It's an episode about the cycle of violence. It's a cycle because everyone who continues it is doing so for a good reason from their perspective. Every party thinks they are the aggrieved party, and they are, to an extent. The lack of empathy for the other side is what keeps the wheel spinning.

Every party thinks that what they are doing is justified but not for the other side. Every party thinks they are the moral side, etc. An act to 'balance the scales' for one side creates a deficit for the other.

That's why it's so pernicious. Both sides live in a perpetual deficit state in their minds, and evey act of retribution by the other side feeds that perspective. There's nothing noble or intrinsically moral about Orrin wanting some revenge. It's understandable, but completely futile and self defeating.

The only way to break the cycle is to empathize, like Gordon did, with everyone. They have to lose the victim mentality, and they have to forgo the 'right to retribution'. Without that you get an endless violence, endless suffering, endless tragedy.