The Orville escorts a delegation of top Union leadership to oversee renewed peace talks with the Krill on the eve of the planet's general election. To say things don't go as expected is... well, a massive understatement.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion:
- Not for the first time, Seth MacFarlane is dressed almost identically to his character in A Million Ways to Die in the West in the saloon simulation.
- The episode includes a performance from Annie. Victor Garber played Daddy Warbucks in a screen adaptation.
- This isn't the first time that Bruce Boxleitner has played the President of an interstellar union made up of many different races.
- The Alcoholic: Kelly shows signs of this during the crew's pub crawl as she knocks back hard liquor while the rest nurse beers.
- Aliens Speaking English: The Krill all speak English whenever we see them, which is made especially weird when the Chancellor insults Teleya in unsubtitled Krill when she asks if he wants to beg for his life.
- Attack of the Political Ad: Krill campaign propaganda has an entire industry turning out computer-generated deep fakes of their opponents used to discredit them with obviously bad takes, such as the Chancellor denying aid to a province and then gassing the protestors. Mercer admits that some of them are so convincing he couldn't tell they were fake at a glance.
- Beneath Notice: A resistance member manages to overtly track down Mercer and his guards by pretending to be a pushy street vendor the guards ignore out of habit.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Implied with the President. After being stabbed in the chest, he only shows minor pain and no indication of serious trauma.
- Brick Joke: Early in the episode, Ed and Kelly are in the middle of a simulator pub crawl when they receive a priority call from Admiral Halsey. After he hangs up, they're both relieved that he didn't notice they'd been drinking. Later in the episode, Halsey is piloting a shuttle down to the surface of the Krill homeworld. When Ed offers to take the helm, Halsey asks if Ed thinks he's losing his touch and cheerfully informs him that he could tell Ed and Kelly had been drinking when they talked.Mercer: Point taken, sir.
- Call-Back: Ed and Teleya's relationship during her undercover mission on the Orville did indeed apparently get quite intimate and resulted in some seriously game-changing consequences.
- Capital Offensive: An atypical example of this trope comes when a fleet of Union ships races through Krill space to engage local forces within striking distance of the homeworld, atypical in that the objective is to retrieve the captive President and his delegation before their execution rather than attacking the capital.
- Character Title: Played with. Anaya means "gently falling rain" in the Krill language.
- Chase Scene: There's an extended hovercar chase between a vehicle stolen by LaMarr and local law enforcement. It ends once they make it to the cloaked shuttle, which has shielding that the energy weapons on the police vehicles can't penetrate.
- Child of Forbidden Love: Anaya was conceived when Teleya was seducing Ed while undercover as Lieutenant Tyler. She has to be kept hidden because she would be ostracized or even killed if Krill society at large found out about what they would consider an abomination.
- Continuity Nod: The episode includes a lot of references to earlier episodes about the Krill. Its casually mentioned that Teleya used the death of her brother at the Union's hand in "Krill" to play for sympathy, Teleya herself references the Union's journeys through Krill space as seen in "Shadow Realms", and Grayson's adultery from the pilot is exploited by Teleya to get a rise out of her.
- The Coup: Downplayed. Teleya wins the election legitimately, but seizes power before any of the normal rituals so the Chancellor won't be able to contest the election (and so the Union delegation can be captured before escaping the planet), aided by sympathizers in both the council and the Chancellor's own cabinet.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Teleya believes this about the daughter she and Ed share. Not entirely without merit: the child's very existence is unprecedented and has equal chance of leading to more violence or peace between worlds.
- Decapitation Presentation: Teleya tells Ed she had the previous Chancellor's head mounted in the capitol, though we're not shown this directly.
- Defiant to the End: Teleya offers her defeated opponent, whom she is now publicly executing for treason, the opportunity to plead for his life. He instead gives her an untranslated insult in Krill.
- Didn't Think This Through: Played for laughs. The Krill delegation is brought to a performance of Annie, with the song "Tomorrow" ("The sun'll come out tomorrow") naturally being horrifying to the light-averse Krill. Halsey muses after the fact that Oklahoma! would probably have been a better choice. A subtler insult is the Union officials talking about how it was a "dark time" of capitalism before the Krill point out they're a highly mercantile society.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The standard punishment for Krill parents that have been caught terminating their child in utero is to force them to interact with a simulated version of said child, who is programmed to say such things as "why did you get rid of me?" No doubt this was inspired by real-life anti-abortion legislation which requires viewing sonograms or listening to fetal heartbeats before an abortion.
- Downer Ending: In the end, the hopes for lasting peace between the Union and the Krill are dashed for the time being, as Teleya's rise to power and attempted murder of the president leads to all out war. What's worse is that, with the two groups now at it again, both are vulnerable to the Kaylon.
