Cupid's Dagger

Cupid’s Dagger
Captain Ed Mercer and Lieutenant Alara Kitan greet the ambassadors of the Navarians and Bruidians.
Season	1
Episode	9
Air date	November 9, 2017
Writer	Liz Heldens
Director	Jamie Babbit
Composer	John Debney
Production Order
Previous episode	Into the Fold
Next episode	Firestorm

I think we can all agree that the end of the bloodshed on Lopovius would be a wonderful thing, and I think that's bigger than the three of us. I'm just saying I'm here to work. What about you guys?— Darulio to Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson

Cupid's Dagger is the ninth episode of the first season of The Orville. The USS Orville is called to host peace talks between two enemy species. However, joining negotiations is the same man of Commander Kelly Grayson's affair.

The episode was written by Liz Heldens and directed by Jamie Babbit. Music was composed by John Debney. The title Cupid's Dagger is a play off the mythical arrows of Cupid, said to spark romance and lust in the target.

The episode performed well among general television audiences. Cupid's Dagger is considered divisive for its themes of sexuality, manipulation, and consent; it aired at a time when allegations surfaced of widespread sexual harassment in Hollywood.

Teaser

On November 2, 2017, Fox released a 20 second promotional teaser, ten seconds shorter than other teasers. Second Officer Bortus asks, "Where are the Captain and the Commander?" A narrator says: "An old rival returns and sends the ship into chaos." Scenes of explosions and ships fighting play.

The Orville Promo "Cupid's Dagger"

Plot Synopsis

Act 1

The episode to the crew enjoying karaoke in the Mess Hall when Captain Ed Mercer and Grayson are interrupted by a priority communication from Admiral Halsey.

In the Briefing Room, Halsey explains that two warring species of the planet Lopovius, Navarians and Bruidians, are open to a peace agreement that may conclude the years-long Navarian-Bruidian conflict. Both species lay claim as the original settlers of the planet.

A year ago, an ancient artifact containing residual DNA was discovered. The Navarians and Bruidians agree that the Planetary Union, acting as a neutral third party, can analyze the DNA to determine which species was the first colonizer. Both sides agree that the DNA would prove rightful control of Lopovius, and the Orville is to host the forensic archaeologist who will analyze the artifact.

The Orville rendezvouses with the USS Olympia, which delivers the artifact and the archaeologist via shuttle. Mercer and Grayson greet the archaeologist in the Shuttle Bay, and are stunned to see that the archaeologist is none other than Darulio, the man whom Grayson slept with.

Act 2

Darulio wants to respect the boundaries of Grayson and Mercer, and the trio agree that he may stay in the interest of peace between the Navarians and Bruidians. Darulio shakes hands with the officers.

On his way to his quarters, Darulio bumps into Lieutenant Yaphit. In the Sick Bay, Yaphit tries to woo Doctor Claire Finn with flowers and a song, but she angrily rejects him.

Grayson meets Darulio in Science Lab 1 to discuss personal boundaries, but she starts flirting with him after several minutes.

On the bridge, Isaac tells the Captain that the ambassadors of the Navarrians and Bruidians are arriving. Grayson was supposed to greet them, but scans show that she is in her quarters. Concerned, Mercer goes to her quarters to tell her that the ambassadors arrived, only to find her having sex with Darulio once again.

Act 3

Mercer is incensed, but must leave to the Shuttle Bay to meet the ambassadors himself. The ambassadors loathe each other, but are respectful to Union species and agree to peace negotiations the following day.

Later, Grayson and Kitan talk about why she originally cheated on her husband with Darulio a year ago. She admits that she feels a sexual electricity with Darulio, and speculates that she may be in love with him.

Mercer storms into the science lab to fire Darulio, but Darulio explains that he is 36 hours away from concluding his study of the artifact. Oddly, Mercer's attitude softens and he begins to forgive Darulio. By the end of the conversation, Mercer asks if they can get drinks later. The two make a date for eight o'clock.

Doctor Finn, wearing a cocktail dress, rings Yaphit's quarters and he invites her in.

Act 4

Yaphit shows Finn his quarters. The two kiss, and Yaphit asks if she wants "to go for a swim."

