Warning: The following review contains spoilers for The Orville’s Second Season, particularly Episode 4. Read on at your own discretion.

Last week’s episode of The Orville was very bittersweet, as Halston Sage’s Alara left the show. There’s always room for her to return of course, but the next person to fill her shoes has big shoes to fill. Regardless, I’ve been very impressed with Season 2 so far. The season has been full of strong character-focused episodes and I’m eager to see what comes next.

To recap the last episode, Alara discovered that due to being away from her home planet, her body was adjusting to Earth’s gravity and she was losing her strength. She returned home and ultimately reconnected with her family, choosing to stay on Xelaya. Now The Orville needs a new Chief Security officer but they have a stand-in, Tharl played by Patrick Warburton. With that recap out of the way, let’s get to the next episode.

Episode Spoilers Begin Here!

The episode, titled “Nothing on Earth Excepting Fishes,” begins with Tharl showing up for his night shift late and out of his uniform. Kelly suggests that he go change, but Ed is a bit more relaxed. Kelly comments that Ed has been relaxed lately and Ed simply acts as though nothing is all that different.

After a bit of back and forth, Kelly mentions that they have to make a supply run to Epsilon-5. Gordon remarks that they’ve been doing it a lot lately and that they should be exploring, not going to Epsilon-5 every so often. Before they can discuss further, their dark matter expert Janel arrives and tells Ed that the survey he requested is done.

Suspiciously, after that report, Ed decides to turn in early for bed. Kelly doesn’t say anything, but I’m sure she noticed the timing. It turns out that he is on a movie night date with Janel. They’re watching The King and I, which is where the title of the episode comes from. Things seem pretty serious between them and Janel mentions that it is getting harder for them to keep their relationship quiet.

Janel suggests that they take a trip together. Ed mentions that he hasn’t taken time off since he took command of the Orville and Janel responds that she’s a cartographer, she knows all the best vacation spots. She wants to go public with their relationship and Ed asks if they can sleep on it. The next morning, Ed tells Gordon because he had a crush on her earlier in the season.

Gordon is fine with it, encourages it even. They begin to talk about things and ultimately Ed tells Gordon that he wants to tell Kelly about Janel. Gordon points out that Kelly is in a relationship and she’d find out anyway, so he agrees that Ed should tell her. So Ed goes to see Kelly, who is with Cassius. He asks if they can talk and once she agrees, he tells her he’s dating Janel.

Kelly isn’t surprised at all. She tells him that she could see how Ed looks at Janel and knows all of his various smiles well. He tells her about the trip he’s considering taking and she encourages it, telling him that she’ll handle the supply run to Epsilon-5. Just like that, Janel and Ed take a shuttle out, and I can’t help but feel like things are about to go horribly awry. Maybe it’s flashbacks to Claire’s attempt at vacation last season.

Ed and Janel talk on the shuttle. She asks about the music Ed plays (which is currently Billy Joel) and tells him that she’s into anything they do together. As they’re talking, a group of Krill ships starts to approach. They begin to take evasive maneuvers, but the Krill keep advancing. They pass the shuttle, which makes Ed and Janel think they’ve missed them.

However, the ships turn around and start venting plasma so that they can uncover the cloaked shuttle. The shuttle gets pulled in by a much larger Krill vessel, and ultimately Ed and Janel are captured. Back on the Orville, Kelly tells Bortus that a new Chief Security Officer has been assigned and will be there next week.

They begin to talk about Tharl, who is driving them all crazy. While they’re talking, Gordon arrives and formally requests to Kelly to be allowed to take the Ship Master Qualification Program test. He wants to take the test to be able to assume command of a ship. He explains that he loves flying, but that’s all he’s ever done. He wants to see if he can achieve more and do more.

Kelly mentions the amount of work and evaluations involved, but Gordon still wants to take it. So, she tells him that first, he’ll need a medical and psychiatric evaluation. Gordon is excited, but once he leaves Kelly’s office, Bortus remarks that Gordon will likely fail.

Behind proverbial enemy lines, Ed is in a Krill holding cell. He is welcomed by Krill soldiers, who tell him that they want his command codes. He asks where Janel is and they refuse to tell him. Ed tells them that his codes wouldn’t do them any good because he isn’t a fleet admiral and doesn’t have the clearance for the information they want.

