The Orville (2017) s03e10 – Future Unknown

“The Orville” has had great episodes and middling episodes this season; there haven’t been any bad episodes, and there haven’t been any just good episodes. It’s entirely fantastic, or it’s relatively bland (for “Orville,” so still well-written, acted, directed, just not a zowee).

This season finale—and current series finale—is a wowee zowee; directed by and script credited to creator and top-billed Seth MacFarlane, it does a phenomenal job of wrapping up the season’s outstanding story arcs (which in turn are the show’s outstanding story arcs). In addition, there are a few returning guest stars—Victor Garber’s got a brief scene towards the beginning of the episode; he’s the only admiral who comes back for the finale. One is a big surprise for a quick hello, and the other gets the episode’s second plot.

While the title, Future Unknown, kept having me waiting for Q to show up and whisk MacFarlane off to the past and the future to see what went wrong with the Enterprise after Picard retired, it’s not an homage to any “Trek.” It’s “Orville” being “Orville,” bringing back Giorgia Whigham from the first season. She lived on the planet where people up and down voted each other as a societal thing; it was one of “Orville”’s great early episodes. Now she’s sick of living on such a crappy planet when there’s a bright universe out there, so she calls up Orville and asks for asylum.

First officer Adrianne Palicki–in my dreams, they’re setting her up for the center seat in a sequel series where MacFarlane zooms it in most of the season like one of the admirals—takes it upon herself to acclimate Whigham to the “future.” In doing so, Palicki gives the audience a more thorough history lesson of the future than the show usually allows. Whigham’s the perfect stand-in for the audience while also being a great character. She also looks surprisingly similar to Season Three regular Anne Winters; so much so I had to look them up.

But the main plot once again involves killer alien robot Mark Jackson and his lady love, the ship’s doctor, Penny Johnson Jerald. After witnessing Peter Macon’s vow renewal ceremony with mate Chad L. Coleman (a tremendous, unique sequence), Jackson decides it’s time he and Jerald tie the knot, only she’s not sure she wants to marry a killer alien robot. Then Jackson’s bros tell him maybe he should play the field a bit before settling down.

It’s a wonderful, romantic, touching episode. MacFarlane’s shown exceptional, probably inimitable range this season as a director, and Unknown’s no different. Great performances from everyone, particularly (of course) Jerald, Jackson, Palicki, Macon, Scott Grimes, J. Lee, and Whigham. Coleman’s got some great comic moments. The only crew members without significant arcs are MacFarlane and Jessica Szohr. Maybe next time for Szohr.

Everyone involved has made something exceptional with “The Orville,” “New Horizons,” and old; it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Though I am wondering if the dress whites are supposed to be so ugly, like a nod to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Regardless….

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Evil (2019) s03e08 – The Demon of Parenthood

As the end of season three approaches, “Evil” seemingly does a soft reset and closes off two big outstanding story arcs. The mysterious, demonic fertility clinic–which the gang discovered, I think, in the first season and have been waiting seasons to resolve–might finally be done. And then Li Jun Li’s maybe reincarnated Jesus, a Chinese woman imprisoned in a labor camp. What’s strange about the closures is the show not really getting anything else going in their place, especially since they just wound down the Andrea Martin arc without any fanfare.

I mean, Kurt Fuller’s continued dalliances with Michael Emerson in pursuit of literary success at demonic cost. And then Katja Herbers and Mike Colter are in a fight after she realizes he’s been keeping important things from her (and Aasif Mandvi, who doesn’t seem to care). But they’re not on the outs; they’re just trying radical honesty, including about Colter hanging out with Vatican secret agent Brian d’Arcy James.

Colter’s mission this episode involves giving James a code word, only Colter mistakenly gives him the wrong code word by accident. Although Colter’s good and Aisha Tyler’s direction is solid, it’s a somewhat sophomoric arc.

