The Orville, Ep. 4 Review

The Orville is fighting a ghost. And, y’know what? Through four rounds, it’s holding its own. There’s nothing terribly subtle about The Orville: Seth MacFarlane wrote a Star Trek fan-fiction where he gets to play captain. And if it’s done well there’s nothing wrong with that. After a promising (if rough) pilot, the second and third episodes were remarkable improvements and in a very short period of time the show established its identity as a fun spaceship show. For some, it seems there’s no room on TV for a show that doesn’t inundate its audience with life-threatening visuals and dutch-angled cliffhangers. But, at least if the ratings are to be believed, there’s clearly an audience for a show that doesn’t leave viewers in shock and depressed after every hour.

Sitting down and talking with people you encounter in space? What an idea!

Episode 4, “If the Stars Should Appear,” is a very typical genre episode. The USS Orville comes across a “big metal turtle” adrift in space and an away team goes to investigate. Mercer (MacFarlane), first officer Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki), Dr. Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald), and security chief Alara Kitan (portrayed by series break-out star, Halston Sage) are joined by Isaac, the ship’s sentient android tasked with studying human behavior. They find themselves in a bright, rural countryside, cut off from communication with the Orville. The ship is called away to save a colony ship under attack by the Krill, resulting in a fun spacebattle…