A battle against the Kaylon accidentally sends Gordon back in time to the early 21st century and the crew must rescue him.
Tropes:
- Bad "Bad Acting": Charly tells Isaac to make his arm wrestling match somewhat believable to their audience. Isaac remains stoic as ever, showing no signs of struggling and only saying "Oh. I am losing." in a bored monotone.
- Bad Guy Bar: Subverted. Isaac and Charly walk into a biker bar to get their hands on a few bikes. Other than considering the two painfully out of place by the way they dress, the patrons are very friendly and keep their word when Charly wins a bet to borrow their bikes.
- Big Damn Kiss: LaMarr and Talla end up making out in the engine room after she helps him with a sore muscle.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Orville manages to travel back to their timeline and repair the damage that 2025 Gordon did, but at the cost of erasing 2025 Gordon's family and children from existence. Current Gordon doesn't know what he lost, but Ed and Kelly are very unsettled by the measures they had to take in order to protect the future.
- Born in the Wrong Century: Ed and Kelly are aghast at how well Gordon has acclimated to life in the early 21st century, a period they know for the exceptional shortsightedness and self-destructive tendencies of the people who lived back then. When Gordon puts himself and his family over the needs of the Union and restoring the timeline, Ed wryly comments that Gordon fits right in.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Ed is correct when he tells 2025 Gordon that, as a Union officer, his flagrant violation of the rules has put their entire timeline at risk. 2025 Gordon rightfully points out that the rules were written before time travel was actually possible, and thus the authors had no idea what such a scenario would actually be like. He spent three years living in solitude and gave up on any chance of rescue, and it's no surprise the desire for human contact won out.
- Call-Back:
- Gordon's replicated cell phone from "Lasting Impressions" returns, and the events of that episode factor in to Gordon being sent to 2015.
- The holographic generator from "Krill" makes a return. Ed has been reluctant to employ them because he thinks they're unreliable, but it serves Isaac well on 21st-century Earth.
- The issues with the timeline being in "flux" mirror the events of "Pria", where Pria intervened in the fated destruction of the Orville so as to fake its destruction later and bring it to the future as a museum piece. When that plan was foiled, Pria continued to exist until the wormhole was destroyed and the timeline was set.
- The Cameo: Jack McBrayer and Johnny Knoxville make a cameo appearance as the stars of the Show Within a Show that Gordon and his family are watching.
- Chekhov's Gun: Literally; Gordon was sent back 400 years while holding his weapon, which he mentions that he used to hunt animals while in hiding. At the end of the episode, he uses it to threaten Ed and company, but can't bring himself to shoot his former shipmates.
- Cutting the Knot: Gordon refuses to leave 2025 and the crew can't leave him there, so Ed decides that they're going to rescue him... from 2015, where he'll want to be rescued.
- Dead Guy Junior: Well, As-Yet-Unborn Guy Junior, but Gordon's son is named Edward, obviously after Ed.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Charly reveals she was actually in love with her crewmate Amanda but never had the courage to tell her before she was killed. That, more than anything, drives her hate of Isaac.
- Dramatic Irony: The gang discusses the impact of time travel... unaware of how horrific the effects can be in the Dark Future of "The Road Not Taken".
- Easily Forgiven: Gordon is remarkably accepting of the fact that he was essentially denied the chance to live a good life with the girl of his dreams. At the very least, you’d think he would understand why he might have wanted to be "selfish," the implication being that the years of isolation took a larger toll on him than they originally realized.
- Fade to Black: This happens over a photo of Gordon and his family, a visual indicator of their timeline being erased as the Orville rescues his past self from 2015.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- The 21st-century obituary for Gordon mentions the name of his widow, Laura Huggins, which is a clue for eagle-eyed viewers that he did indeed seek out his love from across time. It also mentions that he has one son, implying that he survived the child Laura was carrying in 2025 or that it failed to come to term. (Leighton Meester was actually pregnant when she shot her scenes and her pregnancy was written into the script, but presumably the graphics department was never informed.)
- Gordon's obituary also mentions that, despite being ahead of his time in aviation and something of a prolific pilot, he seemingly avoided occupations that might be considered high-profile, showing that Gordon did at least try to respect the Union's rules on temporal interference to some extent even though he was obviously violating them by virtue of his mere presence.
- Gordon mentions how disturbed he was to have been forced to hunt animals for food while he was living in seclusion as part of his argument that the Union regulations on time travel are not practical (since, according to Union law, the killing of animals is murder). With that in mind, it's not surprising to notice that he and Laura serve a vegetarian lunch to Ed and Kelly.
- Future Me Scares Me: After being rescued from 2015, Gordon is horrified to hear how "selfish" his 2025 self was to choose to stay and risk the timeline rather than go back. He assures Ed and Kelly they did the right thing even though they're not so sure.
- Get Back to the Future: The entire crew has to do this by mining dysonium on Earth to power the time travel device, having burnt up their own reserves getting there. It's then subverted when they use the new supply to travel even further into the past to retrieve Gordon, then use simple Time Dilation to get back to the future.
- Happy Ending Override: "Lasting Impressions" implied that Laura's reconciliation with Greg in 2015 would lead to marriage and a shared future together. By the time Gordon finally connects with her three years later, she and Greg have broken up again, apparently for good (unless his presence interrupted yet another reconciliation).
- Holographic Disguise: Isaac uses one to appear human in order to join the mission. He assumes the same form (that of his actor, Mark Jackson) that he did in "A Happy Refrain", suggesting he's taken to it as his "default" human form.
- Hustling the Mark: Charly gets some bikers to give up their bikes by betting her "brother" Isaac can beat the strongest guy in the bar at arm wrestling. As Isaac looks like a somewhat weak and thin guy, they figure no contest... unaware this is actually a super-strong android. Isaac even plays along acting like he's losing before beating the guy.
- I Choose to Stay: Gordon invokes this as he's settled down in 2025, marrying Laura and starting a family.
- Jerkass Ball: When Gordon refuses to leave his new home and family, Ed decides to go back in time to the moment he sent the distress call and rescue him when he still wanted to be rescued. While by itself this is the necessary course of action to preserve the timeline, the fact that Ed tells Gordon this rather than simply allow him to believe he "won" seems unnecessarily cruel on Ed's part. Charitably, Ed may simply be uncomfortable betraying Gordon in such a manner without being upfront about it, as it's clearly not something he's happy to doing even if he must, or is at least giving Gordon a final ultimatum (come willingly and your family lives on without you, or else we erase all of you from ever existing).
- Knew It All Along: Laura admits she always somehow deep down knew Gordon wasn't from the early 21st century, from the way he carried himself to how confident he was about the chaotic events such as the pandemic somehow working out.
- Legacy Vessel Naming: Gordon's car has a vanity plate that says OVILLE. He couldn't get ORVILLE because a California license plate already had that registry.
- Mandatory Line: Dr. Finn appears only in the briefing room scene, asks a question about Gordon, and then has no more lines or appearances for the rest of the episode.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Stuck in the past and seemingly no way home, Gordon tracks down the real Laura in the past to have their relationship.
- Next Sunday A.D.: The crew of the Orville travel back to the year 2025, five years after the episode was produced and three years after it first aired.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: Ed threatens to destroy the Aronov device if the Kaylon don't release the Orville. They ignore the threat, no doubt logically concluding that under no circumstances will Ed surrender the device to them willingly. Ed orders Gordon to destroy the device, and that timed with a burst of energy from the deflector ends up blasting Gordon into the past.
- One-Sided Arm-Wrestling: Being forced to travel long distances, Charly gets an idea when she and Isaac stumble onto a biker bar, having him arm wrestle the strongest guy there as part of a bet in exchange for borrowing two of their bikes for a couple of hours. Since Isaac is in disguise as a skinny human, the bikers accept the bet thinking it's a guaranteed win. Isaac makes a token effort to make it appear like he's losing, then wins the match with no effort.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Despite their previously established infatuation with 20th century popular culture, Ed and Kelly are apparently entirely unfamiliar with the sports of they era. They're baffled when Laura mentions that living in Boston means they "must be Sox fans."Kelly: Yeah... yeah, it gets cold up there so socks...
Ed: Socks are important.
(Gordon eats his food as Laura looks puzzled) - Product Placement:
- 2025 Gordon drives a Toyota Camry, and there are several blatant model shots of the car.
- When Gordon and Laura host Ed and Kelly for lunch, Gordon prominently has a Coors Light beer bottle on the table.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Charly reveals that she was in love with her friend Amanda, but unfortunately she was killed before Charly could work up the nerve to tell her.
- Ret-Gone: Ed is forced into this by going back and rescuing the Gordon who's stuck in 2015, since the 2025 version won't cooperate. The 2025 version of Gordon is horrified, as this means his entire marriage to Laura and their children will be erased. He spends his last moments with them before his past self is rescued.
- Rule of Three: Gordon holds out for three years in his isolation before he rejoins society. This may be a reference to the famous "survival rule of threes"note , which very often tack on a "three months/years without companionship" as an unofficial additional "rule".
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: LaMarr says they need to go 99.9999% of the speed of light. That is significantly too slow, resulting in a Lorentz factor of "only" about 700, thus a journey of over half a year, not "a couple of minutes". Even assuming a one-hour journey, they need to fly a bit over 99.9999999999% (that's thirteen nines) of the speed of light.note
- Sequel Episode: To Season 2's "Lasting Impressions".
- Show Within a Show: In the year 2025, Gordon and his family watch a sitcom starring Jack McBrayer and Johnny Knoxville.
