The Orville season 2, episode 13 recap: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Jerald Raymond Pierce

The Orville dives into the complexities of time travel with this episode that brings a past version of Kelly face to face with her future.

This episode of The Orville opens with Ed, Kelly, and Gordon having drinks with Talla and telling her all about the fun times they had when they were younger. After Gordon tells a particularly embarrassing story about Ed, Gordon and Talla head to bed for the night.

After they leave, Ed tells Kelly that it’s still not off the table for them to try their relationship again. Kelly says the past feels like a different lifetime and she likes how great their friendship is now. Plus, she still doesn’t think a captain and his first officer being in a relationship is a good idea.

Elsewhere, John is talking to (and complimenting) Isaac on a scientific breakthrough that could lead to time travel. As they talk, Kelly comes in and sends John to work on another project.

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Just then, the Orville hits a gravitational wave that shakes the ship but doesn’t cause significant damage. Kelly heads to the bridge and tells Isaac to go help John check on the ship. As Isaac moves to leave the room, he hears a noise. Standing behind him is a younger version of Kelly (let’s call her Kelly B).

Kelly B insists she doesn’t know who Isaac is or where she is and she says she was just in her apartment. Isaac then radios to the bridge to say Kelly may be sick. Of course, Kelly is on the bridge and responds saying she’s fine. Isaac then says to send Talla, there’s an intruder.

The Orville then transitions to Claire examining Kelly B and finding she’s an exact match for Kelly, just seven years younger. Ed and Kelly come in and Kelly struggles to believe that Kelly B is really her younger self as Claire says.

Later, in the conference room, Isaac and John speculate that the gravitational wave, combined with Kelly’s proximity and Kelly thinking about her first date with Ed, set Isaac’s device off and pulled Kelly B into the Orville. The two are not sure how they can reverse it (or if it’s even possible).

Kelly, asking the important questions, asks why she can’t remember this event happening (if Kelly B is really her past) and, if they can’t send Kelly B back, why is Kelly there in the first place.

It’s possible that this event caused a brand new timeline or it may have fractured their previous timeline.

Back in Ed’s office, Kelly gets a drink. The two talk about what they should tell Kelly B about the last seven years. If it’s a tangential timeline and Kelly B gets sent back, it won’t matter. But if everything is one timeline, Kelly B having information about the future could change their present.

It’s impossible to know which situation is true, but Ed won’t lock Kelly B in her room for doing nothing wrong. He decides when in doubt, tell her the truth.

The two then go talk to Kelly B and explain that they were married and then divorced and now they work together. It’s a lot for Kelly B to process. Rather than continuing to stumble through their history, Kelly gives Kelly B access to her personal logs.

On the bridge, John and Isaac deliver bad news: the gravitational wave that kickstarted the device was a random phenomenon, they have no way of replicating it. There’s no way they can send Kelly B back.

Ed and Kelly deliver the news to Kelly B, saying she can make her new life what she wants. The timeline is in tact, so starting a new life should be fine. But, as Kelly B notes, that means she no longer has her friends or family because, even though they’re still alive, they’re all Kelly’s. This isn’t her world.

Kelly B goes back to her room to think and Talla comes to check on her. Talla encourages Kelly B to start seeing herself as a different person from Kelly. Just because Kelly did something or didn’t do something, doesn’t mean Kelly B can’t or won’t in her new life.

Talla also says she’s happy to have Kelly B as a new friend, which cheers Kelly B up. Talla gets Kelly B a uniform and the two have drinks with John and Gordon.

Kelly B regales them with a wild story from when she was at Union Point, which they all find hilarious. Then Kelly comes up and pulls Kelly B aside. Kelly explains that she has to keep things (like that story) secret from the crew to maintain her command, she has to keep a distance. Kelly B says she’s just trying to make friends and it’s hard if she’s constrained by what Kelly wants.

Kelly says she understands but then says that the good thing is they have each other as the ultimate confidant. A twin sister, essentially, who knows everything about the other.

Kelly B then explains that she’s thinking about requesting a post on the Orville since she’s becoming friends with Talla and the crew. Kelly doesn’t seem excited about that possibility. But, seeing how happy it makes Kelly B, Kelly supports the idea.

Later, Kelly B goes to talk to Ed. Her first date with her Ed is starting fresh in her mind and she asks this Ed if he’d go out on a second date with her.

We don’t see an answer from Ed. The Orville transitions to Ed going to talk to Kelly about Kelly B’s request. Ed explains that it could be a second chance and, unless Kelly wants to give their relationship another try, he wants to pursue it. Kelly reminds him that seven years have passed and he’s a different person than the Ed Kelly B knows.

Still, despite her feelings on the situation, Kelly lets Ed go on the second date with Kelly B.

The Orville then moves straight into Kelly B and Ed’s date where the two have a great time. After dinner, they wind up kissing in front of Kelly B’s room.

