diff --git a/compiler/optimizer/optimizer.go b/compiler/optimizer/optimizer.go
index fd6e9ceb66..c67c370324 100644
--- a/compiler/optimizer/optimizer.go
+++ b/compiler/optimizer/optimizer.go
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ func (o *Optimizer) optimizeSourcePaths(seq dag.Seq) (dag.Seq, error) {
 			}
 			lister.KeyPruner = maybeNewRangePruner(filter, sortKeys)
 			seq = dag.Seq{lister}
-			_, _, orderRequired, _, err := o.concurrentPath(chain, sortKeys)
+			_, _, orderRequired, err := o.concurrentPath(chain, sortKeys)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
diff --git a/compiler/optimizer/parallelize.go b/compiler/optimizer/parallelize.go
index 4f5b6c7fbb..e6d3c02e2e 100644
--- a/compiler/optimizer/parallelize.go
+++ b/compiler/optimizer/parallelize.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func (o *Optimizer) parallelizeSeqScan(scan *dag.SeqScan, seq dag.Seq, replicas
 	}
 	// concurrentPath will check that the path consisting of the original source
 	// sequence and any lifted sequence is still parallelizable.
-	n, outputKeys, _, needMerge, err := o.concurrentPath(seq[1:], srcSortKeys)
+	n, outputKeys, _, err := o.concurrentPath(seq[1:], srcSortKeys)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ func (o *Optimizer) parallelizeSeqScan(scan *dag.SeqScan, seq dag.Seq, replicas
 		scatter.Paths[k] = copySeq(head)
 	}
 	var merge dag.Op
-	if needMerge {
+	if len(outputKeys) > 0 {
 		// At this point, we always insert a merge as we don't know if the
 		// downstream DAG requires the sort order.  A later step will look at
 		// the fanin from this parallel structure and see if the merge can be
@@ -204,17 +204,17 @@ func parallelPaths(op dag.Op) ([]dag.Seq, bool) {
 	return nil, false
 }
 
-// concurrentPath returns the largest path within ops from front to end that can
+// concurrentPath returns the largest path within seq from front to end that can
 // be parallelized and run concurrently while preserving its semantics where
-// the input to ops is known to have an order defined by sortKey (or order.Nil
+// the input to seq is known to have an order defined by sortKey (or order.Nil
 // if unknown).
 // The length of the concurrent path is returned and the sort order at
 // exit from that path is returned.  If sortKey is zero, then the
 // concurrent path is allowed to include operators that do not guarantee
 // an output order.
-func (o *Optimizer) concurrentPath(ops []dag.Op, sortKeys order.SortKeys) (int, order.SortKeys, bool, bool, error) {
-	for k := range ops {
-		switch op := ops[k].(type) {
+func (o *Optimizer) concurrentPath(seq dag.Seq, sortKeys order.SortKeys) (length int, outputKeys order.SortKeys, orderRequired bool, err error) {
+	for k := range seq {
+		switch op := seq[k].(type) {
 		// This should be a boolean in op.go that defines whether
 		// function can be parallelized... need to think through
 		// what the meaning is here exactly.  This is all still a bit
@@ -226,35 +226,35 @@ func (o *Optimizer) concurrentPath(ops []dag.Op, sortKeys order.SortKeys) (int,
 			if isKeyOfSummarize(op, sortKeys) {
 				// Keep the input ordered so we can incrementally release
 				// results from the groupby as a streaming operation.
-				return k, sortKeys, true, true, nil
+				return k, sortKeys, true, nil
 			}
-			return k, nil, false, false, nil
+			return k, nil, false, nil
 		case *dag.Sort:
 			newKeys := sortKeysOfSort(op)
 			if newKeys.IsNil() {
 				// No analysis for sort without expression since we can't
 				// parallelize the heuristic.  We should revisit these semantics
 				// and define a global order across Zed type.
-				return 0, nil, false, false, nil
+				return 0, nil, false, nil
 			}
-			return k, newKeys, false, true, nil
+			return k, newKeys, false, nil
 		case *dag.Load:
 			// XXX At some point Load should have an optimization where if the
 			// upstream sort is the same as the Load destination sort we
 			// request a merge and set the Load operator to do a sorted write.
-			return k, nil, false, false, nil
+			return k, nil, false, nil
 		case *dag.Fork, *dag.Scatter, *dag.Mirror, *dag.Head, *dag.Tail, *dag.Uniq, *dag.Fuse, *dag.Join, *dag.Output:
-			return k, sortKeys, true, true, nil
+			return k, sortKeys, true, nil
 		default:
 			next, err := o.analyzeSortKeys(op, sortKeys)
 			if err != nil {
-				return 0, nil, false, false, err
+				return 0, nil, false, err
 			}
 			if !sortKeys.IsNil() && next.IsNil() {
-				return k, sortKeys, true, true, nil
+				return k, sortKeys, true, nil
 			}
 			sortKeys = next
 		}
 	}
-	return len(ops), sortKeys, true, true, nil
+	return len(seq), sortKeys, true, nil
 }