I was a little surprised when tonight’s episode began. It took some real chutzpah for The Orville to return to a story line about a Moclan engineer with a culturally taboo secret that endangers the crew only five episodes after “Deflectors”. Even Ed wanly trying to draw attention to this seemingly commonplace occurrence by noting the ship is beginning to feel “like a taxi cab” wasn’t enough to deflect that unless “Sanctuary” had a real worthwhile story to tell, the episode would be an astonishingly lazy retread. How pleased I was, then, that “Sanctuary” had a real worthwhile story to tell. In fact, probably the tightest, most engaging story told on The Orville yet. This is not to diminish the excellence of the other season best, Identity, part. 2, but it’s much easier to make a memorable episode using robot death armadas. So much of this season has been spent on the cultural, sexual, and biological concerns of the Moclan race; it threatened to overtake the show. But here, that focus was aimed outward, building on those concerns in such a way as to have major ramifications for the security of the entire Union. But in doing so, the episode never lost track of the more intimate moments the conflict emerged from, resulting in a story line that juggled elements both big and small to great effect.
The episode starts off small enough. During class, Topa takes a toy he wants from another kid. When she asks for it back, he pushes her to the ground, claiming females are inferior. Marina Sirtis, first in a long line of special guest stars, isn’t having any of it and tells Bortus and Klyden. It’s revealed that Topa learned his misogyny from Klyden, who remains staunchly beholden to conservative Moclan culture. This galls Bortus, both due to his lingering guilt over allowing Topa to receive a sex change operation, and more broadly because his own world view is expanding. “Has your time on this ship not changed your perspective?!” He angrily asks of Klyden. And it’s a fair question. The main reason cities tend to be more progressive is because you’re forced to be around a lot of people who aren’t like you every day. Over time, the realization that most groups of people consist of the same admixture of assholes, regular folks, and the occasional really good ones helps significantly in chilling people out. It’s a lot easier to hold onto your prejudices when the only people around are exactly like you.
This argument coincides with the Orville transporting a Moclan couple who are hoisting around a magical glowing suitcase like it was space Pulp Fiction. Their secret cargo is revealed to be a daughter kept in stasis until the family can defect from Moclan society. They enlist Bortus’ help; aware of the trial he endured for his own child. Bortus keeps the couple’s secret, but not before bringing Topa in to see the baby in hopes that it may spark some empathy. Unfortunately, after the couple safely departs from the ship, Topa confided in Klyden about what he saw and they tell the rest of the crew. Trying to prevent another diplomatic crisis with the Moclans, Ed orders the ship to follow the couple into a massive purple nebula. Nebula are a boon to shows set in space, since they can infuse some color into an otherwise monochromatic palette, and it certainly works here as the Orville cruises through striking plumes of luminescent space dust.
Not as striking, however, as finding a whole planetary system hidden deep within. The crew takes a shuttle to the planet only to discover The Island of the Amazon Moclans!; an entire settlement of females in exile from their home. It turns out the Moclan government lies about the number of women born each generation. There are many more than officially recorded, and a few among those are able to escape to sanctuary. Leading the settlement is Heveena (Rena Owen) who we last saw all the way back at the end of “About a Girl” in season 1. The Moclan poet hopes to enlist he crew’s help and Ed suggests petitioning the Union for the planet’s independence. If they agree, the planet will be under Union protection, and the Moclans will be unable to reclaim the women who fled. This is where the episode begins to really open up as the ramifications for acting in opposition to the Moclan government have much greater consequences. He brings Heveena with him to earth so that she may directly make the case for independence in front of the Union tribunal. And boy, sci-fi show political assemblies are just the best. They’re second only to bar scenes for their ability to cram a bunch alien species into the background. But these are the fancy, well-connected aliens! It’s fun to see how the other halves live.
The conflict the Union admirals face in fully endorsing Ed’s plan are obnoxiously reasonable. The Moclan delegation threatens to leave the Union if the female expats are granted sovereignty, and Moclan military power has become increasingly important in light of the Kaylon threat. Ed claims to have argued with the admirals about the Union reliance on Moclan technology, but it’s too late to do anything about that now. Without access to Moclan arms, or even worse, as the Moclan diplomat suggests, Moclus forms an alliance with the Krill, the Union is seriously endangered.
Meanwhile, the Orville faces off with a Moclan cruiser in orbit around the refugee planet. The Moclan ship claims to be waiting only until a decision is reached by the Union, but almost immediately begins sending out shuttles to detain the women on the surface. This all culminates in a satisfying “9-to-5”-scored fight scene as Kelly and Bortus fly down to the planet to help fend off the soldiers and Talla takes command of the Orville to engage in a dog fight against the Moclan cruiser. It’s a tense and well-edited series of scenes as the focus shifts between the tribunal, the settlement and the nebula surrounding the planet. On earth, a compromise is struck, and like all worthwhile compromises, it sucks. The planet does not gain independence, and they must stop secreting away female babies from Moclus. But the Moclans must leave the settlement in peace. Neveena, optimistic, remains hopeful for the future of Moclan womankind. Their existence is no longer a secret. The galaxy knows them and hopefully, acceptance will follow. And in a final shot, as Bortus looking on as Topa plays with the girl he had earlier shoved, it has.
