FOX
The second season of Fox’s hit show The Orville has come to an end and I will say that I was impressed with its ending. Most of the storylines for this season never continued past one or two episodes. The second season offered some intense and well-thought out plot lines that I wished they would have continued. In the middle of the second season, Isaac’s fellow Kaylons attacked the Union with Isaac by their side. The 2-episode arc was some of the best episodes I have seen for the series, but they never felt like a threat after that episode, even though they were mentioned a few times after those episodes. Last week’s episode hinted at something larger, but I mentioned in my last review that they probably wouldn’t do anything with that storyline, but I was wrong. Last week we saw a past version of Kelly arrive on the Orville after an encounter with Isaac’s time travel experiments. The past Kelly witnessed how her life turned out after her second date with Ed Mercer, but when she returned back to her own time, the memory wipe failed and she said no to a second date with Ed, causing an alternate timeline that caused the destruction of Earth.
The episode started on a snowy mountain with Ed and Gordon on the run from the Kaylons. I was happy that the Kaylons were part of the season ending episode, but I didn’t know the context for their presence. As they fled from the Kaylons, they were caught by a much larger ship carrying passengers that we already knew, but Ed and Gordon didn’t. I knew that something was different and was excited to see how it would turn out. On the ship was Kelly, Claire, her two sons, LaMarr, and Talla, all members of the Orville for the past two seasons. Ed and Gordon didn’t know who they were, but Kelly explained that she visited the future and saw what happened after her first date with Ed and they ended dating, separated, and then worked together. She saw how her life turned out and when she got back to her time, she refused a second date with Ed because of what she saw. This caused many different things to happen such as Ed not working for the Union. Since he worked for the Union, he was able to stop the Kaylons. In this alternate timeline, he didn’t stop the Kaylons and they destroyed Earth.
Stories with time jumps and alternate universes always intrigue me and I thought The Orville handled it well. Some moments seemed a bit far-fetched, but overall it was explained well. It was interesting to see a different side to the main cast from what we already know. Some characters weren’t as strong as they used to be, but the episode gave enough time to the characters, so they could develop strong characteristics to make them similar to what we already know.
Many times, throughout this episode I was reminded of Star Wars. From the setting to certain events, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a lot was borrowed from that universe. When the crew arrived on a distant planet for assistance, the planet reminded me of Endor from Return of the Jedi. Even the technology inside the base located on the planet looked familiar. I usually don’t mind things like this, but at times, it seemed a bit much.
Halston Sage, who played Alara Kitan for all of Season 1 and part of Season 2, returned for a brief moment in this episode, which was nice. I actually prefer her replacement, Talla, but it was nice to see Halston Sage return for the season finale.
The last episode of Season 2 was well-planned out and offered enough thrilling moments to keep me entertained. I appreciated that the writers continued the story from last week’s episode into this episode. It has been my biggest complaint this season and I loved that I didn’t feel that way in the last episode. I haven’t heard anything yet about a third season of The Orville, but if it announced, I will watch it and continue to review it.
What do you think the season finale? Sound off in the comments below!
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