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Context Recap / TheOrvilleS1E11NewDimensions

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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normal_to_s1_e11_0900_11_new_dimensions.jpg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:Our first glimpse at John [=LaMarr=] in a high pressure situation. See; he's doing great!]]
3The Orville observes a TwoDSpace anomaly. While on the ship, Kelly tries getting John to put his surprising smarts to work.
4----
5!!Tropes:
6* TwoDSpace: The anomaly that damages the ship's engines, and that the ship and its crew are forced to travel through [[FlatWorld Flat World]] to hide from the Krill ships.
7* BiggerOnTheInside: The ship's engines are disabled partway through 2D space, so they have to use a shuttle to tow it to the nearest aperture into 3D space. Although the outside is flattened, they devised another quantum bubble that keeps the inside in three dimensions. At one point Mercer even gives a ShoutOut to trope namer ''Series/DoctorWho'' while discussing this.
8* BrickJoke:
9** Mercer notes that he passes a LizardFolk crew member in the halls and greets him with HeyYou because he can never remember the guy's name. Sure enough, he passes the guy in the hall after an argument with Kelly and does exactly that.
10** One of the engineers notes that he likes pancakes. When pancakes are used as a euphemism about the ship being flattened, he overhears and asks if they're talking about pancakes.
11* CallBack: When Yaphit goes to Sickbay, Claire grumbles that he's the last person she wanted to see. Guess she's still upset over [[Recap/TheOrvilleS1E09CupidsDagger what happened between them]].
12* ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject: When Gordon muses on how higher-dimensional beings may be observing them as they are observing 2-D space, specifically hinting at masturbation, Mercer decides to just change the subject without confirming what Gordon is getting at.
13* CharacterDevelopment: For [=LaMarr=]. Up until this point, he was just Gordon's TokenBlackFriend who fooled around a lot on the job. Turns out he has a reason [[IJustWantToBeNormal for being so unassuming.]]
14* ChekhovsGun: Finally goes off in this episode when Mercer finds out Kelly helped get him the position.
15* CurseCutShort: Invoked. After Mercer politely instructs the Horbalak ship to change course so they won't hit the quantum wake, the other ship's captain speaks to him in Horbalak. Isaac says that the direct translation is "You can shove it up your--" Mercer interrupts and says he gets the gist.
16* ADayInTheLimelight: The first time [=LaMarr=] gets some real focus (and no, [[Recap/TheOrvilleS1E07MajorityRule "Majority Rule"]] doesn't count).
17* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Yaphit reaching into Bortus' mouth to retrieve a piece of himself is reminiscent of tentacle porn. It could have been worse, though: Yaphit later indicates his piece was in Bortus' colon and he does give Bortus the option of using any orifice for the procedure before just going down his throat.
18* DoubleMeaningTitle: Both for the ''Orville'' exploring a new dimensional realm and [=LaMarr=] revealing a new dimension of himself.
19* EasilyForgiven: Considering his animosity towards [=LaMarr=] for the first half of the episode, by the second half Yaphit appears to be working well under him, with [=LaMarr=] sticking up for Yaphit when some crewmates criticize him. And no more is made of Yaphit's strongly-worded objection to Ed about [=LaMarr=] being promoted over him.
20* EldritchLocation: 2-D space is essentially a giant circuit board with electron-like lifeforms moving about its surface.
21* FantasticRacism: Yaphit accuses Mercer of possessing this when he learns that [=LaMarr=] is in the running for the job that otherwise would be his.
22* GeniusDitz: Lamarr, as it turns out. Despite coming off as an immature, unambitious prankster, he's actually a scientific genius, who's just never pushed to advance himself.
23* GodzillaThreshold: Normally, our heroes wouldn't consider flying into an anomaly that's already killed someone, but with their quantum drive offline and three Krill ships on their way, they need ''somewhere'' to hide.
24* HiddenDepths: [=LaMarr=], in spades, with his slack attitude and lack of ambition concealing a mind that's the most brilliant on the ship save Isaac's, and an inherent instinct for leadership.
25* HypocriticalHumor: [=LaMarr=] warns Mercer that the transition to 2-D space in the shuttle might be disorienting, only to vomit his guts out while Mercer doesn't seem to feel a thing.
26* InternalReveal: Mercer discovers that Kelly recommended him for command when she accidentally lets it slip during a discussion.
27* {{Irony}}: It was Yaphit lodging an official complaint against [=LaMarr=] that was the cause for Grayson to look at his file, which resulted in her convincing Mercer to give him a chance to prove himself, which resulted in [=LaMarr=] getting the position of Chief Engineer that Yaphit would have otherwise moved into.
