Okay, I absolutely LOVED this episode.
I really liked how it took into account so much in today's "socially driven" society. The idea of everyone, and what appeared to be everyTHING, having an "up/down" vote button is really, really interesting to me. How many times have people looked into something, seen that it has more "down" votes than "up" votes and just written it off? I get it, in some things it's a good way to go about your business...if I'm looking for hotels to book while taking a trip, I'm certainly not going to book one that has 1 positive review and 100 negative ones...however, in other things it seems that sometimes you might be better off looking into something yourself to see what you feel about it.
I think it's especially something that we here on RPF, as movie and entertainment fans, can really relate to. Movies, TV shows, games, and more all get reviewed...sometimes hundreds of times...and we often end up with things that we like, or dislike, that the "masses" typically disagree with. For instance...some of the more popular TV shows out there, I literally can't stand...and this one, that we are discussing here, is one that has fairly negative reviews yet I absolutely love it. If I were to JUST go by the "up/down" votes I probably wouldn't be watching "The Orville" at all.
I also liked how they even poked at the fact that SOME people end up being treated differently in the court of public opinion, and sometimes in the real courts, based on what they can do that entertains people. When John was asked if he had any talents, and told that people tend to like someone more if they can do something entertaining...that really kind of hits the nail on the head in our society today. If Joe Blow goes out and beats up his girlfriend, on camera, he ends up spending time behind bars. If an athlete or singer does this same thing, on camera, they issue an apology and end up going on their merry way. It really is true.
Another great point was when the girl was helping them "flood the feed" and they asked "What if someone tries to fact check these?" and she says "Don't worry, they won't." How accurate is that? Those of you with Facebook accounts, how often do you see someone sharing something that you just KNOW is incorrect, not true, or just a flat out lie?? People share things without checking to see whether what they are sharing is true or not, and other people then do the same thing. I felt that point was really well played into the scene.
I'm kind of babbling because I'm pretty tired, and I know I'm missing a few little nuances here, but this episode was just stellar in my opinion...even WITH the trope of "trying to beat the clock" that @
NormanF mentioned. Sure, that's a pretty tired mechanic in really anything, and I really expected it to just end at 9,999,999...but other than that, I felt that this episode was just about perfect.
