Topa confronts Klyden and Bortus with her original gender...

The Orville S03E05

[AtenRa]

Fantastic scene. Bortus speaks first, admitting the truth faster. He speaks plainly, not trying to couch his words in cultural ideology but as a guilty parent to his child. And at the end, he's the only one who can still look his daughter in the face with humility and compassion. Then there's Klyden, trailing behind him with frantic emotion, desperate to preserve his cultural attitudes to save face, and storming out unable to be in the same room with either of them.

[Nesenda]

i think klyden took it so poorly because of self hate, and Bortus took it so well because of his love for Klyden and his child, regardless of sex/gender

[alphabetsoup]

2:37, for someone as seemingly emotionless as Bortus is, an outburst like this speaks volumes to his character’s feelings in this scene. Mad at himself, mad at his husband, mad at his own people, but has nothing but patience and calmness when speaking with Topa. Honestly so much depicted in a mere 5 seconds. Genuinely well done.

[ncberz]

When the Orville went from being a parody of Star Trek to a true successor

[americanphoenix]

Bortus is an excellent mate. He fought so hard to not have Topa be changed it almost ruined his relationship with Klyden. When confronted though he shared an equil measure of the blame instead of letting resentment cloud his mind and hurt Klyden. Good guy bortus

[ThomasFishwick]

I was very VERY concerned about how they would approach this plot line. I thought it was the one massive red flag in the series.
They more then proved me wrong.
Fantastic, fearless writing.

[tribbleq]

Bortus did well to apologize. I think you really mess kids up if you never admit you were wrong like that.

[xxlCortez]

I gotta commend the young actress for playing the role so well.

[comicmaster]

2:37 I JUMPED when Bortus snapped at Klyden

[Mastermind]

This season shouldn't have been hidden away on Hulu. Episodes like this should have been viewed by others that don't have streaming services.

[TraciPeteyforlife]

So intense and emotional you can feel the punches to the gut. You can just see the pain in all of them.

[holydoggo]

from parody ot a successor - this is just wonderful

[potaterjim]

Who else finds it kind of insane that in this age, we're getting a touching and progressive trans allegory from _Seth McFarlane_ of all people.

[MalakianMS]

These scenes make his redeeming arc even better.

[gellertgrindelwald]

The fact that Klyden felt the need to lie and try to beat around the bush while Bortus was straightforward with Topa says a lot about each one of their characters

[AngelArm]

You definitely hate Klyden in this scene, but then you realize that everything Topa is describing, probably fits perfectly with the living hell Klyden has been in all his life. Honestly it's no wonder he's such a misogynistic ass all the time. So might we all be if we had to live such a massive lie.

[shinethief]

You can very easily apply this intersex people discovering the truth about their birth and I am sure that was on purpose. Also having a species that are all male, points out weirdness of genders and their respective assumed roles. Orville, you are making my inner Star Trek nerd so happy.

[Jehutyv]

It is not just the message that is important but also how the message is delivered. That can only be achieved by mainly good writers and directors who care about quality vs quantity. Sure actors are important, but it is the former two who create the scene in the first place.

[richbrescher]

Orville fan have been waiting for this possible episode in the future

[AmyNumberSeven]

This kind of stuff happens IRL, if you have an intersex medical condition, parents will be instructed to pick a sex, and then never tell the kid they're different. Sometimes doctors won't even tell parents. For obvious reasons, this comes from the same feelings as anti-trans, but they are in fact different things.

In this case, the fear of admitting her identity to her parents and the shame she was accidentally taught are similar things.