'The Orville' Recap: 'Krill'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

When we take a moment and think about our enemies, our blood will often boil. After all, these are people that have wronged us and hurt us and we want nothing more than to see our enemies fade from our lives so that we never have to think about them again. Most of us, do everything we can to avoid our enemies, so we can live a life free of the negativity they send our way, but sometimes...well sometimes it seems that can simply never happen, and we find ourselves in a perpetual battle with our nemesis. It is that never ending back and forth, that is something central to good storytelling, because what are the good guys without their nemesis? But sometimes we often forget, that bad people, are still people.

Yes they do awful, awful things, but they believe that their cause is just and necessary and it is the reasons behind what our enemies do that oddly enough became central to the story of last night's episode of The Orville. Because 'Krill', took us deep into the world of these mysterious and aggressive interstellar beings and what we learned about them last night...was nothing short of fascinating as the series delivered another wonderfully thought provoking episode. If anything, this particular tale may be the most intelligent episode of the series to date, simply because of how relevant it is to modern times and really, its analysis of the Krill and their culture focused on three important areas and concepts; the power of religion and how it can drive a society, that the darker parts to people is something they sometimes learn and most importantly, the need to take the time to understand other cultures.

It accomplished all of this, by sending Mercer and Malloy on a mission where they were forced to infiltrate a Krill vessel in the hopes of learning more about these aggressive aliens and it didn't take long for us to learn that they are a species driven by religion. They believe in a deity named Avis, yes, just like the car rental company, which led to many a wonderful joke from Malloy, and that Avis has bestowed upon them, the honor of being the finest species in the Galaxy and his teachings, found in the Ankana (the Krill equivalent of The Bible), remind them to go out and remove inferior species from the face of existence so that the Krill and Avis' teachings stand above all things and well, here was our real world parallel, for there are religions that currently believe this on Earth and it was fascinating and chilling to see how much these beliefs mean to the Krill, and how their unwavering faith drives them and while it seemed this was more an observation, this fascinating vignette would come back to haunt both the audience and Mercer. 

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But before that could happen, the story took quite a left turn by showing all of us that cultures that feed off of religion in this form and fashion don't just spring up overnight, it's something that is taught since Mercer and Malloy were able to step into a Krill classroom and see what their young learn first hand and goodness, was this a fascinating twist. Because day in and day out, these Krill children are taught that humans are an inferior and soulless species that should not and cannot exist, and what made this part of the story so heartbreaking, was the innocence these children displayed. Because despite the lessons presented to them, they were still inherently curious as to all things humanity and what made mankind tick and it was just devastating to know that despite Mercer's best efforts to make peace here by way of sparing their lives, that his efforts would eventually be all for naught.

Because this is where the religion theme came back to haunt our favorite captain, since he and Malloy were forced to put down the crew to save a Union Farming Colony from being wiped out by a Krill super weapon, and after saving the day it was pointed out to him, that these children would grow up to see him as the enemy one way or another and well, it's true. They will go back to the Krill home world, and be taught that mankind is a species hell bent on deception and that man murdered everyone on board to instill fear in the innocent and send the message that they want the Krill gone from existence and in turn these children will rally behind Avis' teachings and believe even more that their cause is just and true and well, that was quite the devastating way to end the episode. But really, the moral message of this one was clear, we as a species have to take the time to understand one another and our respective cultures if we ever expect to get along and in many ways, the Krill served as the allegory for humanity and our ability for us to often believe that our respective way is the only way in life and that if we cannot take the time to understand and respect one another, the conflicts we suffer from will continue along and finding a way to slip that message into the story once again proves that The Orville is hands down the smartest science fiction show on television right now. 

It's also one of the funniest as well, because wow, did this plot line allow for Scott Grimes and Seth MacFarlane to improvise and riff in amazing fashion and their fine comedic timing this week made for some beautiful moments of levity and some hearty laughter. Either way, what a brilliant, brilliant episode and I love the fact that the Krill were presented with incredible depth in this story and it should be interesting to see what comes out of this whole incident since the Union now has their hands on Krill technology and a copy of the Ankana and a day after this one, my mind is still reeling over how incredible this episode turned out to be. After all, it's rare that any story forces me think twice about taking the time to understand the perspective of those that have done me wrong regardless of what they've done and really, this is what television should be doing on a regular basis; challenging the audience with intelligent stories filled with just enough depth and entertainment to leave the casual fan and those looking for more, satisfied, and considering the fact that The Orville is only getting bolder and stronger in telling these kinds of stories, who knows what kind of stunning adventures are waiting for us down the road...until next time...

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