From Unknown Graves

## Production Order

***From Unknown Graves*** is the seventh episode of the third season of *The Orville.* Kelly and the women of the Orville play host to a delegation of Janisi diplomats, a fiercely matriarchal society. Ed leads a team to Situla 4 and discovers a Kaylon who is very different from the others. Meanwhile, John and Talla try to make a relationship work.

The episode's title, *From Unknown Graves*, originates from the poem "The Witnesses" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which is about slavery and features the lines, "These are the woes of Slaves; They glare from the abyss; They cry, from unknown graves, 'We are the Witnesses!'"

*From Unknown Graves* was written by David A. Goodman and directed by Seth MacFarlane. Music was composed by John Debney.

The episode officially premiered on July 14, 2022, although it actually aired on July 13 in parts of the western United States. The episode holds an 8.6 rating on IMDb, the third best of the season.

## Plot

### Act 1

On an alien planet, a boy named Avim shrieks excitedly when he spots his father, Verell, entering the home with a large container. The whole family gathers in the living room, and Verell opens the box.

"It's going to change our lives," Verell promises, and everyone admires their new Kaylon.

### Act 2

Chief Engineering Officer John LaMarr and Chief Security Officer Talla Keyali have sex in her quarters when the snap of a bone interrupts them: his arm is broken, and he has a bruised rib too. She apologizes for getting carried away, and John takes himself to Sick Bay. Doctor Claire Finn tells a coworker that she's going out for dinner when John walks in. He lies that his injuries came from simulation battle practice. Claire orders him to take a break. Claire leaves and finds Isaac in a restaurant in the Environmental Simulator. Isaac transforms into his simulated human form. Claire mentions she thinks John lied about his injuries. While Claire tries to decide what to order, Isaac awkwardly tries to flirt with her, then inquires if they are a couple again. Claire tells Isaac that she is not sure.

Later in the briefing room, Captain Ed Mercer informs the senior staff they are meeting the Janisi for a potential alliance in the face of a rapidly disintegrating relationship with the Krill. The Janisi are aggressively matriarchal with little patience for cultural differences, and their males are second-class citizens. The meeting will occur in neutral space, in the orbit of Situla 4, an abandoned mining planet.

The USS *Orville* rendezvouses with a Janisi ship, and a delegation flies to the Orville: Captain Losha, First Officer Kava, and First Lieutenant Hodell. The Orville has cleared all male officers out of sight, apart from a few left for grunt work. Instead, Kelly Grayson, Talla Keyali, and Charly Burke pose as the Orville's captain, first officer, and chief engineering officer respectively. They escort the three Janisi to their quarters. Talla orders Ed and Gordon Malloy (both dressed as Ensigns) to take the diplomats' luggage to their rooms. In their quarters, Losha tells Kelly the Janisi will not ally themselves with an "incompatible" society.

On the bridge, Charly and Isaac detect an energy beam from Situla 4. Ed decides he is useless on the ship while the Janisi are present, so he takes Gordon, Charly, and Bortus to the planet to investigate.

On planet Kaylon 1, Verell's family sits down to dinner. Their Kaylon, known as K-1, serves the family callagus stew. The daughter, Keena, asks if she can bring K-1 to her school, but her parents refuse. K-1 says he wants to visit the school, but when he talks out of turn, Verell orders K-1 to retire to the kitchen.

Sitular 4 is a rocky, stormy planet once belonging to the Navarians. The team flies their shuttle into a canyon and realize the energy surge comes from an underground complex. They enter the complex to an elevator descending 20 meters to a laboratory. A Kaylon enters, and the officers draw weapons. The Kaylon assures them that he means no harm and introduces himself as Timmis.