Meanwhile, Herbers finds out her missing egg has been implanted into a woman, Lauren Norvelle, who is rapidly approaching her due date. Norvelle’s husband, Charlie Semine, is pretty sure the baby’s demonic. And Herbers is having night terrors involving daughter Maddy Crocco (who everyone just assumes is demonic) and demon Marti Matulis.

Crocco’s got her own subplot with Christine Lahti, who takes Crocco to work to show her the demonic boss (also Matulis, unfortunately, they missed a great chance at a Ted Danson cameo). The fallout from that meeting could change the entire trajectory of the main plot.

The series’ main plot, not the episode main plot, which is ostensibly about demonic toys from a toy shop. People are buying toys, taking them home, then discovering they’ve changed to be in some way frightening. They don’t spend much time on the investigation besides Mandvi’s forensic stuff because it’s all a red herring to set up Colter’s secret agent arc.

Herbers’s nightmarish arc with the expecting couple offsets Colter’s antics pretty well, but if “Evil” keeps going in this new direction… it’s hard to say what next season may hold. It’ll depend on what arcs make it. About the only one they have left is Herbers’s husband, Patrick Bramell, who Emerson and Lahti are torturing for eternity.

Get that one wrapped up, and it’s back to square one.

Oh, the script—credit to Sarah Acosta—is sometimes silly and usually too perfunctory, but it’s got the best cursing in the show since its move to streaming.

All Rise (2019) s03e08 – Lola Through the Looking Glass

I never watched “Ally McBeal,” but is a dream episode something it might have done? I wonder if it was better suited for the diversion than “All Rise.”

Though… even when “Rise”’s cast has been wanting in terms of performances, they’ve always been amiable, so having them play various absurd roles in Simone Missick’s dream is entertaining. The episode begins with no resolution to the elevator cliffhanger, where Missick and law school beau Sean Blakemore find themselves trapped. But they don’t kiss and canoodle or decide never to kiss and canoodle, which makes the cliffhanger even cheaper than before.

This episode opens with Missick getting an invitation to a prestigious law event. It turns out Blakemore’s the hosting lawyer, so it seems like he’s trying to get her away for a conference weekend at a resort. Before falling asleep and having her wild dream, Missick argues with her still primary caregiving husband, Christian Keyes, about childcare stuff. Then she and Wilson Bethel fight about him giving her relationship advice. As in, stay away from Blakemore’s resort invitation.

The dream has Missick giving up the law to marry Blakemore and living the good life. They’ve got three kids, who don’t figure into the story at all, and Missick’s trying to get elected national chairperson to a Black women’s legal society. She and Bethel are on the outs; he’s the judge now and apparently… gay and married to J. Alex Brinson. Jessica Camacho (who’s fantastic) is their brash, brassy, slutty, drunky surrogate. Lindsey Gort’s her doula.

Missick’s attraction to Blakemore is retroactively completely reasonable once he’s got his shirt off, which the dream sequence leads with. Keyes is also around, married to Ryan Michelle Bathe, now Missick’s nemesis. Missick stole Blakemore from Bathe in law school and ended up with Keyes, who had some kind of attraction with Missick back then. Now Keyes wants to leave Bathe and Bathe’s going to destroy Missick in the legal society election….

And there’s a law school reunion, where everyone gets together. Almost everyone. Marg Helgenberger’s cameo is short, ditto Samantha Marie Ware and Roger Guenveur Smith. Ian Anthony Dale, however, displays unseen comic chops as a horny drunk, while Lindsay Mendez and Ruthie Ann Miles get to sing.

Some things work better than others—Brinson’s a tad broad–but shaking things up does liven the cast. Only for it all to turn out to be filler; stay tuned for next episode and the actual resolution. Maybe.

“All Rise” has let the Blakemore subplot entirely dominate the second half of the season, and it’s getting nothing out of it. Such strange, constant missteps.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour (2021) #5

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Regular artist Max Sarin is back this issue, which strangely doesn’t really matter. I guess when you’re trying to fit an existing animation style, who’s doing it doesn’t make much difference. Though the issue’s also… underwhelming for a penultimate entry.

