Claire Finn

Claire Finn
Relatives	Unnamed mother Unnamed sister Ty Finn - son Marcus Finn - son
Affiliation	Planetary Union
Rank	Lieutenant Commander
Occupation / Position	Chief Medical Officer
Portrayed by	Penny Johnson Jerald
First Seen	Old Wounds
Biographical information
Age	40s
Marital status	Single
Status	Alive
Home Planet	Unknown
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female

...you implied that you don't think I have the balls to do this job."
"Well, I am your doctor, sir, and if your balls are under par, I'll know.— Captain Ed Mercer and Doctor Claire Finn

Doctor Claire Finn is the Human Lieutenant Commander and Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Orville. Doctor Finn is a seasoned officer who has served aboard many Planetary Union vessels. Claire transferred to the Orville shortly before September, 2419, when she learned the ship was getting a new captain, Ed Mercer. She lives on the USS Orville with her two sons, Ty and Marcus Finn.

Early history

Claire joined the Planetary Union as a commissioned officer and worked in the Medicine wing. Before joining the Orville, she specialized in molecular surgery, DNA engineering, and psychiatry and took an interest in temporal field technology, the acceleration of time within a quantum bubble. At this time, Claire worked on an unknown project with Lewis, a civilian Union anthropologist, and the two became close friends.

Claire is a single parent. For most of her life, Claire desired children, but by her own description, she never found a man suited to be her husband. Near the year 2409, then in her mid-30s, she decided to have a child on her own through artificial impregnation, and gave birth to Marcus. Several years later, she used artificial impregnation again to bear a second child, Ty.

She requested a transfer to the Orville in 2419. By that point, Claire was already a highly experienced doctor and over-qualified for the post. She later recalled that she requested the Orville because she wanted a ship with a freshman captain: "I always request my transfers based on where I'm needed. I'm more stimulated that way."

Career under Captain Mercer

Doctor Claire Finn investigates the Dorahl bioship.

Doctor Finn arrives at the Orville shortly before Captain Ed Mercer in September 2419, and almost immediately ingratiates herself among the crew as a smart and collected senior officer. "This is your first command," she tells Ed at their first meeting. "And I think you can use my help."

When Claire arrived at the Orville, she was given an office on the ship at the front of Sick Bay, where she now leads a staff of medical officers. From the earliest days under Captain Mercer, she quickly establishes herself as a source of strength for the rest of the senior staff and frequently remains on the Bridge to stay abreast of the ship's affairs. Yet her presence both on the Bridge and in Sick Bay places her in the unique position to help the Bridge officers and to communicate the needs of the rest of the ship. Claire becomes a tough but loving therapist and adviser for the rest of the senior staff.

Claire serves as acting commander in October 2419, when Ed and Kelly go missing, Second Officer Bortus is on a leave of absence, and Alara joins Isaac for an away mission to the Calivon system. As the highest ranking officer on the ship, Claire is placed in the Captain's chair.

Mission to Epsilon 2

Claire is fascinated by a quantum accelerator developed by researchers of the Epsilon Science Station.

Main article: Battle of Epsilon 2

Claire's skills would be put to the test one week into her transfer to the Orville on a resupply mission to the Epsilon Science Station on the planet Epsilon 2. Claire joins Ed, Kelly, and Alara to speak with Doctor Aronov. Aronov is adamant that enemy Krill are interested in stealing a quantum accelerator, a device which can accelerate the flow of time, for themselves. They are interrupted by Doctor Derek Ashton, a lab technician and undercover Krill operative, who takes Claire hostage. She is rescued by Chief of Security Alara Kitan, who distracts and subdues Derek.

Derek had already called for Krill support, and a cloaked Krill destroyer comes out of hiding to raid the facility. Faced with three teams of Krill soldiers, Claire and the others battle their way to their shuttle and return to the Orville. Along the way, she treats Ed for a shoulder wound. The experience solidified her place as both a valuable medic and a practiced voice of reason for the crew.

Mission to the Dorahl bioship

Tomilin guides Captain Ed Mercer, Claire, and Science Officer Isaac to the hideout of the Reformers on the Dorahl bioship.

Main article: If the Stars Should Appear

The senior officers had not yet needed Claire for her medical abilities aside from basic treatment. That would change two months after the battle at Epsilon 2, when Claire is again sent on an away mission, this time to visit a mysterious bioship adrift in space.

When the team enters the massive ship, communications with the Orville are blocked. Alara is shot by a bioship officer. With no easy way back to the Orville, a crisis erupts. Claire is able to treat the wound using her Foreign Object Retractor and dermoscanner from her Medical Kit, and save Alara's life.

