The Orville S3 EP 5 A Tale Of Two Topas Deftly Navigates The Repercussions Of Forced Gender Reassignment With Grace And Dignity

Imani Pullum as Topa and Adrianne Palicki as Cmdr. Kelly Grayson. All photos courtesy of Hulu.

In a call back to S1 EP3 About A Girl, A Tale Of Two Topas brings to light the inner pain and struggle of those who have been forced from birth (in this case surgically altered at birth) to live as a different gender than what they were born as and the repercussions such violations of a body bring. It’s an episode of pride, pain, envy, and hope.

In episode 5 the crew discovers the temple of an ancient civilization known as the Hemblicites that is ripe for exploring. After a few dead ends and one troublesome boobytrap they hit the jackpot of artifacts and begin getting to know this mysterious race which might not technically be that mysterious if you do a little digging.

Sorry, moving along.

Meanwhile back on the ship, Topa is putting himself through the paces of Union Point training in hopes of attending the academy when he is of age and it’s not going so well. Cmdr Grayson offers to help guide him in the right direction and allows Topa to shadow her on normal rounds and that’s about where things take a hard left.

Oh ye of little Belkarian faith. Or clothing. Andy Milder as Ensign Bolobart

While taking Topa on rounds Cmdr Grayson is presented with an opportunity to not only teach Topa a lite-duty lesson on how to handle cultural diversity issues in the workplace but also learn more about each other which is where Topa lets Kelly in on his deep emotional struggles leaving the ever caring Kelly in a horrible position. While she seeks guidance from Capt. Mercer and Dr Finn, and tries to talk to Bortus and Klyden about Topa’s suffering, Topa grows more desperate and in his sadness reaches out to Isaac to learn about what Isaac went through before and after his suicide attempt. To add to it all, Topa’s fathers have forbidden him from working with Cmdr Grayson on academy training nearly cutting off all communication with the one person he could talk to and someone he aspired to be like. At this point, only an intervention was going to save Topa. Well, an intervention and some very specific Moclan cake.

Thanks to a leaked file and password over dessert Topa was able to access his medical information and learn about his gender reassignment surgery. After confronting Bortus and Klyden about the procedure, Topa goes to see Dr. Finn for more information and to try to make sense of what really happened. While Bortus had been more forthcoming with why they did what they did, Kylden is enraged by it all and goes to give Kelly (who put Topa on the path to finding the file) a piece of his mind, only for it to end with Kylden in an armlock. When things settle down a bit (or at least when no one is trying to snap Cmdr Grayson’s neck) Kelly and Topa take a trip to the Environmental Simulator so Topa can see and hear a Moclan female speak and who better to see and hear than Heveena in the courtroom where Topa’s fate what decided and it is a powerful scene to watch unfold.

While the Admiralty of the Planetary Union could not give Dr. Finn permission to reverse Topa’s procedure due to political and interplanetary security issues, Isaac offers a notable solution to the problem with Lt Cmdr Keyali offering up the ultimate distraction to make sure no one interferes with Isaac’s plan; a night of interplanetary songs sung by Bortus and it works perfectly because who’s going to turn down that invitation? No one would be the correct answer. Topa’s procedure is reversed, Klyden leaves The Orville to file for divorce, and only through a bit of luck and Moclan hubris does Kelly and Ed not get fired by Admiral Howland (Andi Chapman ). While the show ends on a beautiful note, this is only the next step in Topa’s journey, and it’s going to be interesting to see where the writers take her. Klyden’s anger and jealousy towards Topa (and everyone who supported her) did not abate when he left, so how that works itself back into the story will be a heartbreaking but necessary component, no matter how it manifests.

Jon Cassar doing what Jon Cassar does best, being awesome.

While the archeological find was a fun way to pull people in, the seriousness of Topa’s situation was never watered down with side quests or multi-tiered storylines. Her story was told with great care and compassion, even regarding Klyden’s views and hostilities, and while it made a lot of us ugly cry, A Tale Of Two Topas gave us a ray of hope. Adrianne and Peter’s performances are incredible, the music score is brilliant and the storylines flow together nearly seamlessly not to mention how poignant each scene is or becomes. In other words, bravo!

A Tale Of Two Topas, along with all previous episodes of season 3, can be streamed right here on Hulu.