I’d come to terms with Eat. Bang! Kill. not being able to do too much with character development because—regards of its continuity status—most “Harley Quinn: The Animated Series” viewers aren’t going to have read the comic. Some twenty years into the cross-platform franchise experiment, no one’s made it happen.

Anyway.

This issue has a bunch with Ivy regarding character work, but it’s still minimal. Harley’s finally had enough of Ivy being mad at her this series—this time, they’re fighting about Ivy not wanting to kill the last industrial polluter CEO—and heads out to the strip club for some me time. Ivy’s invited, of course, but Ivy’s stinging from their fight with Vixen last issue.

Vixen and Justice League Detroit start this issue, resolving the skunk smell and wild animals, and it’s clear from that first scene something’s off. Lots of decent dialogue and characterization, but there’s no real reason for it: why are the guest stars getting so much attention? Especially since they’re guest stars for two pages.

Writer Tee Franklin takes the eventual relationship drama seriously, but it’s as seriously as you can take something with so many constraints. Sarin’s visualizing of that subplot also runs into some problems. Then throw in the book has stalled out in Detroit, with the first half being a “road trip” and the second half being stuck in a somewhat dull location. It doesn’t help the new villain of the series—an annoying, stinky, toxic blob monster called Mephitic—comes off too static in a comic book.

The bad smell thing, however, wouldn’t work on the show either, but motion might. Also, Mephitic’s got an imagined rivalry with Poison Ivy, entirely separate from her character development arc, and it muddles things.

The comic remains an amiable read, with fine characterizations of its leads, but it’s ready to be done.

The Orville (2017) s03e09 – Domino

Once again, I don’t know how “The Orville” gets away with it. A lesser show would be entirely undone by the strange John Debney score. It’s bombastic and enthusiastic but altogether over-the-top. Despite Domino being a not-even-loose remake of Episode VII, ending with a combination Deaths Star and Starkiller Base homage (the latter already being an homage to the former), Debney doesn’t do a Star Wars score. He does a… I don’t know what.

And then, at some point… it starts working.

Because Debney’s score doesn’t have to handle the gravitas of the situation, the situation’s got its gravitas. The first half of the episode is awkward, too; the plotting’s rushed, and director Jon Cassar’s got no summary flow. So the episode digs itself a relative hole (especially since it isn’t as obviously strong as last episode) and then launches itself out to excellence. Not the best episode of the season, but in serious contention for second and a phenomenal hour and twenty minutes of television.

Domino is very much television. The commercial breaks in the action are very noticeable and sometimes jerky in this episode. The smoothness and gracefulness they’ve found with the “network on streaming” format are gone here. It’s very much commercial break for emphasis stuff. But it still works by the end. It’s marvelous.

The episode starts with the Krill and Moclans making peace; if the Moclans can handle having a female partner in Krill chancellor and Orville captain Seth MacFarlane’s baby’s mama, Michaela McManus. They’re both sick of the Union and their progressive ideals, which the episode will put to the test because the supervillain team-up is only half the main plot. The other half has MacFarlane and crew making a Kaylon maker. The Krill and Moclans are teamed up against both the Union and the Kaylon, but the Kaylon’s are after all biological lifeforms.

Anne Winters, this season’s new cast addition, hates the Kaylon. Her being shitty to Kaylon defector and “Orville” Data Mark Jackson has been the main subplot this season. Except it’s not really a subplot because it ends up tied directly to the main plot, as she’s got to deal with the Union wanting to take her Kaylon-killing super weapon and not use it to wipe out the robotic aliens.

The second half is two parts Death Star homage (because there’s the space battle alongside the trench runs), one-quarter Adrianne Palicki action hero stuff (I really hope she does something good next), one-quarter Winters and Jackson working their shit out on a Kobayashi Maru. Even though it’s kind of obvious where the episode’s going the entire time—including the traitor’s identity—it’s obvious because it’s the right story. Cassar, the writers (script credited to Brannon Braga and André Bormanis), and the cast do a fantastic job.

