The Orville (TV Series) Primal Urges (2019) User Reviews

It's bad but not for the reasons these many "offended" reviewers claim.

[pabstcanrocketship · 6/10 · 6 January 2019]

Yikes, a lot of weirdly conservative button-up reviews of this episode. I cant believe how many people are offended by an ostensibly Male on Male relationship, albeit weirdly kinky? In a wacky scifi show? What the hell is wrong with people? These are, I worry, the same type of folk who call everyone a snowflake at the first opportunity. I lament their increased public presence these days.

That being said, this episode sucked. Not because it "pushed the liberal agenda." It was just a bad episode, regardless of any inferred political position, no matter how misguided.

I really hope episode 3 is a return to form!

This was fun! Why all the hate?

[Michael_Ransom · 8/10 · 8 January 2019]

The Orvills second episode of season two was one of the best episodes in the whole show! Why does it get all the hate? I do not understand!

Bortus comes from alien world where the people only have one gender! This was established right from the start! So why are people offended by the fact that he "watches" porn containing members of his own single gender race? I don't get it!

The only thing that is a little strange is the fact, that a computer virus infecting the simulator room, can cripple the entire starship. Why aren't these systems kept seperated from each other? This was something that was also bothering me in the Star Trek Shows.

Otherwise this episode was great!

Keep it up!

WEIRD episode.

[vonasol · 8/10 · 7 January 2019]

Very weird episode. Needless to say I do not see anything "political" here. Anyone who is surprised about this style of episode has obviously never saw Family Guy.

Plenty of people in marriages struggle with this but it was still a cool episode.

This is not an embrace of the liberal, no no. This is a DIRECT shots fired at people who see fit to give their young children hormones because they feel a certain way.

BTW I made an account just to review this.

Great Stuff

[mfalx · 6 January 2019]

Please ignore the bigots. This episode is another great addition to the Space Opera genre we know and love. The only thing offensive I see around this episode is the reviews posted here.

Primal

[justinboggan · 7/10 · 4 January 2019]

HEAVY SPOILERS

Given that all the reviews are either ridiculous ten star reviews, one star reviews, and even one talking about ads and not the episode, I am forced to write a review that more accurately reflects what it should be rated and talks about the episode and not complain about two Bortus-centric episodes in a row!

The crew of the Orville witness the increasing rapid destruction of a planet by it's sun which is sucking it in. Things, however, take a twist when they discover the planet has a subterranean structure inhabited by life forms. And so a sit-back-and-watch jaunt goes to a periless rescue mission.

Meanwhile, we find that the relationship between Bortus and his life partner is not going so well and that Bortus has been doing some extra curricular activities. The implications of which will affect the crew and ship.

While a marked improvement over the season premiere and certainly not a boring episode, it's still a weak but enjoyable nonetheless. It's got much better jokes than the prior episode, drama, and an ending that doesn't fit the mold of the last-minute happy ending of a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode (think more like the rescue in the opening of "Star Trek: Generations").

The score by John Debney works well and absolutely has it's moments, but personally I found the big cues from the weak season opener to be more engaging.

Is this a classic? No. Does it deserve ten stars? No. Does it warrant one star reviews? No, that's utterly stupid. Does it engage in the sexual event? No. Is it worth a watch? Yes.

Amazing potential, squandered.

[isabellacheng · 6/10 · 5 January 2019]

There are two main plots going on in this episode: "primal urges" and an disintegrating planet. The former has the potential to be super hilarious, while the latter could have had deep emotional impact on the audience. This show has neither.

The CGI looks amazing though.

------ Spoiler ahead ------

First and foremost, Bortus watching porn should never have been the A-story. Period. Instead, most of the airtime was about Bortus watching porn and couples counseling. Only at the very end was it revealed that the porn addiction was related to "About a Girl" (S01E03). By that time I couldn't have cared less about Bortus' psychological trauma because I was already bored to death.

The porn-watching was presented in such seriousness that it was not funny at all, when it should have been the comic relief over the serious business of rescuing a dying civilization which was unfortunately downgraded to a B-story.

And Kelly had to interrupt the captain during first contact with a dying civilization over an open channel arguing about the pronunciation of "Theece" vs "Theeze"? What the heck?

And Bortus couldn't lock the holodeck/simulator's door while having sex with the holograms in it?

And instead of showing families being torn apart over the random draw to select the survivors, heck, maybe even shove in some survivors giving up their tickets to stay behind with their loved ones so as to jerk some cheap tears off the audience, the writers elected to show Bortus and Isaac discussing the merits of random draw vs selecting survivors by merit. The death of 75-30 overly-human-looking-alien survivors have zero emotional impact on me.

I watch science fiction to explore possible futures, alternate realities, things that could only happen on a starship. Watching porn isn't one of those things.

Look a little deeper...

[jzercher-93813 · 10/10 · 7 January 2019]

People seem most offended on here by the type of addiction portrayed. All addiction is ugly and unless one has fought through it or has lost loved ones to it, they've taken offense to bringing it out into the light.

Nobody's pushing any agenda on anyone, as a Christian recovering from addiction myself, this hit home. Don't stop Seth, The Orville doesn't pull punches and one of these days, who knows, maybe this show will deal with an issue a little closer to home for one of you "one star" viewers. Something most on there shows don't seem to have the testicular fortitude to do.

Keep flying Orville.

Episode 2 of Season 2.

[ropipgi-581-487166 · 7/10 · 6 January 2019]

This is the Star Trek of this millenia and have a clear balance between thrills, excitement, humour , drama and strange aliens and places.

Episode 2 of Season 2 is the best example of this, with a little bit of everything, it brings cringe, laughter and some of the most tear jerking moments of any tv show set in space.

Well done!

Hilarious

[arthurbach-82501 · 10/10 · 24 January 2019]

Gay alien porn addict... Lmao! Come on wimps, this is hilarious.

A decent episode

[thomasnov · 7/10 · 8 January 2019]

This episode was enjoyable enough but nothing amazing, but definitely far from a 1/10. They shouldn't have ever done another episode on Gortus right after an episode with a story around him. This episode should have aired 3-4 episodes later.

Go Back To Season 1 Roots

[chefmarty-87249 · 2/10 · 5 January 2019]

Man, its not looking well. I loved season 1. Now seems season 2 is starting out bad. 2nd episode is a couples therapy episode.. Please just stick to star trek Orville and enough of this. Ill try to watch the rest of season 2 if the next one is good.

Get over being prudish, and see how well written this episode is

[gacsogergely · 9/10 · 6 January 2019]

So yes, Orville has regular alcohol drinking and sex. Not barely mentioned, off-camera sex, but actual sex. Don't be so superficial religious that your are scared away by that.

Now let's see what happens in the episode. Yes, I could use too some more characters to focus on, but at least the Bortus' relationship went somewhere. It started to be a snooze that despite everything they still quarelled constantly. Yes, B had porn addiction as manifestation of a relationship-problem. Yes, we all know what the problem was, but was that inherent to the current problem? No. It could have been anything. It's not propaganda when it does not touch what you hate by sheer religious dogma. Their relationship was the point.

Now, was the other plot a good StarTrek plot? Yes it was. Was it a bit rushed? I could use more alien-planet-visiting adventure part in the series instead of always being on the ship, but maybe that's a budget-issue. Or not, I'm not tired of the series yet, so keep it on. I like there's no constant mega threat though, just to mention. Even the lizard-people are kept under check. Oh, the visuals were absolutely beautiful by the way.

Now, did the two plot use each other? Yes, and that deserves praising the good writing. B's behaviour was like the cvilisation underground. Not knowing better B also went under the radar. Both instances it was just waiting for the situation blowing in their faces. It is called parallel, and it is good storytelling.

PS: I heared Alara is leaving. It's said, Halston is a talented actress. But as she is good, she likely got other project(s), and her character sadly got used up as far as I can see. Wishing her luck.

Percentages

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 15 June 2022]

I found that while both major plot issues were interesting, the large majority should have been given to the people on the doomed planet. We get just a few moments of their pain. This could have been built into something quite embracing. We spend so much time with Bortus and his efforts to deal with his failing relationship. It really slows down the tough issues. Also, there is some really awful byplay as those people plummet toward their sun.

Two episodes in a row focused entirely on romance/relationships?

[MoistMovies · 4/10 · 4 January 2019]

I was thoroughly impressed/surprised by season one, finding the weakest parts to be the episodes focused on relationships - romance, but often they were subplots to a over arching story that was right in the thick of what makes me like trek. Romance episodes are the lowest rated ones in trek by all fans as wel. It only takes looking at imbd ratings of trek episodes to see almost always, the ones farthest down the ranks are soapy romance types or a hated character like neelix getting front row and center.

Just look at the highest rated orville episodes from season one om IMDB.. They're all the most trekky episodes they produced. Exploring new world type episodes, with thoughtful ideas, creative themes and interesting characterization. So to start the season off with two episodes, making relationship issues the main plot entirely..? I really hope this is just a misstep.

If the orville fails to continue what it started in season one, i'll be really let down along with many others i'm sure. Since i find the new trek incarnation total trash. It was the only science fiction series besides the expanse/westworld i watch/really enjoy. And those two are far removed from what trek is.

Tackles current social and cultural themes like Star Trek back in the day

[big_brother_1984 · 5 January 2019]

It's not necessary for a Sci-Fi series to use technobabble or to fire phasers in each and every episode. And the mash of sitcom, drama, action and satire might still be confusing to some critics.

The Orville writers are very clever not to get trapped in the hype, but to keep doing what they're good at. This this gives a lot of freedom to produce original tv entertainment. The final scene combining comedy and suspense is hilliarious, nobody could do something this otherwise.

And it enables wrapping themes what couldn't be addressed in maintreasm global tv. Which is unfortunate, because the fact that our primal urges don't combine with modern technology will become increasingly problematic. Refer to "Black Mirror" for further details.

I don't want to use spoilers, but where is you-know-what illness covered elsewhere, and some might even be offended by Bortus' gender and relationship. Just like the first interracial kiss by Captain Kirk back in the day - which proves The Oriville is today's Star Trek.

Definitely different!

[fig-75275 · 6/10 · 19 January 2019]

I thought I would review this episode as I wasn't expecting The Orville to cover such adult material as sex addiction (albeit with holograms in the simulator). They touched on the idea that the holodeck might be used for sex on Deep Space Nine but this went much much further.

It's actually not a bad episode if you can get past the fairly explicit nature of some of the scenes but there are a few glaring things wrong with it:

The cgi of the star and the planet was good in places, but not so good in others. At times the image was far too static and it didn't look at all realistic.

When the shuttle landed on the planet they parked it in a way that meant the people would have to walk as far as possible to board it. That made no sense as we were told there was deadly radiation between them and the shuttle. They did it right in the Season 1 episode Pria, so why couldn't they have just done that here too. Very poor, IMO.

Some of the dialog was a bit iffy too. For example, at one point Bortus says "I assume you have radiation suits", which he obviously should have known. Some of the dialog between Kelly and Ed seemed a bit sloppy too.

I really didn't like the new alien. If they've got rid of the funny alien that was made of jelly (I can't remember his name) and replaced him with this guy, I will go off this show fast. He/it reminded me of N'Grath in Babylon 5, but worse!

Overall, the episode was alright but far from great.

Episode that doesn't afraid to tackle real problems

[mtzaremba · 10/10 · 8 January 2019]

Start Trek The Original Series had its kiss shared between white man and black woman on national TV, The Next Generation - fight for human rights, dignity, questions re existence of soul. Next series tackled tolerance for homosexuality, responsibility for every single being.

So far the Orville episode I loved the most was the one with social media ruling the society. But since I watch Primal Urges dealing with a lack of respect towards relationship and porn addiction I know Orville is a right successor of Star Trek series.

Wonder if similar people to those giving 1/10 for this episode voted to put down The Original Series after Kirk and Uhura kiss.

Probably the worst episode...

[fingazmc · 6/10 · 3 June 2022]

But that's only because all the others are stellar. They should of switched the stories round and had more about the planet and less about the addiction. Not because it was graphic or same sex etc, I couldn't care less about that, I just think the disintegrating planet was much more interesting.

Tackles contemporary issue in a funny, original and substantive way

[wolfstar_imdb · 9/10 · 4 January 2019]

I absolutely loved this episode, which given the concept could have easily turned out flippant and vulgar but is instead funny, smart, original and substantive. It marries comedy with drama better than almost any Orville episode so far while picking up a key storyline from one of season 1's strongest episodes and not taking easy choices in terms of the resolution. Bortus's inability to forgive Klyden for what was done to their child is compelling and completely understandable, and I was thrilled to hear him articulate it in the counselling session - and even more thrilled when the episode didn't neatly put the issue to bed in the last act, with Bortus believably saying that he's not sure he can ever forgive or understand but choosing to stay with Klyden out of pragmatism and thankfulness for his family. There is a lot of DS9's Sons Of Mogh and TNG's Hollow Pursuits in here yet the episode still feels so fresh and meaningful. It's also really well-directed.

Bortus's porn scenarios are hilarious, hot and relatable - they get the balance just right between being ridiculous and funny to the audience (especially in the context of Lamarr, Dan and Isaac trying to eradicate the virus while the simulation is running) yet being exactly what we imagine Bortus would be turned on by. I applaud the show for going there, and Gordon's masturbation line was hilarious, partly because there's such a realism and honesty to it - it's not a throwaway wank gag but part of the show's general acknowledgement that porn and masturbation are simply things that people do. Porn is not the joke here, neither is the same-sex relationship, and there is emotional truth to everything that happens in the episode - it's for those three reasons that Primal Urges truly succeeds. It's an excellent example of the show doing an episode that Trek could never do (and I'm not sure I'd want it to) and doing a great job of it.

I love The Orville's depiction of same-sex relationships, not just because it's an original sci-fi spin on the concept but because Bortus and Klyden feel like real people and the fact they're in a same-sex relationship isn't the point. This isn't a rights episode (like TNG's The Outcast), a doomed queer romance (like The Outcast and DS9's Rejoined and Chimera) or a superficial-only "look, they're gay" moment with little to no further substance or characterization (like Stamets/Culber on Star Trek Discovery, or the Sulu moment in Star Trek Beyond). It also has the courage to maturely tackle technologically facilitated sex addiction (a particular problem among gay men) and porn addiction (a particular problem among straight men) in a way that's relatable yet never a direct analogy. My only nitpicks are J Lee's continued weak line delivery, the fact Dr Finn conducts the couples counselling (instead of a ship's counsellor), and the rescue story - which is very well executed but disposable and doesn't really work, other than in terms of Bortus's story. Bortus's interaction with Isaac, and his little monologue in the shuttlecraft, were fantastic.

What the hell?

[smoke13 · 1/10 · 4 January 2019]

The second episode in the season is another episode focused on Bortus. The first episode was about his bodily functions and this one is about his weird sexual desires. I don't even know what to say about this strange episode besides it was not good and almost unwatchable. While season 1 was praised as a return to real Star Trek, this season is turning out to be a showcase of MacFarlane's liberal side. Moclans being a genderless species is apparently the only way they can present two males kissing on screen. I don't care one way or the other but it's getting to an obnoxious level. While season 1 dealt with legitimate Star Trekesq topics, this season seems to be only about identity politics. Sad.

Brigading.

[djmikebass · 10/10 · 6 January 2019]

The reviews for this episode have clearly been brigaded by alt-right anti-lgbt trolls. You can tell by all the references to "liberal" views. On sections of Reddit like a page called The_Donald, episodes like this get posted and then all the losers that follow that group come here and make reviews. The episode itself was a 7/10. Giving a 10 to offset the trolls.

The Orville has lost it's edge!

[Gromstaur · 3/10 · 4 January 2019]

Once again, what should be the main event of the episode plays second fiddle to relationship/parenting drama. I can't think of anything less interesting coming from a Sci-Fi show. So far, season two is firmly stuck in a ditch, serving up one pointless filler after the other. I sincerely hope things pick up soon.

Iloved it

[faust1og2 · 10/10 · 11 January 2019]

Amazed by the amount of negative reviews, I have to say this was a funny, thought provoking and both harth breaking and hillarious episode. I loved everything about it. I really hope this show continues to a season three. We need The Orville now, more than ever.

Funny, Heartfelt Episode

[scriibe · 9/10 · 13 January 2019]

A humorous episode that shows the emotional consequences of last season's episode "About A Girl" on Bortus. Scott Grimes and Mike Henry provide great comic support Seth Macfarlane haters and Discovery lovers will hate anything this show does. But people who understand Gene Roddenberry's ambitions will appreciate The Orville and this episode.

I have a "Primal Urge" to switch off

[redpin-70557 · 1/10 · 5 January 2019]

What a big failure this was. Absolutely "nothing to see here, moving along please".

You could find this sort of rubbish in any soapy or sit com from the past 60 or more years.

Think I'll go re-watch some episodes of "People of Earth". I'll get a laugh and forget about this sad effort.