- Expospeak Gag: Robot-man Isaac tries to get into character as a cowboy by quoting Westerns, only for his aversion to contractions, slang, and anything imprecise to make the quotes laughably unrecognizable.
- Evil Power Vacuum: Discussed.
- Teleya is noted to be taking advantage of a political vacuum that has formed from the current Chancellor's more moderate regime, stoking fear and hatred in the absence of hope to fill the void.
- The existence of Anaya by itself isn't enough to resolve the issue with Teleya. Simply embarrassing her and toppling her regime won't deal with the underlying issues that brought her to power, and someone else would simply take her place. The proposed solution is to have Teleya acknowledge the child and her union with Ed, thereby appealing to the better nature of the Krill and defanging her movement. Teleya refuses to consider it, of course.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When two rogue Krill rescue the delegation from their execution, they conspicuously aren't affected by the strobing light grenades that incapacitate the rest of the Krill. It's soon revealed these two are actually LaMarr and Finn in disguise.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Once Teleya's told him that their daughter would be viewed as an abomination by most Krill, Ed is surprised that she still gave birth to her, asking why she carried the girl to term at all if she knew what the outcome would be. Teleya reacts angrily by denouncing the fact that abortions are frequently performed in the Union, saying the Krill loathe the idea. She then shows him that those who have abortions are punished through facing a recreation of the child they would have had as psychological torture, to Ed's dismay.
- Great Off Screen War: While telling the crew about his father's drinking exploits, Gordon mentions a historic event called the "Water Wars".
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Teleya keeps her daughter with Ed secret, because most Krill would view her as an abomination due to having mixed species ancestry.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Ed learns that he fathered a half human/half Krill daughter with Teleya.
- Happy Rain: Ed and Teleya's secret child is named "Anaya," which in the Krill language means "gently falling rain." The Krill planet is blanketed in a perpetual night and sun burns the Krill, but rain is considered a good omen.
- Hidden First Act Parallel: The titular main character of Annie, the play that the Krill and Union delegates watch after the episode's opening credits, parallels Anaya's situation: a girl of a different complexion who is unwanted.
- Indy Ploy: Gordon asks for permission to try a fancy helix maneuver to escape Krill fire, only to admit he just made up the maneuver in the moment. Grayson is desperate enough to let him keep flying as wildly as that until they can activate their quantum drive.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The Chancellor assures the crew that he can legally challenge the election and, until the Sanctification ritual, is still in charge of the government. Cue the guards coming in to arrest him on Teleya's orders.
- In the Hood: Ed is dressed in a heavy hooded cloak so he can be moved among the Krill without people paying much attention.
- Light 'em Up: The Union weaponizes the Krill's deathly weakness to their sun by developing grenades that emit strobing rays of sunlight.
- Love Cannot Overcome: Teleya still has feelings for Ed and obviously cares about their daughter despite being an abomination in the eyes of Krill society, but neither of these facts make her reconsider her beliefs.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The cheerful song from Annie about the sun appearing is this from the Krill perspective because of how bad bright light is for them.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Invoked by Teleya as, if Ed hadn't let her go, she wouldn't have risen to become Chancellor, ruin the treaty, and push the Union into a two-front war. Ed himself apologizes to Kelly for not listening to her when he sent her back to the Krill.
- Not Big Enough for the Two of Us: Played for Laughs; Isaac walks into a saloon with a cowboy hat and tries to quote the standard cowboy movie quote. However, he's so precise with his Expospeak Gag speak that the closest he can get is "This town will not accomodate the numerical totality of our combined masses."
- Off with His Head!: Teleya decapitates her predecessor as Supreme Chancellor as punishment for parlaying with the humans. Later, when Mercer asks about the Chancellor's whereabouts, Teleya playfully tells him the Chancellor can be found in the town square... or at least his head can.
- Only a Flesh Wound: The president of the Union is stabbed in the chest as a means of execution, yet he seems perfectly composed after running for his life shortly after. Justified, in that one of his rescuers is Dr. Finn in disguise, who immediately begins treating his injury.
- Pet the Dog: Teleya has no contact with her daughter, but sees to it that she is well cared for and wants for nothing. She is shown to watch footage of Anaya in private with a melancholic yet proud look on her face. She'd also planned to let Ed go back to the Orville rather than executing him along with the rest of the Union delegation, and only tries to go through with it because Ed returned and left her no choice.
- Planet of Hats: Played With. While the Krill remain devoted spiritualists, we get to meet Krill both for and against ceasing hostilities with the Union, giving them some character traits beyond "religious fanatics who are beyond reasoning and hate anyone who isn't them".
- Public Execution: After being elected Supreme Chancellor of Krill, Teleya has the previous Chancellor brought before her and stabs him in the gut, after which she has him beheaded and mounts the head in the capitol. She later attempts the same with the Union delegation on Krill, but only succeeds in stabbing the Union President non-fatally before a rescue team from the Orville interrupts.
