Twice in a Lifetime

Twice In a Lifetime

Season	Episode
3	6

Air date

July 7, 2022

Production Order

Previous episode	Next episode
A Tale of Two Topas	From Unknown Graves

Twice In a Lifetime is the sixth episode of the third season of The Orville. After Gordon Malloy is sent to another space and time, it is up to the crew to save the timeline and rescue their friend.

Twice in a Lifetime is the second of the "pandemic" episodes, episodes written before the Covid-19 pandemic but only filmed after. Interestingly enough, because this episode involves characters traveling to a time when the pandemic occurred, Laura Huggins mentions it while talking to Gordon.

This episode was written by Seth MacFarlane and directed by Jon Cassar. However, due to the enormous strain placed on the crew due to Covid-19 filming protocol, MacFarlane ended up directing as much as Cassar.^[1] Music was composed by Andrew Cottee.

Twice in a Lifetime officially premiered on July 7, 2022, though it had aired on July 6 in parts of the western United States.

As of August 20, 2022, the episode holds a 8.8 rating on IMDb, the second best of the season behind only "Domino" and the third best of the series overall behind the 9.1 rating of both "Identity, Pt. 1" and "Identity, Pt. 2"^[2]

Plot[]

Act 1[]

Helmsman Gordon Malloy performs "That's All I've Got to Say" on guitar for a party, a song he sang with Laura Huggins. After his performance, the party guests mingle. Isaac attempts small talk with Navigator Charly Burke but is sharply rejected. Chief Engineering Officer John LaMarr feels bad and gives Isaac pointers on conversation. Charly finds a synthesized cell phone, a replica of a real phone which belonged to Laura in the early 21st century and discovered in the Saratoga Springs time capsule. Gordon shows her photos of Laura, then he takes a selfie with Charly and Second Officer Bortus.

In the Astrophysics lab, John and Isaac show Captain Ed Mercer and First Officer Kelly Grayson two major breakthroughs on the Aronov device, a colloquial name for a quantum accelerator. The first breakthrough is the quantum field generated by the device has been greatly expanded; the second is the shocking discovery to send objects to the past or future. Ed and Kelly immediately report their discoveries to Admiral Perry, who is both excited but fearful. The power to manipulate time would be devastating were it to fall into Kaylon hands. He orders the USS Orville to hand the device over to a convoy for transfer to a maximum-security research facility on Sabik 3.

The Orville rendezvouses with the convoy, but the leader of the convoy, Admiral Ozawa, realizes something is wrong when Sabik 3 will not respond to her hails. The convoy arrives to find Sabik space littered with the wrecks of Planetary Union ships and a destroyed space station. The Kaylon somehow knew they were coming and destroyed the facility. Just then, convoy of Kaylon drop out of quantum to fight.

Act 2[]

The convoy fights a fever-pitched battle against the Kaylon ambushers. The Orville is battered by pursuing Intercepters, and Decks E and F suffer explosive decompression. Ozawa orders all ships to flee to the Veil Nebula. A Sphere locks onto the Orville by tractor beam and orders the ship to surrender the Aronov device. Ed orders Chief Security Officer Talla Keyali to destroy the device, but a large piece of wreckage knocks into the ship and Talla is hurt. Gordon grabs a PM-44 from the Armory and rushes to the lab to destroy the device. Ed orders John to overload the quantum core and to channel as much of that massive output of energy as possible into the Deflectors in the hopes it would generate a blast that might disrupt the tractor beam. Gordon takes aim at the device, but just as he is about to fire, the core overloads and part of the surge of extraordinary power enters the device and erupts. Gordon is thrown back then seems to split into many copies of himself before disappearing. The Kaylon's tractor beam is interrupted, and the Orville jumps to quantum and into the safety of the nebula.

Gordon has disappeared. The senior staff gather in the Astrophysics Lab, but there is no trace of him. An incoming transmission arrives from Gordon... from 400 years in the past. Gordon's message calls for help, saying he is on Earth and has been for three months. The Orville searches the computer database and finds an obituary of Gordon dated July 12, 2068, of him dying at 96. When the Aronov device transported Gordon, it read his desire to return to Laura Huggins on Earth in the year 2015 as a destination. Gordon has interfered with the timeline and broken temporal law. Ed and Kelly agree the Orville must retrieve Gordon from when he first arrived on Earth to save the timeline.