- The Slow Path: Albeit one where the "slow" path is only slightly slower (from the frame of reference of the time travelers) than instantaneous time travel. The Aronov device is destroyed from the stresses of creating a field large enough to transport the Orville back in time twice, so the only way back to the future in any reasonable subjective amount of time is to travel a distance of four hundred light years at just below the speed of light, while disabling the quantum barrier that would ordinarily protect the Orville from relativistic effects. The time dilation effect is such that for each minute that passes aboard the Orville, an entire century passes outside it. So they go to a star 200 light-years from Earth and then back again, and when they return, they are greeted by Union Central.
- Stable Time Loop:
- A very short one. LaMarr sends Gordon's sandwich back in time ten seconds, so it appears on the pad before he's ever sent it, an action he then completes. Gordon questions why he couldn't have kept both, so it's explained that doing so would create a paradox.
- Gordon later invokes this, saying that for all they know, he was meant to go back in time and start a family, as one of his descendants may end up helping form the Union. Ed and Kelly snap that he has no idea if that's true and is just using it as an excuse to stay.
- Stylistic Suck: The show Gordon and his family are watching, though we only see a brief clip, appears to be this. There's a Laugh Track (unusual for sitcoms of The New '20s, unless they're produced by Chuck Lorre) and the pairing of Odd Couple Jack McBrayer and Johnny Knoxville (both of whom are overacting very broadly) is by itself a particularly hackneyed premise. (It invokes the classic Family Guy gag: "I smell a sitcom!")
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Despite everything, Charly is still cold to Isaac, as her obvious hate for Kaylon after losing her friend isn't going to vanish even after his suicide attempt.
- His sincere expression of thanks at saving his life is rebuffed, as she was unwilling to perform the procedure to the point of accepting possible disciplinary action and only did the procedure out of concern for Marcus's wellbeing.
- Gordon notes it's very easy to take the moral high ground and state that you wouldn't do something when you're not actually in a position where you have to make that decision. All the Union laws on time travel mean nothing when one is actually stuck in the past, and keeping himself isolated to avoid contaminating the timeline nearly drove him insane. He lasted three years shooting animals for food (which is murder by Union standards, further straining his mental health) before he couldn't take it anymore.
- Despite everything, Charly is still cold to Isaac, as her obvious hate for Kaylon after losing her friend isn't going to vanish even after his suicide attempt.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Obviously comes up as Charly assumes Gordon living his life and dying in 2068 means they failed to rescue him. However, LaMarr and Isaac note that temporal mechanics is still a somewhat muddy science and the timeline is still in "flux", meaning they can still rescue Gordon and thus create a totally different future. It's only when that option is no longer available that the timeline becomes rigid, similar to the events of "Pria".
- To Be Lawful or Good: Gordon tries to paint the situation in 2025 in this light. Under Union law, he needs to be taken back to his own present to limit any potential damage to the timeline. But he's established a happy life for himself with a loving family and, he argues, he's just one person so there should be no harm in letting him stay and live normally. Ultimately, Ed and Kelly choose to enforce temporal law, but are deeply troubled by the implications of what they've done.
- Trapped in the Past: Gordon. The crew is surprised to find an obituary for him noting a career as a pilot and engineer, as Union law states that in case someone is lost in time, they should always keep a low profile.
- Undercover as Lovers: Charly and Isaac claim to be a couple to get into a house that's being offered for sale to dig up the dysonium. After they get what they need, Charly tells the realtor that they broke up to explain why they won't buy the house.
- Unwanted Rescue: The Orville falls a decade short when jumping back to Gordon's temporal coordinates, ending up in 2025 instead of 2015. By this point, Gordon has accepted that, for whatever reason, the Orville wasn't able to rescue him, and has instead made a life for himself, one he refuses to give up. Unwilling to allow Gordon to be a potential contaminant to the timeline, Ed decides to travel the remaining ten years to 2015, where Gordon will want the rescue, regardless of what the present version of him thinks of that plan.
- Wham Shot: Gordon introduces his pregnant wife Laura and their son.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gordon is as irate as he can be that Ed is choosing to erase his family (and himself) from existence by saving the past version of him.Laura: What kind of people are you?!
Kelly: We're sorry. But this reality was never supposed to exist.
Laura: Our reality? My son's? My baby's? You're saying they won't exist?
Kelly: ...I don't know.
Ed: This is why it's immoral and illegal to play God with history.
Gordon: Who's playing God, huh?! The only one playing God here is you! Is it "illegal" to erase people from existence? Because where I come from, it's called murder! - Write Back to the Future: Gordon sends a message from 2015, timing the speed of the transmission so it will reach the Orville in the nebula roughly around the time when he was sent into the past, so no time will have passed for them when they receive it.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Ed normally addresses Gordon by name, but when the Gordon in 2025 becomes too obstinate, Ed snaps and calls him "Lieutenant" to show he's reached his limit with his best friend and is now pulling rank.
- You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!: Charly and Isaac walk into a biker bar in 2025, dressed like a bunch of milquetoast middle class hikers. Everybody in the bar gives them a resigned "Really?" look.
