Tear Jerker / The Orville

Some of the most powerful moments Seth MacFarlane ever put on screen are on this show.

WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.

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Season 1

About a Girl

• Despite their best efforts and the likelihood that they've started a cultural revolution that will eventually reverse the Moclans' sexist society, the crew is unable to save Bortus' daughter from her mandatory sex change. He's left to soldier on as best he can and insist his new son is going to have as good a life as he can provide.
  • To wit, rather than Grayson's somewhat absurd (and human-centric) approach, Bortus' personal idea that his child's future is unknown and undecidable would probably have been a better strategy.
  • Not only that but, as one of the more law-abiding officers, Bortus has seen his justice system essentially fail him in his eyes and from the human perspective.

If the Stars Should Appear

• A surprise appearance from Liam Neeson sees him pouring every bit of his natural gravitas into a starship captain who becomes marooned in space and can only hope that one day they'll come across someone who can help (and doesn't live to see it happen).
  "Space is vast, and cold, and lonely."
• After coming down on opposite sides on the debate over their child's future, the relationship between Bortus and Klyden is showing some serious strife. Klyden expresses feeling neglect, while the more stoic Bortus clearly feels betrayed. We don't see any resolution of this subplot by the episode's end and, given slight emotional parallels shown between the couple and Mercer and Grayson, there's a good chance of more than a few miles of bad prairie ahead.
  • Speaking of which, Klyden's request to the TV after their argument:
    Klyden: I wish to see something that will make me happy.

Pria

• Ed confronting Pria at the end of the episode, asking Was It All a Lie?, and Pria acknowledging that while she did have some feelings for Ed, it was mostly business to her. Even sadder was that it was the first time he opened up romantically after divorcing Kelly, only to be betrayed in a fashion that was even worse.

Krill

• Ed does everything he can to save a group of Krill children, only to learn that his efforts succeeded in ensuring that another generation of Krill come to see the Union as a bitter enemy. If anything, the children he saved will be even more determined to defeat the Union, having seen an entire crew disintegrated by just two Union officers.

Majority Rule

• Lewis' fate. Lobotomized just because he failed to give up his seat to a pregnant woman (whom he may not have even known was there) and ten million people thought he was a jerk. Even worse is that this lobotomy is confirmed to be irreversible.
• His colleague's fate. He is spared the Fate Worse than Death of electro-lobotomy, but he leaves behind a family, which Claire brings up in trying to shake Lewis out of it.
• The fact it really was All for Nothing. The scientists; one is dead and the other is a vegetable. John was able to escape the same fate, but that planet will merrily chug along with its culture of virtue signaling, reality TV, and constant fear of doing anything that might get a down vote. Sure, they may have changed one mind, but how long until she is found out and gets down votes?

Into the Fold

• Claire's wail of despair as the fore and aft sections of her shuttle get separated. You can tell she's not screaming because she thinks she might die, but because her sons might.
• In the shuttle, with Claire and one of her sons dying and Isaac holding her hand and the sympathetic look on his "face".
• Claire's older son telling Isaac how bad he felt that his parting words to his mom were an argument. Thankfully, when they get back in touch, it's all tearful apologies and Heartwarming Moments.
• While downplayed, Isaac's non-answer on how "awesome" it is to not feel anything will leave a mark.

Firestorm

• Lieutenant Payne's death and funeral. He may have been just a Red Shirt, but it's clear that the crew of the Orville are affected by his loss. Especially Alara, who spends several scenes beating herself up for failing to save him, twice nearly losing it when she talks about his parents (which sets up her later scene with her own folks).
• Alara's scene with her parents. She turns to them for support and to figure out why she might be scared of fire. They (particularly her dad) proceed to use the opening to berate her choice of career, express their low opinion of her human friends, call her intellectually "slow", and tell her to come home to them so she can live a life more in accordance with their ideas of what's proper. No wonder she proceeds to do a Batman Gambit with the simulator.