The next morning, Kelly goes to Kelly B’s room. Kelly explains that she is worried about those two dating, especially since she saw/experienced how hurt she and Ed were when they broke up last time. Kelly B responds by saying she doesn’t intend to let things play out the same way Kelly did.

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The two argue, with Kelly saying Kelly B is just a naive, younger version of herself and Kelly B arguing that she’s a new person who refuses to make the mistakes Kelly has made. Kelly isn’t married, isn’t a captain and isn’t friends with her crew. Kelly B says she’s made their future a disappointment.

Kelly leaves and returns to the bridge.

Just then, Bortus spots two Kaylon ships that look like they’re going to intercept the ship. Unsure if they’ve been seen, Ed has the Orville run to get away. It doesn’t seem like the Kaylons are following them.

Later, Ed talks to Gordon about how excited he is about being with Kelly B with a chance to do things right this time. Gordon says it’s a bad idea, having seen how the divorce destroyed Ed.

Ed says things are going to be different this time.

Kelly B then comes up and invites Ed and Gordon to join her, Bortus and Talla in the simulator where she’s had one of her favorite places on Earth programmed in.

Cut to Ed and Gordon sitting in a nightclub complaining about how loud it is. Talla, Kelly B, and even Bortus and Klyden are having a great time, while Ed and Gordon are miserable. Gordon, knowingly, asks if this is what Ed actually wants.

Elsewhere, Kelly talks to Claire about how much it sucks to have to actually see how much dumber she was when she was younger.

Deep down, though, Kelly confesses she’s worried that Kelly B was right and she is a disappointment. Claire immediately shuts down that thought. Goals change and life is complicated, Claire explains. Kelly has still accomplished a lot in her life. As time goes by, Claire says, you reevaluate what you really want.

The Orville transitions to Ed’s room where Kelly B comes in. The two kiss on his bed and Kelly B starts to take Ed’s clothes off, but he keeps stopping her.

Ed finally confesses that it feels weird for him because he has, in fact, changed over the last seven years. He’s grown with Kelly over the years and is still in love with her. Kelly B starts to say that she and Kelly are the same person, but Bortus calls the Ed to say the Kaylon ships are back.

Everyone, in their pajamas, returns to the bridge. Ed says they’re going to try to outrun the Kaylons (a tough task).

Just then, Kelly B comes in with an idea. There’s a system nearby that, with a little bit of cleverness and luck, they’ll be able to hide in. They can hide amongst chunks of ice by getting rid of water and creating an ice shell around their ship and then shutting down all of their power.

Ed goes with the plan and it works. The Kaylons pass right over the Orville.

Later, Kelly B goes to Kelly’s office to apologize. She says, for the first time, she realized how important Kelly’s role is. Kelly replies, saying that there’s a lot of Kelly B still in her.

John and Isaac then come in saying they have a breakthrough that may be able to send Kelly B back to the moment she left. In the conference room, as they present the idea to the crew, they explain that the only downside is that it’s going to take a lot of the ship’s power from the quantum drive.

Kelly B then asks what she’s supposed to do about her knowledge of the future. Claire suggests a memory wipe, but it’s risky.

Kelly B smiles. It’s risky, but they all know it will work just fine. And they know she’ll be able to go back. She already has. It explains why Kelly doesn’t remember anything that Kelly B has experienced.

They decide to go through with the plan.

As Kelly B prepares to have her memory wiped, she makes a plan with Talla for her future self to have a drink with her that night. Kelly agrees. Kelly then says she’s glad she got to meet Kelly B. Kelly B says she can’t wait to be Kelly.

Finally, Ed apologizes to Kelly B for the pain he will cause her over the next five years of her life. Ed, looking at Kelly now, says he wishes he could undo it all.

Ed and Kelly head back to the bridge, Claire wipes Kelly B’s memory and John prepares to send Kelly B back in time. But as John gives power to Isaac’s device, it’s not enough. He keeps trying to give it more power, but it threatens to rip the ship apart. Ed, reluctantly, has to tell them to shut it down.

The Orville cuts to Kelly B on the floor of her apartment, seemingly back right where she was. She seems a bit disoriented as she gets a call from Ed (her Ed) asking her out again.

Surprisingly, Kelly B tells him no, saying she doesn’t see them working out.

The episode of The Orville ends with Kelly B hanging up on Ed and changing the (or maybe just her) future forever.

What do you think Kelly B’s decision means for the season finale of The Orville? Or did she create a new timeline with that decision that won’t affect our crew at all? (Time travel is complicated.) Let us know your thoughts on The Orville in the comments.

Jerald Raymond Pierce

Jerald Raymond Pierce is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in American Theatre magazine, the Seattle Times, the Charleston Post and Courier and the Syracuse Post-Standard. He has his BFA in Acting from Ohio University and MA in Arts Journalism from Syracuse University.