Blood of Patriots

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## *Blood of Patriots*

### Air date

March 7, 2019March 11, 2019 (FI)
March 14, 2019 (UK)
August 18, 2019 (DE)
August 30, 2019 (HU)
October 8, 2019 (NL)
December 28, 2019 (EE)

## Chronological Order

> *You make a deal with tyranny, it only gets worse.*— Orrin Channing
>
>

***Blood of Patriots*** is the tenth episode of the second season of *The Orville*. Peace talks with the Krill are interrupted when the USS *Orville* receives two escaped Human prisoners accused of harboring a devastating weapon.

The title derives from a famous quote by Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants;" found in a 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith.

In fact, the episode is an extended metaphor. The *Davoro'kos*, meaning "bringer of blood" in Krillain, pursues Orrin Channing, an escaped prisoner. Orrin calls himself a patriot and uses Envall blood as a weapon for vengeance and to prevent peace with the tyrannical Krill. His inglorious death ensures peace and ultimately "refreshes" the "tree of liberty."

*Blood of Patriots* was written by Seth MacFarlane and directed by Rebecca Rodriguez. Music was composed by John Debney. Actors Mackenzie Astin and Aily Kei guest star as Orrin and Leyna Channing respectively.

Audiences enjoyed the episode as an exciting mystery-thriller that fleshes out Gordon's backstory for the first time, set one month after the Battle of Earth. It holds a rating of 8.2 on IMDB, slightly above the show's average. 2.935 million Americans watched the episode live.

## Trailer

20th Century Fox aired a 20-second trailer for *Blood of Patriots* at the conclusion of *Identity, Pt. 2*.

## Plot

### Act 1

The entire crew is gathered in the Mess Hall where Captain Ed Mercer awards Lieutenant Yaphit the Sapphire Star for his heroism during the Kaylon conflict. After the ceremony, Mercer, First Officer Kelly Grayson, Chief Engineer John LaMarr, Second Officer Bortus, and Helmsman Gordon Malloy enjoy shots of Eldorian vodka when a message from Admiral Perry interrupts.

Mercer and Grayson talk to the Admiral in the Briefing Room. Perry has heartening news: the Krill are ready to negotiate a peace treaty and Mercer is to sign a Lak'vai pact, a "sort of prelude to a peace treaty" that "indicates that both parties will approach the table in good faith." The USS *Orville* is to rendezvous with the Krill destroyer *Davoro'kos* in orbit over Tarazed 3 to meet with an ambassadorial detachment.

Both ships arrive at Tarazed. Suddenly, a damaged shuttle flees from the Davoro'kos. A voice requests an emergency docking in the Orville. The shuttle slams into the Shuttle Bay, knocking the pilot - a Human man - unconscious. An emergency team including Malloy and Doctor Claire Finn rush to the Bay. Another Human woman is in the shuttle as well, conscious but terrified and mute, and refuses to be medically scanned.

Malloy is about to secure the main console of the shuttlecraft when he sees the face of the unconscious pilot. "Oh, my God. Orrin."

### Act 2

The Krill demand the Orville hand the pilot over, accused of destroying four Krill vessels, three of which occurred after a ceasefire was reached with the Planetary Union. The Ambassador is convinced that he holds a powerful weapon, but he is not sure what it is and Union scanners picked up nothing. The detachment is invited to the Orville and Mercer quietly instructs Chief of Security Talla Keyali to delay their entry with frivolous regulations.

Orrin is treated in Sick Bay and he and his daughter are assigned guest quarters. He states that he has been held with her in a Krill prison camp for 20 years (and his daughter has not spoken a word in twelve years), but they escaped six weeks ago by a captured shuttle. The long journey was because their shuttle ran out of plasma for the quantum drive.

Keyali continues to the delay the attachment but she runs out of ideas. Mercer investigates whether Orrin did destroy the ships, to no avail. When the Captain meets the Ambassador, he tries to pivot the conversation to the importance of peace between worlds, but the Ambassador is unmoved. "Our ship will return in 12 hours. You have that long to decide if this will be a Lak'vai or a battleground."

### Act 3

Leyna plays Bolodon discs while Malloy and Orrin reminisce about their early days and reflect over Orrin's lost wife Sophie. Orrin believes peace with the Krill would be a "slap in the face" of Sophie and others who have died. In the Mess Hall, Keyali teaches Leyna to play the pelpifa.

Mercer meets Keyali in her office for her opinion on Orrin. Though she does not trust him, she admits there is no evidence against him and finds his anger justified.

Orrin pays a visit to Engineering, amazed by how much has changed in 20 years, and meanders through the corridors until finding a room of empty quantum storage cells. Keyali enters and he quickly leaves.

### Act 4

Keyali reports Orrin as suspicious to the commanders, but none of them feel his behavior was wrong. The commanders then speak with Admiral Perry, who tells them that Planetary Union Central is considering extraditing Orrin if he is proven guilty of destroying the Krill vessels.

