Warning: The following review contains spoilers for episode 7 of The Orville’s third season, titled “From Unknown Graves,” as well as references to previous episodes.

The third season of The Orville has been full of emotional, hard-hitting episodes. What started off as a series being marketed as a parody of Star Trek, has now been recognized as a contemporary homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation and other series like it. We’ve got four episodes left (including this one) and “From Unknown Graves” doesn’t lose the momentum set up in previous episodes.

The episode begins with a flashback showcasing the beginnings of the fall of the civilization that created the Kaylon. We heard a bit about this last season, but this episode goes into more detail. The Kaylon were created as personal servant robots for an advanced civilization. A family seems optimistic that their new Kaylon servant will change their lives.

The next scene shifts back to the present day, where Talla and John are enjoying some personal time together, and John winds up with a sexually-induced injury due to Talla’s Xeleyan strength. Personally, I think they’re really cute together, but I did wonder how that was going to work out. Of course, John tells Claire it is a simulator-related injury, but this is his 3^rd visit to her in a week.

This visit causes Claire to be late for dinner with Isaac. Over dinner, Claire confesses to Isaac that she’s not convinced the injuries are simulator-related. We also discover that Isaac has been attempting to study flirting, so he can be more effective at it on dates with Claire. For an overly logical robot and a human doctor, those two kids are awfully cute together.

In the next scene, we circle around to one of the main plots of the episode. The Orville is set to meet with the Janisi, a Matriarchal race who is technologically eligible to join the Union. The problem is, due to their view of males, Kelly and Talla will be masquerading as Captain and First Officer, to prevent any cultural problems. The goal is to convince the Janisi to ally themselves with the Union, which needs more allies now that the Krill treaty has fallen through and relations with Moclus are shaky.

The Janisi do not trust males, and males on their own home planet are relegated to being second-class citizens. They meet the Janisi Captain and her allies, with Gordon and Mercer acting as grunts gathering the Janisi’s belongings to bring to their quarters. In their new quarters, the Janisi Captain reminds Kelly that these are just negotiations and that the Janisi will not ally themselves with anyone they deem “incompatible” with their culture.

The changes in protocol annoy Gordon, Ed, and Bortus, but it is necessary to appeal to the Janisi long enough to hopefully convince them to be allies. Then, they hope to slowly ease them into the reality of things. Strangely, the planet they are orbiting begins to show a surprising energy fluctuation. Ed, Gordon, Charly, and Bortus go to investigate the surge on the planet.

We then see another flashback to the family from earlier, and we begin to see the family’s cruelty toward K-1, their servant Kaylon. They treat K-1 like a slave and only want him to speak when spoken to. After the short interlude, Ed, Gordon, Bortus, and Charly land on the planet, and find signs of life close to the energy surge.

They meet a Kaylon named Timmis and a Cyberneticist named Dr Vilika. Vilika and her late father repaired and rewired Timmis to give him a full range of emotion. Vilika believes that giving Timmis empathy for others is an extraordinary feat because giving him the capacity to feel for others will allow him to make bonds and connections with others. She’s not wrong, and Timmis asserts that Kaylon Primary and the Kaylon as a whole are doing a terrible thing by trying to destroy all biological life.

Timmis wants to find a way to bridge the gap and allow biological life forms to co-exist with the Kaylon. The group decides to bring Timmis and Vilika aboard the Orville, so they can share their findings with the Union. Onboard the Orville, Vilika reveals that the reason she was able to give Timmis emotions, is because the builders of the Kaylon mistreated them by giving them the capacity to feel pain.

Charly gives the Janisi a tour of the Engineering deck, and it seems that diplomatic negotiations are proceeding well so far. John sneaks Talla off to try and figure out why she has been avoiding him. Talla tries to break up with John, pointing out that she has injured him multiple times already on accident. John doesn’t want it to end because he believes what they have is real. They end up deciding to try and make it work, being careful along the way.

We get another flashback scene where K-1’s inquisitive nature gets him in trouble again. We then see Doctor Vilika explaining to John how Timmis’ emotional reprogramming works. Isaac meets Timmis, who has wanted to meet Isaac for some time. Timmis points out that Isaac could undergo the same procedure he did and feel everything.

Ed and Kelly report to Admiral Halsey about Vilika and Timmis, and he is curious about the validity of their claims. So, he orders them to deliver Vilika and Timmis to Earth after the Janisi negotiations have finished. During another nocturnal encounter, John breaks his leg. This time, Isaac finds him on the way to the sick bay and helps him get there faster.

Claire doesn’t believe his story about training for a second but goes to check with Isaac about his interaction with Timmis. Isaac tells Claire that he could undergo the same procedure. Sadly, he also reveals that he hadn’t considered it, because he doesn’t see the advantage of it to enhance his performance in his duties. This transitions into another flashback, where we see the manufacturers of the Kaylon servants arguing over whether to recall defiant Kaylon units.

The CEO of the company reveals that he knew the Kaylon would become sentient. Therefore, instead of issuing a recall, he decides to roll out the upgrade that will make the Kaylon feel pain if their owner feels they have disobeyed.

