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We are over halfway through the third season of The Orville: New Horizons and I’ve realized that this new season isn’t the same as the previous two seasons. A show that started off as funny and quirky is now focused on telling dramatic stories that mirror real world issues. The newest Orville episode, ‘A Tale of Two Topas’, is written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, which just shows how busy and talented the man is. Episode 5 revisits Topa, who was introduced earlier on in the series as the son of Bortus (Peter Macon) and Kylden (Chad L. Coleman).
A quick recap for anyone who is just joining the new season without watching previous seasons, Topa was originally born a female, the Moclan government surgically changed Topa’s sex to male shortly after birth because of Moclan laws and traditions. In this episode, Topa (Imani Pullum) is struggling with the fact that he is a boy and doesn’t know who he really is. He opens up to Commander Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) about his desire to start command training so he can apply to become a Union officer. He believes that becoming a Union officer will give him peace and a purpose.
Grayson discusses Topa’s gender identity with Klyden and Bortus, which ends with both Moclans angry that Grayson would even bring up the subject. Everyone shares their thoughts on the issue and both sides of the argument are managed well. Pullum is the real star of this episode as she brings an emotional level to the character that makes this episode a real tearjerker.
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There is a lot of back and forth between Palicki, Macon, Coleman and Pullum as they discuss Topa and what’s best for her. Pullum perfectly captures the confusion about their identity and longing to find out who she really is. From the beginning of the episode, Topa has been unhappy and brings up the discussion of protecting the child or following the Moclan laws. Palicki shows off a motherly side, which is a nice development for the character. There are a lot of emotional scenes from the four main characters within this episode. MacFarlane shows how capable he is to write an emotional story, while aligning with current topics.
In the end, Topa goes through gender reassignment once again. Isaac is the only one that can perform the procedure since he is a non-Union officer. Mercer and others can’t perform the surgery due to Union politics. Without getting too much into politics, it mirrors current issues like the overturn of Roe v Wade.
As we learn more about Kylden’s and Bortus’ upbringings, it brings light to their decision to change Topa’s gender from female to male. The conversations about Moclan traditions and what is best for Topa add a lot of development to characters that have little screen time throughout the series. I only hope that upcoming episodes explore Topa and how she is dealing with her gender reassignment.
The Orville: New Horizons continues its trend of dramatic episodes rather than space adventures with comedy. MacFarlane offers some brief humor within the episode, but it’s mostly an episode that features heavy subjects. If this trend continues, we could be looking at the best season of The Orville yet.
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
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