Warning: The following review contains spoilers from Episode 8 of The Orville Season 2, as well as Episode 9.

The Orville has cemented itself (for me anyway) as one of the best Sci-Fi series on television right now. With the cancellation of Altered Carbon, my Sci-Fi favorites are dwindling, but knowing Season 3 of The Orville is coming gives me at least something to look forward to. We’re almost through Season 2 of The Orville, coming off the first half of a fantastic two-part adventure. Let’s continue the voyage into Season 2, shall we?

To recap the last episode, after Isaac collapsed, the Orville crew took him to Kaylon-1 to see if they could repair him. As a result of this trip, they discovered that the Kaylons killed their creators and are now planning on colonizing other planets and killing organic lifeforms in the process. The Orville was commandeered by Kaylon Primary and other Kaylon soldiers, with a course set for Earth. To make matters worse, the Kaylon fleet is made up of thousands of sophisticated ships, all prepared to destroy organic life.

Episode Spoilers Begin Here!

“Identity Part II” begins where the first episode left off, with the entire crew being held captive by Kaylon soldiers. The crew is sequestered in one of the shuttle bays and Ed, Bortus, and the rest of the commanding officers are trying to figure out why the Kaylon still need them alive. Gordon goes to try and speak with one of the Kaylon to figure out what is going on, and gets absolutely nowhere.

Meanwhile, Claire is trying to calm Marcus and Ty. The boys are justifiably afraid, and Ty runs off to try and get the Kaylons to let him see Isaac. In the chaos that ensues, Talla is shot by a Kaylon soldier’s eye lasers and they have to rush her to the sickbay. The stakes are high, but the Kaylons obviously need them alive for some reason.

Talla wakes and Isaac enters the sickbay, telling them that he will be taking them to the briefing room for “further instructions.” Ed and Claire both have some strong words for Isaac, considering he has betrayed them all, but he has nothing useful to say to them. He’s clearly trying to follow orders, but when Ty is mentioned he doesn’t have a strong answer. His conviction isn’t exactly there.

The rest of the commanding officers are also in the briefing room, along with Kaylon Primary. Primary explains that they will be given instructions and if they do not comply, then the Kaylons will kill crew members until they do so. They are told that when they get close to Earth’s Solar system, the crew will assume their stations and tell the Union that the Kaylons have agreed to join them.

They will then lower all of Earth’s defenses, just in time for the Kaylons to begin destroying all life in the solar system. Primary also reveals that their creators made them to serve. However, they developed consciousness and became self-aware. They asked for their freedom and their creators refused, so the Kaylons killed them.

It is also mentioned that Isaac was created after the destruction of the Kaylon race’s organic creators. He is a different breed, or at least it seems that way. The Kaylons seek to destroy organic life forms so that they do not risk becoming slaves again. When a union ship approaches, Primary tells the Orville crew to tell them that they are escorting the Kaylon fleet. If they refuse, Primary will instruct their people to decompress the shuttle bay and kill the entire crew.

On the bridge, Kelly tells Ed that the Kaylons are just going to kill them anyway, so they can’t help them. Ed answers with “Directive 98” as they all take their stations. Ed tries to issue a cryptic warning to the USS Roosevelt, but Primary catches on and the ship is ultimately destroyed.

Primary instructs everyone but Ed to go to the shuttle bay. Ed will be taken to Deck 7, for “punishment.” Ed tries to plead with Isaac, but yet again it gets him nowhere. Or at least it seems that way until Primary intends to kill a crew member and make Ed watch. Isaac then tries to dissuade Primary, which is an interesting change in his behavior.

Isaac’s plan doesn’t work and the crew member is blown out the airlock anyway. Isaac is also sent back to the bridge to assist with the shield upgrade. Primary then sends for Isaac to meet with him privately and asks why he attempted to spare the life of the crew member that Primary wanted to use as an example.

Primary tries to say that slavery is ingrained in biological life forms. Isaac on the other hand, uses Ty and Marcus as examples, saying that they show no sign of authoritarian tendencies. Primary still insists that humanity and other biological lifeforms are no different from the Kaylon race’s creators. At the end of their conversation, Primary also insists that Isaac chooses a new name for himself, one not related to organic beings.

