Whoa, time does get away from me sometimes. There’s another episode tonight and I haven’t even reviewed last week’s episode yet! Shame on me.
Still, I can’t be blamed too much as this episode was a bit lackluster after the Isaac two-parter. I would’ve liked to have seen some kind of aftermath of that episode but other than Yaphet the blob getting a medal, it appears to be all but forgotten.
I’m certain it will come around again but I kept thinking of the superb episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Family.
It dealt with the aftermath of the borg crisis and it would’ve been nice to see that here.
The Krill have agreed to sign a deal to agree to start peace talks. For a warlike race, this seems remarkably bureaucratic. The Orville is ordered to make it happen.
Unfortunately just as they arrive at the rendezvous, a shuttle escapes the Krill ship and makes a beeline for the Orville, requesting asylum.
It turns out it is an old friend of Malloy’s named Chambers who has been missing for twenty years. This guy has been in a Krill prison camp with his now-grown daughter after he was captured and his wife was killed.
Malloy was saved by that act.
But no one quite trusts Chambers. He has a lot of anger understandably and keeps going to where he shouldn’t go but they can’t find any proof of any explosives or weapons that back up the Krill’s charges.
Chambers is wanted by the Krill for blowing up Krill ships which he denies. Immediately I see where this is going. Chambers uses his friendship and Malloy’s guilt to steal a shuttle and make a suicide run on the Krill delegation ship.
Turns out the “daughter” is actually another species that bleeds some kind of substance that is very explosive when exposed to nitrogen. She drops the act when found out, and they quarantine her. It’s a clever way to get around the explosive issue.
Malloy made this a ruse but couldn’t get Chambers to go back with him. In the end, he saved the Krill but his friend killed himself.
So this episode is fairly solid but not exceptional. It was quite obvious what was going on here but Chambers was relatable enough to keep interested in the journey. I didn’t figure out the “how” until the reveal of the blood so kudos for surprising me.
It was also nice to see Malloy play more than comic relief. We also get a little more depth on his and Ed’s friendship as Ed confesses that he really can’t stop being the captain around anyone else but Malloy.
Maybe I did enjoy this episode! It’s above-average but the predictability and placement after the great two-parter really held it back.