Search for Lewis and Tom

Main article: Majority Rule

In late 2419, Claire's close friend Lewis went missing during an undercover assignment with fellow researcher Tom on Sargus 4. Union command was unable to re-establish communication with the pair. She joins a search team in the winter of 2420. Unfortunately, the team is too late. Tom was killed by a Sargun Department of Corrections guard attempting to flee Social Correction, a dramatic neurological operation similar to a frontal lobotomy. Claire is devastated when she finally finds Lewis: he was "corrected," his personality erased and mind forever altered, and the old friend as she knew him gone.

Shuttle crash and kidnapping

After a disastrous shuttle crash on a moon in uncharted space, Claire finds herself a captive of Drogen.

Main article: Into the Fold

Claire had proven her worth as a doctor and a capable fighter, but her greatest test comes six months into working on the Orville. Wanting to spend more time with her sons, Marcus and Ty, she plans a vacation to Arboreus Prime. The trio leaves the Orville in January or early February, 2420, in a shuttle piloted by Science Officer Isaac. However, en route to Arboreus, an uncharted spatial fold sends the shuttle into an unknown area of the galaxy, the shuttle crashing into a nearby moon.

Survival

Hey, baby. I heard you weren't feeling so great.
Where are you? Are you coming back soon?
Mama got held up, but I'm coming. You just hang on, okay?— Claire comforting her youngest son, Ty, after being infected with the water born virus.

Claire is separated from the others during the crash. Drogen, a survivalist, discovers her unconscious, and carries her back to his compound. The moon's nations were recently at war, and one side poisoned the water supply with poloxus. Drogen foresaw the attack and stockpiled food and weapons in his fortified compound. He refuses to allow Claire to leave, and she becomes Drogen's prisoner.

Claire injures herself in order to send Drogen to the crash site in search of antibiotics. Meanwhile, she scours the facility and finds a knife. She stabs Drogen when he returns; later shooting and killing him with his own handgun. With Drogen dead, Claire recovers her comscanner and rejoins Isaac and her children. The four sufficiently repair the shuttle to hail the Orville for rescue. Meanwhile, other inhabitants of the moon were alerted to the noise. Driven to cannibalism through sheer starvation, the inhabitants attempt to kill and eat the four. Using PM-44s set to stun, Claire and Marcus drive their attackers away.

Aftermath

The Orville rescues Claire and the others. The experience marks a transformative moment between Isaac and the Finn family, as Claire's relationship with Isaac grew into a friendship over their first six months together on the Orville.

Conflict and relationship with Yaphit

Claire spurns Lieutenant Yaphit's constant advances.

After Claire's arrival at the Orville, Engineer Yaphit develops a profound romantic interest in her, often singing to her with a guitar or giving her gifts. Claire, on the other hand, finds Yaphit's persistent wooing to be uncomfortable and annoying.

In November, 2419, Yaphit begins feigning illness as an excuse to meet Claire in Sick Bay and ask her out on a date, which he attempts three times over the span of a week. After she turns him down, he makes a crude, sexual pass, after which she angrily demands he leave. His persistence grates on Claire, eventually acknowledging that she hates him.

In February, 2420, Yaphit returns to romancing Claire. He brings a guitar, flowers, and refuses to leave without a date. However, Yaphit had bumped into Darulio on his way to see Claire. Unbeknownst to Yaphit and Claire, Darulio, a Retepsian, produced powerful pheromones that sparks sexual attraction between carrier and recipient. Yaphit transmitted the pheromones to Claire, creating a powerful romantic and sexual interest in Claire towards Yaphit.

Claire and Yaphit begin a sexual relationship lasting several days until the pheromones wear off. During that time, Claire grows increasingly obsessed with the Engineer. She later comments to Alara:

I just never gave him a chance. But when I finally allowed myself to take down my walls, I realized what an idiot I've been. Yaphit and I are soul mates.

Her obsession grows dangerous during the Navarian-Bruidian conflict, keeping Yaphit at gunpoint from erecting a special barrier between the Navarians and Bruidian war fleets. Claire avoids punishment as she was under the overwhelming influence of alien pheromones, but Yaphit leaves Claire alone after the incident.

Personality

Yaphit gives Claire a tour of his apartment. Claire, under the influence of powerful Retepsian pheromones, is dressed to the nines to attract Yaphit.

Will you help me?
I'm not gonna whisper the right answers in your ear, but I'll try to be your Obi-Wan however I can.
My what? Never mind.— Claire offering to mentor Alara Kitan.

Doctor Finn is a strong-willed, independent mother who is career-minded. Almost immediately after meeting Captain Mercer for the first time, he puts her on the defensive by saying, "You don't think I have the balls to do this job." Claire shoots back, "Well, I am your doctor, sir, and if your balls are under par, I'll know."

