The Orville 1.05

Pria

The Orville rescues Pria Lavesque. Her ship is at the time stuck on a comet which getting dangerously close to a star. She is human and from Earth. She grew up in the same area as Captain Mercer. He likes her and gets annoyed when Commander Grayson suspects that there is something that Pria is hiding.

Commander Grayson talks Lieutenant Kitan into conducting a search of Captain Lavesque's quarters. They find an object which their scanners cannot penetrate but Pria returns before they can investigate further. They tell her that they were looking into a radiation leak and leave quickly.

Captain Mercer reprimands Grayson and Kitan for what they did. Grayson tries to plead their case but they get interrupted because the ship has encountered a dark matter storm. The crew of the Orville doesn't know how to respond but Pria does. Captain Mercer gives her permission to take the controls. She guides the ship out of the storm.

Pria suggests that the Orville head to the closest Vega Mining Consortium base for repairs. The Captain agrees but Commander Grayson still suspects that Pria is up to something. 

Lieutenant Yaphit finds something in Engineering. It looks just like the object that Alara and Kelly found in Pria's quarters. Captain Mercer, Commander Grayson, and Lieutenant Kitan confront Pria in her quarters. She levels with them and explains that she is from the future, the 29th century. The Orville was supposed to be destroyed in the dark matter storm. 

Pria explains about how she plans to take the Orville to the future and sell it to the highest bidder. She also reveals that she and the Mercer had sex. It doesn't seem like there is anything the crew of the Orville can do but the Captain has a plan. Isaac tries to help and winds up in sick bay.

Pria takes the Orville through a wormhole but the crew reasserts control before Pria can sell the ship. They return back through the wormhole. They destroy the wormhole and Pria disappears.

There is a subplot in this episode in which Gordon tries to teach Isaac about humor and practical jokes. 

Thoughts

Pria was played by Charlize Theron. I have seen her in a number of movies including The Old Guard (which I didn't finish watching), Mad Max: Fury Road, Young Adult, and In the Valley of Elah.

This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes who is best known for playing Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

I really liked this episode. Once again they wrapped things up really quickly towards the end of the episode. Will the wormhole ever get mentioned again? Will there ever be another wormhole? Who knows. It opened the the doors to a lot of possibilities but it looks like that door has been slammed shut.