There still hasn’t been any official word whether or not The Orville is going to be renewed for a third season. And with only two episodes left, that’s cutting it awful close for comfort. I still think the show often falters in some very basic ways, but I always feel good about its positive, progressive tone. And when an episode like “Sanctuary” shows just how good the show can be, it really hits home what a damn shame it would be if it isn’t allowed to grow and continue even further.
Stray Observations
- I’ve decided Talla needs to lop off that side pony and go for a Cyd Charisse-style bob cut with bangs. It’s a look that’s both stylish and severe enough for the chief of security.
- I understand the show has a finite budget —and it’s not like this affected the story at all— but it was still a bit disappointing for the crew to land onto this crazy, purple nebula planet only to have it look like the park a block from Seth MacFarlane’s house.
- I love the exterior scenes of earth that show all the buildings with integrated green space. It’s a nice future to envision.
- This episode was written by co-producer Joe Menosky, and as far as I can tell it’s his first. The dialogue in this one was sharp, with a well-developed complexity. One line in particular struck me that unfortunately I was unable to transcribe completely. Ed was arguing with the Admirals about their complicity in ignoring some of the Moclans questionable beliefs and he responds with something like “Believe me; no one struggles more with walking that razor’s edge between cultural tolerance vs. moral negligence.” Anyway, it’s a great line.
- I get down on the 20th century pop culture references, but how down can I be about Dolly Parton? None down, that’s how much.
- There were really strong performances in this episode all around, especially from Peter Macon. He was able to use the Moclan tendency toward blunt honesty to convey a range of feelings. Rena Owen was fantastic as well.
- Obligatory
140 Comments
I really hope that Bortus divorces Khylden. The Human way, not the Moclan way, just to show how far Bortus has come in seeing the faults in his peoples civilization.
Also a noteworthy high point: the part of the tribunal where Ed turns the tables on the Moclan delegation in a smart and savvy lawyer-esque piece of prosecution! (Presenting the scenario in which Moclus withdraws from the Union, tries to ally with the Krill but are summarily still wiped out by the Kayon…in which case all Moclans would *still* be a one-sexed species…but female!) 😂👍 Brilliant!
It was a good line in the moment that at first glance seems based on the presumption that a post-Union Moclus continues to respect the territorial sovereignty of Union members.
It’s natural to assume that if Moclus leaves the Union there’s nothing stopping them from launching an assault on that planet, aside from the Union Fleet. Which of course means a war with the Union that further weakens everyone’s position against the Kaylon.Then again, that just speaks to Ed’s point that leaving the Union is an empty gesture, making the line a great way to call their bluff while also letting them ease into the compromise.
It is cool that you think the writers have any idea how to do world building.
What the Moclans should be worried about isn’t just the number of girls born, it’s the number of parents willing to risk smuggling them off-world. Opposition to the whole concept of surgically-enforced gender identity is clearly growing.
The Kirk was strong with that one. If only Ed had beaten the Kaylon with a logic monologue that caused them to self destruct.
That was a really, really good episode. And perhaps the first time I’ve liked Bortus (no, I’ve not watched ‘About a Girl’ – maybe someday).
Bortus is the closest the show gets to having a fleshed out character.Still he is Bargain Basement Klingon.
I’ve decided he gives really great side-eye.
That’s the term I used when I described those *looks* he gives – particularly the ones he shoots at Klyden – last night!
When you can’t turn your head because of the prosthetics, side-eye is all you have left.
Truth.
That’s ‘cause he can’t turn his head. Seriously. His makeup apparatus makes it all but impossible.
More truth.
Great observations and a very well -written article. All I can say is I watched both Discovery and Orville back-to-back. And I was equally entertained by both. Seth MacFarlane is still amazing me with this show. Peter Macon is easily the standout actor on the show. I almost didn’t recognize Marina Sirtis, but I certainly caught the distinguished voice of Tony Todd (Candyman).and recognized Kelly Wu (X-Men:X2) Plus, how can you lose any time you can get Ted Danson, F Murray Abraham, and Victor Garber on screen at the same time for a television show.
Only if you’ve got Seth MacFarlane writing the script, which thankfully he didn’t this ep.
Using “9 to 5″ was a nice juxtaposition for the fight scene, but I couldn’t help but think that ‘Deadpool 2′ did the same thing just last year.
The better payoff was her quoting it in the speech
In Deadpool the song was “LOL 4th wall break random happy sounding song juxtaposed with graphic violence”. Here the song has actual context
Killing random henchmen *is* Deadpool’s day job, though.
