The episode opens on the Krill home world where Teleya (Michaela McManus) is back and is making political moves to become Supreme Chancellor. She riles up the crowd with her militant views and her vision of rejecting any Union peace treaties is making her popular on Krill resulting in several political demonstrations.
Meanwhile on The Orville, the crew are treating the Krill delegates to a performance of the musical Annie with a Xelayan Annie (Isabella Meneses) performing “The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow” which concerns The Krill based on their understanding of the sun. The success of the evening results in the crew being invited to escort a Union delegation including President Alcuzan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Admiral Halsey (Victor Garber) to the Krill home world to sign a historic treaty between the two peoples.
On the way Admiral Halsey reveals to Capt. Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) that Teleya is running for Supreme Chancellor and has a cult following. Ed discusses Krill politics and their manipulation of the media known as “Influence Operations,” with Cmdr. Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) and they soon arrive on Krill and discover the incumbent Chancellor is projected to win but soon loses several key areas. The Chancellor tries to stop the election but suddenly Teleya stages a coup and seizes power and publicly executes the now former Chancellor killed and imprisons the Union delegates with a plan to kill them.
Teleya arranged a meeting with Ed that ends badly. Following it Ed believes he is being led to his death but is saved by Krill who still support the alliance between the Union and the Krill. They reveal something to Ed that could change everything!
Verdict: 9/10. Another solid episode (and an amazing soundtrack) in the third season of The Orville and one that deals with what drives political leaders. Comparisons can easily be made to modern history but in true Orville style it leads with the explicit and then explores the implicit. This episode leaves a huge impact that will no doubt be picked up on at a later date.
The episode is dedicated to memory Lisa Banes who played Speria Balask in the series.
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