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Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville: New Horizons is slowly ending and with every new episode, it takes a chance with its dramatic tone, and it pays off. Each new episode feels personal and bigger than the last one. Episode 7, ‘From Unknown Graves’, offers plenty of storylines, but gives depth to the show’s most threatening villains, the Kaylons.
The episode opens with two alien children excited to see that their father is pulling into the driveway. When he enters the home, the children ask if he brought a gift home for them. He brings in a large crate that contains a Kaylon. We see several sequences where the Kaylon is ordered around by the family. The family starts to abuse the Kaylon, which leads to the makers of the Kaylon to be wiped out.
While Commander Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) and Lieutenant Keyali (Jessica Szohr) try to convince a new group of species to join the Union, Captain Mercer (Seth MacFarlane), Bortus (Peter Macon), Malloy (Scott Grimes), and Burke (Anne Winters) are on Citula 4, an abandoned planet. There they discover Timmis, a Kaylon, which they are immediately threatened by. As they draw their weapons, they are stopped by Doctor Villka (Eliza Taylor), an alien who explains that she and her father found Timmis after the battle with the Union. They decided to repair him, but also gave him a full spectrum of emotions.
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Timmis’ arrival is important to the story as Isaac eventually goes through with the same procedure that Timmis went through to achieve a full range of emotions. Once the procedure is finished, Isaac lets all his emotions out, which leads to one of the best performances in an Orville episode from Mark Jackson. It strengthened many relationships such as his relationship with Doctor Finn. Isaac regrets how he has treated Doctor Finn and her children, which moves this character forward in the right step. Finn and Isaac have a heartwarming sequence where they express their love for each other, which is something I thought I would never would have seen in the series. Since Isaac is a newer Kaylon model compared to Timmis, Isaac can’t keep his full range of emotions and keep his memory. One must be wiped away to keep the other. He deices to keep his memory but not without an emotion, a brief scene that truly captures their love. The series has showed a lot of continuity lately with how Burke has slowly started opening up more to Isaac. With Timmis’ arrival, she now understands what the Kaylons have gone through. She can relate to their pain after hearing their story.
There is a lot of maturity in this episode as it tackles empathy and regret. Characters have been bottling up emotions toward each other and the encounter with Timmis and Villka allowed for the characters to express their feelings. There are several storylines competing with each other, but it works the best when it is focused on the characters and how it pushes them to be the best version of themselves. This character driven episode offers plenty of interactions with members on board the ship to test the relationships.
I was surprised with the development the Kaylons got. Everything that the Kaylons went through paints a more dramatic look at them. It doesn’t erase what happened between them and the Union but does help Burke with her feelings toward Isaac. Episode 7 is one of the stronger episodes so far this season, and even if there are a few weaker storylines, it does connect characters in many ways.
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
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