I was hoping she’d pull a better, deeper quote from the Dolly catalog, showing she’d listened to more of it.
Glad to see Tony Todd show up.IMO, it’s not a proper genre show until it gets its Todd cherry broken.
No to mention adding some gravitas via F. Murray Abraham.
With Tony Todd, Sirtis, and Frakes directing … Not to mention F. who is no stranger to Star Trek, the show has a very comfortable “old pros” getting the band back together vibe. You can almost hear the phone calls between all the actors and talent: “Hey, we’re shooting next week, are you in?” – “Yeah, why the hell not?”And Ted Danson: just happy to be a bit character on a goofy sci-fi show between gigs. I’m sure he’ll get a focus episode at some point. With Disney+ grabbing content from everywhere, you’d think they’d greenlight this show for another 5 seasons. For Disney this show would be positively edgy.
Don’t forget Trek and Babylon 5 alum Ron Canada. I thought it was neat to have all the admirals together. Shows the importance of this situation.
Ron Canada was also Gabriel Jones in Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. !!!
This was at least Danson’s third ep, right? I keep wondering why he does this 30 second roles on this show, but if he just loves to do it, more power to him.And it IS nice to see all the Trek people popping up in this show. I’m sure if Patrick Stewart weren’t doing the Picard show he would’ve popped up by now.Now if they can just get Nicole deBoer in there…
Good to know who I should thank for that awesome swoopy sideways-dolly-with-pan-and-extra-Dutch shot on the Orville bridge in the 9 to 5 battle.
“I know the show only has a finite budget”The Orville costs almost as much as Star Trek Discovery and it gets a million dollar an episode tax credit. The money is going somewhere, but its clearly not going into production costs.
If the show had a darker pallet it would look “As Good” as Discovery. It’s brighter look is what makes things TNG retro and comic booky… Am I the only one who got a Jack Kirby vibe when we saw Union Central?
Brightness is not what makes the Orville look cheaply made. It looks cheap because it production design is intended to be visually faithful to series it is aping, a show made in 1987.
Turn the lights on the Discovery and you get late 90s/Early Aughts.. a bit more recent but nearly twenty years… Say between Event Horizon and Nemesis.
It’s both- Too-clean production design, and over-lit.
Yes. You were. Pallet it just one of the terrible choices the design team decided upon. The sfx and design teams are filled with Face Off rejects
You must be talking about Disco Klingons.
No. While I am not a huge fan of the re-design (also don’t give a single fuck about Klingons as a whole) it is still vastly superior to almost EVERY alien designed for The Orville. How much is homage and how much is lazy as fuck?
I assume a big chunk of it goes to music licensing.
Unrelated but made me think of 30 Rock owing $50,000 for Tina Fey singing “Night Cheese” to about two seconds of “Night Moves” by Bob Seger.
If that’s the case (and I have no reason to doubt it) I wish they would spend that money elsewhere. While I appreciate McFarland’s taste in music sometimes, other times not. Personally I find pop tunes from the 21st century annoying in a show that takes place hundreds of years in the future. What, nobody wrote any music between “now” and “then”?
I’ve thought of that too. They would basically have to make up some pop music, like Buck Rogers did, with their “Andromeda” band Buck had to protect, and you know it would end up sounding either too current, or so whacked out “futuristic” that it would look like they were trying to hard to make space music.
Seriously, I think you make a good point. I don’t know what the answer would be (if I did I’d produce a show), but playing 9 to 5 in that last episode annoyed the hell out of me (and I like Dolly Parton and I don’t mind that song as a song at all).
I found it slightly facepalmy, but I was way more annoyed by the Billie Joel, who I like loads less than Dolly.
Right there with you on that.
It goes towards paying off actresses that Seth dated, put on the show, broke up with, then fired.
The production choices seem to me to be very deliberately chosen and little to do with budget constraints. First and foremost, this show is an homage to the TNG/DS9/Voyager era of Star Trek, and that planet could have easily shown up on any one of those shows looking exactly like it does here.
I keep hoping that they’ll shoot an episode at Vasquez Rocks. That would make me so happy.
This week it went into costumes and make-up.How many races were represented at the council meeting?
I figured they blew a lot of their budget on that spectacular space battle in Identity.
I did not expect this show to be as good as it is. They still take the easy way out sometimes, but it is still much better than expected.
