The series begins when Ed Mercer comes home and catches his wife Kelly Grayson in bed with a Retepsian. He feels emotionally betrayed, disappointed and humiliated. Deeply hurt, he leaves without a word and shortly afterwards they are divorced.

A year later they meet again on the USS Orville.

Ed thought he could finally put everything behind him and move forward in his life. However he finds out that his ex will accompany him as the XO. She had explicitly requested for this assignment. Ed Mercer - to put it mildly - was not pleased.

Lieutenant Malloy: " 'Cause she's a total bitch. Oh, yeah. They were married. She cheated on him."

Ed and Kelly discussed this situation privately in his office and she agreed to ask for a transfer when they find a replacement for her position.

Kelly: "Ed... I can't apologize enough. I know it doesn't matter to you, but I am sorrier for what I did to you than anything I've ever done in my entire life."

Ed: "You know, I've done a pretty good job getting over all this in the past year, and I'm over it, so why don't you tell me what the hell you're doing here?"

Kelly: "I heard about your promotion. I also heard there was no XO available, and you know how the fleet admirals are. They don't like to see a captain on his own for too long. And I figured I'd wronged you so badly that if there was something good I could do for you, it'd help me atone in some way. So I requested a transfer. I literally bailed on my own crewmates to come here."

Ed: "Well, you bailed on a whole marriage, so I imagine that was a piece of cake for you, huh?"

Kelly: "Ed, look, I'm not saying what I did wasn't disgraceful, but I only did it because I didn't have you."

Ed: "There it is. How long did that take you? How many minutes into this conversation?"

Kelly: "You were working nonstop. Okay, there were entire days I wouldn't see you."

Ed: "Yeah, I was working for us, Kelly, for you and I. That... You know this."

Kelly: "I didn't ask you to do that. Okay? You just shut off from our relationship. I didn't know how to handle it."

Ed: "So you banged Papa Smurf in our bed. That's one way to handle it."

Kelly: "Darulio was there when you weren't. And you know how many times I tried to talk to you, but you just kept putting me off?"

Ed: "When did you try to talk to me?"

Kelly: "So many times. Either you weren't hearing me or you weren't around at all, but I did try. I was the one who suggested couples counseling."

Ed: "Couples counseling? The therapist was your brother-in-law. Look, this... okay... this ship is what I've been waiting for my entire career. My entire life. So why are you doing this to me?"

Kelly: "As soon as another XO becomes available, I'll be the one to request a transfer."

Are they getting back together?