The Orville: Identity Part 1 and 2

The Orville: Identity Part 1 and 2 

Wow, what a great episode. I've generally enjoyed the Orville and its connections to TNG. However, this episode is more like DS9 or TNG movies. Since part 2 wasn't showing up on the cable On Demand bar, I decided to watch the episode on Fox's website instead. On my Chromebook, the episode looked crisp and clean.  

Anyway, this two-part episode might go down as one of Orville's best series of episodes period. Whereas there have been a lot of great character episodes this season, these two episodes are more akin to the Dominion arc stuff or Best of Both Worlds. It is a serious story that has been carried through the background of the entire series. Isaac's mission was to observe the Union and humans, in general, to see if Isaac's race wanted to join the Union. The kicker is the Kaylon were observing us under false pretenses. In reality, they were deciding if to destroy the Union and all biological life in the galaxy. It is a nice turn on the idea given at the beginning with Isaac. It is a dark twist worthy of the Dominion. 

Isaac is an interesting character. He has some similarities to Data, but he also has some familiar traits to Legion from the Mass Effect series. Like Legion, kindness does have an effect on him and changes him despite his affirmation that he has no emotions. I like that Kaylons have a more intense view of biologicals instead of the Geth. The Geth didn't want to fully wipe out their creators but push them out .

The Krill play key role in the plot of the episode's final act. Seeing the Krill come in the last few moments of the battle was amazing. The battle reminds me of the epic battles in DS9. You have two enemies putting aside their differences to fight a greater enemy. It reminds me of the Klingon/Federation relationship. Due to the Kaylons being a major threat, could we be seeing the Union and Krill actually bonding for a greater good? 

And, seeing Captain Mercer imploring the Krill commander to keep an open mind shows that Mercer is still an idealist. While he is no Picard, he does believe it is good in people. 

The battle itself is an amazing sight to behold. It is a huge battle with hundreds of ships of all sizes bouncing around. The use of colors for the various factions showed you the different hits and explosions.  A lot of ships were lost in this eye candy moment. 

While I had some issues with The Orville relying on relationship stories, which is its weaker points, its character moments are far better aspects and these two episodes let everyone shine and bring something to the table in order to save the galaxy. These are characters that have been built up to this point. That's smart continuity.  

Speaking of continuity, these two episodes are a payoff of everything built up from the last two seasons. The Orville is in an interesting place. It has one foot in the past with its induvial storytelling aspects in each episode. On the other foot, the show does have story progression and things will carry over from each episode in some manner. The relationship with the Krill has improved somewhat give the other earlier episodes. And, some of the things that have happened in the past do get mentioned here. 

So, the show revealed all its goods and it is an amazing ride. The Orville does Star Trek better than the actual current Trek production.   This was a great episode and it was a lot of fun.