Agree 100%
just FYI there’s a screen name doppelganger out there (https://kinja.com/dreemiliolizardo) trolling your name through the mud…if I were you I’d see if there was any way to get that stepped on…best of luck with that…
Thanks for notifying me. They ban him, he creates a new burner, they ban him, it’s the circle of life. The guy must really lead an empty life to be so persistent.ETA: Don’t engage that asshole. Just ignore or dismiss him.
that’s good advice…& the one time I didn’t follow it I did truncate the thread somewhat just to get him to give it up…but if you have any use for an example of their behaviour that might contribute to another ban…https://splinternews.com/1834005276the last two pairs of each of our comments are “dismissed” but I think that gives the whole thread including those…
I just send them a link to his current profile, so I really appreciate you supplying it to me. That has plenty of evidence to get him banned. One trick he really likes is to cut and paste the same comment reply to 12 different people, juts hoping one will engage him and get him out of the greys.
in my defence he was already out of the greys before I said a word…& as a member of the grey wastes myself I sometimes engage the odd troll since I can’t pull them out even if I do…glad to be of service, in any case…
This was one of the worst episodes of an already garbage second season. Predictable internally inconsistent and tone deaf. I’ve taken shits more cohesive
One nice subtle touch is that Mercer actually didn’t recognize 9 to 5 and had to look up who the singer was, just like today we don’t automatically recognize every great artist from the 1700s.
Except all the times 1D characters on the show bring up 20th century pop culture. EVERY DAMN EPISODE
I rewatched the “9 to 5” battle. That’s how good it was.
One thing that I loved about this episode and that the Star Trek shows all failed to do, was showing the Union’s civilian government actually being the ones in charge. The Federation Council would occasionally get name-dropped, but outside the movies, the only time we saw the civilian government in any of the Star Trek shows was when a clique in Starfleet tried to launch a coup. And then it was only the President we saw.
This episode was pretty great I must confess but I’m still getting bored of the Moclans, can’t we get some other species into the mix next season please.
Also Klyden is done, can we get rid of him?
Indeed! Bortus should have dumped Klyden over the Topa matter, or on account of the stabbing, or after Klyden’s reaction to the Moclan who was attracted to females. I hope he is finally getting close to that sensible move.
They have a very “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” relationship. “Klyden. These emotional and obstinate head games you play with me… They get me so-o hot.”
Klyden needs to die on his way back to his home planet.
Yes.I can’t think of a series regular on any show I’ve hated as much as Klyden.
What about Frat Boy Black and Frat Boy Ginger? Seth MacFarlane in every way but name? Dollar Store Data?Come on they are all terrible.
Yes.I can’t think of a series regular on any show I’ve hated as much as Klyden.
Cam on Modern Family.
Agree! Klyden is a bee-otch!
Such a waste of Chad Coleman’s talent. From Cutty, Tyreese and Fred Johnson…to one-dimensional bigoted spouse with no apparent skills other than “embodying all the worst parts of Moclan society.”
It’s again, solely due to this episode’s fantastic writing that I’m willing to give Klyden’s character and he and Bortus’ dynamic one last chance. Bortus’ mess hall dialog was a real come to Jesus moment and I’m hoping the two can function together as something other than a source of conflict going forward. If not, and the show can’t stop using them solely to create narrative friction, I’ll gladly be rid of him.
I feel like it’s probably not a good sign that none of these episodes have really checked in with Khylden at the end. Like at the end of this one the last we saw of him was being called out by Bortus.So yeah, somethings gotta give, either Khylden comes around or he doesn’t and Bortus ends things. There’s no middle ground.
Lousy character, I agree…Also, give Cutty something better to do than be a complete asshole week after week at sixth banana. This is the best he could get? Really? Shit.
This episode didn’t make the previous Moclan-centric episodes any better (especially that porn addiction one), but at least it provided enough back-story to give “Sanctuary” additional emotional heft and character development. I actually think the Moclans are closer to the Bajorans than they are to the Klingons. Like the Bajorans, most of their DS9 episodes centering on cultural traditions and internal politics can bore one to tears…but, all that storytelling pays off when a classic episode hits.
Yeah, Klyden needs to be cancelled. #CancelKlyden
TOtally agree, Klyden cannot grow as a character and Bortus needs to divorce him. With predjudice.
That DOES sound like a great episode, unfortunately we’ve quit watching the Orville. Every episode this season has centered on love. Not just relationships, but a child’s mentality towards relationships, presented as normal and it grew intolerable.I also must add that the mochlans were a metaphor for homosexuality and turning them into Nazis doesn’t sit well with me. First we we’re treated with a homosexual race, which you can’t disregard as unnatural, but oh.I turns out they’re lying, subjugating females, and the most dysfunctional species in the galaxy.Go Seth!This isn’t enough to get me watching again but if I hear more episodes aren’t just Melrose Space™Id love to give them another chance if they’d stop catering to preteen girls and broken, needy, emasculated men.
I’ve got no complaints about Dolly Parton either, and “9 to 5″ is an indelible classic, but I guess my minor quibble is that it’s primarily an anti-rat race song, not a song about female empowerment specifically. There were probably more directly relevant choices, is all I’m saying.
My thoughts exactly.
You mean, more obvious songs that a less clever writer would have picked.
On the one hand I’m about to give up and just accept that 20th Century pop songs are this show’s “thing” – and best not fight it anymore. On the other, why can’t somebody dig into the back song catalog and come up with some Ramones or KMFDM? Or Mars Volta? Have an episode that spoofs pop-song needle drops by substituting in Krill-dirge music?
I think the way they’ve handled it on the show has been clever. It’s almost always tied to Captain Mercer who has made it clear he has a thing for that era of Earth. In this case, the woman poet was granted the chance to search through woman artists of Earth and happened to stumble on this one. I like it more when it’s treated as a character quirk (Mercer) or historical research type of thing like in this episode. Much better than if they just had the song start playing during the fight or had every character playing 20th century media in different scenes.
But considering the movie that the song was written for, Helvina’s interpretation isn’t that far off the mark.
I think the use of a song by a woman that wasn’t necessarily about female empowerment was intentional. For one thing, it was cute to see Moclan Maya Angelou find in a song personal meaning that, perhaps, the artist didn’t intend to put in there. Who among us can’t relate? More than that, though, the meaning Heveena found in the song also served to highlight just how oppressive Moclan society is. Hearing any song where a woman spoke like an equal member of society, complaining about some mostly quotidian shit, must have painted the picture of a world even the optimistic mind of Heveena would find near impossible to imagine.
Griping about the rat-race, shitty bosses, commutes. For Heveena and Moclan woman, this is the dream.
The main reason cities tend to be more progressive is because
you’re forced to be around a lot of people who aren’t like you every day. Over time,
the realization that most groups of people consist of the same admixture of assholes,
regular folks, and the occasional really good ones helps significantly in
chilling people out. It’s a lot easier to hold onto your prejudices when the
only people around are exactly like you.
I’m not sure that holds, as there’s a strong phenomenon of a group being more relevant to someone leading into prejudices being more baked into his worldview and being more of a daily priority. You can see this in how quickly and forcefully Eastern Europeans turned on their Jewish neighbors whenever allowed to (the turn of the century pogroms were practice for the WWI death squads, which were practice for the Shoah, to the point of there being a continuity of individuals in the murders) and the persistence of antisemitic conspiracy theories. I believe it was just last week (time flies) that a large number of Polish Americans marched against “Zydocomuna” (often translated “Judeo-Bolshievism,” a closer equivalent would “k*ke-communism”).A better theory would likely be the same as why cities often host subcultures known for self-destructive or antisocial habits, that people go to them when they’re unhappy with the values and norms of their place of origin. You can even see this in comparing the ways groups interacted in new cities like Odessa compared to relatively close old cities like Warsaw and Vilna.
A great episode, as usual for this series. The review did not mention good old F. Murray as the Union chairman, looking a bit Vulcan-y. But I think something was cut off in the production of the review, because it ends right at the start of a new sentence, with the word “Obligatory”.There was one small technical glitch: in the scenes of Heveena speaking at the podium, the background over her right shoulder seem to be reversed, as the Union personnel in that part ofthe audience had their insignias on the right side of their uniforms rather than on their left side.
That is not a technical glitch. That is top notch Seth MacFarlane brand production quality. THe same level of quality that permeates everything from the SFX to writing to design.
Click on the “Obligatory” link
Ah! I didn’t see that it was a link. Thanks.
I, too, was anxious when this episode began. But this episode was great in a different way than the other great episodes of The Orville that we’ve gotten this season, in that it took a low-stakes conflict and escalated it smartly and naturally based on information we already had as viewers. Topa’s actions are a quick and easy way to remind (or introduce, depending on when they started watching) Moclan culture regarding females to the audience, but it ALSO made the conflict personal to Bortus, which instantly made his character more interesting than usual.
This is one of the tightest scripts The Orville has ever seen, and there are a number of great scenes, my favorite being Bortus’ conversation with Klyden in the mess hall. That scene was great and simple, and illustrates the way many men ignore women in their daily life. It was honestly, to me, probably the most acutely achieved scene on The Orville so far.
Kelly’s reaction shots were subtly funny too.
I hated her “Don’t include me in your ‘women are inferior’ fight” position.
That was a weird line, or weird delivery, now that you remind me. It took me out of the show a little, though I wasn’t sure exactly why.
Mostly it was because she asked not to be put in the middle, but Bortus kind of made her stay at the table, in the middle of their argument.
It was a really strong episode so I’m glad they did it but they *really* need to cut down on the Moclan or Bortus and Klyden A stories if they get renewed. They’ve gone to that well way too many times and there’s definitely a feeling of fatigue/not again when I realize it’s going to be a Moclan centered episode. This one rose above it, and I’ll give them full credit for that, but it really needs a rest.
I agree completely. The episode was better than I expected, but since I definitely have “Moclan fatigue,” it is time to move on. Surely there are other interesting species in the galaxy (or even on the ship). MacFarlane has more than earned his progressive stripes, now let’s explore some strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations please.
True. I like Bortus, and I truly hope he and Klyden can resolve their differences. But please chill on the Moclans or it will become like Voyager with the Kazon or Enterprise with the Andorians. A little goes a long way.
I want some Dann backstory. There were a few of his people in the Union Hall.
All this talk about Moclan being the defensive backbone of the Union. Where were the Moclan’s in the defense of Earth during the Kaylon attack? Great episode BTW.
According to a number of references, they built most of the Union weapons systems. That’s something that few SciFi shows have addressed: in a Utopian society where striving for perfection is the goal, who wants to build the weapons? The answer here is, a particularly aggressive planet that we keep an uneasy alliance of convenience with.
What’s been bothering me about the Moclans is how their biology works. If they can mate with each other, they aren’t technically “male” in any sense that we know of mating pairs on our planet. And if that’s the case, how are there “females”? The only way any of it makes sense is that the Moclans were a hyper-misogynistic species and as soon as the MRAs and MGTOWs of their planet scienced up a way to perpetuate the species without anyone with ovaries, they genocided all the women.Something else that jumped out at me this episode is that the Moclan women discovered dresses. It would be interesting to see science fiction where alien species weren’t always so human.
There are species on Earth that became neotenic. It means that the larvae form developed ability to reproduce without turning into adult. However, we can still recognise this as larvae form. And in some special cases it’s possible to trigger the final transformation to adult.I suppose Moclan reproduction works similar way. They developed functional hermaphroditism but they are based of male sex of the species so that’s how they still perceive themselves.Of course the question is can the female Mclans reproduce all by themselves too.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned, but Moclan ships look like sperm whales.That’s gotta be on purpose. Right?
The dirty secret is that the egg layers were once female!
That’s the explanation I had in my head-canon. Although more than MRA-equivalents taking over, I pictured it as someone like Ernst Rohm taking over, and instituting state-enforced nazi/militaristic/bro/gay ethics and aesthetics. MRAs and MGTOW equivalents would prefer to keep female moclans around as slaves or underclass, a-la Handmaid’s Tale, while an equivalent of Rohm would be more inclined to genocide them.
— but it was still a bit disappointing for the crew to land onto this crazy, purple nebula planet only to have it look like the park a block from Seth MacFarlane’s house.JuThis really bothered me. It seemed lazy. With software, these days, applying a (pink/purple) color grade to the planet footage would have taken 10 seconds. It’s so common, it can be done on a smart phone. Truthfully, I’m not even sure how the planet had any sunlight, or ecosystem, at all with how thick the nebula was.
The gravity of the star and planets would clear a pocket inside the nebula I imagine, allowing for normal sunlight to reach the planet. The nights would be spectacular.
To nitpick, nebulas cannot be that dense. A nebula that dense would be producing a million suns very quickly and shortly after be depleted.
Nebulas are like a light fog: they are invisible at a short distance, and they can only be perceived as a cloud-like thing from very far away.
I agree. My understanding is you wouldn’t even know you were in one. They are only realized from extremely far distance. But… the way Orville was presenting this planet, it appeared it was smack in the middle of muck.
While true, to nitpick on “The Orville” and not also knock “Star Trek” and pretty much every TV series or movie that has ever made use of overly-dense nebulae for dramatic visuals or as plot points, is kinda petty.
“And when an episode like “Sanctuary” shows just how good the show can be, it really hits home what a damn shame it would be if it isn’t allowed to grow and continue even further.”I have been thinking this for a while now. The Orville has grown into such a good sci-fi show, as many believed it would when looking past some initial awkwardness. It would be a true shame if Fox let the show go now that it is putting out some great TV. Everyone involved with the Orville should be proud, no matter what happens-they really have brought compelling Trek-like story telling back into our living rooms. Cmon Fox: do the right thing.Oh, and I completely agree with the A grade. Fantastic episode.
“most groups of people consist of the same admixture of assholes, regular folks, and the occasional really good ones”admixture?
In an age where nearly every show is basically a soap opera with 10 minutes of plot stretched over an hour, Seth MacFarlane deserves big credit for his show’s eps being self-contained: thesis > antithesis > synthesis. Such a breath of fresh air seeing ST:TNG-type episodes that actually tell a story. That’s humongous kudos.What I saw was pure allegory. The Moclans are the Saudi Arabians: viciously medieval with their hatred of women while threatening to take their assets and go elsewhere. MacFarlane was acting as a decent Sec of State, like Kerry since the Repubs have been shits at the job, while the Union’s council was equiv to Trump’s spineless Congress—echo, echo—pure allegory.
I like how The Orville keeps going to Moclan coulture and the issue their traditions involving sex and gender present to the Union. It wasn’t just one off special episode and something that isn’t ever mentioned again. It keeps coming up both in Bortus and Klyden’s relationship and as the big ethical problem it presents. That’s helps with both character building and continuity development (tonight also included Kaylon threat).
