I really, deeply hope we get word of renewal soon. The show just keeps maintaining this streak of great storytelling, and I want it to continue.
In general, I agree. But this is the classic - and stupid - Trek trope of setting up a high-stakes no-win situation and then completely whiffing it. I prefer shows that play for keeps.
I disagree. I was surprised and a bit disappointed that things didn't fall apart as drastically as it seemed they were being set up to, but so far the show has earned enough trust from me that I can believe this is setup instead of a "whiffing-it" situation. The Union has bought themselves some time to try more diplomacy, which has a hopeful sense of avoiding the crisis, but that's just going to make it even worse when things do fall apart (and I think it's very likely it will). Also, possibly, they didn't want to leave things in a broken state for the end of the season without a renewal? This way there's the possibility that everything is resolved (eventually) if we never get any more Orville, instead of starting a war we'll have no resolution on.
I think Klyden's skull is just too thick for any sense to get inside it. Something is going to have to knock some sense into him.
Something like Topa discovering what was done to him and distancing himself from the responsible party? I think it's going to get worse for Klyden before it gets better. Much worse. If the Moclans do split from the Union, that's going to give us Klyden leaving the ship and Bortus staying on board. A perfectly poised personal reflection of the political problem. Where will that leave Topa?
I meant even going into another season, if it does continue. This episode really did feel like a nice stopping point after a lot of build up, so hopefully they will just stop here for a while if the show continues beyond the next two episodes.
It seemed like the opposite, to me. This is yet another step on what appears to be a plan to test the Union. I'm loving this plot. I loathe suggestions that people make for "Fall of the Federation" storylines, so I love that this show is engaging with the notion of a Utopia instead of taking it as a given, and asking what it takes to preserve one and what kind of shape it would have. I think that's the big difference for me between this and those dark-and-edgy premises I've seen thrown about for a future Trek. It's also really mature storytelling despite the comedy trappings, and I have to congratulate the show for not only tackling them to varying degrees of success but doing so this early in its run. It knows the kinds of assumptions the viewers are bringing and what it can use as a basis to expedite the conversation, while still giving us a nice build-up of the Orville-specific features as necessary.
Lots of animus towards Klyden. He was born a female and then his parents had him surgically altered to be a male. He didn't find out about his gender change until much later. It had to be shocking for him. He didn't tell Bortus about his gender change before they had Topa because he was afraid Bortus would leave him. Maybe he is trying to strictly adhere to Moclan ideals because of his fear of being outed as less than Moclan. He seems to have a lot of fears. He seems rather pitiful to me.
I think Klyden is repressing/compensating. My reading of the character's reactions to the Moclan traditions, in this season especially, reflect someone who is very strongly attached to affirming those rules and cultural expectations, because anything less would be an admission of the violation done to Klyden as a child. He has to enforce them and believe in them whole-heartedly, or else risk feeling the guilt of being complicit in passing that abuse onto his own child, despite being a victim himself. These are not easy things to admit or deal with, so he doubles down on every strict rule and expectation because doing so
justifies everything done to him and Topa.
The whole feel of things, the look of things, the music...
