Dr. Finn is realizing that she's come to develop romantic feelings for Isaac. Though the robot is incapable of returning the feelings, she still wants to give the relationship a shot. And Isaac is interested in the endeavor for the data on humans in will provide.
This story is essentially The Next Generation's episode "In Theory," where Data pursued a romantic relationship. But when dealing with a character-driven story like this, any differences in the characters (even minor ones) can make for a big difference in the story. And in fact, that was The Orville's first departure from its likely inspiration -- this episode was entirely character-driven. "In Theory" diluted the plot (as pretty much all Next Gen episodes did) with a "science jeopardy of the week" story that played alongside Data's exploration of romance. The Orville kept focus the entire time on the budding relationship.
The Orville also did not pursue this story as a one-and-done installment of episodic television. For starters, we're dealing with two main characters on the series here. When Data decided to give love a go, it was with a lieutenant we never saw before and would never see again. It still made for a great episode of the series (one of better ones of that season), but it wasn't an episode with lasting consequences or prior context.
But on The Orville, they've been building to this for sometime, peppering many earlier episodes with material that set this up. Claire has been spending more time with Isaac, and the show has been depicting this. There have even been moments where it seemed like her children might start to express jealousy over the divided focus from their mother. This development was, simply, "earned." And furthermore (SPOILERS here), it's a development they did not discard at the end of the hour; Isaac and Claire are positioned to be a continuing thing in future episodes.
Yet the biggest differences, and the ones that made this story worth (re)telling, have to do with who these characters are. The Orville has made a genuine effort at depicting Claire as a single working parent. There are more stakes than just her feelings when she embarks on a relationship. She's also a fun mix of responsibility/thoughtfulness (as Grayson pointed out in the episode) with laid back/fun loving -- Star Trek characters take many seasons to become as relaxed as someone like Claire.
Then there's Isaac. For all he's used as the series' proxy for Data, he's a good deal less "human" than Data. He's more callous, unaware, and cold -- even dismissive without meaning to be. He's like Data would have been several years before the start of Next Gen (or, at least, in the more clunkily written moments of season one). And he's all wrapped in a decidedly less human package; we don't see Isaac's face, his voice is processed, his movements are deliberately stiff. (All of which made the -- more SPOILERS -- fun reveal of actor Mark Jackson an especially effective moment in this story.)
And though it wasn't as central to things, there's one other difference about The Orville I felt compelled to mention: the sequence in which a full orchestra came to perform for the crew. I've often noted how The Orville really puts its money on the screen. Both it and Star Trek: Discovery are, of course, decades beyond what earlier Star Treks could depict on television. But this moment with the orchestra was an especially "only The Orville would do this" moment. Sure, we saw classical concerts on The Next Generation -- usually 10 or 12 people in a room watching a string quartet. This was a hundred uniformed extras watching a full orchestra -- many of both groups in alien makeup. This was not a cheap scene, and it seemed an explicit and defiant declaration: just remember, we're just about the only show on television that still uses real musicians instead of synthesizers to provide our soundtrack. And we're gonna show you. It was a vanity moment for Seth MacFarlane that wasn't actually about his personal vanity. It made a big impact.
I thought this was one of the better episodes of The Orville. It was risky in many ways, and the risks paid off. I still didn't like it quite as much as "In Theory," but maybe if The Orville runs seven seasons and I look back on it in two decades, I'll have more attachment. For now, anyway, I give it a B+.
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