28* JerkassHasAPoint: Yaphit has legitimate reason to be outraged at [=LaMarr=] being given a leadership opportunity and possible promotion to Chief Engineer; from Yaphit's point of view, without knowing [=LaMarr=]'s HiddenDepths, he's some slack-ass idiot being considered for a job he's utterly unqualified for, not to mention that he was specifically next in line for the position ''and'' was the victim of a rather cruel (if not outright dangerous) practical joke partially instigated by [=LaMarr=].
29* LiteralMinded: When they first his the quantum wake, Gordon jokingly suggests that they hit a squirrel. Isaac actually preforms a quick scan to check, and confirms that they did not hit a squirrel or any other rodent.
30* MeaningfulLook: After [=LaMarr=] deals with the engineering team's insulting of Yaphit, he grumbles that maybe now people will believe he isn't suited to be in command. Isaac looks up from what he's doing, and although he can't make facial expressions, he's clearly in disagreement.
31* NegativeSpaceWedgie: 2-D space is accessible through a flat anomaly that momentarily causes anything which passes through it to be flattened to two dimensions. This isn't so bad for technology when the effect ends, but living beings are made of constantly interacting cells which don't react well to sudden squishing.
32* OrificeInvasion: Yaphit has to stick a tentacle down Bortus' throat to grab a piece of himself that Bortus ate by mistake. Bortus initially protests, but Claire that the process is "cleaner" than any other option. While clearly not ''pleasant'', the process is pretty quick and leaves no physical injuries.
33* PutOnABus: Steve Newton leaves the crew to work on designing a space station.
34* RankUp: [=LaMarr=] is promoted to Lieutenant Commander and made Chief Engineer after proving himself in the crisis.
35* RealitySubtext: Yaphit may have a point about him not getting the promotion because of bias but that anger probably should've been directed at show runner [[Creator/SethMacfarlane Seth MacFarlane]]. If all other things are equal, it IS cheaper to film J. Lee than it is to render the CG Yaphit and add him in post (of course, putting J.Lee in some fanciful alien world would be more expensive than Yaphit walking around the hallway but that obviously is everything beside the characters being equal).
36* ShoutOut:
37** Mercer discusses ''Literature/{{Flatland}}'' with Kelly while in the 2D plane.
38** When discussing the BiggerOnTheInside example above, it's likened to the TARDIS, Oscar's trash can, and Snoopy's doghouse.
39** This episode is reminiscent to the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Parallax", where two officers are up for the job of Chief Engineer while relations between the two are less than amicable. Not to mention the part about the ship getting trapped in a NegativeSpaceWedgie.
40* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: Confronted by claims of racism by Yaphit, Ed defends himself by saying that he has gelatinous friends. Unsurprisingly, Yaphit is not impressed.
41* TallPoppySyndrome: [=LaMarr=] explains that the colony where he grew up was mostly farmers and such who tended to resent those of intelligence, so he hid his gifts to be accepted and never stopped doing so even after he left.
42* TooDumbToLive: The alien who ignores Mercer's warning to stay away from the NegativeSpaceWedgie.
43* UngratefulBastard: Mercer [[HeelRealization calls himself out on this]]. Once he gets over his insecurity about Kelly recommending him for command, he apologizes for being rude to her about it instead of thanking her, saying that he'd been a "whiny bitch".
44* WhamShot: The dead plants in the quarters after the ship hit the quantum wake, showing that whatever the ship hit is more dangerous than they thought.
45* WhatTheHellHero:
46** Kelly gives Gordon and [=LaMarr=] a dressing down for the incident with Yaphit.
47** Yaphit is incensed when he learns that [=LaMarr=] is being considered for Chief Engineer, despite Yaphit being next-in-line.
48** [=LaMarr=] calls out the engineering team for blaming Yaphit for the quantum bubble instability, as it was a sound idea at the time and [=LaMarr=] signed off on it without hesitation.
49* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: The basis of John's insecurity about showing off his true intelligence. He comes from a newer colony where most of the people are farmers and builders who looked down on the know-it-all kid that John originally was. So John [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretends to be less intelligent than he really is]] in order to better fit in.
50* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre:
51** Once he finds out that Kelly was the reason why he got a ship after the divorce, Ed promptly starts to doubt he's actually qualified to be in command, despite being told that the admiralty is convinced he's proven himself, something he's told directly by both Kelly ''and'' an actual admiral. He finally gets over it by the end of the episode.
52** [=LaMarr=] thinks he's totally unqualified to lead anyone, and grumbles such right after an excellent display of leadership, which Isaac clearly notices but doesn't comment on. Yet Kelly has faith that he has it in him, and she feels strongly about him getting a shot.
53* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Kelly Grayson's reaction when she pulls up John [=LaMarr=]'s file to place a reprimand on it and discovers that he earned some of the highest marks in Union Point's history.

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