Galactic Parton

There was a terrific new episode of The Orville last night with a surprise appearance from Dolly Parton. Though I might have predicted she's appear after she was mentioned so reverently in an episode last season. And it's with reverence she's brought up again, now an idol to a renegade colony of Moclans.

Once again, Joel McNeely delivered a score that elevated the material considerably. I'd say his work is at least 60% of why this episode is so effective. Not just for his Celtic-folkish, instrumental rendition of "Jolene". The shuttlecraft escape at the end of the second act felt more like Star Wars than any recent Star Wars show, partly because of McNeely's score and partly because of Andre Bormanis' writing.

The episode was written also by Brannon Braga but I tend to suspect any space tactics on display come from former Star Trek technical advisor Andre Bormanis.

Braga brought his A game, too. The episode is filled with genuinely provoking philosophical conundrums. The Moclans hate females so much they surgically alter female babies at birth. But the Moclans are an important Union ally in the war against the Kaylons and breaking with them now could mean death for everyone. So there's that tension. The renegade colony, which is populated by Moclan women, exists only due to a delicate treaty. Contravening the treaty, Haveena has been smuggling female babies out of Moclas and she tries to enlist Topa to help her, to get Topa to use the Orville's transmitters. Now she's endangering Topa but it's all in the name of saving potentially millions of babies.

I love the details on her costume.

So when Topa is kidnapped, there's a real tough question about whether Haveena should confess what she did or if she should let Topa be tortured to death. It takes a holographic recreation of Dolly Parton to sort her out.

Parton was good, though her plastic surgery is making her look weirder and weirder. She's starting to look a little like Warwick Davis crossed with Tim Curry. But her voice and attitude are both still intact.

Watching her, I found myself thinking of my grandmother who died last year, who also, like Parton, was from Tennessee. She was a big fan of Dolly Parton. I thought about how Parton keeps existing even though my grandmother is gone. It seems strange somehow.

Anyway, it was a good episode. It's on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ elsewhere.