'The Orville' Recap: 'Old Wounds'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

I've started to notice that every single year, Comic Con drops a show in our laps that hasn't received a ton of hype, but certainly catches our attention and for me this year, that particular series just so happens to be; The Orville. Because I literally heard nothing about this show until its Comic Con trailer was released and being a fan of Seth MacFarlane and Star Trek, I dug right in because a show in this vein is most certainly up my alley and it didn't take me long to start pouring over every interview and promotional piece that I could find to learn more about this series.

What I found was one concurrent theme. In that Mister MacFarlane was hoping to do something that we haven't seen for some time when it comes to science fiction; to remove the grit and the dirt and dystopia that currently fuels the genre and instead provide the audience with a fun and hopeful romp through the galaxy and really, as I settled in to watch last night's series premiere, 'Old Wounds', two key questions were on my mind...was Seth going to be successful in his quest to bring back the good old days of sci-fi, and, was this show going to be any good?

Well the answer to both of those questions, is a resounding yes, for several reasons. First and foremost, MacFarlane has indeed built a world featuring a beautiful and hopeful future. Set in 2419, the Earth of tomorrow is a prosperous and magnificent place where people truly do aspire to be more in life, since Ed Mercer, the main character of the show (played brilliantly by Seth), wants nothing more than to be the Captain of a Planetary Union ship and traverse the stars and that kind of grand ambition definitely brought a smile to my face, in addition to the quality comedy. This is also quite the funny show, with perfectly timed jokes that are grounded more in the 21st Century, and that grounding in our own time is something that also helps the series stand out as well.

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Because what I truly enjoyed about this series premiere, was the humanity that it put on display. Sure in 400 years we have accomplished wonders and seen our world survive the things we fear today, but the little things about mankind that we often hope to conquer are still around. Case in point, Ed Mercer's storyline. He's a Commander who is fighting to keep his career on track thanks to his struggles with his painful divorce and by adding our modern day battles with love, heartbreak and acceptance into the future, Seth MacFarlane has created a world that actually accomplishes something that Star Trek could not. Because while Gene Roddenberry's vision was genius, he also believed we could get past the insecurities that have plagued mankind from the beginning, allowing for Seth's vision of the future to not only be relatable and realistic, but all the more magical.

After all, in this world, while these issues still persist, people are able to move beyond them and find ways to come together for the greater good and we see that come to fruition when Mercer's ex-wife, Kelly (played by Adrianne Palicki), comes aboard to serve as his Executive Officer and her decision is not designed to antagonize the man, it's to make amends for her infidelity and in-between her attempts to set things right, she and Ed are able to put their personal issues aside to save countless lives and there's something supremely uplifting about that, and about the fact that in many ways this series seems to focus on second chances since Mercer, Kelly and Gordon Malloy (played by Scott Grimes) are all receiving an opportunity to accomplish wonders after stumbling about in their everyday lives.

When all is said and done however, I have to hand it Seth MacFarlane. I honestly think he's struck gold with The Orville. It's funny, it's uplifting and it is downright refreshing. You don't really think about how many gritty stories are out there until you see something such as this and there is nothing wrong with enjoying a story that resurrects the best parts of Star Trek and the fact that I'm still smiling and chuckling over the jokes from last night's episode, means that this one has me hooked and I'll definitely be tuning in next week, and every week thereafter to enjoy this series and all the positive things that it has to offer. Until next time. 

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