This week's episode of The Orville used a stock premise that every space-faring TV series gets around to eventually, being marooned. Some series, including Star Trek, have even done it with a kid in the mix. But I don't recall seeing one that put siblings in the mix. And while that certainly risked being more annoying than entertaining, the gamble paid off in my eyes, changing up the story enough to give it an Orville stamp.
While Isaac is piloting Dr. Finn and her two sons to a vacation, a space phenomenon damages their shuttle and forces them to crash-land on a moon. Complications abound. The shuttle breaks in half upon entry, separating Finn from the rest. The moon is inhabited by an intelligent species that has resorted to cannibalism in the wake of an environmental catastrophe. And Finn is soon captured by a local looking for company in his secure bunker.
The Orville has always sought to tell Star Trek-inspired stories using more modern, realistic characters. I think this episode was the among the more effective examples of that, because it also let their children be children. Even Deep Space Nine, which let Jake Sisko be "just a kid," nevertheless kept him mostly an evolved future kid that didn't get into that much trouble. Enter Marcus and Ty Finn, who act their age, fight like brothers, and are generally worthy of Isaac's "observation" as something quite different than tiny adults. Don't get me wrong, watching two kids scream and poke at each other for a substantial portion of the episode wasn't always fun, but it did bring a dynamic into the story that was used well.
Each of the regulars involved in the crash had their own story line. For Isaac, it was the fish out of water situation of having to safeguard two children. The Orville has been writing Isaac as even more blunt that Data or Spock ever was, and got full mileage out of it this episode. The comedy worked without being too juvenile.
Meanwhile, Finn was involved in her own mini-episode of 10 Cloverfield Lane. The problem with the prisoner premise is that there really aren't that many story angles to try. 10 Cloverfield Lane addressed this by changing up the entire nature of the story multiple times along the way. Here, we got only the expected escape/cajole beats that made up the first 30 minutes or so of that excellent movie... though that was really all they needed to fill a subplot of a single episode of television. It wasn't exactly revealing much of Finn either, one of the characters more in need of development.
But the notion that she chose to be be a single parent of two boys, all while still pursuing a relatively dangerous life on an exploratory spaceship? Well, that's a big revelation. There's a chance that there's not much more to say beyond those simple facts of the situation, and yet I'm also interested to see if the show is able to expand and develop this information in a meaningful way. What does it say about this future universe in general, and about Finn in particular? Parenting is hard, and more than twice as hard when you're doing it solo. There's a kind of tenacity and resolve there that I wouldn't have previously associated with the character, one I hope is reflected more going forward. And with the recent news that the show has been renewed for a second season, there's more "forward" in which to reflect it.
For approaching a classic trope in a novel way, I give this episode of The Orville a B.
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