There’s some terrific acting from Jackson this episode, and MacFarlane does well with the more than usual he has this episode, though he’s still primarily support.

It’s great. I can’t believe they got away with it.

The bar’s even higher for next week’s season (and de facto series) finale.

Evil (2019) s03e07 – The Demon of Cults

In addition to “Evil”'s most acute religion observation in the entire series, this episode is also an Aasif Mandvi episode, which gets it all sorts of goodwill. It’s also got a handful of concerning developments, principally Kurt Fuller falling in with Michael Emerson. Fuller decides he’s going to write a book about seeing the demon and goes to ask nun Andrea Martin for help on the subject. Martin tells him to get some Jesus and stop being a white guy about it. So Emerson approaches Fuller to offer the Dark Lord’s help.

And Fuller goes for it, kicking off what’s inevitably going to be a significant subplot… someday. It’s bewildering because Fuller’s always been, in addition to functionally atheist, an okay guy. So immediately giving in to temptation—in the form of Emerson, no less—is a surprise.

Speaking of significant subplots someday… this episode finally reveals what put lead Katja Herbers in Emerson’s sights, way back before the pilot. It’s got to do with daughter Maddy Crocco being fertilized at a demon clinic. Vatican troubleshooter Brian d’Arcy James—i.e., child rape and murder cover-upper—comes to visit Mike Colter and asks him to sneak a monitoring device into Crocco’s room. Of course, Colter says no but then gets suspicious of Crocco when over for dinner.

There’s eventually a showdown between Colter and James on the subject, with a big twist—James is fine appealing to Herbers, not Colter. This scene would be excellent if it weren’t immediately invalidated by the next one; after Herbers storms out after shaming the Patriarchy, she gets a call about the episode’s case (off-screen) and completely calms down. End of character development. It’s something else they can put off.

Without the decompressed, pseudo-procedural plotting, I wonder if “Evil” even has enough story for a season.

Anyway.

The main case involves a possessed Christian hippie. When Colter, Herbers, and Mandvi go to investigate, it turns out Mandvi already knows the reincarnated Yeshua (as in Heysus). She’s scientist Gia Crovatin, and she’s very hot for Mandvi’s bod. So Mandvi’s got this weird, cult-investigation and sexual thriller episode while Colter and Herbers futz around with the subplots.

It’s a fairly exploitative, manipulative episode but well-executed. Good direction from Yap Fong-yee, low middling script credited to Louisa Hill. Fred Murphy’s photography goes a lot moodier and darker for some of the episode, which hasn’t been the norm. Maybe it’s representative of Colter’s suspicions and fears… just unsuccessfully.

So, mixed bag, some big highlights, though.

All Rise (2019) s03e07 – Through the Fire

So, even after going through a whole episode to close off the Sean Blakemore arc—he’s Simone Missick’s law school love, and he’s around again; it’s causing feelings, which are always awkward because Blakemore and Missick haven’t got any chemistry together. Returning guest star Ronak Gandhi does a great job pretending he’s in the middle of a chemistry-soaked scene when it’s ice-cold flirting. It’s nice to have Gandhi back, especially since there’s the inexplicable Blakemore.

Blakemore’s defending a wealthy client’s son in a drunk driving case. Gandhi was supposed to plea it down, but things got screwed up. It’s a tedious case, with only Gandhi keeping it going. Though when Lindsey Gort’s still involved (she and Blakemore are partners now), she does fine. It’s Blakemore and Missick. This arc’s exasperating.

The good case this episode is J. Alex Brinson’s. He’s defending an ex-con who’s experiencing homelessness and charged with lighting fires in encampments. Nick Fink plays the kid; he’s okay, nothing more. T.J. Ramini plays the district attorney, an obnoxious British guy who’s never lost a case in his career. If the character’s supposed to be annoying and incompetent, Ramini does a fine job. The real surprise is Roger Guenveur Smith. He’s the judge. And he’s great. Smith’s been incredibly uneven this season, but he’s outstanding.

