Greetings Orvillians! I, your friendly neighbourhood Redenblogger Matt Murphy has returned to talk about The Orville. Now I know I’m kind of cheating talking about an episode that aired a couple of months ago, but since Fox is giving us an encore of Identity Parts 1 and 2 to help quell the three week gap between new episodes, I figured that’s more than enough of an excuse for me to talk about this phenomenal near ninety minute chunk of pure greatness myself.

When the episode opens we see Isaac playing the then unknown game of Bolodon Discs with Ty and Marcus. We’ve seen these three together a few times in the series. I’m not sure if the show is going in this direction but it would be really interesting to see the long term effects Isaac’s parental guidance could have on humans. Ty seems to be incredibly smart and Marcus is no slouch either. I wonder if the longer the boys have Isaac’s influence in their lives the smarter they’ll become. Possibly more robotic and less emotional too. We could see them have different views on emotions and possibly value intelligence above humanity. Marcus is older and has more experience dealing with other biological beings, Ty on the other hand, puts a lot of stock in Isaac and may idolize and try to become as Kaylon like as possible. This is just one of the possible storylines that can arise from the fertile grounds of The Orville universe.

And I struggle with Uno…

In Identity Part 1 Isaac is deactivated and a trip to Kaylon 1 appears to the best chance to save him. I’m not sure if there is a Kaylon 2 and beyond or if the Kaylon are just so cocky that they know that any planet out there is a possible future Kaylon 2. Either way the Kaylon seem confident in there abilities. They did kind of kill the closest thing they knew to a god so I’ll allow their Kratos levels of confidence. The planet itself is really impressive. The VFX team knocked it out of the park. Unless you ask Bortus.

Those Moclans sure are hard to please.



Kaylon 1 is so epic it’s hard to describe. I really hope we get a prequel comic that follows the fall of the biological life on Kaylon as the machines take over. I’d love scene with the people who designed the Kaylon we know and have someone ask “Do they need those guns in their heads?” Only for the designer to reply “Of course! What’s the worst that could happen?”

I loved the way the Kaylon disabled the Orville and scanned it, before it could even get close to the planet. It underlines how the the Orville was in the palm of the Kaylon’s collective hand the entire time. The Kaylon never had any intention of joining the Union. They know first hand the cruel capabilities of biological beings. It’s quite sad that they Kaylon have become what they despise. They have this “never again,” mentality that has made them just as devoid of morals as their creators, if not more. The sad cycle of abuse is fully at play here. That’s the sign of good science fiction. When we’re still contemplating the full dynamics of the story, weeks after airing, not from a place of confusion, but intrigue.

Matters only get worse the more Ed and Kelly attempt to engage with the Kaylon. Kaylon Primary, their leader pretends that the Kaylon are considering joining the Union but really they’re just getting the last voluntary information they can get. I’m not certain if the Kaylon always planned to go after the Union by boarding one of their vessels. It might have been a best case scenario for them that they were planning while under the guise of accessing the information gathered by Isaac. After being burned so badly by the people that built them, I don’t think the Kaylon ever considered truly aligning with any other sentient lifeforms.

Isaac reveals that he will not be returning to the Orville. I didn’t think the show was going to lose such an awesome character but that didn’t make the discharge protocol any less sad. The going away party scene had everything you could want, the awesome vocals of Scott Grimes, an Oscar speech from Sally Field and an ever elusive corner piece. Gordon’s version of “Goodbye,” from Air Supply is one of my favorite moments from the show. If we don’t get a Gordon Malloy cover album, I’ll be more saddened than Bortus without a corner piece.

I can’t discuss Identity without mentioning Mark Jackson’s ongoing excellence in his portrayal of Isaac, I see a very bright future for him. From “A Happy Refrain” to this terrific two parter, the writers implemented some awesome ideas for our Kaylon comrade this season. Speaking of bright futures, I can only imagine what it’s like to be Kai Wener, the young actor who plays Ty Finn. Can you imagine getting to be on set of The Orville, let alone seeing yourself on TV in one of the best sci fi shows on the air? It must be surreal and I hope he’s enjoying every minute of it. Kudos to Kai, Mark and rest of the cast who have been awesome this season. Kai must be somewhat of a method actor too, since he himself drew the picture we see Ty give to Isaac.

One of the few on screen drawings from a child that don’t predict a horrific future.

As the story progresses, we learn that the Kaylon are not as warm and fuzzy as they appear! That’s right the tables have truly turned and the Kaylon are out for blood. Nobody puts a Kaylon in the corner. We learn that the Kaylon we’ve seen are the creations of the original Kaylon people. This raises some questions. Did the creators of the Kaylons have the same name? If not who were they? Was the planet renamed after it was taken over? I’d love to hear what you think about it in the comments!

When the jig is up and the Kaylon have no choice but to reveal themselves (and a couple head guns each) it’s a sad state of affairs as the Orville is commandeered by the Kaylon. Part 1 wraps up as Ed and the crew unwillingly lead an armada to earth. This was a hell of a cliff-hanger, I was fully hyped heading into part 2. If this show keeps delivering in this manor, we just might have an all time classic on our hands, or maybe that’s just a piece of Yaphit, either way I’m not mad at it.

