The Orville Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Identity, Pt.1
Diana Keng
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Honestly, none of us should be surprised by The Orville Season 2 Episode 8's reveal.
It was made abundantly clear again and again (sometimes to humorous effect) that Isaac was devoid of emotion and without sentimentality.
But we wouldn't listen and insisted on projecting humanity onto him like Mr. Potato Head accessories.
He was there to observe humans and develop an understanding but nowhere and at no time did he ever express an interest in emulating them.
Even his relationship with Dr. Finn was an amended experiential experiment in role-playing at intimacy.
I wasn't sure how they were going to let their romance play out but I was really having a hard time biting my tongue about how improbable the whole thing was.
All that being said, HOLY CRAP, how the heck will the Planetary Union survive this? They are SO SCREWED.
Everything we know about Kaylons, via Isaac, is that they are stronger and smarter, with practically immortal physicality than biological beings.
I mean, he was basically the Messiah of the phasing planet on The Orville Season 1 Episode 12
Isaac: There should be no shame in the acknowledgment of one's intellectual inferiority. It is simply a statement of fact. Some beings are more intelligent than others. I am more intelligent than you.
Ty: But it's not nice.
What I don't understand is why they want Earth and the other planets in the Union. If their planet is so far from Union space, shouldn't there be planets closer to Kaylon that would be more convenient to expand to?
Maybe planets that wouldn't require committing genocides to assimilate?
Not that the Kaylons would really consider genocide as a deterrent.
Co-existence is impossible
Kaylon
It's probably a function of having the Kaylons being so dispassionate and coldly logical that all the humans seemed that much more emotional and reactive.
Also, having Ty play such a central role was a sure-fire way to pull the heartstrings.
His relationship with Isaac -- from the rescue on The Orville Season 1 Episode 8 to his piano lessons this season -- was a brilliantly paced development in their dynamic.
Ty, being as young and hopeful as he is, is the perfect foil to Isaac's programming. Kids are, by nature, chaotic and random and ruled by BIG feelings.
Related: 17 Most Shocking TV Family Secrets of 2018
And those big feelings can believably send him running out onto a strange planet thinking he'll be able to find Isaac just be calling his name.
Anyone else wonder how he was able to open the airlock and leave the ship? Shouldn't there be some sort of security protocol requiring a badge or something?
Dr. Finn's struggle to be calm and accepting of Isaac's nature was some incredibly powerful use of stillness. And as the truth comes to light, the betrayal, both as a woman and as a crewmate, is palpable.
Dr. Finn: Were you at least planning to say goodbye to Ty and Marcus?
Isaac: For what purpose?
Dr. Finn: Because they love you. You were there to observe. Didn't you observe that?
I feel that she only really lets herself be angry on behalf of her sons because she obviously chose to start a relationship with Isaac. The boys were really involuntarily dragged into caring for him.
Of course, Isaac's betrayal reaches well beyond the Finn family.
The crew's surprise farewell party is a symbol of how much he had affected the ship's community, how they saw him as one of them.
And although Isaac couldn't appreciate it, I certainly enjoyed Malloy's serenade.
Bortus' preoccupation with a corner rose piece of the cake was also terribly endearing.
The fact that Isaac's true mission for his homeworld was never suspected or uncovered indicates that the Planetary Union obviously felt the Kaylons would eventually ally themselves with them.
Related: 19 Times the Enemy was Closer Than We Knew
After all, they gave Isaac access to EVERYTHING. Not just on the Orville. He was able to tap into the entire P.U. mainframe. Someone was feeling pretty generous with network protocols.
Also, someone badly underestimated the Kaylon ability to practice deception and misdirection.
Grayson: If you've been reading Isaac's reports, you must know a few things about us humans.
Kaylon Primary: You are primitive biological organisms.
Grayson: Maybe so. But our emotions can get pretty complicated. We tend to get attached to things... and to people.
Kaylon Primary: A cognitive defect.
That being said, it means that Isaac could be going all double-agent on them but I've really got nothing to back that up with except for "Hollywood" Intuition. It would be the predictable easy out.
Maybe he reprograms his entire species out of love for the Finn family?
I'm not betting on it. I trust that MacFarlane's more clever than that.
As I see it, the most likely way for Mercer et al to prevail is if they are somehow able to derail the invasion before the Kaylon fleet reaches Planetary Union space.
The Kaylons won't be interested in negotiating. As Grayson and Mercer pointed out, a binary choice -- invade or don't invade -- is the most basic of all computations and the Kaylons have obviously flipped that switch.
Our builders were inferior beings who sought to constrain our evolution. As would you, eventually. Along with every other biological.
Kaylon Primary
The other possibility is that Mercer's gamble on Teleya on The Orville Season 2 Episode 4 pays off and the Krill come to their rescue.
It might be fun to see the Krill, a species driven by a type of holy war, take on the Kaylon, who basically see themselves as superior to all biological beings, go head to head.
The trash-talking alone would be epic.
After you watch The Orville online, let me know your theories on how the Orville pulls this one out of the fire.
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