At first, it seems they will relent before they show Ed live video of Janel being tortured. They ask for the codes again and he offers to tell them what they want as long as they don’t hurt Janel. The leader tells Ed that if the codes he gave are incorrect, Janel will die.

On the Orville, Gordon is in Claire’s office for his psych evaluation. It begins with a series of Rorschach tests, all of which Gordon seems to interpret in a gross way. Meanwhile, Ed is greeted by Teleya, the Krill woman from season 1 while he waits in his holding cell. Teleya reveals that she was Janel the entire time and that this was all an elaborate plot to get revenge on Ed, and get Union command codes.

She explains that she underwent Trans-cellular micro-grafting to make herself look and feel human. It was a painful process, but it was the only way to fool Union bio-scanners. The entire Janel Tyler identity was designed from the ground up to be the ideal Union officer.

Teleya reveals that after she escaped the Union, she chose to become a soldier rather than return to her work as a teacher. When she was assigned to this Krill vessel, she overheard a plan to capture a Union captain. She volunteered for the mission and choosing to capture Ed was her idea all along. Before they can say much more, the Krill vessel falls under attack by another series of ships.

The ship starts taking damage and in the chaos Ed manages to take out one of the Krill officers, taking his gun. He holds Teleya at gunpoint and asks where the shuttle bay is. As the ship starts to collapse around them, she agrees to take him there.

Another alien race boards the ship, while Teleya and Ed discover their way forward is blocked. She takes him another way through the ship. Caught between the Krill and their new assailants, Teleya tells Ed they must find an escape pod. They make their way to a pod and Teleya tells Ed that the pod is programmed to find the closest inhabitable world, which isn’t far from their location.

The pod crash lands on the planet and when Ed comes to, Teleya has him at gunpoint. Teleya tells him that the magnetic ore in the general area prevented her from sending a distress signal, thus they must go to higher ground. She instructs him to carry their supplies and when Ed asks who their assailants were, she explains they were the Chak’tal, a race that resides on the border of Krill space.

Ed asks why they attacked the Krill and Teleya tells him that the Krill destroyed one of their settlements during the Krill expansion into that sector of space. Despite the Krill believing that the colony was theirs by divine right, the Chak’tal didn’t see it that way. Teleya says they are savage and do not leave survivors when they attack.

They begin to make their way through the brush of this uncharted planet. Meanwhile, we see Gordon’s simulation exercises for the Command test. He ultimately fails the simulation, but Kelly tells him that he has come up with some good ideas. She suggests that he try again in the morning, though he wants to go again right away.

Kelly responds that the Command test doesn’t happen overnight and part of being a good leader is knowing when you’ve reached your limits. She tells him to get some rest before she leaves the simulation room. On the planet, Ed mentions that it is a good thing that the escape pod brought them to the night side of the planet.

Teleya tells him that all Krill pods are designed to do that by default. Ed asks her why she hasn’t killed him yet and she explains that he will bring the beacon to higher ground for her, and then she’ll kill him. Ed asks her if she liked any of the movies they watched together and she tells him that she enjoyed Raiders of the Lost Ark, identifying with the villain, finding him sympathetic.

In return, she asks if the codes he gave the Krill were real. He tells her that they were decoys and that they would have given them mountains of false data that would have taken weeks for them to figure out was fake. He had been hoping they would be rescued by then. Ed then asks if she felt anything for him and she tells him that he was a mission, nothing more.

Ed tries to find something about their interaction that was genuine. Ultimately, Teleya tells him that the failure of his marriage has made him too attentive. He overcompensates in every interaction and yet his work is always the top priority. She tells him that he has no balance, which is true. They narrowly avoid two Chak’tal soldiers, only to discover that sunrise is coming soon.

While Teleya tells Ed to climb to high ground faster, he tells her that there is no way they’d make it in time. They have to find shelter, otherwise when the sun rises she will die. She suggests that there may be caves they can use for shelter.

Kelly sees Gordon talking to one of the crew members about his Command test, clearly using it to supplement his flirting. She asks him again why he is taking the Command test and after he gives her the same reasoning as before, she is a bit blunter. She asks him if he is using this to pick up chicks. Ultimately, Gordon confesses that he has felt bored with himself. He wonders if this is all he’s good for, driving ships from one place to another.