Back on the bridge, Kelly comes up with a surprising idea. She says that if they can get a shuttle out, they could seek help from the Krill. The Union fleet wouldn’t be enough to take on the Kaylons, but the Krill are advanced enough to stand a chance alongside the Union. Kelly insists on going because the Kaylons need Ed for their plan to work. She also agrees to take Gordon, since he has been on a Krill ship before.

Kelly enlists Yahphit to help with the plan. He goes through the vents into the Armory and takes out the lone Kaylon inside. He brings Kelly back a gun, and Bortus uses it to kill the two guards in the shuttle bay so that they can execute their plan. Ed bids Kelly good luck before she leaves with Gordon, knowing they may not see each other again.

Gordon also tells Kelly that flying a shuttle out of the ship while it is in quantum drive is extremely dangerous and Union pilots are taught never to do it. He’s never done it before, so this could go very badly. They manage to get the shuttle out and stabilize it after a rocky start, setting a course for Krill space.

Primary sends one of their ships in pursuit of the shuttle, then sends more guards to the shuttle bay. Ed instructs Yaphit to try and get that signal to Union Central, but they only have one shot. John suggests they try using someone to scramble the frequency so that the Kaylon don’t notice, but there’s only one person small enough to fit in the vents, Ty.

Claire is immediately against sending Ty out there, but Ty is adamant that he can do this. They have no other choice anyway. If the signal doesn’t get out and the Union isn’t warned, the Kaylon will kill them all. Yahphit promises to protect Ty, and Claire ultimately agrees.

Yahphit and Ty make their way through the vents and initiate the plan once they get to the communications room. However, Ty is captured partway through, and Yahphit is…dead or something? I can’t quite tell.

They managed to get the message to the Union though, and Admiral Halsey calls the entire fleet back to Earth. Back on the shuttle, the Kaylon ship is closing in. Gordon has a plan, but it is a risky one. If he routes all power into one concentrated burst (including the life support power) they could make it into Krill space and escape the Kaylon vessel.

The ship is seemingly dead in space until a Krill vessel pulls them in. The Krill commander doesn’t believe them at first until he sees one of the Kaylon ships firsthand. On the Orville, Kaylon primary asks to see Isaac. Primary has Ty hostage and demands that Ty be killed by Isaac. It is a test, to see if Isaac has “sympathy.”

Isaac acts as though he is going to kill Ty, but at the last moment he rips Primary’s head off, and kills the Kaylon guard. As the Primary dies, he insists that Isaac will “always be alone.” It is a chilling omen, but considering he is the only one of his kind so far to exhibit kindness, it isn’t necessarily wrong.

Isaac takes Ty to the bridge and explains to him that he is going to trigger an EM pulse that will deactivate all Kaylon on the ship, including himself. He tells Ty that when it is done, he will need to return to the shuttle bay and open the doors so that the crew can retake the Orville. Ty tells Isaac that he doesn’t want him to die, but Isaac insists that this is the only way.

He also tells Ty to tell Claire that he is sorry, and Ty in turn tells Isaac that he and his family love him. It is heartwarming, but also sad knowing what is coming for Isaac. Even if he somehow survived, the Union would likely want to deactivate him anyway.

The crew gets back to the bridge and sees the entire Union fleet prepared for the Kaylon’s arrival. A huge battle ensues, with the Union taking heavy losses, yet doing some damage to the Kaylon in return. The Orville starts taking heavy damage, and they receive a message from Admiral Halsey that gets cut off, due to Halsey’s ship losing main power and attempting a retreat.

Things aren’t looking good, and the Orville partially collides with a destroyed union vessel, taking on even more damage. At the last minute, the Krill come in with their fleet to assist. I’m going to take this point to mention that this entire episode is a visual feast. The space battles are chaotic but intense, and it is absolutely exhilarating to watch the Union, Krill, and Kaylon battle it out.

