‘The Orville’ Recap: ‘A Happy Refrain’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​Throughout the course of its proud existence, science fiction has accomplished a great many things storytelling wise. After all, there are few genres out there that are able to explore the human condition the way that sci-fi manages to, but while it does an incredible job of looking at who we are as a species and a society, this genre does have its own respective weaknesses. In fact, if there’s one element of mankind that this genre struggles to explore, it’s love, simply because the complexities of relationships, rarely fit into a story that involves traveling through the stars at speeds beyond our imagination.
 
Granted, that hasn’t stopped some sci-fi stories and shows from trying to dig into this matter, with mixed results of course, and while I fully understand that bigger concepts matter here, I’ve always wondered what a genuine love story would look like in the future or a world where technology and understanding matter above all else and it would seem that I’m not the only one who’s pondered upon such a thing. For last night’s episode of The Orville, ‘A Happy Refrain’, actually took the time to give us a love story set amongst the stars, as we watched Dr. Finn come to realize that she outright had feelings for another member of the crew.
 
Which at first glance seems pretty innocuous, and by the numbers, but this is a series that always goes above and beyond and what made this love story so incredibly fascinating and compelling, is the sheer fact that Dr. Finn came to realize that she was falling for Isaac and falling hard, and that it might behoove her to explore a relationship with him and see exactly where it goes, something that seemed like quite the awful decision when all is said and done. Because let’s be honest, we all know that Isaac is incapable of emotion or feeling, and that he’s all about his own special brand of science, but that didn’t stop the good doctor from giving this her all and well…believe it or not, her decision ended up making for one endearing and beautiful tale. 

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​Because Isaac, actually took the time to do this right. He sought out advice from John on how to properly impress Claire and worked hard to make her feel comfortable and desired, even going so far as to add a human avatar to his appearance to prove to the doctor his level of interest and desire to be with her. But while that was sweet in its own right, there was drama to be found in this coupling, since Isaac saw an intimate evening together as the completion of their relationship and well, admitting that sleeping with the doctor for the sake of science brought all kinds of hell down upon Isaac and while it seemed there was no way in the universe’s good graces that this would ever matter to Isaac, a glitch in his programming, one that made him realize he needed Claire in his life, prompted him to apologize and make things right and well…it was the little things about this tale that made it so magnificent in its own right.
 
For this story really took the time to explore the finer points of relationships, and it covered a great many things in this tale since it reminded us of the importance of communication in a relationship, how the small things matter when you’re trying to make your significant other feel special and also how, whether we like it or not, we are definitely going to stumble in matters of love and how we respond to our mistakes is what matters the most. Because setting things right is what really shows a person how much we love them, and how much we want to be with them and really, when all is said and done, I was taken aback by this particular episode and everything that it had to offer because it truly was an intimate affair and there was a genuine innocence to this tale since Isaac had never been down this road before and his attempts to get it right made him supremely relatable since we’ve all been in his shoes at some point another in our lives.
 
Either way, this episode was downright brilliant, and I definitely need to tip my cap to Seth MacFarlane, who wrote and directed this episode, because he truly gave us a magnificent love story in space, one that featured growth and depth and everything in between and of course, some quality laughs as well. Because let’s be honest, the scene when Gordon and John discover that Isaac is taking Claire out on a date, was next level comedy as they raced to tell the rest of the crew and Bortus with a mustache is downright hilarious as well and everything we’ve discussed today just reinforces the fact that making the characters and their development a focus for this season was a wonderful decision to say the least and I really am looking forward to more intimate tales in the weeks to come. Until next time.  

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