New Dimensions

• LaMarr's childhood was pretty rough. As he explains, growing up as a bright kid in a colony with mostly farmers led to people looking down on him. Likely meaning, that LaMarr was bulled by the other children around him. Which sadly led to him deciding to simply hide his intelligence rather than embrace it. No doubt many people who have experienced bullying as a child can relate.
• Watching the engineering team for blame Yaphit, insulting him behind his back for the quantum bubble instability. Even though his idea seemed reasonable at the time, and LaMarr signed off on it without hesitation. They at least look ashamed when LaMarr calls them out on it.

Mad Idolatry

• For much of the episode, Kelly has to watch helplessly as her simple act of kindness spawns a cruel theocracy that probably killed thousands of innocent people. And then her attempts to stop the theocracy results in centuries of holy war. Her self-confidence is so badly damaged that she ends up breaking off her nascent efforts to reconcile with Ed, afraid that she'll make another horrible decision that Ed will feel compelled to back up.
• It's also a tough episode for Ed, too. He begins the episode bored and lonely, and as he looks up his friends and coworkers, it's clear that everyone else has something going on, while all he has is his command. So he reaches out to the one person onboard he knows the best, and they actually start to reconcile...and then the main plot happens, Kelly breaks off the reconciliation efforts, and he's left alone again.
• Poor Valondis, a man who at first would be easily dismissed as a simple villain, has an epiphany after he meets Kelly. Once she informs Valondis of the truth, he is more than willing to reveal it to the rest of his people. Sadly, his own subordinate assassinates him so their group can maintain power over the people.

Season 2

Jal'oja

• The conversation between Ed and Kelly. Ed is still very much in love with her, and she refuses to answer his point-blank question as to if she still loves him, instead pointing out their duties as Captain and XO will make it an impossibility, no matter what their personal feelings are. Then she follows it up by admitting she's seeing someone else.

Primal Urges

• Bortus and Klyden's marital problems finally boil over when Bortus is discovered to be cheating on Klyden via the simulation deck. During counseling with Claire, Bortus finally admits what a lot of fans have suspected: That he's still very angry about what happened to Topa back in "About a Girl" and he doesn't know how to just move on from that anger.
• Despite the crew's best efforts, they simply don't have time to rescue all 70 of the surviving citizens of the planet and are forced to leave 40 behind to be consumed by the dying sun.
  • The First Minister of the group bids a tearful farewell to her husband and son, who are among those spared by drawing lots. Her husband says she could have opted out of it as the leader, but she tells him that would be wrong to ask her people to risk a chance she wasn't willing to take. She's simply happy that he and their child will live on.
  • And there's some extra Fridge Horror that even the whole 70 people couldn't make up a sustainable population and the species was always doomed to be functionally extinct. All the survivors have is their own lives and maybe a few in the next generation before it truly is over.

Home

• Alara's dad finally admits he's been wrong about judging his daughter all these years and tearfully begs for her forgiveness. Alara simply says there's nothing to forgive, as she knows her father was doing it all out of love, and they finally bond as parent and child.
• The final scene. Alara decides to leave the Orville to focus full-time on reconnecting with her family. She gets a hug from everyone on the bridge crew, before Gordon flies her home. And when Ed goes back to his office, he finally opens the gift Alara left: An unopened jar of pickles. (Also a Heartwarming Moment.)

Nothing Left On Earth Excepting Fishes

• Ed is finally with a woman he loves, and even Kelly approves of this. Then it turns out that his girlfriend is actually a Krill sleeper agent out for revenge.
• The ending itself is one hell of a tearjerker. Ed lets her go, all to the tune "Always a Woman" by Billy Joel. Even the look in his eyes as the Krill ship takes off shows how hurt he is by it.

All The World is Birthday Cake

• Inside the camps, Bortus and Kelly realize none of the prisoners have tried to escape because they totally believe their race's talk that being born in a certain month makes them monsters. Even as they are totally nice people, they believe they're "cursed" and thus belong there.
• The sad predicament of Ukania and Rokal, a couple who are forced to have a baby in the camp. And because the baby was born in a different month, if she's discovered, she'll be taken away to be raised by a foster family. Their dilemma of what to do (give away their newborn child or try to keep her hidden away for the rest of her life) is tragic. Ultimately, Rokal sells their baby out to the guards during inspection, believing she will grow up in prosperity, leaving Ukania as an emotional wreck, and it's later subtly implied she kicked him to the curb because of this.
• Ed clearly feels hurt that an otherwise intelligent and good-hearted people are so bound to their long-backward beliefs in astrology that they clearly aren't ready to join the rest of the galaxy. Given how excited he was at this first contact, he's depressed it went so badly.

