Firefly

(S01E09) I said in one of my previous reviews that I thought it’d be neat to see how Mal and Zoe met and what it was like to be a Browncoat in the war. While we didn’t see any of that in this episode, We did get a good feel for their relationship together.

For the first time, I believe, we see the return of a character from Mal’s relatively recent past, the old boss man from ’The Train Job.’ Almost Khan-like, isn’t it?

I said once before that the outside shots of the ships reminded me of Battlestar Galactica’s long shots, and I was reminded by commenters that the same people responsible for those effects indeed did both shows! Now I wonder if the people responsible for the music had a hand in both shows, as the exterior shots of the space station were accompanied by that same eerie ... is it oboe? You know what I mean.

So, Inara swings both ways, does she? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Nothing. At. All. In fact, even Kaylee seemed to approve, which wasn’t all that surprising, actually.

I have to hand it to the effects specialists with their unique torture devices. What in the hell was that thing that snaked through Mal’s chest? That was definitely worse to watch than Mal getting his ear sliced off. And speaking of Mal, we get a brief look at what the "real Mal" is, though most of it is left to out imagination. He has an excellent line toward the end of the episode ("No I don’t!") — you know what I mean if you’ve seen it.

Finally we see a glimpse of what River is truly capable of, and even she seemed a bit surprised at her skills. Though she does say something along the lines of "no power in the Universe can stop me." But she even looks surprised at having said that.

Jayne-ism of the episode: Kaylee: "Oh gosh. I ... I never knew she took on female clients. Just ... they look so glamorous together. Jayne: "... I’ll be in my bunk."