Claire is all set to take some much needed time off with her sons while the Orville is in spacedock. Isaac, a last minute replacement to fly the Finns to a nearby play planet, is curious about the family dynamic. Claire’s sons, Marcus and Ty, fight constantly and don’t seem to respect her at all.

But when the shuttle is catapulted 1000 light years off course, crashes and Claire is separated from the others, Isaac gets a crash course parenting…

This has absolutely no right to work as well as it does. A kid centric episode is traditionally American TV short hand for ‘RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES! RETURN FOR NEXT WEEK’S BOTTLE EPISODE!’ but this? This is one of the best kid centric episodes I’ve ever seen and easily in the top 5 episodes of the show to date.

A massive part of that is the cast, which, given it features two child actors and Isaac who has consistently been the least well served character on the show. But, BJ Tanner and Kai Wener as Marcus and Ty are genuinely great. Tanner absolutely commits to playing a brat and his moments of terror, especially a charged conversation with his mom towards the episode’s end, have real emotional heft. Wener impresses too, managing to make Ty a likable and sweet kid when he could so easily have been a wet blanket.

Mark Jackson is massively impressive too. Isaac is the definition of a thankless role but Jackson brings deadpan comic timing and moments of genuine poignancy to the role. There are hints of early Commander Data to him here and two moments that will just break your heart. The first sees him, genuinely, comfort a distraught Claire. The second comes at the episode’s end and sees Isaac welcomed into the cheerfully dysfunctional, untidy Finn family. And, crucially, be pleased by that.

But this episode belong to Penny Johnson Jerald. She’s front and centre pretty much all the time here and the episode is so much stronger for it. She plays Claire as endlessly resourceful, determined, patient and never once unaware of just how much trouble they’re all in. There’s a core of steel to the character we’ve only seen previously in Kelly and it’s a testament to the show’s growing strength that it’s two most formidable, emotionally tough characters are also two of its most likable. Not to mention two of the female central cast.

From the opening scenes to the final, charming and heartfelt moment with Isaac, Jerald shows just what an astonishing, versatile and hard charging performer she is. More Doc episodes please, she’s great.

Elsewhere the rest of the crew are largely sidelined and the episode is stronger for it. It’s also helped by a welcome turn from genre stalwart Brian Thompson as Claire’s kidnapper. But what really works here is the intensely strong central arc and that quartet of main performances.

Verdict: Unlike any other episode to date, Into the Fold shows how versatile The Orville can be and just how much this show is finding its voice now. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart