Written by Seth MacFarlane

Audiobook narrated by Bruce Boxleitner

[Editor’s note: As this was released as an adaptation of an episode that was lost because of COVID cuts, unusually we are reviewing and cataloguing it as if it was a broadcast instalment]

 Abandoned as a child, Otto is raised by adoptive parents who love him. Nonetheless, growing up in the growing shadow of World War 2, Otto soon becomes a Nazi and is promoted into the SS. He’s brutal, cold, filled with every one of the murderous instincts of his fascist education.

And then, one day, he meets Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson.

This is the most ambitious episode the show has attempted and, to my amazement, it succeeds. Dealing with issues of fascism and bigotry it is terrifyingly easy to deploy some version of the mealy mouthed ‘it’s complicated’ approach that helps no one and emboldens the worst. This episode walks right up to that and instead delivers something I’ve genuinely never seen before.

Otto, it turns out, is a child from the era of the show, accidentally abandoned in a simulation when his parents were abducted. The sim responded to him, evolved around him and also followed the progression of history. So, the child became the man and the man became a Nazi and killed countless people.

But all those people were artificial. So is he a killer? Or is he a victim?

MacFarlane couches the entire philosophical debate in terms of a very complex, desperately sad rescue mission. Ed and Kelly and the crew are painfully aware of both what Otto has done and what has been done to him and their view of what needs to be done changes as ours does. Otto for his part is unrepentant, but also clearly indoctrinated, even when that indoctrination is shaken to its bones by the revelation of when he truly lives. This leads to a fantastic closing sequence where Otto’s worlds collide in a manner which emphasizes the monster he’s become and the fact that monster was built by accident.

All of this sounds supremely grim and a lot of it is. The ship doesn’t make an appearance until several chapters in as well and from a logistical point of view it’s perhaps understandable that this was the episode they had to lose. It’s the least connected to New Horizons’ surprisingly dense plot arcs but thematically its absolutely in lockstep; a story where the Orville crew are trying to do something kind and helpful for someone so far in trouble they can’t see anything else.

But it’s also one of the most successful episodes the show has ever produced, even if it’s in an unusual format. The script is philosophical, complex, accessible and profoundly compassionate. The subject matter is tackled with intelligence and honesty. It’s exactly what the show does best and the fact it works just as well in print speaks to just how strong New Horizons has been as a run.

Verdict: Sympathy for the Devil takes big chances, and they all pay off. It embodies the Planetary Union, the Orville crew and the show at its best: good people trying to be better and trying to help others along the way too. It’s a great story, and I’m delighted we’ve got to experience it, even if it is in two different (and very successful) formats. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart