Average episode rating for this season: 6.6 I appreciate the more serious tone this show has taken since the beginning, but did often wish for the stories to be less predictable and, perhaps, a bit less _overtly_ preachy. Writing a story _about the thing in human society_ (even if the story is "about" an alien race) is easier than devising a clever metaphor that merely _alludes to_ some human failing, though, and having the characters say exactly what you (the writers) mean is also much more likely to "land" with the viewers who you want to hear the message. Unfortunately doing it this way also tends to make _The Orville_ seem even more like "21st-century humans in the future", a problem it's had since day one due to the use of present-day slang and other conventions. The best sci-fi draws you into its own world, and often addresses social (or other) issues through creative reframing, rather than just straight-up pointing at aliens who do something we'd like to see less of in our own society and saying "aren't these people assholes?" Somehow, despite all of this, the show still scratches my "classic _Star Trek_" itch like nothing else. I still hope it gets another season or two, ideally with even more focus on fleshing out the show's universe. Some big stuff happened in this season that would be a shame to just leave hanging.

Not a bad season, but moving to a more serious tone suddenly after 2 seasons certainly let me down and how i enjoyed this show. The more parody/funny theme in the first 2 seasons was really good. We already have plenty of serious space shows to enjoy. We dont need Orville to become one of them. 6/10