The Orville 3.8: Dolly Parton and Topa

The Orville checked in yesterday with another superb episode -- 3.8 -- a ninety-minute bases loaded home run that continued the story of Topa, and, believe it or not, had the real Dolly Parton in the holographic flesh singing and playing a significant role.  You may be getting tired of hearing me say the episode of The Orville I'm reviewing is the best so far in the series, and/or the episode clearly puts The Orville in the best of any Star Trek territory, but both are true once again about this episode.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

First about Dolly: Heveena's haven of Moclan women, striving to increase their number, and free themselves of the Moclan male insanity of wanting them to have no existence at all, venerate our very own Dolly Parton.   We first hear about this, then get a tantalizing playing in the background of "Jolene" (good choice -- my favorite Dolly song), and then Dolly herself on The Orville's whatever its called holodeck, summoned by Captain Mercer to talk sense to Heveena.   Dolly succeeds, at least in part because she sings "Try" (another great and very appropriate Dolly song, about the stars).  Dolly (de-aged) looked and sounded great.  She would have looked and sounded great without the de-aging.

Meanwhile, we get a powerhouse story of Topa, with all the trimmings.  Back on Earth, we're treated to a meeting of all the Union delegates, including the humorous slime (the voice of which was played by the late Norm MacDonald), who, unfortunately don't speak.  I was hoping we'd at least see them raise their amoebic extended hands, like we did for Yaphet in a recent episode, helping Isaac and some tech creature frantically working to fix something.

Grayson and Bortus put in some good hand-to-hand combat with the Moclan who are keeping Topa hostage in a black ops enclave, and Bortus gives the Moclan who was torturing Topa just what he deserves.  I was sorry to see Grayson order Bortus to stand down.

Before the episode is over, Klyden is back in the fold, he invites Grayson to the family dinner table, and Bortus and Klyden have renounced their Moclan citizenship.  Their home is now The Orville.  The Moclans leaving the Union may not be good for the fight against the Kaylon, but it made for one really satisfying ending in this outstanding episode.

See also The Orville 3.1: Life and Death ... 3.2: "Come and Get Me ..." ... 3.3: What Do Bill Barr and Ed Mercer Have in Common? ... 3.4: The Captain's Daughter ... 3.5: Topa ... 3.6: Masterpiece of Time Travel with a Missed Opportunity ... 3.7: Seconding that Emotion

And 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" ... The Orville 2.7: Love and Death ...  The Orville 2.8: Recalling Čapek, Part 1  ... The Orville 2.9: Recalling Čapek, Part 2 ... The Orville: 2.10: Exploding Blood ... The Orville 2.11: Time Capsule, Space Station, and Harmony ... The Orville 2.12: Hello Dolly! ... The Orville 2.13: Time Travel! ... The Orville Season 2 Finale: Alternate History!

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

Joel McKinnon and I discuss Star Trek, The Orville and much more

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The Orville 2.12: Hello Dolly!

Another powerful episode of The Orville tonight - 2.11 - which follows the two-part "Identity" episodes (rebroadcast the past two weeks) even better than did the episode that followed the first showing of "Identity," though that episode was excellent, too.

Let me begin this little review by mentioning that I was at a great panel at HELIOsphere this past weekend (in addition to panelists listed on that link, Hildy Silverman was the panel, too), where we discussed our favorite science fiction television series.  I and several panelists mentioned The Orville as outstanding.  In fact, everyone agreed, but someone also indicated that a weakness of the series is that all the nostalgia is from the late 20th century.  Since The Orville takes place a few centuries from now, shouldn't some of the nostalgia be from our future?

A fair point, logically.   But the 20th-century nostalgia is part of the conceit of the show, part of the irresistible way that humor is smuggled in with the serious stuff, or maybe the other way around, but the result is the remarkable quality, the uniqueness, of this series.

So, with that in mind, let me say that the part I enjoyed most in this episode is the way Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" became a theme song for the Moclan female surge for independence - or, actually, life.  This was a good development of what Bortes earlier went through, when he had to see his female baby undergo "correction" to become male.  There is nothing the least bit funny about that.  And it of course relates to the oppression women receive on our own planet, in off-screen reality.

The other memorable part of this episode was seeing the Union Council on Earth in its full glory, chaired by a character well played by F. Murray Abraham, and assisted by the characters well played by Ted Danson and Victor Garber.   I bet the woman who played the female Moclan leader was a top-notch actor, too, but I couldn't tell through the make-up.*   (Speaking of women: fabulous to see Marina Sirtis on board The Orville as a teacher!)

Anyhow - I'll be sorry to see this season end in two episodes from now, but I'll be watching every episode and reviewing when it returns.

*My wife just researched this online, and found it's Rena Owen!

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" ... The Orville 2.7: Love and Death ...  The Orville 2.8: Recalling Čapek, Part 1  ... The Orville 2.9: Recalling Čapek, Part 2 ... The Orville: 2.10: Exploding Blood ... The Orville 2.11: Time Capsule, Space Station, and Harmony

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

Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger

Singing has played an important role in this 4th season of Ray Donovan, but never better than tonight's episode 4.4, in which Ray does a standout karaoke of Bob Seeger's "We've Got Tonight" - or at least a few lines of the song really sung by Liev Schreiber - and a splendidly touching reprise of the song capping off the episode by Ray and Abby.

Ray and Abby harken back at that moment to Kenny Rogers' and Sheena Easton's great reprise of the Seger song - though it also reminded me a bit of Kenny Rogers' and Dolly Parton's version a few years later, when Dolly comes on stage and sings "Who needs Sheena Easton" instead of "Who needs tomorrow" (see below for videos of the two performances - decide for yourself which is better).

I could talk about this song all night, but back to Ray Donovan, it's also worthy of note that Ray karaokes the song at the insistence of Ed Cochran, now singing karaoke himself after Ray nearly got him killed and did indeed kill his illustrious career with the FBI.   All of this part of a plan to reach into prison, with another part of this same classic, Rube-Goldberg-Ray-Donovan scheme getting Ray involved, against all odds, with Mickey.

Mickey has a signally good night himself, evoking the best line of evening, which comes from the old dame who drives him back to LA.  Her price?  "It's not gonna lick itself".   I better quit on that line while I'm ahead.

And Abby has a good night, enjoying the kiss she got from a woman - a former lover of Lena, though for all I know they did more.   Anyway, Ray Donovan is off to its most enjoyable season so far, and here are the two Kenny Rogers's videos of which I spoke.





See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


  different kinds of crimes and fixes

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