Ep 10 : Firestorm

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Graham Kennedy
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Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Graham Kennedy »

My thoughts on episode 10

Curious episode this, and the first one where I'm not sure how to feel about it.

On the upside... nice to again see an episode that focuses on somebody other that Mercer. I don't mean to imply that most have... rather, I mean that they have avoided this so far, and it's nice to see that continuing.

No explanation of what a "plasma storm" is supposed to be. Nothing like it could really exist, but what with this and the Dark Matter field, Orville just seems to take the view that weird crap like this is just up there in space, yet to be discovered. No it isn't, but I can accept that as part of the show much as I can accept Ion Storms in Trek.

A beam fell on somebody and they call Alara? What do they do on ships that don't have an Alara? Surely there are procedures... jacks, inflatable lifts? How about a mini tractor beam, we know they have those.

So she freaks out at the fire and then fails to rescue the guy. Would it have made a difference if she'd been five seconds faster? Time will tell.

Nice to see a redshirt (orange shirt, whatever) get a memorial service for a change. And nice to see Mercer speak and then turn it over to the guy's his boss, Newton. I like Newton, and would like to learn more about him. Could he wind up as the Chief O'Brien of the Orville?

Alara can punch a punchbag to pieces in a simulation? Wouldn't her simulations have stuff in them that was robust enough to stand up to her?

So the Doctor says he would have died anyway. She couldn't have saved him. But that isn't really the point; the point is that she couldn't try because she was paralysed with fear. We know Alara worries about whether she can cope with things on the Orville, they've already used that as the theme of one episode. But I don't see this as a repetition because in that case she was left with command of the whole ship, a job she's not really expected to be ready for yet. Here, the concern is whether she can do her own job. And especially because there is a tendency for everyone to think of her as "the muscle", and now she finds that she can't even be counted on for that.

Bortas in a powdered wig! Oh my god. Clearly it's going to be a running joke of the series to stick this guy with weird and unexpected sides - "I sing" - and so far I am loving that joke. Especially because it generally really doesn't make him seem foolish or ridiculous... just like a super serious guy who has a bit of a hidden streak for trying the weird and unexpected.

I felt a bit weird about Mercer and Malloy talking about writing the letter. I won't say it's offensive, but the Orville walks a line between serious and comic, and I would have thought this scene should be more the former than the latter. It was a nice touch to see a redshirt get a funeral because it brings home that those little guys you see in the background are people too, and their deaths should matter - to their shipmates, if not to the audience. Then they turn around and do a lighter scene about writing to his family. Bit weird.

Alara tries to quit. Wow, the girl does take this stuff to heart. I thought Mercer handled her well here. Quiet, calm, stopped her from resigning and then above all, gave her practical, sensible advice about the situation - if you were paralysed by fear, then look into why you were. Find the problem and work to fix it. Mercer is a good leadership role model in this scene.

And Robert Picardo! Yay! It makes me oddly happy to see Star Trek people on this show.

I have to laugh as his description of Humans as "The hillbillies of the galaxy." Trek tends to hold Humans up as being a race greatly admired by other species... we may not be as strong or smart but we always have to have that scene where the alien comments on our endless curiosity, our drive, our willingness to take risks... something that they admire, respect or fear. To find that some Union members just look down on us amuses me.

And wow, what terrible parents Alara has. They talk to her like she's a dimwit. So I like this... thus far her insecurity has generally stemmed from her youth, but now we start to see that it goes deeper than that. Has she grown up being told that she's incapable? It seems like it. And now her running away to join the Union fleet makes sense too, I'd want a few lightyears between me and that as well.

And Xelayans look down on military service in general, interesting. Hey, I just noticed that Xelaya is pronounced Seleya... Mount Seleya, on Vulcan? A deliberate nod, I wonder?

"Why might I be scared of fire?" "Well there was that time you almost burned to death as a child..." LOL. Well that turned out to be easy! Reminds me of that joke, "To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad." Um, yeah...

Lol, and here's a clown! Okay, at this point who thought they had picked up something weird from the Plasma Field? Who thought Alara was imagining it all? Who thought some space mind monster was attacking the crew?

