Firefly
Ariel
original airdate: 11-15-02
All registered
companions are required to renew their licenses yearly. This
process includes a 2-day physical at an approved medical facility.
It just so happens that all of the approved facilities lie
within the core of the alliance controlled worlds. The Serenity
and her crew fly to one of these core planets to take Inara
to her appointment.
The members
of the Firefly crew are all excited about landing on a nice
planet for a change. Mal, being the dictatorial killjoy that
he is, makes it clear that the crew is to remain on the ship
during this time to avoid getting into any trouble.
During
the discussion Jayne begins hurling insults and hateful comments
at Simon. River does not like this at all, so she calmly grabs
a large knife from the kitchen area and make a 14 inch long
slash in Jayne’s chest as she cheerfully comments "He
looks better in red".
The physical
wound is shallow and easily sewn up by Simon. But the hatred
Jayne already has for the dead weight of the Tam siblings
grows ever deeper.
Simon,
realizing that his sister’s condition is getting worse,
comes up with a plan to help River. If he can get access to
the hospital and diagnostic labs on this planet he may be
able to determine what is wrong with her.
To get
in he will need the help of the rest of the crew, so he offers
Mal a deal. If they help him get into the hospital he will
tell them which medicines to steal while they are in there
to get the most buck for their bang. The terms are reasonable,
so the deal is set and the prep work for this complicated
theft begins.
This episode
holds a wealth of information regarding River. The diagnostic
machine reveals scalpel scars from repeated surgeries performed
at her school. During the surgeries they removed her medulla.
As a result she experiences all her feelings without any way
of keeping them in check.
For whatever
reason they repeated this surgery over and over again. Simon,
now armed with a chip full of medical information on his sister,
can try to find out how to reverse the damage done.
Even with
all this new information, it isn’t clear why they performed
these surgeries in the first place. It is obvious that the
men with the hands of blue are very serious about wanting
to retrieve her. But it remains to be seen whether their attempts
are intended to cover up the fact that these operations were
performed, or if they are simply willing to go to any length
to retrieve someone with her abilities.
Sure,
they have an extremely cool space ship, but the gentlemen
with hands of blue appear to be most unpleasant. They also
have a lovely little tool that emits a blue light, causing
the human recipient of its power to bleed from every orifice
and die in a particularly nasty way.
They systematically
deal with any witnesses that have interviewed River as they
attempt to retrieve their evidence/prize. Knowing this will
give even more incentive to the Serenity crew to protect the
Tams. If the hands of blue men ever find out who has been
protecting the Tams, our heroes would likely wind up dead.
Jayne
holds fast to his bitter mercenary character. He does have
a moment at the end of the episode that could be construed
as redemption. But it’s hard to read a man’s heart
when he’s at the point of a gun. He may yet outgrow his
greed, but he has taken a huge step backwards this time around
in the eyes of Malcolm.
Mal continues
to exercise his control over the crew of the ship. His actions
in this episode move from that of a leader to those of a dictator.
There is no question that his actions are just and he appears
to make the right decisions, but it's definitely in a more
dictatorial fashion. The captain draws a hard line in defense
of his crew members with the statement "You turn on any
of my crew, you turn on me".
It could
be argued that these characteristics are required to hold
together a diverse crew like that of the Serenity, but it
will be interesting to see what happens when one of his decisions
turns out to be wrong.
This is
one of my favorite episodes so far. The main plot is given
a healthy booster shot driving the series on to a more interesting
future. There are excellent character interactions, breeding
more depth and maintaining consistency for the characters.
Additionally this episode contains healthy doses of action
and suspense.
Unfortunately
there was no teaser at the end for the next episode. Viewing
the coming lineup for the next two weeks on Fox networks,
it looks like they’re planning on showing bad movies
instead of broadcasting more Firefly episodes for the
Thanksgiving Holiday. The next air date will be December 6,
with an episode entitled “War Stories”. Be sure
to tune in then.
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