Actually, if last night's episode is any indication of the second season to come, they might be turning up the dial on the humor just a touch this season. The main story line revolved around taking Bortus back to his homeworld for an annual ceremony to... uh... "boldly go." Having spent all of season one establishing how clearly he loves Star Trek, Seth MacFarlane is now free to point out how just-this-side-of-silly it can be. Spock has to go back to Vulcan to mate every seven years like an interstellar salmon, and that's widely (and rightly) regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. Turn the dial just one click more, and you've got Bortus on an annual pilgrimage to pee.
And it turned out, this was actually one of The Orville's better episodes so far too. But a truly odd one to lead off a new season with. As telegraphed in the opening scene with Captain Mercer and the Guinan-esque bartender (played by Jason Alexander), this episode wasn't going to feature any galactic crisis or problem to be solved. It was pure character study. And a pretty great one actually, with every character being touched upon.
I haven't always felt invested in the past relationship between Mercer and Grayson, but turning it into a love triangle with Grayson's new boyfriend Cassius was fun. The one way in which The Orville hasn't been pure Next Generation is that its characters aren't highly-evolved, conflict-free paragons, so watching Mercer indulge an immature jealousy made for some good laughs.
Watching Dr. Finn navigate single-parenting was a surprisingly impactful plot thread too. Also interesting were the hints dropped that maybe there's a more long-term story at play here too. The rebellious streak of Finn's son Marcus seemed to have something to do with resentment over how much time she's been hanging around with Isaac. And it also seems like Finn and Isaac might be casually easing into an actual relationship. We'll see if The Orville plans to start mixing in DS9-style plot arcs with their TNG-style "problem of the week" format.
On the lighter side, we had Alara's dating woes, and LaMarr's oddball efforts to help Malloy's "game." Plus, of course, the Bortus plot construct that contained the whole thing. None of these stories offered great depth (though Bortus' ritual was surprisingly earnest, if you could step out of your head long enough to wonder how much they were actually going to show). Still, it was nice to lightly touch on all the characters again like this after several months away.
The sum total was something like a "Data's Day" episode showing a day in the life on the Orville (but without focusing so much on just one character). It was surprisingly satisfying for such low stakes, and definitely good at humanizing the characters more. I give "Ja'loja" a B+.
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