Lieutenant Gordon Malloy talks with Mercer about the peace talks, but Mercer appears to more interested in is his "date" with Darulio.

At the Mess Hall, Kitan and Navigator John LaMarr talk about Grayson's strange behavior until interrupted by the Navarian Ambassador, who is upset that the results of the artifact are not yet complete. Only tables away, Grayson sits down with Darulio and Mercer.

Back on the bridge, Lieutenant Commander Bortus is forced to deal with both races while the Captain and Commander compete for Darulio's attention in the Mess Hall. The bridge officers observe that their superior officers' behavior is erratic. Kitan finds Ty and Marcus Finn from their own quarters. She enters the Finns' quarters to find Claire having sex with Yaphit.

Act 5

In the lab, Mercer arranges dinner with Darulio later that afternoon. After Mercer leaves, a frustrated and suspicious Kitan talks to Darulio demanding answers. He explains that his species releases a pheremones when in heat that causes powerful sexual attraction behavior. Grayson and Mercer absorbed his pheremones when they shook hands; Claire absorbed them from Yaphit (who passively carried them after bumping into Darulio).

Mercer and Grayson meet the ambassadors who demand results from the artifact. The two sides begin threatening each other, yet Mercer is completely uninterested. The meeting concludes with each species declaring war on each other while Mercer happily leaves for his date.

Kitan takes Darulio to the Sick Bay. Analysis concludes that there is no antidote to his pheremones. The scene ends with war fleets from the Navarians and Bruidians entering Lopovian space.

Act 6

Worried, Bortus calls for Mercer and Grayson; yet Mercer is in his quarters with Darulio and Grayson cries in hers. Looking out the window at the warring fleets, Darulio is disturbed that Mercer ignores the impending bloodshed. Bortus and Isaac decide to erect a barrier between the two fleets to buy time. Darulio enters the bridge with a solution to the conflict.

Claire's obsession with Yaphit reaches delusion, and she detains Yaphit from leaving to Engineering by gunpoint. Without Yaphit, Engineering is unable to erect the barrier, and the two species begin fighting. The ambassadors of the Navarians and Bruidians enter the bridge, call their respective worlds, and announce that a ceasefire has been reached.

Mercer learns that the medical team synthesized pheremones of Darulio to plant on the ambassadors, making them fall in love with each other and attaining a temporary peace. Darulio finishes his analysis and announces that both species are the "heirs" of the artifact: the original settlers are a common ancestor of both Navarians and Bruidians.

At the Shuttle Bay and about to return to the Olympia, Grayson asks if he was in heat when she slept with him a year before. He pauses, then answers, "Maybe".

Production

The Orville's writing team developed the overall plot of Cupid's Dagger as a group, but the script was written by Liz Heldens between June and October, 2016. Seth MacFarlane then gave the script a final edit. Filming was completed sometime in 2017 under the direction of Jamie Babbit. Filming took roughly eight days while composer John Debney's score took three weeks to complete. The episode is one of the few that creator Seth MacFarlane neither wrote nor directed.

Cupid's Dagger featured an unusually high number of scenes in space with an enormous number of alien ships, so many that Tippett Studios, a private company responsible for rendering digital visual effects like Lieutenant Yaphit, could not handle workload alone. Visual effects supervisor Luke McDonald was forced to partition the job, giving part to Tippett and farming the rest out to other digital effects companies.

When asked if there was anything surprising about shooting the first season, Penny Johnson Jerald (Claire Finn) has commented on the filming of the intercourse scene between her character and Yaphit.

I'm shooting a scene with Yaphit, and of course there's no one there but me and I hear over the megaphone, 'Penny, more tongue.' I thought, Wait a minute, did he just say my more tongue because there's no other tongue here but mine. I'm hard of hearing, so I said, 'Seth, did you say more tongue?' And he said, 'Yeah, we need more tongue.' So when I saw the episode---whew, Lord have mercy---I needed a lot more tongue than I gave.

The song "Any Way You Want It" by Journey was handpicked by Adrianne Palicki for her karaoke performance as Kelly Grayson. Palicki was initially petrified of singing and refused; MacFarlane assuaged her by suggesting she pick something from Journey's discography. While performing, Palicki was drunk.