- Rank Up: Talla receives a promotion to lieutenant commander.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": How Teleya responds when Ed suggests that Anaya can be a symbol of co-existence between the Union and the Krill to the galaxy.
- Ship Tease: LaMarr not-so-subtly hints that he'd like to sleep with Talla.
- Shout-Out: A very subtle one. Gordon performs an "expanding helix maneuver" to escape the Krill. He claims he just made it up, however those familiar with aviation would know that an aircraft moving along a helical path is called... a barrel roll.note
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: In a sense. The punishment for abortion on Krill is having the genetic profile of the perpetrators extracted and then used to generate a simulation of the child that would have been, which then guilts them about terminating the pregnancy. Mercer is appalled.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Teleya and Ed's kid was conceived last season, at most two years ago, yet she's played by a ten year old actress. This disparity goes unremarked upon.
- Tempting Fate: The Chancellor and his aides brush off Teleya as leading a "small movement" and are confident of victory. That all ends when the election is called for Teleya.
- Tractor Beam: We get another look at the Krill's tractor beams in this episode. It manages to hold and pull the Orville for a time. Fortunately, it is generated by an unshielded device on the outside of the ship, making it an easy target for the Orville to destroy.
- Underestimating Badassery: The Chancellor makes the mistake of dismissing Teleya as just a loudmouth demagogue and her movement as being an insignificant minority. Too late does he realize that she not only has enough support to win the election by a slim margin, but has enough sympathizers in the government and military (even among his own cabinet) to effectively seize power before he can challenge her win through legal avenues.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The crew on the Orville cryptically references their plan to rescue Mercer by number without actually giving away any details. At the same time, we see the Union gather together a small group of ships to send to fight the Krill. The ships end up fighting to a draw and accomplish nothing, while the undetailed plan saves Mercer and co. without a hitch.
- Vice City: In contrast to lofty religious pontifications, the actual streets of Krill's capital city show a civilization plagued by miserliness, depravity, and materialism.
- Villain with Good Publicity: We see a crowd of Krill cheer on the traitorous Teleya as she plots to betray the Union and kill their rightfully elected leader. It turns out enough of the Krill in key election districts like her, and Teleya is announced to become villain of their world.
- Was It All a Lie?: Ed tries several times to appeal to Teleya on this basis, asking if nothing got through to her during their time together. For her part, Teleya is willing to at least try to save Ed personally because he saved her, but nothing more than that.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Invoked by Ed trying to get through to Teleya by quoting Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem "Ozymandias" (specifically the part about "look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair") to remind her how fleeting political power can be. Teleya, naturally, refuses to accept his analogy and says she'd rather be Ozymandias.
- The Watson: Ensign Burke is invited to join the Union delegation on Krill as an "observer." Mercer explains facets of Krill society to her (and new viewers), such as identifying a statue of the Krill god Avis.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Teleya sees herself, trying to "purify" the Krill to save her world. Ed, of course, sees her as a fanatic so wrapped up in her religious fervor that she's willfully ignoring the ramifications of a two-front war.
- Wham Episode
- All the progress in Union/Krill relations is undone as the incumbent pragmatic and moderate (by Krill standards) leadership is replaced by the populist and xenophobic Teleya, who provokes a large-scale military confrontation.
- Teleya was pregnant when Ed sent her back to Krill. She gave birth to their child in secret and keeps her hidden to avoid the stigma she would face as a half-breed.
- Wham Shot: The half-Krill, half-human daughter of Ed Mercer and Teleya sitting on her bed in a secret safehouse, innocently playing with a toy.
- Worldbuilding: The Krill are fleshed out significantly in this episode.
- Their home planet has an extremely thick atmosphere that blocks out nearly all light, and the average surface temperature is slightly above freezing.
- They are a democratic society, with the Supreme Chancellor being selected through popular elections.
- They hold mercantilism in high regard, with the merchant class forming society's backbone.
- They are politically diverse, including a small underground movement that wants to establish a genuine peace with the Union.
- They have an active media landscape where misinformation is the norm, with each side putting out huge amounts of deep-fake footage to paint opponents in the worst light possible.
- They have a seedy underbelly, with Ed observing erotic services and begging in the Grand Marketplace.
- They mature quickly; Anaya was born the previous year and appears to be about seven years old by human standards. None of the other Krill mark this as unusual or as due to her Half-Human Hybrid nature.
- Would Hurt a Child: After the battle, Halsey suggests that they could still undermine Teleya's regime using Anaya. Mercer rejects the idea, as not only would it put a spotlight on Anaya that she never asked for, he's genuinely worried that Teleya might make Anaya "disappear" to maintain her rule.