As the oldest member of the senior staff, Claire often serves informally as a ship's therapist. Alara, the youngest senior officer, especially seeks out Claire for guidance. Claire consoles Bortus through a difficult time in his marriage to Klyden as well.

Claire is a woman of science. When she visits the Epsilon Science Station, she is the crewmember most fascinated by the facility's tremendous scientific advances, in particular its quantum accelerator. For all of Claire's talents as a therapist, she often struggles to understand why people choose emotionally satisfying options over factually-based ones.

Friendship with Isaac

When Claire and Isaac first meet in September of 2419, Claire resents his sense of intellectual superiority. "You harbor prejudice against artificial life-forms," Isaac later remarks. She responds, "Only against life-forms that think they're better than everyone else." When Isaac affirms that he is better than everyone else, Claire sarcastically diagnoses, "Oh, and so modest." Further, she dislikes that Isaac presumes to offer parenting tips when he was artificial and incapable of parenthood.

After Isaac, Claire, and her sons are rescued in late February, 2420, Claire grows fond of Isaac. The Kaylon officer protected Marcus and Ty on the moon, and did his best to comfort them. In a private conversation between the two, Claire notes her sons now adore Isaac and says, "Welcome to the family."

Relationship with the crew

Claire's relationship with Second Officer Bortus is tenser, and the two are prone to heated disagreement. In November, 2419, he requests that she perform a sex reassignment surgery on his newborn daughter, a request Claire finds reprehensible. She refuses on the grounds that to perform the operation would violate her Hippocratic Oath. Later that, she is called to testify in a subsequent trial addressing whether to order or enjoin Moclan doctors from performing the operation.

Production

First season promotional image of Claire.

Claire Finn is portrayed by Penny Johnson Jerald. According to supervising producer André Bormanis, Claire's wisdom and wit function as a literary tool to enable other characters to discover solutions to problems. Jerald later described Claire as "the Orville's conscience adult. She has a tongue sharpened with wisdom and fortitude."

Creator Seth MacFarlane aimed for Claire to serve as "the adult of the group," although initial drafting of Claire was spartan and not detailed. In the original pilot script, she is described only as a black woman in her 40s. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald, who portrays Claire, says that she envisions her character as a funny and wise officer with an attitude, calling her "the sage with sass." Later, she said that Claire is an extension of her personality, a level-headed adult in times of crises.

Claire's wig was designed by hair department head Maxine Morris in consultation with Howard Berger, make-up department head for Season 1. In early episodes, Claire wore a wig with a short taper at the neck, no bangs, and a green streak extension added to compliment her uniform. After a few episodes, Morris switched to a wig with bangs but the extension was kept for continuity.

Trivia

Second season promotional still.

• In the episode If the Stars Should Appear, Claire reveals that she suffers from near-debilitating acrophobia, a fear of heights, and grabs Isaac's hand for comfort. In the episode Into the Fold, she is forced to overcome her fear when she has to escape from Drogen's compound. Later, Isaac holds her hand to comfort her.
• While she seems to enjoy giving advice, Claire does not enjoy being placed in command of the ship.
• She hates the planet Moclus because "they've completely industrialized the entire surface. It's amazing they can even breathe."
• She is able to quote the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson extensively.
• Alara fights an evil version of Claire in the Environmental Simulator. She kills a simulated Nurse Henry Park and attempts to kill Alara.
  • Isaac programmed the evil simulation of Claire based on Helmsman Gordon Malloy's fear of surgery.
• Claire does not attend Chief Engineer Steve Newton's farewell party when he transfers to a space station because she has to work.
• Perhaps out of dedication to her career in medicine, Doctor Finn has a green streak of hair on her left side at the front, the color of the Medical section of the Planetary Union.
• She likes champagne.
• She comes from Baltimore, Maryland.
• Claire's favorite food is potato cakes.
• Her favorite animal are dolphins.
• Her favorite drink is champagne.

Appearances

• Episode 1x01: Old Wounds
• Episode 1x02: Command Performance
• Episode 1x03: About a Girl
• Episode 1x04: If the Stars Should Appear
• Episode 1x05: Pria
• Episode 1x06: Krill
• Episode 1x07: Majority Rule
• Episode 1x08: Into the Fold
• Episode 1x09: Cupid's Dagger
• Episode 1x10: Firestorm
• Episode 1x11: New Dimensions
• Episode 1x12: Mad Idolatry
• Episode 2x01: Ja'loja
• Episode 2x02: Primal Urges
• Episode 2x03: Home
• Episode 2x04: Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes
• Episode 2x05: All the World is Birthday Cake
• Episode 2x06: A Happy Refrain