Preparing to air

Cast members were relatively silent about Cupid's Dagger, although at the 2017 New York Comic Con, Scott Grimes (Gordon Malloy) and Palicki told the audience that she would sing a karaoke version of "Any Way You Want It" in an upcoming episode.

Reception

Viewership

For more information on the episode in the context of the season, see main article: Season 1.

Cupid's Dagger was well received by TV audiences, with an 8.1 rating on IMDB. It was watched by 3.69 million viewers in the United States, near the average for its Thursday time slot.

Critical Response

Despite a warm reception from the general public, Cupid's Dagger received middling reviews from professional critics. Michael Ahr of Den of Geek gave the episode 2.5 stars, writing: "In what can only be described as a silly episode, The Orville gives closure to the captain and his XO but accomplishes little else."

Jammer of Jammer's Reviews awarded only two out of four stars. Jammer wrote that the love triangle between Darulio, Grayson, and Mercer was at times funny and enjoyable; but panned the sub-plot of Claire Finn falling for Yaphit as more "humiliation than humor."

Nick Wanserski of the AV Club noted that the episode aired at a particularly tense time in Hollywood, when many allegations of sexual harassment against high-profile film and television men were surfacing. Even still, he praised the season's character development as it made Cupid's Dagger's tension, conflict, and chemistry all the more interesting.

Trivia

• The Planetary Union ship that carries Darulio is USS Olympia (SCV-183), and is smaller than the Orville. In the episode Krill, the Orville stops alongside the USS Olympia (LCV-529), a flagship Leviathan-class heavy cruiser. Thus, the Planetary Union uses the name "USS Olympia" for two distinct vessels.
• When Ed and Kelly enter the elevator and Lieutenant Dann's music plays, the song is "The Straight Life" by Bobby Goldsboro. Just as Ed finishes boasting how he wound up with the man Kelly cheated with, Goldsboro sings, 'leaving the straight life behind.'
• During a March 20, 2018 Season 2 sneak-peak of The Orville to members of the Academy, drinks of "Cupid's Dagger" were served. The description was bourbon, splash bitters, simple syrup, orange wheel, and cherry garnish.

References

• Kelly sings Journey's "Any Way You Want It" at karaoke. Bortus almost sings "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic until the crew is interrupted by a message from Admiral Halsey.
  • The actor of Halsey, Victor Garber, acted in Titanic.
• Yaphit attempts to woo Claire by playing the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."
• Kelly listens to "It's too Late" by Carole King as she weeps in her quarters.
• Paralleling the opening of Old Wounds: Ed walks in on Kelly in bed with Darulio, who again sprays blue liquid over the two of them.

Cast

Names and titles are as they appear in the credits unless otherwise noted.

Main Cast

• Seth MacFarlane as Capt. Ed Mercer
• Adrianne Palicki as Cmdr. Kelly Grayson
• Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Claire Finn
• Scott Grimes as Lt. Gordon Malloy
• Peter Macon as Lt. Cmdr. Bortus
• Halston Sage as Lt. Alara Kitan
• J. Lee as Lt. John Lamarr (as J Lee)
• Mark Jackson as Isaac

Recurring Cast

• Chad L. Coleman as Klyden
• Victor Garber as Admiral Halsey
• Larry Joe Campbell as Steve Newton
• Norm MacDonald as Yaphit (voice only)
• Mike Henry as Dann

Special Guest Cast

• Rob Lowe as Darulio

Recurring Cast

• Gavin Lee as Henry Park
• BJ Tanner as Marcus Finn
• Kai Wener as Ty Finn

Guest Cast

• J. Paul Boehmer as Navarian Ambassador
• Derek Mears as Bruidian Ambassador
• Ralph Garman as Kanoot
• (IMDB) Stevens Gaston as Ensign Brooks
• (IMDB) Alexander Bedria as Voice from Comm (voice only)

Uncredited Cast

• (IMDB) Lonnie Henderson as Navarian
• (IMDB) Devin Mroz as Bruidian