TV Review - The Orville: Season 2

Seth MacFarlane's series was assumed to be a spoof of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek franchise. In many ways, it is, but, arguably it isn't. In many ways, it's a faithful entry in Roddenberry's franchise but with a slightly more comical edge. What started as humorous takes in the first season have evolved into mostly dramatic spins in the second season. Building off what was established in the first season, MacFarlane and his team dig deeper into the characters and craft compelling adventures that reveal so much about who these people are and what they feel. In that, it is the best science-fiction show on television as of early 2019.

MacFarlane (The Family Guy) stars as Ed Mercer, the Captain of the USS Orville, a spaceship not unlike the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. It's run like a naval ship but exploring the galaxy. Ed was surprised to learn that his first officer is his ex-wife, Cmdr. Kelly Grayson, played by Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) for whom he still has feelings. He's trying to get over her but finds it difficult working with her constantly by his side. Otherwise, he's a level head when entering into the various adventures. He does so boldly but compassionately. He's surrounded by a colorful crew that are more or less there for him to be the straight man, reacting to many of their weird ways.

Peter Macon (Shameless) plays Bortus, an alien from the race known as Moclan. The Moclans seem very similar to the Klingons from Star Trek. Like the Klingons, the Moclans are this uber-masculine and uber-aggressive species, but MacFarlane and his writers subvert this idea somewhat by making Moclans a single-gender species, which essentially means that every Moclan is gay. Given that each Moclan can bear children, it also makes every Moclan intersex. In the first season as well as this one, we see Bortus in a relationship with his spouse Klyden, played by Chad L. Coleman (The Walking Dead) with whom he has a child who was transgender. With every aspect of this character and his story, we have gotten great, sci-fi expressions of queer identity, something the original Star Trek and many of the sequel series couldn't provide.

Penny Johnson Jerald (Castle and 24) plays Claire Finn, the ship's doctor. She's a single mom of two boys. One of whom is a teenager. Besides queer issues, the show is good with also dealing with traditional issues like what it's like to be a single mom and raise boys who miss their father. In the opening episode of this season, Claire has to figure out why her son is acting out and what to do when he gets into trouble and he's accused of a crime. It's also interesting having Jerald because she had a recurring role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Rounding out the cast is Scott Grimes (ER and Party of Five) who plays Gordon Malloy, the helmsman and overgrown frat boy, as well as J. Lee as John LaMarr, the navigator-turned-engineer. There's also Mark Jackson, a relatively new British actor who plays Isaac, the living robot from Kaylon-1 who is the ship's science officer. He's like Mr. Spock from the original series or even Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

It's not just characters who bear resemblances in manner or concept to characters from the Star Trek franchise. There are ideas and themes from that franchise that are recycled in this series. For example, the central premise from "All the World Is Birthday Cake," the fifth episode here of the second season is basically a variation of the same premise from "Justice," the seventh episode in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. While that's usually a negative on anything's part, again MacFarlane and his team handle the recycled ideas deftly and with the right amount of emotional impact to overcome whatever stale or hackneyed stench to it.

Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Sundays at 8PM on FOX.