The Orville 2.7: Love and Death

A perfect Orville - 2.7 - for Valentine's Day, which explains why The Orville didn't have a new episode last week.  The powers that be wanted to make sure this episode aired on Valentine's Day.  And they were right.  Love was in the air for Ed and Kelly - or the rekindling of the continuation of their love - and for Talia and a brilliant Moclan engineer, Locar, who comes aboard to refit the ship with a new deflector system.  "Deflectors," the title of the episode, works well, since there are all kinds of psychological deflectors, in addition to the physical, at play in this story.

But this episode is not only about love.  Apropos Freud's libido and thanatos, it's also about death - or, about an apparent murder - of Locar - and whodunnit.   And although I've given a lot of the story away, I'll leave out the resolution of the whodunnit, in case you haven't yet seen this fine hour.

All of this is also set against a theme that goes back to the original Star Trek, about how the prejudices that currently afflict us on Earth play out in the stars in the future among humans and other species.  Locar's attraction to Talia goes against a profound taboo in  Moclan anti-woman culture: the sexual attraction of any Moclan to a woman - a woman of any species.

The Moclan are in many ways like humans on Earth in the 20th century.  Presumably we're a bit more evolved now.  But we come from a past rife with prejudice and viciousness.  And come to think of it, not all current humans are beyond that today.   Not only in less developed countries, but in the so-called most advanced countries and cultures in the world, including right here in the United States.

I guess that's a sobering thought for Valentine's Day.   But that's why I entitled this review "Love and Death," not just "Love". Thanks to The Orville for an outstanding episode that brings this reality to the screen.

See also The Orville 2.1: Relief and Romance ... The Orville 2.2: Porn Addiction and Planetary Disintegration ... The Orville 2.3: Alara ... The Orville 2.4: Billy Joel ... The Orville 2.5: Escape at Regor 2 ... The Orville 2.6: "Singin' in the Rain"

And see also The Orville 1.1-1.5: Star Trek's Back ... The Orville 1.6-9: Masterful ... The Orville 1.10: Bring in the Clowns ... The Orville 1.11: Eating Yaphit ... The Orville 1.12: Faith in Reason and the Prime Directive

1st starship to Alpha Centauri ... had only enough fuel to get there