FOX
The Orville’s ninth episode titled “Cupid’s Dagger” guest stars Rob Lowe as Darulio, the Retespian with whom Kelly had sexual relations in the first episode. He boards the Orville as an archaeologist who is in possession of an ancient artifact that could bring together two colonies which are at the brink of war. Each party of the planet Lapovius claim to have colonized the planet first. Bringing the colonies together would protect The Union because such a war would endanger Union civilians due to its proximity to The Union. Ed and Kelly are shocked to see that Darulio has joined The Orville to provide help and agree to shake hands and promise to handle the encounter professionally.
Fox’s latest episodes deal with a lot of sexual moments which Seth MacFarlane has been known to include in his movies and shows. This is one of the few episodes that feels as if it solely belongs to Seth MacFarlane. Rob Lowe’s character releases pheromones which trigger sexual responses causing him to not only attract Kelly once again but also attract the sexual attention of Ed Mercer. While the three of them form a weird relationship, various members of The Orville begin to pair off and create very uncharacteristic couples as well. Although I laughed as the members of the ship began hooking up, I found the writing for this episode to be very thin.
The episode relied heavily on the relationship between Darulio, Ed, and Kelly to move the storyline forward. The pacing for their relationship felt a little slow and it didn’t really pick up for the trio until towards the end. A lot of the show’s development focused on the communication of Darulio and Kelly which took a major step back from developing the relationship of Ed and Kelly. Viewers know that Ed and Kelly are no longer together but act professionally for the sake of The Orville. The last few episodes give off this feeling that Ed and Kelly will wind up together once again towards the end of the season. This episode allows for Ed and Kelly’s relationship to fall back to what it was on the first episode. The season so far has done an excellent job rebuilding their relationship and to watch Kelly act out with Darulio once again kind of slaps all the other episodes in the face.
FOX
There could have been a lot at stake regarding the two colonies on board the ship having to come to an agreement regarding their planet, but the show decided to keep that on the back burner. I thought the side storyline of the two colonies fighting and threatening war on each other could have been an intriguing episode to watch. Both species were vastly different from each other and the writing for such a plot could have provided a very dramatic episode.
It was hilarious to see Rob Lowe of all people painted blue and bringing all members of the Orville together sexually. Rob Lowe is a great actor but always seems to play the same characters. His character Darulio really reminded me of his former role for Parks and Recreation co-starring alongside Amy Poehler.
This episode was fun at times with its special guests and the crazy pairings, but I found the writing to be very thin and offer too few climatic moments. The show could have benefited from a little more depth regarding the two species on the brink of war to carry the episode into more of a dramatic side. It was nice to see that Seth MacFarlane returned to the show for more than a few scenes, his absence was felt over the last few episodes. I can’t believe we are nearing the end of the first season of The Orville. The show has come a long way!
The Orville airs Thursdays at 9:00 PM on FOX.
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