# On the Orville, are the moclans just extremely sexually repressed rather than naturally homosexual **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722 "2019-02-17T16:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/21 "2019-02-20T15:27:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > For example, Locar’s suicide was explained as being so terrible by Bortas, not because it was unfortunate, or because there was always another option, but because it was fundamentally selfish- he had talents that he could have used to better Mochlas, and he squandered them for his own selfish purposes. But at the end of the episode he is shown arrested and shackled and presumably headed for a severe punishment of some kind. It’s not okay for him to waste his talents but it is for his judges to waste his talents? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/22 "2019-02-20T15:56:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > But at the end of the episode he is shown arrested and shackled and presumably headed for a severe punishment of some kind. It’s not okay for him to waste his talents but it is for his judges to waste his talents? The English occasionally shoot a few admirals to encourage the others. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/23 "2019-02-20T18:08:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The English occasionally shoot a few admirals to encourage the others. I figured it was intended to be some kind of deterrent-style punishment as well. And from what we’ve seen of the Mochlans, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was made to work as an engineer in captivity anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/24 "2019-02-20T18:40:11Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I figured it was intended to be some kind of deterrent-style punishment as well. And from what we’ve seen of the Mochlans, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was made to work as an engineer in captivity anyway. I know it was never stated, but I assumed he was shackled in the interim until he could be executed. If the standard form of Moclan divorce is murder, then why wouldn’t punishment for extreme deviancy and assault on all that is good any holy also be death? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/25 "2019-02-20T19:16:19Z")
Why are you asking me? I’m not a writer for the show. I’m just paraphrasing what they’ve said in previous episodes, inconsistent as it may be. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/26 "2019-02-20T19:32:13Z")
Now that you mention it, their method of divorce seems entirely suboptimal for species survival. If a marriage is unsatisfactory, why not simply dissolve it and let the partners seek other opportunities that may be more productive? It’s the kind of ritual you’d expect for a species that was suffering from massive overpopulation, not a struggle for survival. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/27 "2019-02-20T19:32:24Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I know it was never stated, but I assumed he was shackled in the interim until he could be executed. > > If the standard form of Moclan divorce is murder, then why wouldn’t punishment for extreme deviancy and assault on all that is good any holy also be death? He certainly looked as though he expected a very unpleasant outcome. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/28 "2019-02-20T19:32:56Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I know it was never stated, but I assumed he was shackled in the interim until he could be executed. > > If the standard form of Moclan divorce is murder, then why wouldn’t punishment for extreme deviancy and assault on all that is good any holy also be death? It was stated. Locar explicitly said earlier in the episode “It is forbidden to express these feelings. To be found out would mean a lifetime of imprisonment.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/29 "2019-02-20T19:49:25Z")
Well that makes even _less_ sense because now not only is the person not being productive to Moclan society, the cost of imprisoning them is a net _drain_ on Moclan society. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/30 "2019-02-20T21:54:12Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It was stated. Locar explicitly said earlier in the episode “It is forbidden to express these feelings. To be found out would mean a lifetime of imprisonment.” Yes. A very _short_ lifetime of imprisonment. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/31 "2019-02-20T23:33:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well that makes even _less_ sense because now not only is the person not being productive to Moclan society, the cost of imprisoning them is a net _drain_ on Moclan society. Well it’s been pointed out Locar could still be made to serve Moclan society from prison (albeit he probably wouldn’t be as productive as if he free), but the fact that this doesn’t make sense is kinda the point. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I gotta admit, I’d like to see a science fiction episode where the alien species has some weird ritual or practice that superficially appears to be an exaggerated version of some human prejudice, but then it turns out there is a very very good reason for the aliens to practice what they do as revealed in the third act when the allegedly oppressed race or gender or whatever turns out to be barely controllable savages or something who are not remotely interested in being “liberated” by humans or anyone else. IIRC there was an episode of **Star Trek: Voyager** were Tuvok was stranded on a moon with a bunch of alien children who’d been abandoned to die, but it turned out their species differently that most humanoids and they were actually very elderly (& senile?), the moon was sacred to their species, and when they “died” they turned into energy beings. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/32 "2019-02-21T00:53:42Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Yes. A very _short_ lifetime of imprisonment. :eek: Yeah, it occurred to me that “a lifetime of imprisonment” could be a euphemism for “executed”, but the Moclans don’t seem like the euphemism types. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/33 "2019-02-21T01:10:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > So is Moclan society one where heterosexuality and being born female is actually fairly common, but the society is so repressed that they lie to themselves and each other about it? > > Is it supposed to be like modern society 100 years ago where gay people were everywhere, but we just pretended it wasn’t happening? Yes. I’d say that based on what we see, being born female and/or having heterosexual tendencies are about as common as being transgender or homosexual on Earth is (bearing in mind that we don’t have the best estimates of what the true probability of those are on Earth, due to continuing (though diminishing) societal pressures analogous to the societal pressures we see in Moclan society. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/34 "2019-03-07T23:46:55Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well that makes even _less_ sense because now not only is the person not being productive to Moclan society, the cost of imprisoning them is a net _drain_ on Moclan society. You don’t know that. Perhaps Moclan prisons are very efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722/35 "2019-03-08T00:14:33Z")
It seems to me that Seth is trying to make a bigger point in the whole Maclan thing, but it comes across like he is telling a story in a language that he isn’t fluent in. Like a dick and fart joke comedian trying to explain something deep and important. I think it will get better the longer he does it. I have to admit, though, that Orville in its first season was way better than The Next Generation version of Star Trek, and I am one of he biggest TNG fans I know. If the trajectory continues the way TNG did as the actors and writers got better as the show went on, I think that The Orville will end up being pretty good. Or it could be a turd floater. Who knows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-orville-are-the-moclans-just-extremely-sexually-repressed-rather-than-naturally-homosexual/829722.md?page=1)