Malloy watches *Planet of the Apes* with Leyna in her quarters when Mercer visits. The Captain wants to know if Orrin ever hinted he might have violated the ceasefire, but Malloy takes his inquiry as an offense and is flabbergasted when Mercer mentions possible extradition. Malloy changes his mind and thinks the Lak'vai is a mistake.

### Act 5

Malloy tells Orrin that the admirals are considering extradition. "Political snakes," Orrin comments and then suggests a way to prevent Lak'vai, but Gordon must obtain a shuttle.

Meanwhile, LaMarr finds two quantum storage cells were taken from the Engineering Supply Area but no quantum plasma was missing. Mercer concludes, "All this guy has done is steal a bunch of pens from the office."

Over glass of scotch for Malloy and Xelayan rum for Keyali, he tells her about Orrin's idea but asks for time to speak with his old friend before she arrests him. He leaves and leads Orrin to the Shuttle Bay.

### Act 6

Keyali catches the men in the Shuttle Bay but Malloy shoots her with a PM-44, and the two leave. It was a ruse designed to trick Orrin: on the Bridge, the crew tracks the shuttle with a hidden device and Keyali reports in that the gun was set to stun. However, under Orrin's direction, Malloy unexpectedly diverts the shuttle to the Davoro'kos.

Keyali visits Leyna and spies syringe marks across her arm. Leyna attacks Keyali with a knife, but the Security Chief easily knocks her to the wall. Keyali is shocked to see Leyna bleed yellow-orange blood from her nose. Finn arrives and orders a Level 12 Force Field around the room and all nitrogen to be removed. Leyna is not Orrin's daughter but an Envall: a species with blood that is explosively reactive with nitrogen. Orrin uses compressed Envall blood extracted from Leyna as a weapon against the Krill.

Orrin explains his plan to Malloy, which prompts him to hail the Orville. Orrin is enraged and the two fight. Malloy takes control of a PM-44 but Orrin activates a cell containing Leyna's blood. Malloy shoots the control panel of the shuttle. Malloy tells him that they must leave but Orrin, now despondent and angry, refuses, preferring to die in the shuttle. The shuttle explodes and Malloy drifts through space until the Orville grabs him by tractor beam.

In the Briefing Room, Mercer and the Ambassador sign the Lak'vai.

Mercer enters Malloy's quarters to find him staring at a photo of himself and Orrin from their younger years. "Orrin died a long time ago back in that Krill prison." Mercer apologizes for his jealousy of Malloy's friendship with Orrin. The two leave for a beer and to talk about his friend.

## Production

Filmingbegan on August 13, 2018, under the direction of Rebecca Rodriguez.

### Post-production

Music was composed by John Debney. *Blood of Patriots* features an especially lengthy song that starts with Gordon and Orrin leaving to take a shuttle and continues until Gordon stares at an old picture of himself and (now-deceased) Orrin as youths, so Debney broke the composition into four sections for the musicians to perform. The four sections were then stitched together by the show's music editor, Stan Jones.

## Reception

### Viewership

General audiences welcomed *Blood of Patriots* warmly as a chapter which weaved a mystery story into the aftermath of the Battle of Earth. It currently holds a rating of 8.2 on IMDB, slightly above the show's average and a strong rating overall. 2.935 million Americans watched the episode live.

### Critical response

Professional critics gave the episode a more muted, but overall positive, reception. Nick Wanserski of the *AV Club* enjoyed the episode. "The show has been long overdue on delivering a Gordon episode," he commented. Jammer of Jammer's Reviews found the episode was a "standard" plot, but one that allowed Gordon to "break out of his usual role as the wisecracking comic relief."

## Trivia

* Outtakes and bloopers from this episode were compiled by the show's editors for the Season 2 wrap party and were published by the Planetary Union Network.
* Yaphit wins a Sapphire Star for his heroics during the Battle of Earth. This is the second time a crew member of the Orville has won the medal, the first being Chief of Security Alara Kitan in the episode *Command Performance*.
* The Krill ambassador reveals that the four ships destroyed by Orrin had a combined complement of 1,200 Krill. This would indicate that the average Krill ship, presumably the prolific Krill destroyer, has a crew complement equal to that of the *Exploratory*-class USS *Orville*, which was previously noted to have a complement of 300.
* The Krill ambassador signs his initials K.T.Z. in the Krillain language.
* The Orville and Davoro'kos orbit the planet Tarazed 3. Tarazed is a common alternative name for the star Gamma Aquilae, which sits 395 light years away in the constellation Aquila.
	+ With the Orville's top flight speed established as just over 10 light years per hour, that means Tarazed 3 could be as little as one day, 15 hours, and 30 minutes travel from Earth.
* This episode features the destruction of shuttlecraft *ECV-197-1*.
* This episode marks the second appearance of the Chief of Security's Office, which was previously seen in *Pria*. A Food Synthesizer has now been added to the room.
* Orrin is missing a piece of his right ear.
	+ In real life, this is the result of an injury actor Mackenzie Astin suffered in the 1990s.
* Eldorian vodka is served early in the episode, which may be a reference to the Eldorian species in the *Star Trek* comic book *The Menace of Moloth*. If this is true, then Eldorian vodka is the *The Orville*'s first reference to the Star Trek franchise. (*See also* Influences of The Orville.)