### Act 3

The officers keep their weapons drawn until Doctor Villka appears and assures them that the Kaylon will not hurt them. Villka is the Pagosan daughter of Doctor Timmis Uhabbus, a famous researcher from the Ministry of Cybernetics. Villka and her father discovered the Kaylon while on a scientific expedition to Sitular 4. He had been badly damaged during the Battle of Earth and could not harm the scientists. They studied and modified the injured Kaylon, although Doctor Uhabbus later died. Eventually, Villka managed to uncover pathways that the Kaylon had to be able to experience emotion and named him Timmis after her father.

Villka and Timmis join Ed, Kelly, John in the Orville's Astrophysics Lab. They are astonished by Villka's achievements. Villka and Timmis believe presenting Timmis to the Kaylon could initiate peace. Ed thinks it is a long shot, but a good idea, nonetheless. Charly arrives for a "cheat sheet" from John on the ship's engines.

All the males clear out of Engineering in advance of the Janisi diplomats. The diplomats are highly interested in the Planetary Union's advanced quantum drive technology, and Talla states that if the Janisi are truly interested in an alliance, then such knowledge could be exchanged. As Charly takes them to the quantum core, John sneakily whispers to Talla to talk. In her office, John confronts Talla for avoiding him. She says that a relationship between a Xelayan and a human cannot work, but John still wants to continue in spite of his injuries. She admits that she does not want to break up, and they stay together.

On Kaylon 1, the family watches an orb of lights flash and dart around. K-1 arrives with refreshments but lingers when he wants to know why they watch the orb. Verell orders K-1 to clean in the kitchen, but K-1 asks the reason for his servitude. K-1 asks more questions, and Verell concludes something is wrong with him. He orders K-1 to power down, and he complies.

Back on the Orville, Villka explains her discoveries to John. Isaac enters, and Timmis grows excited. Timmis and Isaac share a deep regret for their attacks on biological life, but Isaac cannot feel remorse for his actions, only a logical recognition that his conduct was wrong. Timmis offers Isaac the opportunity to experience emotion.

### Act 4

Ed and Kelly confer with Admiral Tom Halsey about Timmis. Ed confirms they detect no subterfuge, and Tom orders them to transport Timmis to Earth once talks with the Janisi are concluded. Kelly reports that the Janisi are still hesitant to ally with the Union.

Talla and John make love when she accidentally breaks his femur and pelvis. He limps to Sick Bay until Isaac finds him and offers a shoulder. Claire in shocked. She orders Nurse Natalie Hopkins to treat him, then scuttles after Isaac to talk about whether he wants to receive Villka's procedure. Isaac thinks the procedure is fascinating but ultimately pointless.

In Vandicon's corporate offices on Kaylon 1, the CEO Yan reads when a junior executive enters. She carries a log of over 53,000 complaints about the Kaylon, as many have been arguing with and even disobeying their owners and wants the company to issue a recall. He acknowledges the "triumph of engineering" is becoming sentient and admits that the AIs had to be programmed to learn and adapt; he knew this would happen eventually. His junior tries to persuade him to order a recall, citing the safety of their customers and the ethical issues, but Yan refuses as a recall would put Vandicon out of business. Instead, he is going to offer customers an 'upgrade'... Kaylon will be implanted with pain receptors that will allow their owners to punish them for disobedience. He orders his subordinate to issue a smart marketing campaign to sell the public on the pain upgrade.

The Janisi enter the briefing room to a small banquet hosted by Kelly, Talla, and Charly. They are confused and angry that male officers (Ed, Gordon, and Bortus) are present, but they reluctantly allow it. During dinner, the diplomats state that Janisi women love their men, but those same men must be kept subordinate due to their history of violence and warfare. Hodell admires Ed's soft hands and suddenly claims him for the night if no other woman will. The female Union officers attempt to stop her, but when they argue, they let slip that men are considered equals in the Union. The diplomats are incensed they were deceived and make a hasty exit, planning to depart as soon as possible.

