Firefly

(S01E10) While there were several great episodes of Firefly that never made it to air, at least we were treated with the season (well, series) finale, albeit not in its rightful order. With this episode the series goes out on a high note, making it a bittersweet ending that, when seeing it subsequent times, makes one long for the series to be back.

Once again we get some great realistic special effects in the form of no sound in space. As a picky bastard when it comes to this sort of thing, I’ve always loved how the show stayed true to this. I seem to recall in the movie, Serenity, that they decided to put sound in space, which for fans of the series seemed to blare louder than ever and, for me, was disappointing. I know, a small detail to many, but I definitely appreciated it.

This episode definitely served as a huge teaser for what was to be learned about River and her unique abilities. We see glimpses of her acrobatic moves and stances as well as the strange things that seem to go on in her head to not make her afraid. She knows her way around a ship and she knows how to handle technology. It’s a shame we couldn’t see how the crew reacted immediately following this episode.

There’s a scene early on where River is seemingly hearing the innermost thoughts of each of the crew members, which you can sit and analyze to no end. The most interesting by far is that of Shepherd Book, who shows a dark side to his thought process that clearly shows there’s definitely a complex past to this man. The intruder, Early (his name), knows there’s something more to Book as well, though is it because he knows Book from somewhere else or does he just read others well?

As the episode concluded, I have to admit I was half wondering if Joss would later humor us by having Jubal early show up again somehow later. It just seemed odd that his odds were even brought up at all ("about one in never"). I know, it’d be corny, but in true Joss fashion, don’t you think they’d make it at least funny?

Well, this concludes Retro Squad Firefly. Sadly I can’t continue, as obviously this was the series finale. I hope you’ve enjoyed reliving these episodes as much as I have in watching them again, and I’ve enjoyed reading your comments. My intention at the start of this series was to get someone on the show to comment along with me, but I just started my search too late. I was close to getting something going, but it just didn’t work out. So, I hope you enjoyed it enough with just little ol’ me. Thanks for reading!

Jayne-ism of the episode:

Mal: "Girl knows things, things she shouldn’t. Things she couldn’t." Jayne: "What, are you ... are you sayin’ she’s a witch?" Wash: "Yes, Jayne. She’s a witch. She has had congress with the beast." Jayne: "She’s in Congress?" Wash: "How did your brain even learn human speech? I’m just so curious."