‘The Orville: New Horizons’ Recap – ‘Midnight Blue’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘The Orville: New Horizons’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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The game of 'what if?' is played often in fiction for one reason and one reason alone… to offer the reader or the viewer a warning of sorts. The kind that informs them what our world could potentially look like if we let certain types of evil persist and asking that question in fiction has brought about some powerful stories throughout the years, and it has helped to postulate some frightening possibilities. Since Fahrenheit 451 truly informed us of how easily the world can slip into censorship and of course, 1984, warned us of how easily we might surrender our freedoms under the promise of safety and protection. Not to mention, The Handmaid’s Tale is a powerful warning about how having the wrong people in the right positions in government, can easily lead to a horrific future for a free nation.

But what is truly fascinating about this aspect of storytelling, is that it offers no easy answers regarding how we stop such matters. It simply informs us that this is where we can go if there is no vigilance and awareness to the threats ahead. But now and again you run into stories that actually do offer answers and suggestions regarding how these potential outcomes could be avoided and that’s why The Orville: New Horizons on Hulu, is such a revolutionary science fiction story. Because it does just that, and often for that matter, making it a brave and bold series for certain. One that truly gives us pause with the topics and answers it presents us with and well… its ability to pull this off is top of mind today, because this wonderful aspect of the show, was once again front and center during this week’s stunning episode.

A feat that ‘Midnight Blue’ accomplished by having Commander Grayson and Lieutenant Commander Bortus swing by the all-female Moclan colony that was introduced in ‘Sanctuary’ to conduct the annual inspection that was part of the agreement made with the Moclan people to keep the women in this place from being forcibly removed and returned to Moclus. Which was a mission that was seemingly innocuous in nature. To the point where Topa came along to meet her hero, Heveena. But it didn’t take long for this mission to become something so much more, since Heveena asked Topa to help her break the treaty and smuggle female Moclans to the Sanctuary and her agreeing to that… prompted her kidnapping and torture at the hands of elite Moclan soldiers. Which then prompted a stunning rescue from Kelly and Bortus and the expulsion of the Moclus people from the Union, when their crimes against an innocent woman were revealed.

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Which is a story that serves as a powerful warning for the potential future ahead. Since Heveena’s network of smuggling could be viewed as an allegory for the worries now present regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the potential of things to come from that for women that have no options regarding their bodies or their choices. Not to mention the attitudes of the Moclans toward women, feel a touch too eerie and real here, as though we’re just watching some entitled dude bros or old school politicians say the loud part quiet when it comes to what they think of women. All of which makes this episode iconic in its own right and in the pantheon of classic science fiction for certain, and had the writer’s room left it at this, the story still would have stood upon its own. But it is the answers present here about what should come next regarding this kind of assault on human rights that elevates this episode to a whole new level.
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In that, the story poses the very real possibility that perhaps the time for discourse and civility has passed. Which of course, is not an endorsement for violence in the slightest, but that the time has come to quit accepting of the old and outdated views that people spew and expect to be in place when it comes to women. For it is 2022 after all, and women are indeed equals. So perhaps there should be less engaging or listening on such matters, and more calling to the carpet as Gordon did here and a turning of our backs on those who won’t listen or change. Because we’ve heard their nonsense and given it far too much power and well… all they are doing is impeding progress and holding the world back, so maybe it is time to leave them in their frozen little slice of history and let them stew while the rest of us move forward and forge a far better world where underground networks for basic human rights don’t ever have to exist.

Which is commentary that makes this, a powerfully poignant episode. One that really features a lot of incredible thoughts for us to ponder upon and it also takes us to task. And that is of course what great science fiction does from beginning to end and once again, all we can do is applaud this series for being so ambitious and intelligent, and for always taking the time to hold a mirror up to the world and demand that we see the problems plaguing us whether we want to or not. Because they’re not going away, not until we acknowledge and solve them. If anything, this is the kind of story that will be fawned over and dissected for years to come and rightfully so, since The Orville: New Horizons continues to lead the way in creating stories that demand analysis and attention, and all this episode does is leave us desperate for more of this brilliant saga and all the wondrous musings (and cameos, because let’s be honest, Dolly Parton popping up here was amazing) it is going to send our way. Until next time.

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Dolly Parton inspires Heveena (Rena Owen) in ‘The Orville: New Horizons’. (All Photos Courtesy of Hulu.)

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