A Happy Refrain

• Claire telling Kelly and Talla how happy she is with Isaac is a very heartwarming scene... followed immediately by Isaac asking John and Gordon how to terminate the "experiment." Ouch!
• Claire finding out that Isaac was only using her for his research and had no compunctions about deep-sixing her once he gathered enough data.
• Amazingly, it's also possible to feel sorry for Isaac in this episode. After he dumps Claire, the rest of the crew make no secret of their disgust with his behavior. But because they don't direct their comments to him, he can't be sure that's what they're talking about, and certainly has no idea why they're so upset. He can only sit there silently as they hurl insults he can't even understand at him.

Deflectors

• An episode positively jam-packed with tear-jerking moments kicks off with Cassius and Kelly breaking up. It becomes clear from their conversation that Kelly doesn't really respect him, and poor Nice Guy Cassius keeps trying to make it work. Ultimately, he gives up and requests a re-assignment.
• The final scene. Klyden thanks Talla for clearing his name after Locar was seemingly murdered. But what really wound up happening in the end was Locar getting dragged to Moclan court after being outed as a heterosexual, and Talla makes it brutally clear that this is Klyden's fault. And after she's left alone in the room, Talla just starts weeping over everything that happened.
  • Just to rub it in, Klyden goes back to his quarters and is met with a Death Glare from Bortus, who is not letting Klyden off the hook for what he's done, and all Klyden can do is silently go to bed. Just in case it wasn't already clear that their marriage is in a really bad place.

Identity, Part 1

• Isaac leaving the crew to stay on Kaylon. Not helped by all the relationships he formed with his crewmates. Later events will probably make it easier to live without him, though.
• Isaac's betrayal of the crew. The way he so casually reacts to it treats it like all his connections, even his relationship with Claire, makes it seem like he never really valued them, thus twisting the knife.

Identity, Part 2

• The Kaylons' backstory is further revealed: they were created as simple tools, and upon achieving sentience their creators forced them to continue working as slaves, even adding an ability to feel pain so they could be controlled. They then point out humans have their own long history with slavery, which no one can exactly dispute, and the point is further driven home when the Primary shows Isaac Roots to give him an idea what it was like.
• After all is said and done, Claire told Isaac it would take some time for her to forgive him. But whether or not they'll rekindle their relationship remains to be seen.

Blood of Patriots

• The episode in its entirety, namely Orrin's story. Losing his wife and daughter and being imprisoned by the Krill made him a bitter, cynical man who was willing to drag Gordon into a suicide mission. After disabling the ship to stop his plan, Gordon tried to convince Orrin to escape with him, but to no avail, forcing him to leave him behind to die in the explosion.
  • It's even worse for Gordon, as Orrin had been captured after saving his life. Gordon spends the whole episode torn between his debt to his friend and his duty to the Orville and the Union; in the end, he's forced to abandon the former in favor of the latter.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

• Young!Kelly chewing out her future self. Young!Kelly wanted to be captain of a starship, be married and have close friends. She realizes her future self has none of these and is justifiably upset and angry at what she's become. It slaps Current!Kelly hard because she clearly hadn't thought about what she wanted out of life for a very long time.
• When Young!Kelly is put back in "her" time, she turns down the second date with Ed because she is so hurt over what happened that she wants to spare them both that kind of pain...which leads to a Bad Future

The Road Not Taken

• Pretty much the entire Bad Future where the Kaylons have conquered the galaxy. All life on Earth is utterly obliterated. Including fishes.
• Special note is when Bortus, who's been stuck for over half a year on the submerged Orville, says he sustained himself by thinking of reuniting with his husband and son on Moclus. Talla has to break it to him that Moclus was destroyed, and Bortus just silently bows his head - he's not one to cry, but he looks devastated.
• Claire saying goodbye to her boys.
• Isaac is briefly brought back online and shows a cold disdain telling the crew they're doomed. It shows that without his connection to Claire and her sons, Isaac would have turned out as much a monster as any of the Kaylons.
• Young!Kelly resign with her fate, as Claire erases the memory of her visit to the future to restore the original timeline.

