The Orville season 2, episode 10 recap: Blood of Patriots

The successful collaboration between the Krill and the Union to defeat the Kaylons in the last episode leads into this episode of The Orville where Ed tries to lead the Union into the beginnings of a peace treaty between the two races.

The episode of The Orville opens with Yaphit getting the Sapphire Star award for his efforts during the Kaylon conflict from Ed. The whole crew, that has gathered in the cafeteria, applauds him.

As the crew celebrates and drinks, Gordon brings over shots for some of the higher-ups, but Ed only pretends to drink his. Instead, opting to dump it over his shoulder.

Before his crew can ridicule him for the move too much, he gets a call from the bridge that Admiral Perry wants to talk to him and Kelly immediately.

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Admiral Perry says that the Union wants Ed to head up talks with the Krill. The Kaylon conflict opened the door for the two sides to talk and Ed, since he’s really the only person who has had direct non-war dealings with the Krill, is the most qualified.

They hope to get the Krill to sign a document that will act as a prelude to a peace treaty. Once signed, the real negotiations can begin.

The Orville meets up with a Krill ship, but as soon as they arrive, the Krill start firing on one of their own shuttles for some unknown reason. The Krill shuttle requests emergency docking, which Ed grants.

After the shuttle is on board the Orville, the crew finds the (human) pilot passed out and a terrified woman on board. When Claire tries to examine the woman, the woman cowers in a corner.

As Gordon looks around, he notices that he knows the pilot, Orin.

Back on the bridge, Ed talks to the Krill who demand Orin back, saying he’s a criminal who destroyed four Krill ships during the ceasefire. They say he has a powerful weapon and they want to interrogate him to find out how he destroyed their ships.

Ed, still trying to figure out what is going on, asks the Krill to come on board so they can talk things through. When he ends the call with the Krill, he asks Talla to stall them to give him some time to try to find out more information before they talk.

Gordon walks with Ed to the medical bay and explains that he knows Orin from early in their careers. Orin saved his life during a surprise Krill attack.

During the attack, Orin’s wife died and it was assumed Orin and his daughter had died too.

In the medical bay, Claire is able to wake Orin up. Orin explains that his daughter, Layna (the woman), won’t let people examine her because of what she went through being brought up in a prison camp. Orin assures Claire that Layna is healthy, Layna just needs to learn to trust her new surroundings.

When Gordon and Ed arrive, Orin is glad to see Gordon. Orin tells them all that they were in the Krill prison for 20 years and barely escape. He says he doesn’t know anything about the destroyed Krill ships.

Later, Gordon comes into Ed’s office. Ed is looking for confirmation in the Union database of the Krill ships being destroyed.

Gordon starts to worry that Ed is going to turn Orin, his friend, over to the Krill. But, Ed says he isn’t going to do that. Gordon tells Ed that Orin is a good guy. Ed replies that this situation puts him in a really tough spot.

In the meeting room, Kelly and Ed sit down with the Krill leaders. The Krill ask when they can expect the criminal back. Kelly says the girl needs time to heal.

The Krill shoot back saying that tens of thousands of Krill died when the ships were destroyed. They’re not sure how Orin destroyed the ships, but they’re intent on interrogating him to find out. Kelly and Ed try to reason with the Krill, but the Krill reason that the life of Orin should be worth the sacrifice for the over 12,000 Krill that he killed.

Finally, the Krill says there’ll be no peace talks if they don’t get Orin back. They tell Ed that they’ll return in 12 hours. If Orin isn’t returned to them, their meeting will become a battleground.

Elsewhere, Gordon and Orin catch up while Layna plays a game. Orin tells Gordon that prison was tough on Layna, especially since she hadn’t received any sort of Union training.

Gordon thanks Orin for saving his life during the Krill attack way back when. Orin says that Gordon doesn’t owe him anything. They then talk about Orin losing his wife and the fact that he’s had a tough time dealing with life without her.

Eventually, Orin tells Gordon that peace with the Krill would be a mistake. Gordon tries to explain that peace could potentially give some sort of meaning to Orin’s wife’s death. This infuriates Orin who says that a peace treaty would be the equivalent of forgiving the Krill for all of the atrocities they’ve committed over the years. Frustrated, Orin says he’s tired and needs sleep and heads off to bed.

Later, Ed goes to Talla’s office and asks her what her impression is of Orin. She admits that she doesn’t trust him, though she doesn’t really have a solid reason why. She says she didn’t find any weapons when she checked the shuttle. Ed asks her to keep an eye on him.

Down in engineering, Orin is walking around and is met by John. Orin mentions how much things have advanced since he was last on a Union ship. John invites Orin to have a look around.

Orin wanders to a back storage room and looks around briefly before seemingly starting to go through drawers looking for something. Just then, Talla comes in and catches him. Orin simply says he was having a look around.

Talla reports the incident to Kelly and Ed and Kelly tells her to have John make sure nothing is missing.

Running out of time, Ed calls Admiral Perry. Admiral Perry tells Ed again that it’s imperative that Ed get the Krill to sign the document so peace negotiations can begin. Admiral Perry also tells Ed that the Admirals are considering extraditing Orin, but only if he’s guilty. It’s better, he says, to hand Orin over than to let thousands more die at the hands of the Kaylons.

The pressure is on for Ed to find out if Orin is actually guilty.

In Gordon’s quarters, he’s showing Layna Planet of the Apes. She still hasn’t said a word. Gordon says that maybe one day her dad will take her to the real Earth.

