The Orville 2.12

Sanctuary

Bortus helps a couple Moclans who are transporting a female child to go undetected while aboard the Orville. He gets dressed down by Captain Mercer after the Moclans have left for not sharing the secret with him. Ed points out that Bortus did not verify that the Moclans were on the up and up, he just accepted their word that they were being honest with him.

Topa, Bortus' son, has trouble in school after he shoves a girl and calls her inferior because she is a girl. Tope learned such behavior from Klyden. This makes Bortus angry and he has words with Klyden after sending Topa to his room.

The Orville goes after the ship that the Moclans boarded after leaving the Orville. They figure out where it went and discover a colony of mostly female Moclans. Ed proposes to the leader of the colony, which has more than 6000 residents, that they apply for membership in the Planetary Union in order to gain protection for their new home planet.

A meeting of the the Planetary Union is held on Earth. The Moclan colony applies for membership in the Planetary Union. The Moclan government objects. The Moclans preemptively send a battle cruise to round up all the female Moclans and bring them back for corrective surgery. Kelly and Bortus help the women of the colony fight back while Ed is on Earth advocating for the colony along with its leader.

Thoughts

This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation). Frakes also directed episode 1.05 (Pria) of The Orville.

Marina Sirtis (Couselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation) played the part of the school teacher aboard the Orville. I didn't recognize her when I saw her but when I heard her speak I thought to myself that she sounded just like Marina Sirtis.

The reslution to the B-plot was less explosive or consequential than I expected it to be. I will be disappointed if there isn't some follow-up in one of the last couple episodes of the season.

Heveena, the leader of the colony quotes the words of Dolly Parton (lines from the song 9 to 5) after being introduced to Dolly Parton's music by Ed while they are flying to Earth. Heveena was also in 1.03 (About a Girl).

I don't believe that the colony, or the planet that it was on, were ever given a name.

This was an excellent episode. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure exactly how it would end but I doubted that it would end quite on quite as down a note as 1.03 (About a Girl) did. They did wrap it up a little too quickly for me but I'm not sure what would have satisfied me more other than something different.