Review of 'The Orville' 2.2

Porn addiction and planetary disintegration were not really connected in the excellent second episode of the second season of The Orville—that is, not at first, at least. By the end, they come together and make for a compelling and as always funny episode in this bizarro Star Trekian series.

Bortus is the one with the porn addition—via the holodeck, or whatever it's called on The Orville. Meanwhile, there is a planet that is being pulled into its sun, putting its 75 intelligent surviving inhabitants at deadly risk. So how are these two disparate situations tied together? The new sex program Bortus has put into the Orville's system has a virus. It progressively disables the starship until it, too, is plunging into the sun, with only seconds left before it is cooked.

Of course the Orville survives—thanks to Isaac—but along the way we learn all kinds of things about Bortus's marital life—where divorce happens by one spouse killing the other—and Dr. Finn's talents as a marriage counselor. Interesting, by the way, that on the Orville, medicine and psychology are invested in one person, in contrast to Star Trek: TNG. (I can't exactly recall about TOS—did McCoy do any counseling? I guess he did.) And on the same subject, too bad there's no beaming on the Orville, that would have been a better solution to saving the doomed planet's inhabitants, rather than a shuttle that could only carry less than half of the 75.

Back to the porn: Probably the funniest thread was when the virtual Moclan in the holodeck began caressing Isaac the robot. But this whole narrative was a deft mixture of humor and the serious issue of a couple struggling to stay together. Given our somewhat presumably better understanding of these problems in 2019, in comparison to the mid-1960s, The Orville is in a good position to explore them.

I look forward to more of everything.