The Orville: "A Happy Refrain"

The Orville: "A Happy Refrain." Season 2, episode 6 (31 January 2019).

If classic Star Trek had a breakthrough with the first US TV interracial kiss, "A Happy Refrain" goes off on an interesting tangent with what's probably the first intimate love scene — of the suggested, old-movie sort — between, Isaac, a male-gendered, non-Terran artificial life-form (a robot, if it had been manufactured on Earth, which he was not) and the ship's physician, Dr. Finn, a human woman, "racial-ized" Black, except that for the scene itself, the artificial life-form, Isaac, transforms himself into a VR simulation of a young man, apparently White, and of-age but definitely young and good looking.

Isaac is a kind of ambassador, serving with the Union fleet to gather data that will eventually determine if they join the Union (parallel to Star Trek's Federation), and he simply wants — he's convinced — data on human relationships. Finn wants a relationship, and the rest of the episode is a serious SF variation on a romantic comedy — the musical theme is "Singing in the Rain"! — with its misunderstanding, conflict, separation, and climactic reconciliation, as Isaac apologizes creatively.

The episode itself deals creatively and sensitively with Isaac as a machine, but one that can do more than gather data: he can learn. It also deals with sensitivity with human needs for bonded relationships and deals with comic deftness with male and female issues with breaking up and with varieties of female and male gossip. (It is somewhat odd how seldom English drama has dealt with male gossip relative to the time guys spend gossiping: "scuttlebutt," we should note, is a nautical term from when water came in butts and navies among English speakers did not officially include women.)

The traditional ending for romantic comedy and related folktales is, "And they married and lived happily ever," a statement of romantic faith. The Finn/Isaac relationship reaches satisfying closure for the episode with their reunion, but with the SF promise of more investigation of the possibility of human/machine long-term bonding, or perhaps love.

The episode is recapped on-line here and will undoubtedly inspire discussions among SF students and fans, and fans of the series creator and star, Seth MacFarlane.

RDE, Initial Compiler, 31Jan19