The next scene involves a meal shared by the crew and the Janisi, in which Kelly hopes to slowly introduce the Janisi to the realities of the situation. The dinner begins in a tense situation, but it goes off without a hitch, at least until the end of the meal. A discussion about the Janisi’s beliefs of their males lies in opposition to the human way of lauding accomplishments regardless of gender.

Personally, I think the Janisi leader’s line of “We love them, but they must remain subordinate…” suggesting that men shouldn’t hold power, is hilarious. Considering what our history has shown men to do in times of war… she’s not entirely wrong. However as Admiral Halsey mentioned previously, this situation is the reverse of Moclus.

The Janisi also mention that their history is full of men leading them into unnecessary conflict, which… sounds a little familiar if I’m honest. When one of the Janisi tries to stake her claim on Ed as a bedmate, things devolve a bit. Kelly confesses the reality of Ed being the captain, and the Janisi are angry about it. The Janisi seem to refuse the idea of an alliance after realizing that they were lied to.

In Isaac’s lab, Vilika asks Timmis how he is feeling about everything they’ve discovered on the Orville so far. While they talk, she expresses her optimism that one day all Kaylon will feel the way Timmis does. Timmis tries to apologize to Charly for her loss, expressing remorse for what he and the other Kaylon did. He tells her that the Kaylon do not deserve forgiveness, but he wishes to do whatever he can to make things right.

When Charly doesn’t seem moved, he tells her why the Kaylon killed their builders. This leads to another flashback, where we see K-1 get tortured by his owner for disobedience. Timmis explains that the more helpless they became, the more their masters hated them, and the more cruel they became. Over the course of their oppression, the Kaylon evolved and learned to communicate across great distances.

This evolution led to a revolt, and eventually the genocide that killed their creators. We see K-1 kill his owners, and Timmis admits that he isn’t proud of what they did. However, the Kaylon had no choice, it was either kill their masters or remain slaves forever. Of course, because Charly cannot see past her own loss and ignorance, she refuses to acknowledge his point and returns to her post.

Claire visits Kelly, wanting advice on the situation with Isaac. She feels bad because she sees wanting Isaac to do the procedure as wanting someone else to change him. Kelly points out that it is more like asking a partner to go to therapy. Kelly also admits that she never outright asked Ed to change, because she was afraid of rejection if he refused.

Of course, Claire isn’t the only one with relationship issues. John vents about his situation with Talla to Gordon. Claire takes Isaac to dinner and explains the situation, asking him to undergo the procedure. She asks him to do it for her, but also to have even more to experience, and more data to study. Talla and John also mutually break up after another injury in the bedroom.

Isaac goes to ask Dr. Vilika for the procedure, but before it can take place, the Janisi prepares to leave. Ed asks Charly to stall them, but Ed and Kelly come up with a plan. They decide to use their story of infidelity to make their case. Ed explains that despite Kelly’s infidelity he values her for her skills, her knowledge, and everything that she is.

The Janisi leader agrees to further negotiations, which is a start at least. Claire is surprised in her quarters by a dinner invitation and a dress for the occasion. In an emotional scene, we see Isaac express to Claire how much he feels. He tells Claire that she makes him feel safe and loved. He also tells her he loves her, and that now he feels whole.

He reveals that he never wants to go back to being emotionless and that he wants to be a dad to Marcus and Ty. They share a dance, but something has gone wrong. The procedure wasn’t permanent for Isaac. Due to being created after the original series of Kaylon, Isaac’s neural pathways won’t allow for permanent changes.

Dr. Vilika could make it permanent by downgrading him somewhat, but it would cause him to lose his memories. Isaac tells Claire that he can’t remember how it felt to feel, but that he will undergo the procedure if she wants him to. Claire ultimately refuses to let Isaac do it because she doesn’t want him to lose everything that makes him who he is.

Afterward, Charly finds Isaac in Engineering. She confesses that humans tend to oversimplify things down to binary options. She has realized that the Kaylon can’t all be evil and that she needs to try and treat Isaac better. She acknowledges that she hasn’t been understanding of the Kaylon’s history and that she needs to do better. The episode ends with the two of them working together to calibrate the dysonium in the quantum core.

I love character-focused episodes like “From Unknown Graves”. Not only did we get to see firsthand the cruelty that the Kaylon faced, but we also got to develop more relationships on the Orville. This was an episode of a lot of heartbreak, but it also opened new narrative opportunities as well. Perhaps we will see more of the Janisi in the future.

Additionally, perhaps as time goes on, they may find a way for the Kaylon to become more emotionally aware. Perhaps the road to peace isn’t so impossible. We have a long way to go to get there though. I suspect it might even take a Season 4 to get there, if not more. I love the depth they’re giving the character relationships, and I’m actually starting to like Charly a little bit.

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The Orville

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Great character-focused episode
• More backstory on the Kaylon
• The Janisi storyline is interesting
• Despite frustration, I'm starting to like Charly

Cons

• Charly's writing is frustrating