The Orville pokes fun at modern-day society

FOX

After last week’s break from The Orville, I was excited to venture back into the world that Seth MacFarlane has created. This is the seventh episode in the first season and the show has quickly grown on me. I didn’t enjoy the first episode very much but with each passing episode, I found more and more to appreciate with the show. This week’s episode is titled “Majority Vote” and centers around a planet called Sargas IV, a world very similar to 21st Century Earth. The Union had sent two anthropologists to observe the planet but contact was lost and The Orville was sent to find them. Mercer assigns Kelly, Alara, John, and Claire as the landing team to find the missing scientists, Lewis and Tom.

Sargas IV is obsessed with the Master Feed, their version of the internet, where everyone wears a badge that counts their up-votes and down-votes. The landing team learned that Lewis and Tom were arrested for having too many down-votes, only because they didn’t give their seat up to a pregnant lady on the public bus. Lewis was corrected for his behavior, but Tom was killed trying to escape. As the landing team is trying to investigate the twos whereabouts, Alara and John have a casual conversation about dancing which leads to John inappropriately dancing on a statue of an important figure in Sargas’ society. Local citizens captured the footage and John received over 1,000,000 down-votes which results in him going on an apology tour before a final casting vote which could result in him getting “corrected.”

I’ve always thought that Seth MacFarlane was a clever writer, but this episode was truly fantastic. The topics are very relevant to today’s society and our constant “liking” and “disliking” from social media pages. The Orville gave a harsh look at how media has taken over people’s lives and social media pages can change the way we think about and treat each other. This episode has just the right amount of humor with the right amount of storytelling. I was so invested in the story and how the society worked on this new planet that I didn’t even pay attention to the humor until I watched it again. It was fascinating how the society was run and the structure of the up-votes and down-votes and how they affect one’s life. MacFarlane did a fine job taking social issues in today’s world and implementing them into the story.

FOX

After going back and watching the episode again, I found more humor in it that I appreciated. Sargas’ society was compared to Fox’s American Idol and Bortus declaring that he can sing, something I would certainly love to see! There were plenty of jokes in the show that poked at our society and how we use our cellphones. The constant likes and dislikes that we see in our everyday life played a huge part in this week’s episode.

We got to know a little more about John in this episode and I think he is turning into a fun character. He’s someone who makes quick decisions but always remains kind and helpful throughout. His disrespectful act on a statue was nothing more than a funny gesture with his friends that resulted in him being displayed on “The Chat” which tested his morals. Watching his journey of becoming apologetic strengthened him as a character.

I was happy with this week’s episode and the story it told. It took a relatable part of our modern-day society and had inspected it in an interesting and humorous way. Seth MacFarlane showed off his clever writing skills and provided more development for one of his lesser known characters. I can’t wait to see how MacFarlane tackles more social commentaries in the upcoming episodes.

The Orville airs Thursdays at 9:00 PM on FOX.

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