Into the Fold

Not really anything special or noteworthy, but thats OK, every series is going to have its clunkers. There were several plot contrivances and the interactions were pretty weak. Its a really unremarkable episode. This series just got a 2nd season and it deserves it. I honestly had no thoughts of Orville being a decent sci-fi show. There are people who still haven't come to grips with this being Scifi first and comedy second. It seems that SMF wants to make a series show but not make it completely stuffy. I look forward to season 2.

Those arguing about this show in their reviews, on both sides, are missing the point. This episode has more moral depth than all the _Star Trek_ episodes I've seen by Braga put together, and more than any by Bormanis. The characters are not all completely good or completely evil, and actions have consequences. It's also morally serious, in a way I suspect MacFarlane would not get away with if the show were not labeled a comedy, with a serious point to make about three kinds of fatherhood, which would have been controversial if anyone had been paying sufficient attention.

I don't think anyone is really watching this show because of it's Scifi content or plot lines. And I definitely hope that is the last time annoying children whine through out the entire show. It should just be what it is, a comedy set in space.

1/10 for comedy, 1/10 for plo,t 1/10 for acting, 10/10 for annoying children

If the show continues on this path, please cancel it before season 2. Or at least warn viewers in the title that you are attempting to be a space soap opera instead of a comedy.

Wtf?! Why does every single American series have to have an episode where the most half-arsed, selfish "parents" nearly get themselves and their kids killed and suddenly the kids aren't feral and it's all happy families?

I mean really, she chose to be a single parent, who works all the time and leaves her kids to be raised by someone else apart from the few hours when they're asleep. And as Isaac points out within about 30 seconds of meeting them, on the seemingly rare occasions she does spend a few waking hours with her children she makes no effort to actually parent them. Is this ok in America?

I'm pretty sure the kids were only written into the show for this specific episode and it's just not worth watching.

For me, this was the first episode of The Orville that became a copy of Star Trek rather than a tribute to it. If the vile behaviour of pre-teens was intended to be comedic, it certainly missed the mark, leaving the ep completely devoid of any kind of humour. Instead it leans into the drama of an AI finding emotional intelligence as it becomes more intimate with the fears and needs of human children. Except the children are revolting, and the AI is dull so there's pretty much zero emotional investment or pay off for us viewers. Filling in between separation and reunion is a pointless side-bar plot of a planet of war-ravaged, biological weapons-damaged population of canabalistic locals that goes nowhere. And for those challenged by the doctor's trigger-finger when dispatching her captor, let's not forget that he offers a veiled threat about him being the only hope for his species, suggesting her potential for being breeding stock for him is another compelling reason behind her willingness to dispatch him - other than his keeping her captive and being generally pretty hostile (honestly guys, how many reasons do you need?). For me, this was an uninspired episode that stepped too far away from the fundamentals of what separates The Orville from Star Trek and didn't compensate for that with an engaging, well-realised theme, good acting (the robot out-acted the humans) or pathos. Plus the kids made me want to set weapons to kill.