It was also really nice to see all the actors playing different admirals through out the series together in one room.
And Haveena using Dolly Parton lyrics in her speech reminded me of that time Ed plagiarised his from a lot of fictional ones.
First of all, I leave this here cause we need the right soundtrack to read the comments: I like love this show.
I never expected to even like a Seth McFarlane show.
Please, please renew it.
What an amazing episode, and at the beginning I was “oh not another Moclan episode”. But it ended to be the best episodes of the series (so far?).
The Moclans remind me of Republicans.
I don’t like the Klyden character at all. However, I also believe the writers want it this way. He is closed minded and irritating and this helps make points work.
That’s some pretty good gets for the show. Marina Sirtis. The guy who killed Moe sZart, and…… I didn’t see the credits….was that Tony Todd in the Moclan delegation?
Hmm, this whole thing was a metaphor for America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, wasn’t it?
Sure, except we don’t rely on Saudi Arabia for very much so there’s no real reason to put up with their bullshit.
Yeah, that still confuses me.
I am a few episodes behind, and I have to admit that I skipped the episode before Identity because I, too, was getting tired of the Moclan episodes. The actors who play Bortus and Klyden do a good job making believable characters despise heavy prosthetics and the stilted vocal delivery the show demands of them, but their storylines were getting stale. After Identity reshuffled the galaxy by making the Kaylons the big bad and putting the Krill into the frenemy zone, shaking up the Moclan alliance is a great move. While the show started uneven and still has some rough patches, I have to respect them for spending so much time world building only to tear it down in the back half of season 2. At this point, I really want a Season 3 to see where it goes.
Bortus’s smile at the end was so cool. Well earned. I love The Orville and can’t get enough of it. I knew the Moclans were going to be an issue due to their sexual identity issues but this was even better than I thought in the way it’s being handled. I’ve also said it before everything gets interwoven so deftly by Seth and the writers. Nothing they do is inconsequential and it comes into play episodes later. I didn’t for a second think Bortus would turn in the couple and their child. But we knew Klyden would. What was interesting was even knowing the risks he knew how important it was to show his own son that Moclans did have girls too. I thought for sure Klyden was going to be in the shuttle bay to stop them from leaving. The twist was excellent story telling. Having the Union in its entirety face the issue was also inspired. The Orville is excellent at showing what happens instead of telling. We got to see some of the deliberations behind the scenes and in the main forum. The entire Union grappling with not only this issue of a members autonomy but also the safety of all biological life was epic when you think of the scale of what’s really at stake. They don’t screw around with how high the stakes are and how horrid it can be for everyone. The actual solution was more in line with what would most likely happen anyways. Not a simple cut and dry one which wraps things up all neat in one episode. That’s one of my gripes with other series in the past. By the end of the episode everything is tied up nice and neat and everyone is happy and perfect. Here it was a well nuanced comprise that was not really a win or loss for either side. It does though leave the door open for more evolution and storytelling. Now I hope someone at Fox is listening, I know they don’t really pay attention to demographics from kids as much as they should but the last two weeks culminated in an eye opener last night for me.My 6 year old daughter begged me to watch The Orville last night. She begged to stay up late and watch it.Why?Because it was finally coming back with a new episode and it’s what they talk about in school all the time. She didn’t want to wait until the weekend to watch it with me and have to hear about it from her friends and get spoilers. LOL She’s been watching it on Hulu with me where I can pause to explain things or jump past things a 6 yr old doesn’t need to see yet . But I didn’t realize how much she followed it real time or how much she and her friends talk about it. So much so they all were going nuts waiting for the new episodes to resume. Her excitement when in her words “the girls are kicking everyone’s butts daddy because you can’t stop girls!” Left me smiling and just as excited for her. So Fox get your crap together and greenlight a couple more, longer seasons. You have a couple generations of fans building up already.
Heck, now it’s probably Disney’s call.
They have their own Star Trek with The Orville if they decide to really give it a chance. This whole series has been a massive surprise in a very good way.
More upvotes for you! My mom is almost 70 and has never been a big sci-fi fan, but she started watching the Orville with me and gets a kick out of it. I hope the show runs forever and/or starts getting movies and spinoffs like Star Trek. I dont like any of McFarland’s other stuff and thought the show would be campy fart jokes, but it’s nothing of the sort. What an amazing show it has turned out to be.
I agree with you 100%. It’s great to hear too, my mom who actually watched Star Trek and Star Wars with me as a kid loves it too. She’s in her 70s as well. The Orville really has been a great experience. I wasn’t sure what to expect but this has been better than I imagined and it’s literally one of my top 5 shows now.
