‘The Orville’ Recap: ‘Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I really have to hand it to the Writer’s Room of The Orville. Because week in and week out, this show seemingly finds new ways to surprise us and season two has been no exception to that rule. Because we’ve been privy to some incredible character growth this season, alongside some unexpected sequels to important plot points from season one and all of those elements really are the mark of great writing through and through. In fact, the writing is so good this year, that last night’s episode of the show, ‘Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes’, ended up finding new ways to surprise me, because at first glance, it seemed as though we were going to get quite the relaxed story.
 
Which made sense in my mind, since a week prior we said farewell to Lieutenant Alara Kitan, so going the chill route would allow for the audience to catch their breath and adjust to life without Alara on the Orville. If anything, it seemed as though this story was going to provide us with a gentle character study once again, something akin to the season premiere since it featured a pair of important personal decisions from Gordon and Ed since Gordon entered the command program because he felt as though he didn’t offer enough to the Union in his current role and as for Ed, well the captain finally felt it was the right time to reveal to the crew that he and Lieutenant Janel Tyler were an item before they ventured off on a romantic getaway together.
 
But that, is where the parallels to the season premiere came to a close and the surprises started coming our way. Because shortly after the Captain and Janel left the Orville, they found themselves surrounded and eventually captured by the Krill, and this age-old enemy of Ed’s, wanted his knowledge of fleet movements for their own military gain and if he didn’t comply, Janel would suffer great pain. Which means that Ed followed a unique Union protocol and gave them fake intel to save her life, only to later discover that Janel, was in fact Teleya, the Krill schoolteacher that Ed and Gordon met while undercover last year and the acts that Ed performed aboard her ship, prompted her to eventually join the cause and seek revenge against the captain. 

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Yet while that revelation alone and a little back and forth aboard the Krill vessel would have been enough to carry this episode, the show found a way to truly allow for Ed to attempt to  hash out his differences with Teleya by stranding them both on an alien world after a rival enemy attacked the ship and here…is where is here the show tipped its hand and revealed that it was about to become a fascinating parable on using kindness when it comes to dealing with people, we consider our enemies. Because Ed came to realize that his prior decisions aboard that ship had lasting negative impact, which meant it was time for a new way forward and rather than threaten or demand anything from his captor, he tried to find common ground with her, using their experiences together as a starting point for that, and while it seems as though he was unsuccessful, there were a few breakthroughs here and there, to the point where Teleya even trusted him to save her life when the chips were down.
 
But the most significant moment of the night, came about from what the captain decided to do with Teleya, upon his return to the Orville. Because Ed could have handed her over to Union security or exacted his own brand of revenge. But instead…he let Teleya go. All in the hopes that a true gesture of kindness would help her, and her people understand that perhaps the Union isn’t their enemy after all, and that perhaps both sides should talk and find common ground and this, this was just brilliant. For this is what you hope to see from a show set in the future where peace has been achieved on Earth; characters that are quite frankly, happy to be the bigger/better man or woman and hopefully, this gesture can lead to at least a dialogue between the Krill and the Union because Mercer was right in regard to how the fighting will go on until something catastrophic happens.
 
So, yeah, this one flat out took me off guard, because I really didn’t expect to see a sequel to ‘Krill’, but what a sequel it turned out to be since there’s so much to digest in this one and really, when all is said and done, this was a great episode. Because this one had everything; action, adventure, surprises and meaning and I love that in many ways, Mercer’s decision to exude kindness throughout this tale served as wonderful commentary for how we need to handle some of the problems that currently exist in our world. But while the commentary here was brilliant in its own right, what I’m more curious about, is the lasting impact of this incident on Captain Mercer. After all, the show loves to follow up on past plot points, and one has to wonder if there’s going to be some trepidation on Ed’s part going forward when it comes to the decisions he makes since this, hurt him deep. Until next time.  

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