The Orville opens in the lounge. A party is going on. It seems it’s a going away party for the head of engineering. While Ed (Seth MacFarlane) and Kelly (Adrianne Palicki) chat with the departing crew member, Gordon (Scott Grimes) and John (J. Lee) talk near-by. It seems they took a piece of Yaphit (Norm MacDonald) when he wasn’t looking and dropped him into the buffet. Pranks are fun. They laugh as Yaphit slides from the room.
Feeling like he’s missing a piece of himself, Yaphit goes to visit Claire (Penny Johnson Jerald). As they talk, Bortus (Peter Macon) enters, complaining of “digestive discomfort”. It seems the last place he visited was the buffet…
Later, Kelly chats with John and Gordon. It seems their little prank angered Yaphit, and if she can’t talk him out of filing charges, they will be in trouble. She sends them off, reporting that she’s going to file a formal reprimand in their records. However, as she pulls up John’s profile, she stops. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”.
Kelly immediately reports to Ed. It seems John’s aptitude rating scored through the roof. With the exception of Isaac (Mark Johnson), he’s the smartest officer on board. Could he be a good head of engineering? Ed smirks, “Kelly, he fed a guy to another guy…”. However, the conversation stops as the ship seems to hit something.
Reporting to the bridge, it seems the Orville hit some kind of spacial anomaly. Kelly sends Isaac and John off to assist engineering with an analysis.
Meanwhile, the team find their way into an unoccupied room as the scanners pic- up evidence of a “quantum wake”. Making their way around, they find some dead plants. What could be going on here.
Later, the team gives Ed and Kelly a rundown. While it all seems weird, Ed asks one question. “Were they watered?… Do we have a plant guy?”. Yes, it seems the ship does have a plant guy… his name is Plovis, “the lizard-looking guy in engineering”.
While the repairs on the ship continue, Ed and Kelly talk. She pushes Ed to consider John for the engineering post. However, he wants to consider Yaphit. However, he gradually agrees to let John lead the investigation team. As the conversation comes to a close, Kelly lets a secret slip. It seems she’s responsible for Ed’s promotion to captain. She made a case for his promotion… to an admiral who’s very close to her father. This isn’t what Ed needs to hear…
Related: Check out our previous recaps of The Orville, here.
Meanwhile, the crew talks on the bridge. Gordon looks around, “Would anyone mind if I got a cat?… Like a bridge cat!”. However, the conversation stops as Kelly pages John. As he leaves, Gordon looks up to see Issac petting him, “Are we bonding?”.
Later, the crew watch as a smuggler vessel makes approaches the anomaly (despite Ed’s attempts to stop it). As the ship emerges from the mysterious space, scans reveal no life-signs. The team boards the vessel, quickly finding the crew dead on the bridge. Furthermore, as they investigate they find crates of Krill rifles. This could be a huge problem…
The team returns to the ship, but things get no easier. After once again fighting with Kelly, Ed re-enters his quarters to find an annoyed Yaphit waiting for him. He’s pissed that John is leading the investigation instead of him. “This is racist! You can’t stand having a gelatinous being running engineering!”. Ed looks around hurt, “That’s not true, I have lots of gelatinous friends”.
Later, the team convenes in the captain’s quarters. They’ve learned the anomaly is actually a doorway to a patch of two dimensional space. However, with the Krill ships fast approaching, they need a plan. John looks up… perhaps if they create a quantum bubble around the ship they could pass into the anomaly. With the protection of the bubble, they should be safe from the approaching Krill. Using the technique, everything seems to work. The Orville disappears just the Krill ships buzz into their path.
Meanwhile, inside the anomaly, the crew looks around in awe as they gaze over a fascinating scene. Could this be a two dimensional civilization? As they talk, Gordon poses a question… If there’s a two dimensional civilization, could there be four or five dimensions? Could they be watching them right now? “Could they see under a blanket, or in the sleeve of a down coat?”.
Later, Kelly and Ed try to talk things out. She refuses to apologize for helping him out. However, things hit a snag as the quantum bubble begins to give out. They need to return to normal space; however, there’s one problem… the anomaly just closed.
The bubble fixes itself momentarily; however, they don’t have long. They have one chance. They can pilot themselves out of the anomaly with a shuttle. If they can maintain a quantum bubble inside, they should remain safe. The ship would be flat, but the inside would maintain three-dimensional space… “More space inside than out… like Doctor Who’s phone booth!”.
As the crew inside the Orville watch anxiously, John and Ed board the shuttle and gradually pass into the two dimensional space. As the two men talk, Ed looks John over, suddenly making up his mind. He wants John to be his new Chief Engineer. However, just as he says this, the bubble once again begins to give out. They have one hope… if Ed takes the ship to quantum speed. They won’t make it any other way.
There’s a beat and the action transitions back to the Orville before the ship suddenly exits the anomaly. Everything is fine. A tense moment passes as they hail the shuttle, but relief passes over Kelly’s face as she sees Ed and John are fine. However, the shuttle is going to need a cleaning crew.
As the action comes to a close, Ed arrives to see Kelly and the two make peace. Ed’s finally feeling secure in himself, and it’s clear to him… Kelly has his back. They share a tender moment as he kisses her on the cheek.
Meanwhile, John is officially in control of engineering. He looks over his new crew, “If we can increase engine efficiency by the end of the work week, we can kick off early and get wasted!”. The crew looks up from their stations, “Yes sir!”.
A Few Thoughts:
- Another excellent episode! After some darker episodes, the team injected some comedy into this weeks show, which was much appreciated. I continue to like the series seamless blend of comedy and sci-fi. Seth MacFarlane’ s writers room is producing some of the most interesting stories on television right now, and I look forward to seeing what else they have in the works.
- Excellent work this week from J. Lee. His character took a bit to get going, but over the last few episodes, they’ve given him some great material to develop.
- Love the work the team is doing with Kelly and Ed’s relationship. The chemistry between the two of them is really picking up.
The Orville airs Thursday nights on Fox.
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