The Orville has wrapped Season 2 with a big episode. “The Road Not Taken” is technically part 2 of the previous episode, “Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, although it is treated more like a serialization than a two-parter. This review will reference the previous episode which was reviewed here. Coming into this episode, I was aware that Seth MacFarlane was planning something big, but I was curious to see if it could be as big or bigger than “Identity Part 2”. After watching the episode I can safely say that he succeeded in making it as big if not bigger. As usual, this review will not be a blow-by-blow recap of the episode, but rather, a breakdown of what made the episode tick. Needless to say, spoilers follow.

Adventure, Adventure and Adventure

The biggest thing that jumps out at me watching this episode is the adventure. Fox also touted it as the conclusion to a season of adventure. The episode moves from a snow planet, to the interior of an ice moon, to an alien freighter, to an asteroid field, to a forest resistance outpost, to the event horizon of a black hole, to a post-apocalyptic earth, to the bottom of the pacific ocean, to a crashed Orville, to the past. And all of this happened while trying to evade and fight off a bunch of killer robots.

All of this happened while trying to evade and fight off a bunch of killer robots.

Just think about what I just said, and think about the fact that this was compressed into a single hour of television. This could have been the plot of a movie and it would have been a pretty decent movie. It was just insane the amount of adventure and the number of different locales visited in this episode. I remember back in the 90’s when we tuned into Star Trek to see where we would be taken this week. The locale of the week usually defined that particular episode and the writers would put a lot of effort into giving you an interesting locale for that particular episode. Well, The Orville gave us at least 8 unique locales in this one episode and all of them were visually interesting. The action also flowed well and the pacing was excellent.

Intriguing Science Fiction

The “Identity” two-parter was the first time many people took The Orville seriously as it’s own sci-fi property. This episode further cemented that the show is not merely a Star Trek homage, but is committed to its own world and mythology. This was a thrill for me as a sci-fi fan in general.

Alternate timeline episodes are always intriguing because they allow us to explore scenarios we would otherwise only speculate about. The apocalyptic world presented in this episode made for great sci-fi. Seeing the Earth completely devastated and devoid of all life, including fish, was both eerie and fascinating.

The earth was both eerie and fascinating.

Seeing the moon destroyed with chunks and fragments of it adrift in space was also eerily fascinating. You never know how much you needed to see these things until they’re presented before you and that feeling of thrill and satisfaction comes over you.

I didn’t know it… but I needed to see this!

Seeing The Orville underwater and rising out of the Pacific Ocean was sci-fi gold, as was the shuttlecraft’s decent and entry into the shuttle bay. I appreciated the science presented in this scene as the pressure at that depth is taken into account.

Speaking of interesting science, I appreciated the sequence where the crew hides in the event horizon of the black hole, rendering them invisible by virtue of the fact that light can’t escape the event horizon. It’s also referenced how dangerous this maneuver is as you have to be in just the right spot to avoid because caught in the black hole.

Combine these sequences with a ship chase scene inside of an ice moon, and time travel that actually makes sense, and this episode is pure gold for a science fiction fan.

A Suspenseful Plot

Not only was the adventure exciting, but the plot was deliciously suspenseful. You couldn’t guess what was going to happen next or what locale we were going to move to. I also like how they reveal all the main characters over the course of the episode.

I like how they reveal all the main characters over the course of the episode.

We begin two characters later revealed to be Ed and Gordon, with no context of what happened to the others. Kelly, Talla, John and Claire are quickly added in a surprising and unforeseen way. Yaphit is another unexpected reveal and Bortus and Isaac are not seen until they find the Orville. Learning Bortus’ fate was probably the best of all these main character reveals and the revelation that Moclas was destroyed hit the audience just as hard as it hit Bortus.

Even when we finally fix the core problem of the episode it is done in a suspenseful way. The Kaylon were about to intercept the ship, which was being pushed dangerously beyond it’s power limits. It was anyone’s guess which situation would come to a head first, but the ship is ultimately destroyed before the Kaylon arrive. I just want to throw in here, that the destruction of the title ship is always a pleasure to see on screen.

The destruction of the title ship is always a pleasure to see on screen.