“the girls are kicking everyone’s butts daddy because you can’t stop girls!” Ah, fuck yeah. That brings a smile to my cold, stone-like heart.
good god man, this just melted my cold cold heart.
How did this show turn out this good?
I thought this episode, among its already mentioned qualities, was an interesting look at Union jurisdiction. it looks like each species has jurisdiction over its members, no matter where they live, as opposed to a geography-based model. The name “Planetary Union” would make it seem like a new settlement on a planet in “international waters” would automatically be entitled to enter the union on its own terms, regardless of the species populating it.
But if Moclus leaves the Union how will Monica Geller get her Mocolate?
The “9-5″ fight scene was absurdly joyful. When this show is good, it’s really good.
https://kolompc.com/
I don’t know if this has been discussed, but I presume that the fact that the female Moclan planet will be left alone going forward (assuming the Moclans keep their end of the agreement) means that the Moclans can reproduce from the union of two females, just as they can from the union of two males. If so, this in turn means that the all-female planet will eventually have some males, as a new generation is born — or, rather, hatched.
In my mind I thought the colony would not be getting any more members, as any new females would sureky be staying on Moclus.
Females reproducing is >probably< likely, but the show hasn't said so yet.
Can we discuss the fact that Topa is aging in dog years? Next season he should look to be in his twenties.
(Very late to the party, but only just got this episode tonight in the UK.)Just a thought about the music. In this thread, as in others on other episodes, I see comments about the way everyone in the Union only seems to like late 20th/early 21st century pop music. I’m not sure whether I think this is a deliberate choice by the production for this reason, but I actually find it appropriate on the ST TNG/DS9/VOY homage front. It always used to annoy me that in TNG/DS9/VOY it appeared to be a Starfleet regulation that all 24th century Starfleet officers were only allowed to like and listen to (barring the odd Klingon Opera gag) music that was Earth/human and either what the 20th century classes as classical or opera, or 20th century jazz, or 20th century Great American Songbook – and nothing else. The fact that in The Orville there appears to be a similar restricted taste, but it’s moved on a few decades to late 20th/early 21st century pop is very fitting on the homage-with-a-bit-of-spoof front. (And equally annoying, but I do think trying to produce music for a TV show that appears to be alien or futuristically different but also good is pretty much impossible.)
I am binging both seasons on Hulu now.There is 1 point I have a problem with in this episode. They could scan from the Orville and identify that the beings on the planet are Moclan. However, they were unable to identify them as female. This reveal had to be a surprise to everyone until the shuttle arrives on the planet. This makes no sense. Spend1 lines “I didn’t bother to check because I didn’t think there were this many female moclans,” after the reveal. Spend 1 line on the bridge they are Moclins but censors pick up something different, blame atmospheric distortion of scanners please give us something, if you want to pretend like faster then light space age technology would not be able to pick up on this.As if the audience can’t read this reveal from a million light years away in the first place. That part just frustrated me so much.As I binge these episodes I go through my own memory banks of Star Trek episodes from the various series. From the Engineer in love with a hologram, cybernetic learns to love, the friend Cybernetic creatures turning enemy and back to friend, to killing off a red shirt ensign to try to raise the stakes. The old reprise from a South Park “The Simpsons Did It.” keeps coming to mind it just keeps being replaced with Star Trek did it, when I watch this show. I am enjoying mostly what this show has to offer, and remember the take away point from South Park is that it is okay to retread when another show has been on so long of course you will have commonalities. 3 seasons Original series, 7 Seasons Next Gen, 7 Seasons Voyager, 7 seasons Deep Space 9, and 5 Seasons Enterprise. Of course they will have covered practically all the stories that can be told 2 times over. I am not excited about the time travel premise of the penultimate episode, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and see if they can make it interesting.
Holy christ what an episode. This was fantastic.And I was stopped cold for an indeterminate period of time once I realized that chamber was FUCKING DISNEY HALL. The Union banner covers the pipe organ.
My problem with this episode was with the initial premise. Mercer discovers there was a female Maclan secreted on board. He is told that she was the child of the two adults. And rather than assume that to be the case, they assume it is some kidnapping scheme? From a planet that routinely does mandatory sex change operations on all female infants? The original story by the two adults made sense. The kidnapping with no motive made no sense. And then they promptly chase the Maclan ship so they can expose the hidden female infant and conduct a DNA test to confirm the relationship? If the DNA test comes back positive they’ve exposed those adults (who are on a Maclan ship!) to imprisonment and the infant to a sex change surgery, but then again if the test was positive there would be no need to chase them down in the first place – only if the test was negative. Now if the DNA test comes back negative, what exactly are you going to do? Take the infant back to Maclan for gender reassignment surgery and (again) imprison the adults?That whole premise for the chase made no sense precisely because everyone on the ship already knew the very good reason why Maclan parents might need to flee in secret if they had a female child (assuming they were opposed to the gender reassignment).
Finished my Orville binge. Love this show