah, I can see them thinking losing a few soldiers as no big thing. They might even see it as a good thing, figuring that with those soldiers losing to a bunch of females, they obviously were not worthy of being Moclans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966.md?page=62) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966.md?page=64)