WARNING: This article contains reference to suicide and contains spoilers for The Orville, season 3, episode 5, "A Tale of Two Topas"

Isaac perfectly flips the story of a Star Trek: Voyager Doctor in The Orville season 3, episode 5. "A Tale of Two Topas" picks up the story of Bortus (Peter Macon) and Klyden's (Chad L. Coleman) child Topa, who was born female. In the single-sex society of the Moclans, this was deemed to be an abomination, and the decision was made to reassign their daughter's gender in one of The Orville's earliest, and most lauded episodes, season 1, episode 3 "About a Girl." When it aired in 2017, it was a promising sign for the show's intention to tackle the social commentary of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.

In "A Tale of Two Topas", Topa discovers the truth and decides to undergo surgery to reclaim the gender identity she was born with. It's a decision that leads to tensions between Bortus and Klyden, and between the Planetary Union and Moclan society. Ordered not to conduct the surgery aboard the Orville, Claire (Penny Johnson-Jerald) offers to resign her commission to do the right thing. It's then that artificial lifeform Isaac (Mark Jackson) offers to conduct the surgery instead, following in the footsteps of Star Trek: Voyager's emergency medical hologram (Robert Picardo).

RELATED: Recasting Star Trek: Voyager In 2022

Many of The Orville's characters have Star Trek counterparts. Bortus is Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation, while Captain Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) becomes more like Star Trek's Kirk with each episode. Throughout the series, Isaac has essentially been The Orville's version of Data, an android that doesn't quite understand the intricacies of human behavior. However, in "A Tale of Two Topas", Isaac better reflects the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, an A.I. with all manner of complicated procedures programmed in his brain who lacks a comforting bedside manner. However, where Data and the Doctor were always in pursuit of humanity beyond their programming, Isaac has very different motivations, allowing The Orville to perfectly flip the Star Trek: Voyager Doctor story.

The Orville's Isaac Becomes Ship's Doctor

The Orville season 3, episode 5 "A Tale of Two Topas" is by no means an Isaac-centric episode. It's a sensitive and moving sci-fi allegory for trans rights, that continues to explore The Orville's new tonal horizons. However, Isaac plays a key role in the episode, relaying Topa's suicidal thoughts to Kelly (Adrienne Palicki.) While Isaac coolly states he's informing her in line with Union regulations, there's a temptation to read this as genuine, empathetic concern for Topa. Especially given how willing Isaac is to conduct the surgery after a Union admiral forbids it for spurious political reasons.

However, Isaac does not feel human emotions, and clearly has no interest in doing so. This is in stark contrast to Voyager's Doctor, who spends much of the seven seasons trying to become more human. The Doctor sees this as a means to be better accepted by the crew, who often see him as a piece of software, rather than a living being. Isaac also has this problem, exacerbated by the fact his people, the Kaylon, have waged war on the Union. However, Isaac and Claire's scene at the episode's end proves he doesn't see becoming more human as the answer to this problem. Instead, the statistical and logical android identifies the best possible course of action is to improve the "efficiency" of the crew, conducting Topa's gender reassignment surgery because the crew is devastated when they're forbidden from helping the young Moclan. By helping Topa, he admits to Claire, he's helping his own social standing. By staying true to who Isaac is, and using his machine logic to be better seen as an individual, The Orville perfectly flips the Star Trek: Voyager Doctor storyline and his relentless quest for some form of more relatable humanity.

NEXT: The Orville Season 3 Just Introduced 1 Huge Missing Star Trek Element

The Orville: New Horizons releases new episodes every Thursday on Hulu.