He tells Kelly that if he’s bored with himself, how can he be interesting to other people? Kelly responds that he’s worth more than that. She also tells Gordon to make sure that he is taking the test for the right reasons because when he is in command, it won’t just be about him anymore.

Ed and Teleya take shelter in a cave, and Ed tells her that eventually the Krill and the Union will have to find common ground. Otherwise, they will destroy one side or the other. She tells him that by Krill belief, all other races lead a godless existence. There will be no common ground as far as she and the Krill are concerned.

Teleya explains that to the Krill, Avis created the world for the Krill to rule over. Only Krill have souls and therefore all other beings are lesser to them. Ed tells her that he knows fear when he sees it and this xenophobia is a fear that their superiority is just a myth. Teleya tells him that he shouldn’t lecture about myths because he fell in love with a woman who didn’t exist.

Ed has a counter-argument. He believes that there is more of Janel Tyler in Teleya than she realizes or is willing to admit. Teleya doesn’t respond to that and yet it seems as though she isn’t quite sure what to make of it. She doesn’t deny it either, which is an interesting (possibly telling) prospect.

Teleya awakens to discover Ed is outside in the sun. He tells her that he’s done the math and a day on this planet is 23 Earth days long, so he’s going to have to carry the beacon alone. Despite her resistance, he points out that they don’t have the rations for 3 days, much less 23. She asks why she should trust him when he has every reason to let her die.

He tells her the truth. She can either shoot him or trust him, but he intends to come back for her. Ed begins to climb his way to higher ground and sets up the beacon to hail the Orville. The Orville catches the signal and immediately sets a course to the planet.

Ed goes to make his way back down the mountain, only to find that Chak’tal soldiers are making their way up. Ed goes back to Teleya and gives her his jacket to shroud her so that they can get away and make their way to the beacon without the sun hurting her. When the Orville arrives at the planet, they see the destroyed Krill vessel.

Kelly sends Bortus and Gordon to go find Ed and when Teleya realizes Ed called for Union support, she turns her gun on him again. She tells Ed she refuses to be a prisoner again but before they can resolve that, the Chak’tal attack. Ed asks her to give him her gun and after some hesitation she does. Ed defends her while the shuttle arrives to give them support.

Back on the Orville, Kelly gives Ed a series of protests about his plan for Teleya. She tells him that it isn’t his place and that the Admiralty could have him court marshaled. His plan is to let Teleya go. He wants her to contact her people to send a ship to pick her up, in the hopes that it will one day lead to diplomacy between their people.

Gordon asks Kelly what Ed is thinking, when the Admiralty could have his head. He asks why Ed would risk this for someone who wanted him dead. Kelly explains that this is command and that the Admiralty might see value in his decision. She then asks Gordon if he is still interested in command, knowing all of this.

The shuttle arrives to pick up Teleya and before she leaves, she tells Ed that if he believes this will improve relations between their people, then he is deluding himself. He responds that it is a fatal flaw of his people, never giving up hope. He asks her to deliver a message to her people: They can continue fighting or they can talk and perhaps come to some sort of peace. Before she leaves, Ed gives her a chip with Billy Joel’s music on it and offers her an invitation. If she ever wants to do movie night again, she knows where to find him.

Just like that, Teleya and the Krill leave. Ed returns to the Bridge and another episode of The Orville comes to a close. I have to admit, I really liked Teleya in the last episode she was in. I also feel like she is a very interesting character that I hope we see more of in the future. It would be interesting to see her one day join the Orville crew, if the relations between the Krill and the Union ever improved.

I think this episode was a lighter one in some respects, focusing again on the Krill and, more specifically, Ed’s interaction with Teleya. We got a little more understanding as to how the Krill think and we got to see some character development for Teleya. I would have liked to see Janel Tyler appear more through the first few episodes so that this reveal was more impactful. However, I still feel bad for Ed. He opened his heart again and now he’s back at square one.

This was a solid episode and next week we get to find out who the new Chief Security Officer is. They have big shoes to fill, since Alara was a part of the family so to speak. The Orville still doesn’t disappoint and I am very happy with the direction things are going.

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The Orville

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• More Development for Teleya
• Bits of Krill Ideology
• High-Stakes Episode
• Actual Gordon Subplot
• New Alien Race Revealed

Cons

• Janel Tyler Should Have Been More Present