The Orville overloads the quantum core, and the quantum accelerator sends the ship to Earth. However, due to not having enough dysonium, its fuel source, the jump fell short of their target, and they've only gone back to the year 2025. They are now completely out of dysonium and have no way of getting back to the 2044. This means Gordon has been on Earth for ten years. Ed decides Isaac and Charly will go to Earth to extract dysonium from its mantle using a geodetic probe, while he and Kelly go to get Gordon.

Ed, Kelly, Charly, and Isaac assemble in a shuttle. Isaac disguises himself as a Human using a holographic generator, and the shuttle activates its cloak. Isaac makes a second awkward attempt at small talk with Charly. The team lands in the outskirts of Pasadena, California, and then sets off.

Act 3[]

Gordon fills out a log, working at an airplane hangar, when he spots Ed and Kelly coming. Kelly says they are here to take Gordon home, but Gordon asks they go for a drive. In the car, Gordon explains he has grown comfortable to a life in Pasadena. Kelly states that he will have to answer to the Union for violating temporal law. They arrive at Gordon's house, and he introduces them to his son Edward Malloy and Laura, who is noticeably pregnant.

Charly and Isaac walk along the side a road, still very far from a bore site for dysonium. They decide to enter a biker bar to find faster transportation. The two are fish out of water among the bikers. Two men hit on Charly. She bets their motorcycles that the strongest man in the bar could not beat Isaac in an arm-wrestling match. Charly tells Isaac to "make it believable." Isaac easily trounces him, and the two ride off on their borrowed motorcycles.

The Malloy family hosts Ed and Kelly for lunch, and Gordon and Laura recount falling in love.

Back in space, Talla asks John about Engineering's repairs to the Orville. John mentions his shoulder aches, and she massages his back. He begins to groan loudly while the rest of Engineering hears. As soon as she is done, John turns around and they start making out.

Ed and Kelly confront Gordon in private in the home. Gordon is outraged to hear his friends condemn him for breaking temporal law after he spent three years in excruciating isolation in the woods. Further, he believes his interference did not seriously alter the timeline because Ed and Kelly are there, but Ed says that multiple realities exist until they collapse into a single chain of events. The door opens as Laura steps into the room, making Ed and Kelly stop arguing. Gordon tells them that he wants them out of his house, so Ed and Kelly leave. Laura tells Gordon that she had long suspected something strange, especially when Gordon slipped that he knew the outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Gordon asks her if it makes her feel different towards him, but she says that, despite the fact that he's been lying to her their entire time together, she still loves him. Gordon states that she wouldn't have believed him before. The two reaffirm their love for each other, and Gordon says he chooses her over returning.

Act 4[]

Charly and Isaac reach the deposit of dysonium. Analysis shows the entry point for a bore to be directly beneath a nearby home for sale. The realtor, Nancy Weber, catches Charly and Isaac looking in through the windows and mistakes them as a young couple looking to buy, so she shows them around. They ask for privacy in the basement to discuss whether to purchase the house and, once alone, release the probe. After they get everything set up and while they are waiting for the machine to extract the dysonium, Isaac makes yet another attempt at conversation, which irritates Charly. Isaac explains he is trying to thank her for reactivating him. She tries to cut the conversation short and says she was doing her job, but that does not change the fact that she still loathes him. Charly says she had loved Amanda, but Amanda died before Charly knew whether she felt the same way. The probe finishes getting the dysonium, and the two leave. As they are walking out, Charly, angry and upset, tells the realtor they just broke up.

That night, Gordon watches television with his family when the doorbell rings. Gordon is outraged to see Ed and Kelly with Talla, knowing Talla will haul him away by force. Gordon tells them he'll go, but only if they take all of them, he, Laura and Edward. When the officers refuse, Gordon pulls out his PM-44 and tells them that they can either leave, or he will stun them, and his family will go on the run where they'll never find them. Isaac messages Ed from the Orville to say the ship is ready for time travel. Ed and Kelly say they will go to the year 2015 and take Gordon. Gordon and Laura are outraged, and Gordon pleads and screams for them to change their mind. The officers leave, and Gordon is left with Laura and Edward. Knowing they are about to be erased from existence, Gordon gathers his family on the couch and tells them he loves them. "This family is stronger than time," he says. "And no matter what happens, no one can take that away from us."

Act 5[]

The Orville jumps back in time to the year 2015 approximately 4 months after Gordon's arrival and are able to easily locate and shuttle him back to The Orville. In the Shuttle Bay, Gordon says it is good to be back, but Ed and Kelly only give him odd looks.