When we flash to past Kelly in her bed, we know Claire succeeded but even that portion wasn’t handled in the expected way. We see Kelly vanish into the future we had witnessed in the previous episode, and return again, but we see it entirely from the past. Claire then shows up in the past, after Kelly has been returned from the future, to administer the procedure. I expected Claire to return to The Orville but the way it unfolded was better for time travel logic and was ultimately more suspenseful by virtue of being unexpected.

The way it unfolded was better for time travel logic and was ultimately more suspenseful.



I also didn’t expect them to end the episode in Kelly’s past, but in retrospect, there really wasn’t a reason to go back to the Orville “present day” because it’s not like anyone would have known what had happened anyway so there would have been nothing to do. That decision also left us in suspense to see what further developments would ensue for Ed and Kelly.

Riveting Action

There were a few action pieces in this episode and all of them were riveting. I’ve been watching The Orville from the pilot, and waiting to see when the Krill would emerge as an epic threat, but Seth’s master plan was so much more intriguing that I could have hoped for. The Krill make a good villain for our heroes to bargain with, trying to find common ground. However, the Kaylon are entirely a more intriguing threat to deal with. There is no emotion to exploit, no empathy to appeal to, but at the same time, they’re not exactly evil because their decisions are motivated by logic. They were a riveting threat in the Identity two-parter, but this episode manages to raise the bar on how threatening the Kaylon can be. For the first time, we see their heads detach for an aerial assault, making them even more dangerous than before.

We see Kaylon heads detach for an aerial assault, making them more dangerous than before.

We also got confirmation that their spheres are manned by Kaylon crew, and we get to see their persistence as they keep searching for 2 hours after the crew hide in the black hole’s event horizon. They were a perfect threat for this episode because it wasn’t necessary to spend much time focusing on their intentions or motivations. We knew what they were wanted and they were just a storm to be weathered or avoided.

We got confirmation that the spheres are manned by Kaylon crew,

Done As Only The Orville Can Do It

There’s a lot to love in this episode as an adventure fan, a lot to love as a science fiction fan and a lot to love as an action fan. However, the thing that made my smile the most, is that there is a lot to love as an Orville fan. We can see seeming homages to Star Trek, Star Wars and other franchises, but in the mist of all those homages, the episode feels distinctively Orville.

On what other show would two Union officers risk life and limb to synthesize a Twinkie? On what other show would the entire population of earth be completely destroyed because someone didn’t go on a date? This finale was done as only The Orville can do it and they took every opportunity to continue building out their world.

The Calivon are mentioned for the first time since the first season episode “Command Performance”. It is revealed The Kaylon have not engaged them as yet, which is quite believable based on the interactions between Isaac and that race in the first season. They even paid homage to themselves with an Alara cameo.

They even paid homage to themselves with an Alara cameo.

While is appreciated seeing Alara again, there was a strange subtext to her relationship with John that is never defined or explored, which I think ruins her cameo somewhat. However, the fact that the show has reached a stage where it can pay homage to itself and do its own fan service just shows how the series has matured into a compelling science fiction property in its own right.

Conclusion

There is a lot more that can be said about this episode, but we can always do follow up articles. The musical score and cinematography was feature quality and can both be spoken of at length but let me just conclude by saying that this was a fitting conclusion to the season. When you look at the story beats setup in this season, Ed and Kelly’s relationship was established as a major theme in “Ja’loja”. That first episode also setup some seeds for Dr. Finn and Isaac’s relationship which would be paid off in “A Happy Refrain” and lead into the Kaylon threat, which would be an under current for the rest of the season. All these story beats are referenced in this finale, with Ed and Kelly’s relationship taking center stage. From Ed’s shuttle fly-by to spy on her in

“Ja’loja” to his brief entanglement with a Krill woman, to Kelly’s brief entanglement with a teacher, to Kelly changing their past, this was a fitting bookend to this season. This episode proved that Ed and Kelly are a thing whether they want it or not. Their relationship is integral to the show.

So I thought this was a great finale, save for the awkward Alara cameo that could have been handled better, and I would hope that the powers that be see it as evidence of the show’s strength. After this episode, I want a Season 3 now more than ever.