Ed comes in and asks to talk to Gordon alone. He asks if there’s anything he should know about Orin, anything that may show he violated the ceasefire. Gordon adamantly defends Orin, saying Orin is the most loyal person he knows.

After hearing what the Admirals are considering, Gordon tells Ed that Orin says the peace treaty is a mistake and now he agrees. When Ed tries to push back, Gordon claims that Ed is just jealous of his friendship with Orin.

Finally, Gordon tells Ed that Orin is a Union officer and Ed needs to do his job and protect him.

Gordon takes Layna back to Orin’s quarters and asks if he violated the ceasefire. He also tells Orin about the Admirals considering extraditing him. Something switches in Orin and he says they have to act quickly. He asks Gordon to get him a shuttle, saying that he can stop the ceasefire from happening.

When Gordon says no, Orin throws the fact that he saved Gordon’s life back in Gordon’s face. Orin says to not make him regret the sacrifice he made.

In engineering, John goes to get something from the back room and looks in the drawer that Orin was snooping in. He finds two quantum storage cells missing. He goes to the bridge and reports it. Talla still says she didn’t find any weapons of any kind. Another piece to the puzzle, but they’re not sure what it means.

Gordon is unusually silent during the conversation.

Later, Gordon goes to Talla’s office and asks if she wants to get a drink. Oddly, he doesn’t want to go to the cafeteria. He wants the drink in her office. She agrees.

Gordon seems nervous as he quickly downs his drink. He finally tells Talla that Orin asked him to steal a shuttle earlier that day. He says Orin wouldn’t say what his plan was. Gordon then admits that he’s struggling with the implications of betraying the friend who saved his life.

Finally, he asks Talla not to tell Ed. He wants to tell Ed himself.

This cuts to Gordon going to Orin’s room and telling him “let’s go.”

The two sneak through the ship to the shuttle bay. However, they’re met by Talla as soon as they get there. Gordon shoots and stuns Talla and the two men get on the shuttle and warp away from the Orville.

Back on the bridge, we find out that this was all a plan. Gordon was acting and the shuttle is being tracked. It’s a last-ditch effort for Ed to figure out what Orin’s plans actually are. He has 30 minutes to figure it out before the Krill return.

On the shuttle, Orin tells Gordon to set a course to intercept the Krill ship.

The bridge can’t figure out what is going on with the course of the shuttle, but they can’t reach out to Gordon because that’ll tip Orin off to their plan.

Talla goes to check in on Layna and sees strange marks on her arm. She says the marks need to be checked out and she calls Claire. Just then, Layna jumps up and puts a knife to Talla’s neck, telling her to tell Claire not to come.

Unfortunately for Layna, she doesn’t know how strong Talla is. Talla easily tosses Layna across the room. When Layna gets up, Talla sees that Layna is bleeding orange.

Claire arrives and, once she sees Layna, she immediately tells Talla to stay away from Layna. Claire pulls Talla out of the room and tells her to lock the door. Claire then calls the bridge and tells them to put a strong forcefield around the room and remove all of the nitrogen.

Claire explains that the woman in that room is definitely not Orin’s daughter. In fact, she’s a humanoid from another star system. Her blood, mixed with nitrogen, can become unstable and explosive. There was an agreement between her people and the Union that they’ll never visit nitrogen-rich atmospheres.

The crew realizes that Orin had been using her blood to destroy Krill ships. He had used the storage cells to transport the woman’s blood. He’s using the shuttle as a suicide mission to destroy the Krill ship. The Orville sets a course to intercept the shuttle.

On the shuttle, Gordon demands to know what is going on or he’s stopping the shuttle where they are. Orin finally explains that Layna died with his wife and he found the other woman at an outpost after his escape.

Gordon pulls a gun on Orin, furious that his friend had lied to him. Orin rant and raves about the pain the Krill put him through over the years. He then uses this opportunity to jump Gordon and struggle for the gun.

Eventually, Gordon gets the gun back, but Orin is able to set a timer on one of his blood bombs, threatening to kill them both if Gordon doesn’t go with the plan.

Instead, Gordon shoots the shuttle’s console.

Gordon then gets one of the shuttle’s space suits and puts it on, telling Orin to do the same. Orin tells Gordon to go to hell as he looks, devastated, at the destroyed control console. Gordon says he doesn’t want to lose Orin again. But Orin still refuses to go.

Gordon opens the door to the shuttle and steps out into space. He’s only floating briefly before the explosion from the shuttle sends him flying and spiraling through space. Luckily, he’s caught just in time by the Orville’s tractor beam.

Back in the meeting room, the Krill and Ed sign this prequel to a peace treating, officially opening the door to real peace negotiations. Ed hopes this starts a new era of peace. Still, both sides agree, that trust, in the long run, has to be earned.

In his room, Gordon sits looking at a picture of him and Orin. Ed comes in, saying he’s sorry that Orin died. Gordon says that Orin died a long time ago in the Krill prison.

Ed confesses that Gordon may have been right about him feeling threatened by Gordon’s friendship with Orin. He says he’s always wondering if he deserves his seat on the bridge, but he can’t talk about it with anyone in the crew because they’ll lose confidence in his leadership. He really counts on Gordon.

Gordon says Ed can always count on him.

As this episode of The Orville ends, Ed invites Gordon to get a beer with him and tell him all about his friend Orin.

Do you think long-term peace is possible between the Union and the Krill? Will the Orville play a big part in any final peace agreement? Let us know all of your thoughts on The Orville in the comments.