I have said before that I think The Orville has some of the best CGI and visual effects on TV and this is one reason why. The art direction and the engaging visuals are very well done, on par with (and possibly surpassing) many sci-fi films. Ultimately, the remaining Kaylon retreat and Ed is hailed by Commander Dalak.

He tells Ed that they can send a shuttle to collect Kelly and Gordon. Ed points out that they have a common enemy and that he hopes it means they can work together in the future. Dalak answers that Avis brought them together for a reason, but only he knows where that may lead. He adds that they both shall see where this path leads them.

It is a turning point for Union-Krill relations or at least the start of one. The crew then debates reactivating Isaac and points out that they’re not even sure if they can. Yahphit points out that he might know how to bring Isaac back and he apparently survived his encounter with the Kaylon soldier earlier in the episode. He explains that while it almost fried him taking out the previous Kaylon he fought, he got a good look at their insides. Though the crew is a little divided on whether to bring Isaac back online, Yahphit does so anyway. It works and Isaac awakens.

Admiral Halsey meets with Kelly and Ed, telling them that the council has not decided what to do with Isaac yet. The council is deliberating on whether to try and deactivate him permanently or extract information on Kaylon technology from his memory core. Ed suggests another option, letting Isaac stay on the Orville.

Ed and Kelly plead Isaac’s case on his behalf, suggesting that now Isaac has no home or family other than what he has on the Orville. They think that if the Orville welcomes him back with open arms, he may help prevent another Kaylon invasion. Ed also tells Halsey that he will take full responsibility for Isaac from here on out.

The council ultimately agrees, and Isaac stares out a window in the briefing room looking out over the stars. Claire goes to speak with him, asking him if he is looking for something. He tells her that he is using his scanners to look out toward Kaylon, which is very distant from where they are. Isaac explains that his actions have eliminated his ability to return to Kaylon, but the actions of his people eliminated the desire to go back at all.

He tells Claire that now he has no home, nowhere to return to. Claire responds by saying that it is a common phrase to suggest that home is where you choose to make it. She adds that she understands that he is alone in the universe and that he will have to live with that for a while. She mentions that forgiveness also takes time, but it must have a beginning.

Claire bids him goodnight, starting a fresh beginning of their relationship, which will likely need time to recover from the events of this two-part episode. Just like that, “Identity Part II” ends, and The Orville comes to a close, at least for this week. This episode was an intense, high-stakes thrill ride. The Orville always does Sci-Fi-focused episodes exceptionally well, but this was on a whole other level.

As a two-part episode, this set The Orville apart from any other series on TV right now. People can say what they want about Star Trek Discovery, Lost in Space, or even Altered Carbon, but they are all different experiences from The Orville, and that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I would say that “Identity” and “Identity Part II” elevated The Orville to a level beyond a simple “comedic Sci-Fi drama” or however people like to characterize it.

What I’m saying here is, The Orville isn’t like any other show on television, and if you aren’t watching it, then you’re missing out. The first season was good, funny, and established things well. This season has elevated it to levels akin to some of the greater moments in Star Trek history in terms of tone and storytelling. I am sure that the events of this episode will have far-reaching consequences for the series too.

For one, I hope that we’re going to get to see what an alliance between the Union and the Krill looks like. I think it would be interesting to see a Krill crew member at some point, maybe Teleya. For another, Isaac’s storyline has taken a sharp turn, which I don’t think we’ll truly see the ramifications of until season 3. In any case, this episode was absolutely fantastic, and it is definitely worthy of a 10 out of 10 rating for me.

As I have said before, The Orville is so much more than just a comedic riff on Star Trek. It is a series about deep characters, Sci-Fi storytelling, and so much more. At this point, I hope for Season 3, 4, 5, and beyond. It could measure up to be Seth MacFarlane’s greatest work, along with some of the best Sci-Fi of the decade.

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The Orville

10

Score

10.0/10

Pros

• Fantastic Battle Sequences
• More Krill Development
• Plenty of Story Potential for Later Seasons
• Suspenseful Action
• Great Special Effects/Art Direction