And again, Mercer is the common sense guy in the room. Report of somebody hallucinating a creepy clown? Check the camera footage and see if it was real! As an aside, those must be some really small cameras. There's no sign of a camera in any corridor or set I've seen, yet they are apparently all over the place. Guess they are tiny little pin sized cameras OF THE FUTURE!!!!

I was shocked, the clown actually was there! I would have bet money that he wouldn't be.

"Weapons on stun. I want the clown alive." Lol.

"I think it's only prudent to warn everyone to watch out for pies." Bigger lol.

"Pies, seltzer bottles, balloon animals... be alert." Biggest lol.

Oh, cool, Union pistols can disintegrate people! We haven't seen that before!

And Grason does the exact same thing Picard did in Naked Now. Okay, something very weird is going on, what is happening cannot be real.

Oh wow, the medical scene was intense! Penny Johnson Jerald does scary bad lady extremely well!

Big-ass freaky spider!!! Very well done one, too. The CGI on this show is pretty damn good. And Malloy got eaten! Okay, this confirms it - what is happening is not real. Don't kill a main character like this, the audience KNOWS it will not stick, so you don't ramp up the tension, you lessen it.

Evil Isaac, also extremely good. He does red eyes very well!

Aha! It's a simulation!

Okay, I am a bit weirded out here. On the one hand, it's tempting to think of this ending as "it was all a dream", and thus meaningless. But on the other hand... it works as an exploration of Alara, and tells us fun facts about many of the other crewmembers. Plus it's ingenious - all the possibilities I listed above, 'not real' was a definite option but I never came close to guessing it was a deliberate simulation she'd put herself in with the consent of the crew.

But it makes sense! We learn that she came to Mercer and requested this right after talking to her parents. Remember, right before she talked to them Mercer's advice was to find out what her fear was and do something about it. So here she is, doing exactly that. It's actually quite clever, and thinking that makes me less ambiguous and more positive towards it.

LOL, there's a regulation forbidding bare feet in the engineering section.

And one allowing the security chief to override everyone's clearances with the computer, including the Captain! Interesting. It's for instances where a Captain goes mad, gets drunk, etc. But... what happens when a security chief goes mad or gets drunk?!

And yowsa, the Orville exploding is beautiful. More good CGI! And I like that the entire ship didn't just explode into a fireball. Sections hit by plasma thingies explode into fragments, but the bulk of the ship is left adrift. Makes sense, looks great.

Mercer gives her a free pass on abusing her computer thing. The Union in general seems to have a go-easy approach to regulations and orders. We've now seen several occasions in which violating rules and orders is overlooked if things turned out well. Mercer commented that it's because he and Kelly play office politics very well, which is an interesting spin on it. We do know right from the pilot episode that Kelly has good friends in high places, after all.

Overall, I liked it. Having thought through it in the process of writing this, I'm ready to call it - another strong episode.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Coalition »

Agreed, very good, and they didn't pull Hoshi to help her get out of trouble. (Referring to Enterprise Shockwave episode where Hoshi had to quickly get away from trouble, when she was caught on an overhead hatch)

I'll bet the video of her in that simulation has been copied to the crew's entertainment channel, so they can watch as she kicks butt through everything.

The only thing Isaac would recommend for her improvement was that she didn't double-tap him when he was on the ground, to ensure he stayed down. If she wanted to keep him intact, she could have damaged an arm or leg to reduce his combat ability or mobility in case he was under the control of something/someone else.


For the overriding the Captain code, I could see them using a breakable piece of plastic (or other future material) that has the code folded in paper in it (similar to nuclear codes in movies). The Security Chief might know where it is, but has to get past a combination lock in order to get to the plastic (avoiding madness induced quick-grabs). Breaking the plastic allows her access to the code, but the broken plastic is irreversible proof that she had access to the code (and thus, a court-martial is convened). Of course in the episode, Captain Mercer now has to get another one, but they play politics very well. There could be one code on the outside to be entered into the computer once it is received, and the second code inside is the Code 38 sequence.