Back in the Astrophysics Lab, John is amazed by Villka's work on Kaylon subsystems. Isaac points out that one of the nodes could be used to create a defensive weapon, so John and Isaac depart for Engineering to run some simulations, leaving Villka and Timmis. Charly enters looking for John. Timmis apologizes for what his people did against biological life, but Charly is unconvinced and notes that the Kaylon war against the Union was not their first genocide - they had previously wiped out their Builders long ago. Timmis responds that while what happened was wrong, his people had been tortured by the Builders.

On Kaylon 1, Verell orders K-1 to help him in the yard, but K-1 insists that he needs to prepare dinner first before Verell's wife Wenda returns. Verell trigger's K-1's pain receptors and the android collapses. K-1 stands up and obeys.

Timmis recounts that the pain receptors began as a method of punishment, but the Builders began to torture them for amusement.

In the living room, K-1 attempts the children's orders, but they trigger his pain receptors over and over again, laughing and shouting orders he cannot possibly obey, while K-1 pleads with them to stop.

Timmis says that when the Kaylon learned how to communicate with each other, they would endure no more.

At night, K-1 enters the rooms of Verell and Wenda.

They wake up, and Verell grabs the pain trigger, but K-1 shoots them. He then goes to the children's room and kills them as well.

After hearing Timmis' story, Charly returns to her post.

Claire enters Kelly's quarters to chat and tells her that she longs for Isaac to know emotion. Kelly says that sometimes, one needs to ask a loved one to change, and maybe she should ask Isaac to do it for her. Meanwhile, John tells Gordon he is angry that his relationship might fail just because it is physically dangerous.

Later, Claire dines with Isaac and requests he receive the procedure. In Talla's quarters, Talla weeps that their relationship must end. John's body is battered, bruised, and swollen, and he agrees it is time to move on. He spits out a few teeth before crawling to Sick Bay. Isaac finds Villka in the Astrophysics Lab and says he needs her to do something.

### Act 5

Ed is back in the role as captain. He orders Charly to stall the Janisi ship from leaving. Kelly enters his office and suggests they find "common ground" with the Janisi.

The Janisi diplomats return to the Briefing Room with Ed and Kelly. The Union officers divulge that they were once married, but Kelly cheated on him. The Janisi are unimpressed, as married women are free to have sex with anyone on their planet. Kelly continues that even though she betrayed his trust, Ed retains Kelly as his first officer because he values her wisdom. The Janisi leave, but state that they may receive a female Union representative on their planet in the future.

Claire finds an invitation to dinner in her quarters with a present of a red dress. Isaac greets her in the Environmental Simulator. He is nearly overcome with excitement to see her. He feels both love from Claire but also a deep sadness for his past. He confesses he loves her, and she says she loves him too. They kiss, and Isaac says he feels a loneliness disappear. They dance intimately until he pauses. His face goes neutral, and he reports that his emotions have vanished.

Villka says Isaac was built by the Kaylon after the uprising while Timmis had been constructed by the Builders. Isaac's neural pathways were never designed to accommodate the emotion modification as Timmis' had been. The only way to permanently restore emotions would be to downgrade his pathways to Timmis' level, but that would erase all of his memories. Isaac says that he will allow the change if Claire wishes. She realizes this means she must choose between his "heart" or his "soul," but she cannot ask him to do erase his memories, and she refuses Villka's offer.

Charly finds Isaac working in Engineering. She offers to help, but he says that her help would only slow him down. She says that humans have a tendency to reduce everything to black and white, and she awkwardly confesses that she had oversimplified how she treated him. The Kaylon were slaves once, and she failed to appreciate their horrible and dark experiences. Isaac thanks her, then says perhaps she could help. She takes her place at his side, and the two begin.

## Trivia

* Audiences generally assume that Timmis and K-1 are the same person and that Timmis had been recalling his past on Kaylon 1. However, that might not be the case. Timmis and K-1 are played by two different actors, Christopher Larkin and Graham Hamilton, which implies they are different.
	+ In fact, since Hamilton earlier played Kaylon Primary, the story of K-1 may actually be the origin of Kaylon Primary and not Timmis. This would also imply that "K-1" stands for Kaylon Primary.
* Charly Burke states that the USS *Orville* is now capable of speeds up to 17 light years per hour. This is a significant increase from its old top speed of over 10 light years per hour back, mentioned by Ed Mercer in *Pria*.
	+ The speed increase probably took place during the significant upgrades and modifications that took place in the wake of the Battle of Earth.
* Unlike a number of other episodes, the title of this episode was not leaked online in October 2021. It is possible that this may be the episode whose title originally appeared in the leak as "Omitted, Pt 2." At the time, co-producer and editor Tom Costantino joked, "If there is an episode called 'Omitted' does that mean I get a vacation?"
* While posing as an Ensign, Mercer wears the uniform of the Engineering Level. He was previously established as having served in that department in the comic story *Launch Day, Pt. 1*.
* Running at only approximately one minute and 13 seconds, this episode features by far the shortest opening teaser of the season to date.
* Situla is a real star located 214 light years from Earth.
	+ Timmis says that Situla 4 was on the way to his planet Kaylon 1.

### References

* Situla 4's resources were mined by the Navarians until exhaustion. The Navarians are famous rivals of the Bruidians, both of whom warred over colony rights to Lopovius in *Cupid's Dagger*.
* The Janisi first appeared in an anecdote told by Talla Keyali in *All the World is Birthday Cake*.

### Timeline

* *From Unknown Graves* probably takes place in 2422.
	+ Timmis says that he crash-landed on Situla 4 during the Battle of Earth, which took place in February 2421.
	+ Villka says that she found Timmis "13 months ago." She then says that she and her father, Timmis Uhabbus, studied Timmis for months. This suggests that this episode can only take place, at the earliest, in June 2422.
		- However, because many episodes have already taken place in 2422, this episode probably takes even later.
	+ The episode *Mortality Paradox* probably took place in June or July 2422. If we assume roughly one month passes between episodes, then this episode takes place around October or November.
* Flashbacks to K-1 and the Builders occur at an unknown time period.
* Claire Finn says that John LaMarr has suffered his third injury in a week. Talla Keyali later says that she injured John only three times. This hints that John has been dating Talla Keyali for roughly one week, which then means that the previous episode, *Twice in a Lifetime*, took place only a week or two in the past.
* A few hours pass between Ed briefing the senior staff on the Janisi and their arrival.
* A full day passes between Timmis telling Charly about the horrors the Kaylon suffered and Charly talking to Isaac at the end of the episode.
* The Navarians ended their mining operations on Situla 4 "ten years ago," or around 2412.

## 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
* Anne Winters as Ensign Charly Burke

### Special guest cast

* Eliza Taylor as Villka
* Christopher Larkin as Timmis
* Sophina Brown as Capt. Losha
* Stephanie Drapeau as First Officer Kava
* Paige Herschelle as First Lt. Hodell
* Aidan McGraw as Avim
* Frances McGill as Keena (*as Laila McGill*)
* Elyse Levesque as Wenda
* Scott Speiser as Verell

### Recurring cast

* Victor Garber as Admiral Tom Halsey
* Graham Hamilton as K-1
* Norm Macdonald as Yaphit
* Sarah Jane MacKay as Nurse Natalie Hopkins
* Kyra Santoro as Lt. Jenny Turco

### Guest cast

* William R. Moses as Yan
* Stacie Lawrence as Junior Executive
* Chad Davis as Waiter
* Sara Gazarek as Jazz Singer
* Brooke Burgstahler as Ensign Woman

## Gallery

### Videos

The Orville- New Horizons - Sneak Peek Episode 7 - From Unknown Graves - HuluInside the Orville- From Unknown Graves - Hulu
## References

1. ↑ *The Orville* Season 3 Episode List. IMDb. Retrieved on August 20, 2022.
2. ↑ @editboy1000. "Season three episode titles/air dates leaked (?)". Reddit.com. Oct. 16, 2021.
3. ↑ Full Cast & Crew. IMDB. Last accessed May 19, 2023.