Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Episode 15

No good deed goes unpunished, and that's especially true for the inquisitor-in-training who helped Jolenta escape. Last week, he listened to his conscience and thwarted the schemes of his superiors. This week, his own head replaces Jolenta's on the chopping block. It's plain to see that this killing has no root in piety or theology. In fact, this entire episode pits religious beliefs and motivations against personal ones. Orb temporarily shifts its focus away from heliocentrism to focus on the Inquisition as a reactionary and self-cannibalizing entity that has nothing to do with God's will. It's all about people and power.

Most prominently, this reflection comes from the most surprising place. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel sorry for Nowak. Tricked into believing that Jolenta was executed, he spends the first half of the episode in a wordless stupor, thinking back on his memories with his daughter. The most important thing this scene confirms is that Nowak is a legitimately good dad. He supports Jolenta's studies. He pays attention to her. He spoils her a little but tries to raise her right. When he raises his voice at her, he immediately reflects on whether it was the right thing to do, and he follows it up by talking more with her. He's patient. He's thoughtful. He's loving.

While we've seen hints of Papa Nowak before, this time, we're forced to seriously weigh this side of Nowak against the cruel inquisitor who just tortured and killed two more of Orb's protagonists. In a sense, it would be easier if we saw that violence and sociopathy bleed into his home life. Then, everything would line up. Nowak would be bad through and through. Jolenta would be lucky to get away from him. The audience could revel in his despair. Accepting that Nowak could be a monster at work and a doting father at home is much harder. It's also far more interesting and truer to life, so I'm glad Orb takes this thornier route through Nowak's psyche.

It's human nature to paint people in extremes. We like to believe that a good person can do no wrong and a bad person can do no good, making everything easy to categorize. We prefer it when people validate our snap judgments of them. It makes us feel like our moral compasses are exquisitely calibrated. Conversely, it feels awful to see Nowak break down sobbing over the (alleged) loss of his daughter. Him being a good dad doesn't undo the horrible things he's done, but it does mean we have to treat him as a human, not as a demon. It also transforms Nowak from a detestable figure into a cautionary one. If he can keep these facets of himself separate—if he can justify those atrocities for such a sympathetic reason—then what's stopping other people from doing the same? The Inquisition is a system built and sustained by ordinary, flesh and blood humans. There's no intrinsic psychological immunity to these machines of death and destruction. We have to remain constantly vigilant that we're not cranking the gears of one right now.

Back to the narrative, the big question is what Nowak will do now. His fealty to the Church was rooted in his love for his daughter. Now that those loyalties are at odds, he has to choose a side. I can see him going either way, but a Nowak “redemption” arc, in my mind, would be crazier, so I want to see Orb go there. I am, however, a biased heathen. Nowak could certainly conclude that his redemption could only come through God's mercy, and he might double down on being the Lord's butcher. That's the nefarious side of religion, and Orb hasn't been shy about exposing that part either.

While Grabowski's conflict is less flashy, it belongs to the same conversation. He essentially turned Badeni in to the Inquisition, but he also feels guilty about that—Christianity, after all, features a prominently loathed traitor figure in its mythology. Therefore, when he discovers Badeni's note, he weighs his obligation to a wronged colleague against his obligation to the Church and God. This shouldn't be a question at all for a monk, but reality is more complicated than dogma. In fact, I'd say it's healthy to reexamine one's presumptions. The things we once thought to be axioms may end up being laughably off the mark. This, too, is an extension of the thought process and scientific method that led us from geocentrism to heliocentrism. It's all about using the brain for betterment.

The final scene is a big and extremely silly swing, but it works for me. In another version of this story, I might have rolled my eyes or laughed out loud at the sight of 60-odd beggars shaving their heads so a monk could read the tenets of heliocentrism tattooed on their pates. Here, though, it's further proof that Oczy changed Badeni into a humbler person who put his faith in the uneducated masses he otherwise often derided. He even asked Grabowski to educate them. I also like the Biblical echoes of this act. Jesus said, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Here, it's the meek who have inherited the solar system.

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Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is currently streaming on Netflix.

Steve is on Bluesky now, and he's okay with that. He is busy pondering the orb. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.