If you want more of my thoughts on Identity Part 1, check out episode 5 of The Redenbacher Podcast! It’s much safer for your head than storing guns in there. We’re on YouTube, as seen in the link up above, as well as Podbean, Spotify and iTunes! The support last week was amazing, thank you so much.

Jes really managed to capture space, because this masterpiece takes my breathe away every time I see it. Check out his YouTube channel for more!

Before we get into Part 2 I want to share some art from the immensely talented Jes Ewers. He painted that lovely piece above and the one below. They’re both so gorgeous, they hit you like a giant cartoon mallet. If you’d like to see more of his remarkable work, maybe even purchase some, check out his website scifipainter.com! Jes told me that the piece below is half finished and he’s taking suggestions on Twitter if you have a name in mind for his painting of the Battle of Earth. My suggestion was “The Battle for Biological Life.” If you want to reach him, you can find him on Twitter @SciFiPainter.

Check out more on Instagram!

Now let’s get into the thrilling conclusion. Identity Part 2 opens with the crew of the Orville being held hostage in the shuttle bay. Sadly Gordon’s mention of New Jersey’s great bagels wasn’t enough to win over the mechanical minds of the Kaylon. It was a nice try but it’s back to the pee corner for you. Honestly of all the concepts The Orville has given us, the pee corner just might be what sticks with me the most. I love when the show references things that you’d never hear about in other shows, a pee corner being one of them.

I like the parallels of Identity Part 1 starting with Isaac getting knocked out and Part 2 has Talla taking some Kaylon fire and heading to the sick bay herself. It’s like poetry, it rhymes. Penny Johnson Jerald was great, as per usual. You could really feel Dr. Finn’s pain radiating off the screen. Her and the boys are effectively the heart of the show.

The Kaylon plot to have the crew of the Orville pretend that everything’s fine and act as if the Kaylon want to join the Union. This was quite clever. The faces of the crew says it all as they’re told about this plan. Having to consider aiding the enemy in attacking earth or face death is a hard pill to swallow and the crew’s expressions definitely reflected that.

This episode didn’t pull any punches. We see the USS Roosevelt destroyed as Ed tries his best to alert the Union to an incoming threat. This does a good job showing how powerful the Kaylon are and how serious the situation is. If only the Redenbacher was around back then.

The Kaylon attempt to punish Ed by taking it out on his crew. We see poor Mark Mammone get launched out of the airlock. Mark seems like a really laid back guy. He did an AMA on the USSOrville subreddit which was really cool of him, he even answered some of our questions. I’m glad he got a memorable death and hope to see more of the actor in the future, or at least a cameo in the upcoming comic.

One of my favorite aspects of this second part I how Isaac interacts with his fellow Kaylon. It’s hard to pinpoint what he’s really thinking early on. Which adds to the fun of a rewatch. We also learn he’s named for Isaac Newton, which is a bit of a twist. It’s interesting that Isaac is the Kaylon’s only link to humans and he’s also named after one.

I love that Yaphit is a key component in the plan to save not just crew but the future of the Union. He really earned that sapphire star. I love his Die Hardesque recuse mission. At one point in this episode I thought they may kill both Yaphit and Isaac and I’m incredibly thankful they didn’t. Such an awesome duo that almost mirror each other in a strange way. One is a robotic being with only eyes and the other is a living blob with only a mouth. I wonder if we’ll get another character with just a nose. Also I just realized. Where was Tharl in all of this? I assume Patrick Warburton was too busy at a Devil’s game.

Name me a better action hero, I’ll wait.

I liked the idea of sending Gordon and Kelly to find the Krill, if just for a chance to see Gordon flying a Krill ship. Really fun stuff and I’m glad the Union and the Krill found some common ground. I love how a discussion that involved one party asking if the other was high resulted in what ended up saving the day.

Dude, where’s my space vessel?

A message finds its way to earth as we get this near instant me of Admiral Halsey demanding that the fleet be recalled. Halsey knows that the Kaylon are not to be trifled with.

Thanks to reddit user MoffKalast for this gem.

In the podcast for this episode I mistakenly only praised the people Pixmondo but FuseFX also helped with the VFX in the gorgeous 8 minute battle scene we saw at the climax of the episode. Amazing job, I hope to see much more of your work in the years to come.

I’d love to see a sizzle reel for The Orville showing the battle for earth. Beyond epic, one of the best space battles I’ve seen on television. We’re in an age where movie level action sequences can be pulled off on television and its fantastic. I can’t wait to see what’s in store if we’re blessed with a season 3.

As I write this I’ve just realized that the Kaylon don’t even have mouths so I don’t know how they’re expected to wash it out with some Gordon, but I’ll let it slide, only because that gif is what dreams are made of.

That’s it for me this week folks. I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog as we await next weeks new episode “Sanctuary.” Check out episode 6 of The Redenbacher Podcast if you’d like to hear more of me talking Identity Part 2! Available below on YouTube as well as Podbean, Spotify and iTunes. Also there are some really cool puzzles being added to Orville Central if you like that sort of thing they’re under “puzzles.” Reminds me of the earlier days of the internet. Anyway, thanks everyone and keep watching the skies!