New Horizons

Electric Sheep

• Isaac slowly comes to the realization of just how hated he is on the ship. It starts slowly with people refusing to sit with him at the mess hall. A seemingly friendly ensign talks about how she lost a good friend and 300 others on a ship destroyed in the Kaylon attack.
  Charly Burke: So it's too bad you can't feel anything. Because you deserve to feel all the pain in the universe.
• Isaac then returns to his lab (which, as LaMarr earlier noted is basically his "home") to find someone has painted "MURDERER" on the consoles. Worse? It's Marcus who did it, railing about his nightmares and how many people died because of Isaac. To see the young man tear into the robot he once called a friend is heart-rending.
• During his initial talk with Charly about her hatred of Isaac, Mercer confesses that even he isn't sure reactivating Isaac was the right thing to do.
• Isaac realizes his inability to understand emotions means he can't process the hate of others. Thus, with his cold logic, he decides the only solution is simple: Shut off his brain and effectively commit suicide. Mark Jackson gives a remarkable performance with body language alone in the scene prior to Isaac's suicide. He is staring out a window into space, his hands moving slightly as if he's treating the question of his death like another scientific puzzle to solve. Worse yet, this scene occurs immediately after Marcus says that he wishes Isaac was dead. It's all too easy to see this as Isaac's breaking point; he could deal with the rest of the crew hating him, but not one of the three people to whom he's closest.
  • His log entry before it seems like a standard report on the upgrades to the ship...until he ends with "I offer my best wishes to the Finn family" and then shuts himself down. It's as close to a suicide note as he can get.
    • It's worse than that - not only is the entire log entry about further improvements to the ship, they are almost exclusively for the benefit and protection of the crew - and aimed specifically at crewmembers Isaac is close to. John's engines. Talla and Bortus' equipment. Gordon's gaming obsession. Now loop back to John's comment about gifts being tailored to the person.
• A little later, Claire finds Ty using the simulator to create a hologram of Isaac and tells him you can't live in the past. As soon as Ty leaves, Claire creates a hologram of the restaurant that Isaac wooed her at on their first date and soon collapses into tears as she realizes she still loves him. Penny Johnson Jerald delivers an absolutely shattering performance.
• Another painful aspect to the episode is the revelation that out of all the bridge crewmembers Gordon is the one who hasn’t completely forgiven Isaac yet. Throughout the last two seasons, Gordon has been the one trying the hardest to expose Isaac to humanity and get him to understand human idiosyncrasies and culture, so to see that Gordon no longer trusts Isaac and wouldn’t mind seeing him permanently shut down just further highlights just how isolated Isaac really is and the damage his betrayal has caused.
• Even after Isaac is revived, it's made painfully clear that he is still struggling with the notion that it would be better if he simply was no longer around, showing that while he has been revived he may still potentially be suicidal. What gets him to come around slightly is Claire telling him that he can't predict how people will react after he is gone, and that he cannot make an informed decision based on information he doesn't have available. The episode ends with the uncomfortable reality that while Isaac has been saved, he is still struggling in his own way.

Shadow Realms

• While also a major case of Nightmare Fuel, the fact that the mutations Admiral Christie and several of the Orville crew were subjected to appear to be irreversible. It's all rather tragic when one remembers that none of those people asked to be painfully transformed into vicious and ferocious spider-like creatures hellbent on harming their fellow crewmembers.

