History Tearjerker / TheOrville

** The First Minister of the group [[spoiler: bids a tearful farewell to her husband and son, who were 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.]]

* Despite the crews best efforts [[spoiler: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.]]

* 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 Dr. Finn, 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.

* 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.

* It's also a tough episode for Ed. 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.

* Claire's older son telling Isaac how bad he felt that his PartingWords to his mom was an argument. Thankfully when they get back in touch it's all tearful apologies and SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments.
* While downplayed Isaac's non-answer on how "awesome" it is to not feel anything will leave a mark.

* 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.

* The fact it really was AllForNothing. 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?

** Speaking of which, Klyden's request to the tv after their argument. "I wish to see something that will make me happy." It's subtle, but the heartbreak in his voice makes this troper want to give him a hug.

* Lt. Payne's death and funeral. He may have been just a RedShirt, 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.

* In the shuttle, with the Doctor and [[spoiler:her son dying]] and Issac holding her hand and the sympathetic look on his 'face'.

* 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 [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent her choice of career]], express their [[HumansAreMorons low opinion of her human friends]], [[CondescendingCompassion call her intellectually "slow"]], and tell her to come home to them so she can live a life more in accordance with ''[[ItsAllAboutMe their]]'' ideas of what's proper. No wonder she proceeds to do a [[spoiler: BatmanGambit with the simulator]].

* 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 [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent her choice of career]], express their [[HumansAreMorons low opinion of her human friends]], [[CondescendingCompassion call her intellectually "slow"]], and tell her to come home to them so she can live a life more in accordance with ''[[ItsAllAboutMe their]]'' ideas of what's proper.

* Lt. Payne's death and funeral. He may have been just a RedShirt, 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.

* While downplayed Isaac's non-answer on how "awesome" it is to not feel anything will leave a mark.

* Claire's older son telling Isaac how bad he felt that his PartingWords to his mom was an argument. Thankfully when they get back in touch it's all tearful apologies and SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments.

* In the shuttle, with the Doctor and [[spoiler:her son dying]] and Issac holding her hand and the sympathetic look on his 'face'.

* The fact it really was AllForNothing. 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?

* His colleague's fate. He is spared the FateWorseThanDeath of electro-lobotomy, but he leaves behind a family, which Claire brings up in trying to shake Lewis out of it.

* 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 unfixable.

* 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.

* Ed does everything he can to [[spoiler:save a group of Krill children]] only to learn that his efforts [[spoiler: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]].

* [[spoiler:Despite their best efforts, and the likelihood that they're 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.]]

* Ed's confronting of Pria at the end of the episode, asking WasItAllALie, 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.

* 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 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.

-->"Space is vast, and cold, and lonely."