FOX
The second season of Fox’s hit show The Orville is quietly coming to an end with just two more episodes after this one. A character that I didn’t expect to have so much screen time and storylines dedicated to him was Bortus. Bortus and his fellow Moclans have been discussed many times throughout this season either in a serious matter or to poke fun at. In this week’s episode titled ‘Sanctuary’, Admiral Halsey informs Ed, Kelly, and Bortus that they need to upgrade some Union ships with more weapons in case of another Kaylon attack. Two Moclan engineers, Toren and his mate Korick arrive on the ship, but request to be left alone because they snuck something on the ship, and they are afraid they will get caught with what they brought aboard the ship: a baby girl.
Moclans are a society that is primarily male. Bortus and Kylden in Season 1 had a baby named Topa. Topa was originally born a girl, but Kylden refused to let Topa remain a girl since it was against their customs and morals to have a Moclan girl. It was a hard moment in Bortus’ relationship with Kylden and is once again revisited in this week’s new episode after their son Topa gets in trouble at school for pushing a girl to the ground. Kylden thinks males and females should be separated, but Bortus disagrees. The Orville writers created a lot of tension during the argument between Bortus and Kylden, which is something that has been building within the couple.
After both Bortus and Kylden defend themselves about Topa’s situation, The Orville crew learns that the two Moclan engineers are on the run because they don’t want their daughter to undergo gender reassignment. They want to take their daughter to safety and ask Bortus for his help. He helps the two by lying to Ed Mercer, so the couple can have what they need to leave. Mercer and other members of the crew learn about the baby on board after the couple shows Topa the baby and he tells his father Kylden.
The episode offers a switch-up by revealing that the couple aboard the ship has kidnapped the baby girl and plans to take her to a distant planet. Crew members follow the Moclans to a planet that has thousands of female Moclans. On the planet we learn that female Moclans either undergo gender reassignment, or they escape and go into hiding. I thought this was an interesting twist to what we already know about Moclan life. It wasn’t as impactful as the first time we saw a female Moclan, but to learn that there are thousands of female Moclans hiding from male Moclans is something I wasn’t expecting to happen.
The moral of letting men and women live peacefully together is brought up many times throughout this episode. The male Moclans will kill any female Moclans since it against their customs for a female Moclan to live. Members of the Orville disagree with that custom and head to the Union to help keep the females safe. I thought this message of giving everybody a chance to live was a powerful one and it was presented respectfully. It may seem that the Union can easily come to an agreement with helping the female Moclans, but it is more difficult than anticipated since male Moclans state that if the Union helps the female Moclans, they will stop producing weapons for the Union, which they need after the Kaylon attack. It puts the Union and Moclans in a predicament that will test their relationship.
The acting in this episode is more emotional compared to other episodes from this season. A few of the crew members believe in helping the female Moclans and it shows from actors such as Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki as they are trying to negotiate with male Moclans.
This episode provided a lot of insight into how other species view themselves and how their customs affect their lives. It was a relevant episode with a powerful message with some great acting. I wasn’t expecting this storyline to play out this way and it could drastically change relationships during the last two episodes airing soon.
The Orville airs Thursdays at 9:00 PM on Fox.
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