Five things I loved about The Orville, Ep. 5 “Pria”

I’m an unabashed Orville fanboy, I won’t even pretend to deny it. But even I’m impressed how every week this show keeps improving, and Episode 5 is no exception.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes, “Pria” is chock-full of genre references and tropes. For the unsophisticated readers out there, that means I understood all the Star Trek references, thanks.

Bortas was eating a red cube at the reception — do you get it?!?! /nerdvoice

Instead of a boring summary of the episode, I’m just going to highlight five things I loved about Episode 5, “Pria.”

1. The Seinfeld cold open
   I, for one, always appreciate when the main character of a show is forced to stand up, look directly into the camera, and explain humor to the vapid mechanical dullards in the audience.
2. Charlize Theron
   MacFarlane must be calling in all of his favors because the list of guest stars is pretty impressive so far. Last week, Liam Neeson, this week Charlize Theron. Let’s also take a moment to respect how Seth MacFarlane has repeatedly made Charlize Theron his love interest. Blue chip casting, Seth!
3. Yaphit actually did stuff!
   I like the “Yaphit hitting on the Doctor” running joke, but I’m really glad they used Norm MacDonald’s talents to do other things. He’s still a perverted little blob, but he’s also a valuable member of the engineering crew.