Orville Sub-Plots or Complete Plots?

Hello, Fanaticals! Today we are going to be looking at two sub plots, but the question is are they really sub-plots? In every series that is like this, each episode has its own thing going on that is separate from certain parts of the series as a whole. These two things show up in the show more than once and are generally unaffiliated with the show overall; or, at least one of them is as the other I believe has more to do with the overall show plot than people realize.

Multi-Phase Planet

If you remember back in Season 1, Kelly accidentally revealed herself to a very early, undeveloped civilization and became their god. The planet phased away and the next time it came back, they discovered that there was “The Word of Kelly”. Despite doing what she could to counteract this, the third time the planet phased, the “church” had grown even more! After they left Isaac down there, in a time of technology equivalent to our current technology, came the third rephase; they were clearly much further along in their technology to the point that they were able to fly to space and basically beam aboard the Orville. This is where Kelly discovers that they no longer “believe” in her as a deity, waving off her apologies as they claim it was something they had needed in the time that it happened but they had evolved since then.

Fast forward to Season 3, where Bortus, Kelly, Talla, Ed, and Gordon are checking out a planet that was assumed to be completely uninhabited but was suddenly showing signs of life. It is not until they have all gone through their own “test” that a being appears before them after shedding the illusion of being Talla, and apologizing for the effects of the test, that we discover this person is a descendant of the people of the two who boarded the Orville to bring Isaac back. She knows exactly who Kelly is.

Obviously, a planet that chose Kelly as a deity was a funny sub-plot, but it seems to have been extended. Question is, if The Orville came back for a Season 4, would we see them again or was this appearance the end? Considering the fact that she tells them they have moved on to become Immortal Beings, I can imagine if we saw them again they would be balls of light like in the episode of Futurama when the Professor “creates” the robot planet called “The Clockwork Origin”.

The Aronov Device

This device is introduced in the very first episode. With its destruction, and what I personally think is the best line ever (you cannot change my mind that “Happy Arbor Day” was not the best line!), we expect to never see it again.

However, it continues to reappear throughout the series. Sometime in 2420 the device was rebuilt, and was left aboard the Orville as Isaac was analyzing and reconforming the metrics given from Dr. Aronov’s notes. Issac is in the room studying it in the episode that “past Kelly” is brought to the future. The device is also used to send her back, of which Claire must subsequently follow later due to Kelly remembering everything and changing of the timeline.

It shows up again when it is the reason the Gordon gets chucked through time and married the woman he fell in love with from her phone. We all know how that ends up, so I will digress back to the fact that Isaac and Charley have to go into a neighborhood to get the dysonium that they need to time jump to retrieve Gordon. It is after the second jump that the device is-once again-destroyed and will take six months to repair.

The final time we see it is also in Season 3, when Charley and Isaac turn the device into a weapon against the Kaylon. In the end it is kidnapped by the Krill and the Moclans who by this point have seceded from the Union and are now in partnership with Teleya. When Kelly, Talla, Isaac, and Charley go down as a team to retrieve the device, Charley is unable to stop it and tells them all to leave as she sacrifices herself to destroy the device.

What first seemed like an innocent sub-plot turned into a much bigger series plot, unless that was the plan the whole time considering how often we see it show up.

Was the plot to have these sub-plots become much bugger? Is there an Orville sub-plot that we missed that you think was something bigger? Come join our community and tell us your thoughts! Join me tomorrow as we round up our last post through the future. Until then, keep on theorizing, Fanaticals!