The Aronov device was destroyed in the most recent jump and repairs will take six months or more. However, John realizes that there is another way: By flying the Orville close to light speed with its quantum field turned off, the ship will have no shield from time dilation and will travel forward through time. However, travelling that fast without a quantum field would expose the Orville to space debris. Even the tiniest dust particle could destroy them, so John directs all ship power to the Deflectors. The crew makes a jump 200 light years away from Earth, then 200 light years back, ending up back in the year 2422.

Gordon, Kelly, and Ed drink in Ed's quarters. Gordon is dismayed to hear that if the Orville had not rescued him, he would have given up hiding, married Laura, and ruined the timeline. Ed and Kelly console him. Gordon states that he knows they both feel bad, but his friends did the right thing. Ed admits he still feels bad that two children will never be born. Kelly remarks that it has been a long time since the three of them sat around drinking. "In the old days, we would have finished off that bottle and drained two more," says Ed. Kelly replies, "Let's try for three," and pours another round.

Production[]

Originally, the sixth episode of Season 3 was titled Midnight Blue, Pt. 2.^[3] However, these titles were leaked from a very early stage when the writers planned for an 11-episode season, so it is not known if Midnight Blue was a different story that was later moved elsewhere in the season.

A previs of the episode was completed by March 13, 2020.^[4] However, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic shutting down production, this episode was not filmed until the year 2021.

New restrictions and scheduling conflicts due to Covid-19, as well as three pregnant co-stars, made filming Season 3's remaining five episodes extremely difficult. As a result, the production leaders decided to shoot all of the five episodes at the same time, an unprecedented and surprising move. "It's unbelievably difficult," director Jon Cassar reported in May 2021. "But we're doing it. We're holding onto the tone."^[1]

Despite Cassar or Seth MacFarlane being credited for this episode, the challenges of shooting during a global pandemic meant both MacFarlane and Cassar directed scenes as time and schedules allowed. "It's almost like we're co-directing at this point," Cassar surmised.^[1]

Trivia[]

Gordon Malloy tells Laura Huggins that he fell in love with her "three centuries" after she was "gone." This refers to him "falling in love" with her simulator-program likeness that he created from her cell phone that was included in the Saratoga Springs time capsule.
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?"^[5]
Isaac's Human form appears for the second time after first being seen in "A Happy Refrain."
In the original premiere version of this episode, the rescue of Gordon one month after his arrival in 2015 creates a paradox as the episode establishes, he doesn't send his message to the Orville's position until 6 months after he was stranded. Not only does the second rescue attempt negate the timeline in which Gordon has a family, it also negates the timeline in which he sent the distress call.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2022 panel for The Orville, Seth MacFarlane confirmed the distress call paradox was "an egregious mistake" and admitted it was a production oversight. He also revealed that the error was corrected with a tweak and as of Aug 2022, the dialogue of the episode has since been changed in order to correct the paradox. In the original distress call from Gordon Malloy, the line was changed from him originally being stranded for 6 months to 3 months before he sends the distress call to The Orville. Later when The Orville jumps to 2015 from 2025, LaMar's dialogue has also been changed to say that they arrived approximately 4 months after Gordon's arrival to 2015 instead of only a month. Thus, fixing the unintended paradox.
Anne Winters did not learn of Charly's feelings for Amanda until the filming of this episode. After Seth MacFarlane offered, she was given the chance to reshoot the scene with Amanda from "Electric Sheep" with this in mind.^[6]

Timeline[]

This episode starts in the year 2422.
- Given that the episode Mortality Paradox probably took place in June or July 2422, this episode may take place around September or October.
At Gordon's request, an egg salad sandwich is transported three months into the future as a test of the Aronov device. (The sandwich arrives in Future Unknown.)
John says days have passed between when he demonstrated how to send objects through time and his investigation of Gordon's disappearance.
Gordon is sent by the Aronov device to the year 2015 sometime between January and June.
- Three months after his arrival, but still in the year 2015, he sends a distress message to the Veil Nebula in the hopes the Orville receives it.
- Gordon goes into hiding in the woods of Connecticut for the next three years.
In the year 2018, Gordon emerges from hiding and decides to find Laura Huggins.
The Orville pursues Gordon but ends up in the year 2025.
The Orville goes further back in time to rescue Gordon before he goes to find Laura. The jump is not perfect, and they end up four months after Gordon arrived.
At the end of the episode, the Orville travels quickly through time for 200 light years, pausing briefly around the year 2215, and then travelling another 200 light years to return to 2422.
Dysonium deposits were discovered in the Earth's mantle in the early 22nd century.