### Timeline

Main article: Timeline
* This episode takes place in March 2421.
* The Envall agreed to stay away from Planetary Union planets with nitrogen-rich atmospheres 50 years before this episode, or around the year 2371.
* Gordon Malloy says he became friends with Orrin Channing around the year 2391.
* The Krill attack Outpost 73 around 2401 in the Battle of Outpost 73.
	+ Sophie and Leyna Channing are killed.
	+ Orrin is taken captive while saving the lives of Gordon and others.
* Orrin says that Leyna (in reality an Envall woman) has not spoken in 12 years, which would be 2409.
* Orrin claims he and Leyna escaped from the Krill prison camp six weeks before this episode, about January or February 2421.
* A ceasefire between the Union and the Krill was signed thirty days before this episode, about February 2421.
* Twelve hours after receiving orders from Admiral Tucker, the Orville and the Davoro'kos rendezvous at Tarazed 3.
* After Orrin boards the Orville and Ambassador K.T.Z. meets with Ed Mercer for the first time, the following takes place within 11 hours and 30 minutes:
	+ Orrin and Gordon steal a shuttle with several quantum storage cells containing Leyna's Envall blood.
	+ The shuttle explodes, killing Orrin.

### References

* Several previous episodes are mentioned or referenced:
	+ Talla requires Ambassador K.T.Z., the Captain of the Davoro'kos, and the High Priest of the Davoro'kos to urinate into sample containers in a corner of the Shuttle Bay. They end up urinating in "the pee corner" in *Identity, Pt. 2*.
	+ The recent Kaylon conflict occurred in the preceding episode *Identity, Pt. 2*.
	+ Admiral Tucker mentions Ed and Gordon's undercover mission aboard the Krill vessel *Yakar,* which happened in *Krill.*
		- Ed later recalls the Yakar's intention to wipe out a Union colony.
	+ Ed's relationship with Teleya spanned *Ja'loja* till *Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes.*
* Leyna and Gordon watch the movie *Planet of the Apes*.
* A Battle of Tarazed was previously mentioned in *Ja'loja*.
* The episode bears some similarity with the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh often cited Jefferson's quote on "the tree of liberty" and, on the day of his terrorist attack, wore a t-shirt with the quote beneath a picture of the "blood of patriots and tyrants" dripping from a tree.
* The premise of this episode is similar to "The Wounded" of *Star Trek: The Next Generation*. In "The Wounded," the crew of the *Enterprise*-D are tasked with stopping Captain Benjamin Maxwell, who is pursuing a seeming grudge against the Cardassians. Benjamin Maxwell turns out to be the former captain of the *Enterprise*'s Miles O'Brien, who must wrestle with his own feelings of hatred regarding the Cardassians when he is ordered to put a stop to Maxwell's rampage.

## Mistakes

* Talla reports that she thoroughly scanned Leyna, Orrin, and their shuttle and reported "no weapons of any kind." Later in the episode, Leyna holds a dagger to Talla's throat she could not possibly have.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Seth MacFarlane as Capt. Ed Mercer
* Adrianne Palicki as Cmdr. Kelly Grayson
* Peter Macon as Lt. Cmdr. Bortus
* J. Lee as Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr (*as J Lee*)
* Jessica Szohr as Lt. Talla Keyali
* Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Claire Finn
* Scott Grimes as Lt. Gordon Malloy
* Mark Jackson as Isaac

### Special guest cast

* Mackenzie Astin as Orrin Channing
* Aily Kei as Leyna Channing

### Recurring cast

* Mike Henry as Dann
* Ted Danson as Admiral Perry
* J. Paul Boehmer as High Priest
* Norm Macdonald as Yaphit
* Francis Lloyd Corby as Crewman

### Guest cast

* Robin Atkins Downes as Krill Detachment Officer
* Jim Mahoney as Brosk
* John Fleck as Ambassador K.T.Z.

## References

1. ↑ Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to William Stephens Smith (Nov. 13, 1787). Library of Congress. Last accessed Feb. 21, 2019.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Episode List. IMDB. Last accessed May 13, 2019.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The Orville:*Season Two Ratings. *TV Series Finale*. Last accessed March 13, 2019.
4. ↑ @SethMacFarlane. "Way to go Rebecca Rodriguez on a stellar first day directing #theorville!". Twitter. Aug. 13, 2018.
5. ↑ The Orville Q&A with Stan Jones, Jason Clark and Oscar Nominated Composer John Debney. The Los Angeles Film School. June 8, 2020.
6. ↑ Wanserski, Nick. "Bad blood threatens peace on The Orville". *AV Club*. March 8, 2019.
7. ↑ Epsicokhan, Jamal. "Blood of Patriots". *Jammer's Reviews*. Last accessed May 13, 2019.
8. ↑ THE ORVILLE SEASON 2 GAG REEL. Planetary Union Network. April 30, 2019.
9. ↑ *Episode 2x02: Primal Urges*
10. ↑ Episode 1x05: Pria