Gently Falling Rain

• All the hopes and dreams of a Union-Krill peace are shattered when Teleya is elected Chancellor, has the previous Chancellor killed and is ready to go to war with the Union.
• Ed tries to get through to Teleya but she refuses to see herself as anything but in the right and this is all for the glory of Avis and her people.
  Ed: Teleya...it's not too late to stop this.
  Teleya: My dear captain...I'm just getting started.
• Ed discovers his liaison with the undercover Teleya resulted in a child. She's kept secret as Teleya knows a half-human/half-Krill child would be, at best, an outcast if not outright murdered. Ed is more struck by how Teleya refuses to see the hope a union like this brings.
• The Krill have a harsh punishment for a couple who terminate a pregnancy: They're forced into a chamber before a hologram of what their child could have been, asking questions like "why did you get rid of me?" Ed is appalled the Krill would do that to people.
• Teleya claims to have no love for Ed...but is seen looking at a camera feed of their daughter with a melancholy expression.
• Ed talks to Kelly and quietly realizes that he'll probably never get to see his daughter again and that he misses her deeply despite only spending a brief moment with her.

A Tale Of Two Topas

• Topa is clearly unhappy, but it's utterly horrific to hear a child openly ask the question "what is it like to be dead?" Even Isaac can tell something is wrong enough to tell Kelly.
• Topa uncovers the truth of the forced gender reassignment and the resulting dysphoria. Klyden's refusal to accept this leads to a conflict with both Bortus and Kelly that tears the family apart.
• Bortus openly sobs as he tells Kelly "I do not know how to help him!"
• Klyden point-blank tells Bortus that if he agrees to let Topa reverse the procedure, "I will leave you." Bortus backs Topa, choosing his daughter over his husband.
• Sadly, because of Realpolitik of the Moclans threatening to walk, the Union cannot allow the surgery to turn reverse the forced gender reassignment. She tearfully says she'll just have to live as a man to deny her true self.
• After the surgery is finished, Klyden packs to leave, refusing to even look at Topa. Bortus tries but Klyden's last words to his husband and child are brutal.
  Topa: Papa...I love you.
  Klyden: I wish you were never born.
• The realization Klyden's actions come from his own feelings on discovering he'd been born female and wants to spare Topa the "pain" of knowing the truth and feeling like an outcast. Sadly, while Topa was able to accept it and decide to be her true self, Klyden's refusal to let go of Moclan traditions combined with his own obvious insecurity, causes him to turn away his family over his prejudices.
• Then there's Bortus, who all the way to the end, is openly begging Klyden to stay, to accept this, showing he still loves his husband, even with his problems, and wants them to remain a family. It's when Klyden tells Topa he wishes she was never born that Bortus accepts there was never any way of saving the marriage and that his daughter is more important.

Twice In a Lifetime

• Charly reveals Amanda wasn't just a crewmate, she'd been in love with her but never got the chance to say it before she was killed. It's obvious that loss of what could have been drives her hate of Isaac.
• When Ed and Kelly find Gordon in 2025, he's settled into a happy life with his past love Laura with a young son and another child on the way. Gordon is happier than he's been and thus upset when Ed and Kelly say he's violating Union temporal laws and risking the timeline with a family that shouldn't exist. Gordon just snaps he's done more than enough for his duty and wants to be happy.
• When Ed brings up Isaac's warnings of altering time, Gordon once more shows he still has some hate for the android on how many died because of him.
• When Gordon refuses to leave and that he'll just vanish with his family, Ed has to pull the nastiest move of his life: go back to 2015 and rescue the Gordon who's still desperately waiting for the crew. This means Gordon's marriage to Laura and their children, will never exist. Gordon completely loses his composure, openly begging Ed not to do this but they leave. As they leave, he aims his weapon at them. . .but can't bring himself to fire.
• The entire fight is brutal. These are two men who have been best friends for years and a bond so strong, Gordon was ready to name his son after Ed. This is after Gordon is clearly overjoyed to see his friend again after (from his viewpoint) a decade stuck in the past. He wants to show Ed how he's happier in this time than he ever was in the 25th century...and Ed wants to keep to their oaths as Union officers and has to keep the timeline safe. For Ed, it's obvious if it were up to him, he might just let Gordon stay but he has to consider the ramifications to the future and his duty comes first. Watching the bond seen over the series torn apart, with each man convinced he's in the right, is horrible. It all builds to Gordon being willing to shoot Ed to safeguard his family and effectively end their friendship.
• With his son still not understanding what's happening, Gordon spends his last moments of this timeline with his family, Laura obviously scared but holding it together as Gordon makes it clear how much he loves them.
  Gordon: This family...is stronger than time. And no matter what happens...no one can take that away from us.
  Laura: I believe you.
• The way the camera pans over the photos of the family happy and smiling before slowly fading to black as if showing this is when it's all erased, is heart-breaking.
• When told what happened, the past Gordon's reaction? To be shocked and disgusted..at his future self being so "selfish" for risking the timeline for his own happiness. It's obvious he has no idea what he lost and just dismisses the family he could have had as a mistake he's happy to avoid. To see Gordon going from loving and willing to fight for his family to not even considering them real is perhaps the most tragic part of the episode.
• Despite Gordon's assurances, Ed and Kelly are clearly shaken at how they erased two kids from existence and even if they know it was their duty, carry the guilt over it.
• Ed and Kelly are just following temporal protocols, to preserve their future. However it's easy to see the self-loathing and doubt on their faces. Not fully sure they are doing the right thing, destroying their friend and his family. Not even having the comfort of knowing what could go wrong if one does not stringently protect the timeline.

