It is time once again for weekly thoughts on the most recent Orville episode. It is starting to wind down for this season and episode 9, “Dominos,” was quite a doozy. Here we go with the epic episode.
Design
Mr. DAPs: “Overall, it was an enjoyable viewing experience this week from a design perspective. There were definitely some high points and low points. I have to wonder if the pendulum swings in some of the effects’ quality hurt the show a little bit. It makes things more noticeable and perhaps more distracting when the effects aren’t as good. Overall, the design this week was decent but I think I would just like things to be more consistently good throughout the episode and not have the valleys and peaks.”
Murray: “There was a lot of special effects used throughout the episode. The ship battle entailed a lot to look at. It is hard to not view the ship to ship fighting as a video game from the way they use a first-person perspective. But, it’s still on an epic scale in the amount of ships that were in frame. Also, the amount of detail to destroyed Kaylon ships was impressive to me. I’d say the design of it all was quite good this week.”
Music
Mr. DAPs: “This was one of the better scores for an episode I thought. One thing I’m noticing is that sometimes the music gets too much of a spotlight when there is a long scene happening of say a ship moving or a scene setup. This week there weren’t as many long drawn-out scenes thankfully. There were still some moments where it stood out too much but overall the music was well done.”
Murray: “Music has been a little bit on the miss in episodes past. It started off with being a little distracting and then it faded into the background. It’s getting better as the series goes, and the themes were well done this episode. Just a little distracting in some scenes.”
Story
Mr. DAPs: “This is one of the strongest episodes we have seen this week. There was a lot at stake both from a galactic standpoint and also an ethical standpoint. There was also a lot of risk for the well-being of the characters. Overall, this episode had the biggest risks and also the biggest emotional payoffs. This episode also had better pacing than just about any other. I would say, I’d like to see more discipline taken to the length of episodes and the pacing that comes because of the lack of apparent discipline in this regard.”
Murray: “This is where the episode really shined. The season has gone full in for one cohesive plot per episode and it’s paying off. This felt very much like a grand movie plot of intrigue and major changes in the Orville universe. The pacing of it was the best of the season. There was maybe only a minute or two where the shuttle crew suited up that was unnecessary. It’s hard to take anything else out where it kept advancing things along and added to characters. The huge twist was the sacrifice of Charly. It was a surprise, but it fulfilled a great character arc for the whole season.”
Hit or Miss?
Mr. DAPs: “This week was easily a hit. It was probably the best episode Orville has delivered. It will be interesting to see where things go moving forward after all of the game changers that happened in this week. Overall, this was a solid episode that gives lots of options for the future. My one complaint is with every episode having galactic consequences, it gets to be a bit too much. I’d like to see a more steady burn instead of every episode being like a Marvel movie where if the crew fails it is the end of the world. That being said, I can’t wait to see where things go and I hope we get another season of this show!”
Murray: “This is a big hit in my book. It felt like a full movie with great action and suspense. I just wish it had been a little longer, which is not something I want in every episode. And there are such huge implications after this. It is an outstanding episode and I think sets up the series to keep having hits like this.”
