Episode Title: Ja’Loja (2×01 Season Premiere)
Original Airdate: December 30, 2018 on FOX (Watched on Hulu on January 20)
Grade: A
Notable Guest Stars/Directors:
Jason Alexander as Olix: Alexander is most known for his role on Seinfeld. On Orville, he plays Olix the mess hall bartender.
Notable Quotes:
John: Always go with one zipper more than what your comfortable with.
SPOILERS BELOW
In this episode, it has come time for Lt. Bortus to pee.
The episode begins with Alara and Ed bemoaning their relationship issues with alcohol. They are interrupted by Bortus who then tells them that time has arrived for him to go to Moclus to complete his yearly urination.
The Ja’loga sounds like it takes its inspiration from the Vulcan Pon Farr. they have to go back to the planet and be surrounded by family and friends as they complete this yearly event. Although there is less crisis around this one. The Jaloga is the B-plot it seems as most of the time is spent on the ship relationships. It basically just bookmarks
While on their way, they pick up a new crewman named Janelle Taylor, a new cartographer. Gordon has a bit of a crush on her, and tries to ask her out to the Ja’loga. Ed is still mourning his relationship with Kelly, while Kelly is actively trying to move on with her new boyfriend Cassius the ship school teacher. Claire has to deal with her misbehaving son Marcus who has recently befriended James who is a bad influence.
Bortus tries to match-make and Alara’s facial expressions are amazing.
This episode was relatively good. It dealt with different relationships, both romantic and non-romantic. The friendships that came through were also good. Although I did find Isaac’s parenting observance a little awkward.
Pros:
- Alien culture exploration
- Humanity isn’t completely sanitized. One issue I had with some of Star Trek is that humanity always seemed to be “past” all the negative stuff. One of the reasons I liked ENT so much is that it didn’t make it seem like there were no problems. TNG was the worst at it. The rest were varying degrees of pretentiousness.
- Relationship development between characters outside Romantic-Interest-of-the-week
- Ok, the shipper in me loves the fact that Cassius used Ed’s plan and it shows how well Ed Knows Kelly. But at the same time I kind of wish Ed would move on, preferably not with the new cartographer.
Cons
- Ed being a stalker. Chill Ed, Chill.
Sokorra Lewis 