'The Orville' season 1 episode 3 release date, plot news: Mercer and crew face off with Krill battle cruiser; Bortus and Klyden struggle with a decision

Promotional image for "The Orville."Facebook/TheOrville

In the next episode of "The Orville," Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) and his crew appear to face off with a Krill battlecruiser. On the other hand, Bortus (Pater Macon) and Klyden (Chad L. Coleman) decide whether to give their newborn baby a controversial surgery.

The recent trailer for the upcoming episode titled "About a Girl" showed the Orville come face to face with a large Krill spaceship several times its size. It is implied that Mercer and his crew were attacked by the enemy craft as there was damage to the ship.

From what can be gleaned from the trailer, it appears that they land on a nearby planet to escape the Krill onslaught. However, they are still in danger as they get attacked by some inhabitants on the planet.

In the first episode, Mercer and his crew had a dangerous encounter with the Krill when they took an experimental device away from the Orville. This contraption was able to create a "time bubble" and have things age within the space. When the Krill commander turned the machine on, a seed attached to it got caught in a time bubble and grew into a tree several meters high. It overextended the space vessel's interior and destroyed its hull, and eventually exploded.

Meanwhile, Bortus and Klyden decide on whether they should give their female baby a controversial surgery. Since there are no females in their alien race, it is hinted that they might change the sex of their baby to a male.

In the last episode, their baby hatched from its egg but they noticed that it was a female. This surprised them and the show ended in a cliffhanger.

The next episode of "The Orville" will air in its new timeslot on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. EDT on Fox.