Absolutely loved this episode, great twist, even teared up at the end!
Spoiler alert, read no farther...
The Captain never answered Eds question, (have you guys done it?
Could Teleya appear in a later episode pregnant?
Or maybe just send him an egg???
The twist was smart writing. The captain's reply re: the code was great, too. I wonder why nobody on Star Trek (Orville's inspiration) ever thought of that solution when being tortured for a code.
shareIt's pretty clear that they've slept together. Otherwise why does she know that he snores.
shareBest EP of this season at least. I was getting worried this ep gives me hope.
shareI would imagine whatever DNA surgery she underwent would kill the fetus.
shareShe probably used a holographic generator which Mercer and Malloy used in a previous episode to disguise themselves as Krill.
I would hope she'd use protection since she wouldn't want to become pregnant by an enemy she hates.
She mentioned DNA grafting, or something like that, as the only way to fool Union scanners.
shareThe transformation plot was lifted from the Outer Limits ep: Quality of Mercy.
shareThe episode was also the same as part of Star Trek: Discovery season one, even to almost the name as in The Orville it was Lt. Janel Tyler and Star Trek: Discovery it was Lt. Ash Tyler.
Then again it can be argued that it's all just a twist on a trope from many different genres, like the old double agent spy or some national security or police officer going undercover, a mafia member being a cop or national security officer and etc. If you look at the recent TV Series The Americans that is in essence what that was, in a Sci-Fi sense even the 1988 John Carpenter film They Live was as well, Aliens amongst us pretending to look like us (just took sunglasses to see it).
So yeah while the Outer Limits is a good example of a similar transformation, it is not really an original idea, could be an SS guy in a concentration camp pretending to be a British/US soldier. A Cop in prison pretending to be a prisoner to get information out of another prisoner, The Usual Suspects is another with the whole Keyser Söze plot-line and many various other ways it's been done in film and TV over the years.