The episode’s mostly a Brinson showcase, outside Missick’s shenanigans. Lindsay Mendez gets a largely thankless subplot about a client—she’s a victim counselor for the D.A.—punching her out in a courtroom. She starts questioning her place in the halls of justice and even… wait for it… no-calls, no-shows to go to brunch with Jessica Camacho.

Wilson Bethel’s got very little to do, playing manager to Mendez, witnessing the Missick courtroom’s car accident (putting him on the stand), and getting a perfunctory exposition sequence with Gort. They can only have a good time for so long before Bethel (like always) brings up Gort’s not impending enough divorce. It’s most of Bethel’s personality at this point.

Oh, and there’s a very weird hangout scene for Bethel and Missick. It makes a little bit of sense because he’s a witness in her courtroom, but the joke they can’t find a new place to hang out is very tired seven episodes into the season. Especially since it’s a fourth-tier subplot.

There are the definite minuses, but Brinson’s case is “All Rise” at its earnest best.

And it’s great to see Gandhi again.

The Orville (2017) s03e08 – Midnight Blue

Midnight Blue is less an extended regular episode than a combined two-parter or even an “Orville” TV movie. It’s entirely dependent on previously established subplots and story details—going back to season one of the show—but it’s also completely self-contained. It’s an incredible hour and a half.

Jon Cassar directs, contributing his best work on the show so far. He doesn’t have much time left to top it. There’s a great score from Joel McNeely, also his season best. But the script—credited to Brannon Braga and André Bormanis—is the far and ahead winner of the episode, which brings closure to the season’s subtly developing Moclan arc. The Moclans are the all-male (they just surgically alter the occasional female to be male at birth) warrior society in the Union. Everyone’s getting sick of them being gross and physically and psychologically abusing their children, but the Union needs them to stand up to the Kaylon.

I swear “Orville” makes spelling the alien species names worse than any other franchise.

Anyway.

This episode’s all about Imani Pullum, who was born in the show’s first season and grew up to her tweenage years incredibly fast. She’s a Moclan female who was surgically altered and who’s recently been restored. She’s also the season’s protagonist; at first, it seemed like it’d be Penny Johnson Jerald (who’s reduced to a cameo here), but it’s definitely Pullum. Including her asking her first crush out to dinner in a phenomenally awkward scene. And the episode’s only comedic relief. They open with it, clearing the room of distress vapors, then just pour in the tension.

In addition to Pullum, this episode’s main characters are Adrianne Palicki, Peter Macon, guest star Rena Owen, and then Seth MacFarlane in a distant fifth. Everyone else gets a story arc; MacFarlane’s just the captain. Owen’s a Moclan female who started a colony for the other females; she’s a repeat guest star, basically once a season. The sanctuary is a political minefield for the Union and the Moclans. First officer Palicki and recently divorced now single parent to a daughter Moclan Macon are going to inspect the sanctuary. Pullum wants to go; Palicki helps her talk Macon into it.

While the trip is inspiring for Pullum, things soon go wrong—the Union inspection is timed with the Moclan inspection—and the sanctuary quickly becomes dangerous. Palicki and Macon will execute an impromptu “black bodysuit” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” mission while MacFarlane finds himself in a diplomatic nightmare thanks to Owen, who’s obstinately no help.

Good thing the show’s got a baller guest star to drop.

It’s a taut action and political thriller. Many of the scene setups harken back to Star Trek IV and VI, with a fantastic Tony Todd cameo as the Moclan ambassador. Excellent acting from Owen, Pullum, Macon, and Palicki. While Pullum’s the de facto season protagonist, Palicki’s the show protagonist. She’s gotten really good at this part. Hopefully, it translates to something else in the future. And Macon’s acting-in-makeup is sublime.

Only two more “New Horizons” to go… Midnight Blue’s raised expectations for them.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour (2021) #4

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It’s a solid issue. There’s some decent but repetitive character development for Ivy. She realizes Harley’s impetuousness annoys her, gets mad at Harley, sulks, reconciles in time for a superhero fight. This time she’s angry they got busted crashing uninvited at someone’s house. It’s very too impetuous girlfriend stuff, with some extremes.