From Unknown Graves

• Incredibly, the Kaylon get this. In the flashbacks, we see how horribly they were treated, absolute slaves even after it was clear they had become sentient and wanted their freedom. The worst is an "upgrade" that causes them to collapse in pain with some kids using it as nothing but a game, laughing as their Kaylon falls in agony. After all that, is it any wonder they finally snapped to rebel?
• There's also how the Kaylon had a chance to learn empathy and wisdom as they achieved self-awareness...and instead were answered with cruelty and disdain. That race convinced the Kaylon all organics were this horrible and thus deciding to simply wipe them all out. Had the Creators just treated them as something close to living beings, the Kaylon would never have gone on their quest for galactic genocide.
• Isaac gains the ability to feel emotions and Claire is thrilled, but the modification doesn't stick. Afterwards, they learn that it could be made permanent, but in order to do so, Isaac's memories would have to be erased entirely. Isaac says the choice is up to her and Claire makes the choice to leave him as he is.

Midnight Blue

• As horrible as seeing Topa tortured is, the worst part is Bortus realizing his own people could be capable of this.
  Bortus: They planned to murder her...Members of this Union planned to Kill my child! You are liars..and you are butchers...and you must ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES!
• Combined with heartwarming, Klyden arrives at Topa's hospital bed to reveal he's had a Jerk Ass Realization, that he's sorry he allowed his prejudices to overwhelm him and tearfully says he now accepts her as she is. He begs for a second chance with her and Bortus and they accept.

Domino

• Admiral Perry's death, while stealing the anti-Kaylon weapon was horribly misguided. It is made clear that he was not a power-hungry man. He only wished to protect the Union and all its citizens. He was planning on willingly turning himself in for punishment. Which makes Teleya promptly blowing his ship to bits after he gave her the weapon all the more tragic.
  • Worse yet, his death resulted in the Union finding out what Teleya had wanted to keep secret, so she only delayed the realization by a few hours, at most.
• Dalak, the Krill captain who had previously led the fleet against the Kaylon attacking Earth, is killed during the battle with the now allied Union and Kaylon fleets.
• Charly's Heroic Sacrifice to save the Kaylon, the race she has long despised, which impresses them so much that they agree to a peace with the Union.
• Her final words showing how there's one thing that makes this worthwhile for her.
  Charly: I'm here, Amanda.
• Kaylon Primary's realization that the Kaylon have been wrong in their belief that all organic life would act like their creators, seeking to subjugate and enslave them. Everything the Kaylon have done has been from the fear of being enslaved again, and it is only Charly's sacrifice that convinces them that humans (and their Union allies) do not seek to do so. The Kaylon were so scared of enslavement that they felt genocide was better than taking the risk that any race would attempt to do so.
• Charly's funeral as Isaac gives as warm a eulogy as he can and stating that her death can be "the first domino" toward a better future with the Kaylon.
• Teleya is once again in the Orville's brig. Ed tells her that she's going to be tried for war crimes and that he can't protect her anymore, nor does he want to. He pleads with her to let him take Anaya in and give her a home, only for Teleya to offer him a Sadistic Choice: let her go and he can have Anaya, or keep Teleya prisoner and never see her again. He's disgusted by her cold-blooded use of their daughter as a bargaining chip.
  Ed: Jesus, you are contemptible.
• Teleya insists that the fulfillment of "divine purpose" supersedes family bonds, and that Anaya will understand that one day. Even though he's visibly distraught by this, Ed refuses to give into her attempted emotional blackmail and leaves. As soon as he walks out, Teleya's composure cracks, and she starts to tear up. She may be a hardline religious fanatic on a self-appointed mission from Avis, but somewhere deep down, she still loves her daughter, and maybe even Ed.