This would be a fun logic experiment. How to design the security setup to avoid the Security chief being mind-controlled by someone else so they don't use their code to take over, while still allowing the security chief the ability to take over in case something happens to the Captain.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Monroe »

I did like a lot of the episode but there were parts that I just wasn't too sure on. The main thing was the security officer overriding the captain. I feel like it would take her, Bortas and Kelly or some combination of the three to do so. Maybe with the doctor's input. One person can't override another that easily.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Talondor »

I liked the episode. One of the better ones over the past few weeks. Especially loved the "watch out for pies" sequence. One of the funniest on the show so far.

It struck me that Alara's people are this show's version of Vulcans. A culture that emphasizes science and the arts, super strong, with a certain attitude that the military is unworthy. Except that they seemed to have a sense of humor, and a personality in general. Although I recognized the father as the doctor from Voyager, the mother seemed familiar as well.

As for the condolence letter scene, I can see a conversation like that happening. But I think it went too far into Family Guy territory.

Also, did I hear correctly that there were only two episodes left in the season?
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Talondor wrote:It struck me that Alara's people are this show's version of Vulcans. A culture that emphasizes science and the arts, super strong, with a certain attitude that the military is unworthy. Except that they seemed to have a sense of humor, and a personality in general.
The Moclans seem more emotionally undemonstrative, which is kinda Vulcan.
Although I recognized the father as the doctor from Voyager, the mother seemed familiar as well.
It's Molly Hagan. She's been in a ton of stuff. She was the first Vorta we ever saw in Deep Space Nine, the one who could shoot glowy things out of her head. She was also in Alf back in the day as Denise.
As for the condolence letter scene, I can see a conversation like that happening. But I think it went too far into Family Guy territory.

Also, did I hear correctly that there were only two episodes left in the season?
They've moved the final episode of the season into the start of next season, so yeah, only two more to go. Guess Ep 13 clashed with some Christmas stuff.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Mikey »

Despite the "all a dream" premise, I thought this was a good ep. I admit I didn't twig onto the specific nature of the reality until about :30 in. Loved Picardo's "hillbillies" comment, though in general I'd like some further explanation of why Alara's parents consider her to be intellectually deficient.

I did find the ease with which the security chief could circumvent and override the captain to be a bit odd, but I guess they needed it for the plot. *sigh* I'd still like to see someone disciplined for bare feet in engineering.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Mikey wrote:Despite the "all a dream" premise, I thought this was a good ep. I admit I didn't twig onto the specific nature of the reality until about :30 in. Loved Picardo's "hillbillies" comment, though in general I'd like some further explanation of why Alara's parents consider her to be intellectually deficient.
My impression was that they were just crappy parents. The scene reeked of pushy parents who want their kid to do a certain specific thing, likely the same thing they do, and can't accept that she just doesn't have the aptitude for it / doesn't want to do it. So they judge her as being 'slow' and belittle her choices - all for her own good, you understand. Typical passive aggressive crap from parents who can't accept that their kid is grown up and able to make her own choices.
I did find the ease with which the security chief could circumvent and override the captain to be a bit odd
I am fine with something like that existing, but it seems to me that it should take the collaboration of two officers - we know on Trek that Spock and McCoy could go to Kirk and demand that he explain his command decisions to him and relieve him if necessary - and McCoy could do the same on his own authority if he judged the Captain incapacitated.

I'd expect that the crew could lock the Captain out of command of the computer, but I'd expect that it would take Kelly and the Doctor, or at least Kelly and one other department head. For Alara to be able to do it on her own is a little strange. But hey, it's not Star Trek and I guess they do things their own way.

I'd be interested to see them revisit that at some point... a head of security gone bad, abusing the power, perhaps.
, but I guess they needed it for the plot. *sigh* I'd still like to see someone disciplined for bare feet in engineering.
Lol, absolutely.

Did anybody else think of Red Dwarf in that scene? That exact gag has been a running joke on that series for decades now.
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Re: Ep 10 : Firestorm

Post by Bryan Moore »

Through much of the episode I was reminded of "Phantasms" with the belief that maybe Alara was somehow going crazy. Unlike Phantasms, though, the clown and the giant spider actually provided a few moments that actually startled me. For light-hearted sci-fi, this did a great job of being a pretty scary episode, all things considered.
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