See, they’re crashing at Nightfall’s place because Nightfall’s locked up in Arkham because of the shenanigans at Ivy’s wedding. Only Nightfall’s ex-girlfriend Livewire is there and probably shouldn’t be either. It’s all very awkward, very complicated, with some supervillain powers thrown in. And Harley being unhelpful, whether through inappropriate humor or too much truth.

Writer Tee Franklin’s got the relationship drama down, but she’s rehashing it in every issue. We’re four issues into Eat. Bang! Kill. and I’m pretty sure it’s happened four times. If not more, because Ivy might get re-mad at Harley during the issue. The different settings and supporting cast “help,” but the series is running into its “in-continuity but not required reading” status.

This issue introduces the “Harleyverse” JLA Detroit, with Zatanna, Vixen, and Cyborg fighting a new toxic waste villain who wants to poison Lake Michigan. He’s trying to surpass Ivy as the most poisonous supervillain; she and Harley head to Detroit to stop him (Ivy wants to do something good) and eventually run afoul of Vixen. Franklin gives Vixen a brief subplot, establishing Batman annoying her while she’s out on a date at a society function. It’s good, quick character work.

The book’s got a new artist for most of the issue. Regular artist Max Sarin does a page before Erich Owen takes over. When Owen’s mimicking Sarin, he’s almost indistinguishable. When Owen’s doing his own thing, he’s better. The figures have a lot more fluidity and the faces personality. But once he starts getting going, he reins it back in to match the Sarin style.

The comic’s got lots of good moments, lots of good dialogue. It’s just stuck in neutral.

Evil (2019) s03e06 – The Demon of Algorithms

It seems like it’s been a while since “Evil” has done a “modern technology will ruin our lives” fear-mongering episode. Or maybe it’s just Algorithms fully integrates “Evil”’s streaming status (f-bombs galore) with the format, making it feel like the epitome of the sub-genre. This episode’s about TikTok and how it ruins everyone’s life. The episode accidentally raises the real concern TikTok’s format could have terrible consequences for someone suffering Munchausen by proxy but someone psychiatrist Katja Herbers doesn’t realize it.

The episode starts with Herbers, Mike Colter, and Aasif Mandvi investigating a possession. The episode’s got two cases; teenager Malina Weissman’s live-streamed possession and single mom Lena Hall’s live-streamed house haunting. In between, Mandvi posts debunking videos, which bring him more hate than hearts, and Herbers and Colter also become addicted to the videos. Herbers watches drunk mom tips while Colter watches horny or marginalized priest confessions. The trio is constantly getting notifications to watch new videos, which raises some real questions about whether the “Evil” writers’ room knows how to silence notifications or if they just assume their viewers are too stupid to silence notifications. Neither option’s great.

Especially since we’re supposed to believe Mandvi’s a genius.

There are also some other yuck connotations once Colter gives up the TikTok for letting a demon suck on his soul. “Evil” always plays like the Catholic Church pays half the budget, but this episode also feels like the FCC is writing plot points. However, the TikTok stand-in is American (and intentionally ruining people’s lives), not Chinese. It’s also unrelated to Christine Lahti’s subplot about working for a literal demon at a tech start-up. It feels like the things should be more connected.

Other than the Gen-Xers discovering TikTok, the main subplot is Herbers’s daughters outing Michael Emerson as a sixty-year-old man pretending to be a teenage boy on their Animal Crossing internet game. It ought to be a lot more fun, though it’s nice to see Emerson getting even limited comeuppance. Then the finale has a big, concerning reveal for another subplot.

Decent direction from Peter Sollett keeps things moving, even though Hall’s bad as the haunted house mom and the script (credited to Patricia Ione Lloyd) condescends to the audience. It’s a strangely hacky episode. While it’s got the best use of cursing on the former network show, it feels most like a network burner episode. “Evil” can’t catch a break.