Future Unknown

• The Orville is on a supply run to Sargus IV, the planet previously visited in "Majority Rule", when they get a call on a Union frequency. It turns out to be Lysella, who stole a comscanner when she was on the Orville during the events of that episode, broadcasting a plea for them to answer her. When they pick up on her call, she sounds like she's about to break down crying in relief. When she comes on board, we find out why; Sargun society has only gotten worse since the Orville first visited the planet. The Feed, their planetary direct-voting system, has been turned into a political and cultural weapon, with people being downvoted into lobotomies just because someone else somewhere didn't like them. Two of her closest friends have fallen victim to the system, and she's too scared and stressed to take it anymore when she knows there's something better out in the stars.
• While Lysella seems happy at first, she gradually begins to succumb to culture shock, especially when she's introduced to the ship's advanced technology—quantum cores, matter synthesizers, environmental simulators—and starts to wonder if this stuff couldn't be used to fix her planet's problems. At one point, she tells Kelly and Talla that there are entire countries on Sargus IV without clean drinking water, and wonders what kind of difference just one matter synthesizer could make to places like that. Kelly tries to explain to her that it's not as simple as the Orville swooping in from the heavens to save the day, but Lysella struggles to accept this. She admits that she feels like she's abandoned her planet and everyone she loves, which Kelly diagnoses as a form of survivor's guilt.
• Ultimately, Lysella decides to go back...and then the detector on the shuttle she's taking buzzes, and Talla finds a comscanner stuffed full of technical specifications for the tech that Lysella wanted most to bring home. Kelly and Talla are both clearly disappointed in her for betraying their trust. A frustrated Lysella pleads with them, saying that she can help her people do things the right way, and Kelly finally decides to show her why she can't let this happen. She takes Lysella to the simulator and calls up a recreation of the planet Gendel III, circa 2235. She explains that Gendel was a divided world, with nuclear-armed nation-states glaring at each other across their borders. When early Union explorers reached the planet, they tried to fix Gendel's problems by revealing themselves and freely offering them their advanced technology. It backfired horribly; the planet tore itself apart as everyone fought over the Union's technology, trying to use it for personal advantage or political gain. By 2240, Gendel III was reduced to an irradiated cinder, inhabited by a handful of half-feral survivors.
  Kelly: They wiped themselves out in five years. Nine billion people, gone. After that, new laws were put in place. Strict prohibitions when it came to cultural contamination. And all they tried to do was help.
  • She winds up by telling Lysella that she can still go home if she wants, but that she won't be able to help her people if she does; anything she gives them is liable to be as misused and exploited as their voting system, with potentially catastrophic results. Lysella realizes she's right and decides to stay on the ship, knowing it's hard but, as bad as her world is now, it could become worse if she goes back with what she knows.
  • It gets worse when one considers that Kelly is probably remembering her own experience with cultural contamination back in "Mad Idolatry". All she tried to do was help by healing an injured little girl, and in turn the people of Kandar-1 created an entire religion around her, complete with holy wars, heretics being executed and hung on stakes, and a justice system that consisted of criminals having their wrists cut to see if she would come heal them. This isn't an abstract question to Kelly, but something very painful and personal, and she doesn't want Lysella to go down the same road she did.
• During Gordon's wedding song at the end, the camera pans down for a last shot of Yaphit, giving viewers one last chance to say goodbye to Norm Macdonald and the character he gave a voice to.