The Orville Spoiler Space-"All the World is Birthday Cake"

Hello and welcome to this week's discussion of The Orville! If you missed last week's, you can find it here. And here is our disclaimer:

Full spoilers are below. Again, the primary purpose of this series of blogs is to creat a space in which we can talk about the episode, with all spoilers in mind. Just remember, there is only one rule to our discussion. Please do not discuss any footage of next week or future episodes as I haven't watched any trailers and don't want future episodes spoiled. Feel free to discuss where you want the show to go, or make predictions. Just leave any actual footage out of it.

First we are introduced to Alara 2.0. She is Lt. Talla Keyali and is played by actress Jessica Szohr. We don't know much about her yet, as this episode wasn't really centered around her. I'm sure we'll get one about her sooner than later. That will be nice. For now, she's fine. She fills the role of the security officer just fine. I don't know that she really added to or took away from this episode. Well, I did enjoy her lifting a guy up by his throat. That was fun. But that's it.

I'm slightly disappointed that we have another Xelayan. I was kind of hoping for someone from a totally new species come aboard for us to learn about. But that's okay. We still have much to learn about Xelayan culture as is. 

I have to discuss that I hated the ending of the episode. Like Bortus, "I am not amused!" Bortus was in the right! Sharing birthday parties is stupid! We only get 1 birthday a year! Why can't it be our special day? It's so dumb! I'm really displeased that he ended up having to share. The episode paints him as the bad guy in this little scenario, but he is absolutely not. Kelly is the bad guy for trying to force him to have his birthday diminished. When I was a kid, I shared birthday parties multiple times and I hated it. Bortus, I'm sorry that you had to suffer this way.

This episode was really about First Contact. Unlike in Star Trek, the Union doesn't wait until a species has attained FTL travel before initiating contact. This stems from a fear that an aggressive species like the Krill will encounter them first and that such a meeting would end very badly for the younger species. But it makes you wonder what kind of cultural contamination will be created now. And how will the relationship continue? Will the Union just leave them be from now on, or will they continue to communicate? I would like to know more!

For better or worse, this episode isn't interested in such a discussion. It's really centered around the idea of a culture that takes Zodiac signs way too seriously. They lock up all the Gilliacs in a prison camp. If you happened to be born under a certain month of the year, you are presumed to be a violent person and you're cast out of society. Meanwhile, some people born in other signs are predicted to lead great lives. 

I think Zodiac signs are really silly. But some people are really into them. In my last job I had a coworker who is a total hippie. She always asks people what their sign is when she meets them. So weird. 

So Kelly and Bortus are interned because of their birth days. The Orville is forbidden by Ted Danson to stage a rescue operation. Instead, they build a large mirror and place it in a spot in the sky that will make it look like the Gilliac constellation is healed and this makes the entire culture reconsider how they view Gilliacs. They're not gonna be happy when they learn the truth. But maybe they'll be advanced enough to realize that astrology is dumb by then. Who knows?

I don't have much else to say. The episode was good, but not great. It had fine acting. It had an interesting concept. But it didn't blow me away. And that's okay! Not every episode needs to! But what did you think? Share your thoughts with us down below!

- Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

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