Justin Hartline
Summary
Surprisingly, this week’s episode also focused on Gordon Malloy, The Orville’s helmsman. As I had stated in last week’s article, Malloy hasn’t, up until now, received much of a focus in the show, so these back to back episodes have helped to flush out the character a bit. The main plot focuses on a time capsule from 2015 which the Orville is tasked with bringing to a museum for study.
The time capsule contains a number of items, but the main one that this episode focuses on is an iPhone belonging to a non-descript woman named Laura Huggins. Laura put the iPhone in the capsule because she was getting a new phone and she hoped that she would be remembered in the future. Malloy is fascinated by the phone and uploads its data into the simulator to try and understand what 2015 and Laura were actually like. Over the course of the episode, he falls in love with Laura, despite the objections of the rest of the crew who insist that she is just a simulation.
Despite spending the night with Malloy, Laura decides that she wants to get back together with her boyfriend, Greg. Malloy realizes that this was bound to happen in the simulation because, according to her phone, Laura actually did get back together with Greg in real life and was considering marrying him at the time. Malloy is heart-broken and decides that to get her back he needs to remove Greg from the simulation. Unfortunately, removing Greg changes Laura in an unexpected way. In the end, Malloy decides to put Greg back into the simulation and say goodbye to Laura.
Analysis
This was overall a bit of a filler story and a break from the overall Kaylon War plotline. It was very character-driven and raised a number of interesting points. Overall, I like the idea of falling in love with someone outside of time that died 350 years ago. I had not really thought before about how much data my generation will leave behind when we die. Future generations will know so much more about us than we know about generations past. The idea of taking something as simple as a phone and using it to reconstruct someone’s whole life seems believable to me to an extent. My calendar, my contacts, my text messages, there’s a lot of information right there.
It was interesting that the simulation had to parallel Laura’s real life, but I wonder what would have happened if he kept it going. He ended the simulation the day before she puts the phone in the time capsule. After that point, the simulator would not have anymore data to keep the simulation going. Does it try to extrapolate future events? Does it reset, locking Laura forever in a Groundhog Day loop? The episode doesn’t specify.
I was a bit disappointed that they glossed over the moral implications of deleting Greg from Laura’s life. Malloy was just insisting to his friends that Laura was real and alive and he went and stole her memories of a person she loved for selfish reasons. He wielded a god’s power over the simulation, and it was seeing how this affected Laura that made him realize that he had to give her up.
This episode was also to some extent a retread. Season 2 Episode 2: Primal Urges is about Bortus becoming addicted to pornography in the simulator and Episode 6: A Happy Refrain was about falling in love with a robot. But while this episode covers several issues that were previously addressed, it takes them into a new direction. To some extent, the simulator is like a video game, and as immersion increases, I could see being addicted to something like that being a real problem.
I own a VR headset, and while it’s a far cry from being like the simulators on the show, it’s amazing to feel like you’re actually inside a game. What will happen when a simulation can become as real as reality? Does the simulation become reality? How can you tell the difference? Kelly suggested that it’s the power that you wield over a simulation that prevents it from being real.
I really love the dialog on this show. The part where the crew was trying to have an intervention for Malloy was really tense and emotional. I liked how Malloy brought up Claire’s previous relationship with Isaac and agree that the comparison is apt. The problem was that it became increasingly obvious over the course of the episode that Laura was following the preset pattern that was set out on her phone.
Isaac, on the other hand, has shown that he is capable of making his own decisions and is much more autonomous. I did not think it was fair of Malloy to bring up when Captain Mercer was seduced by a Krill sleeper agent and feel like he owes the captain an apology. That was no way to treat a superior, or a friend.
Overall, I really liked this episode. It took something that the show had previously taken for granted and turned it into an interesting story.
Justin Hartline has a degree in Chemistry and puts his science knowledge to use as an investigator at a liquid coating company. His Dorky credentials include a love of Science Fiction (especially Star Wars), Fantasy (especially Game of Thrones), and superhero (especially Marvel) genres. He’s also a big fan of Nintendo games!
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