Firefly 109 and 110, "War Stories" and "Trash"

[kate_nepveu]

Another weekend, another couple of Firefly episodes. Also, the debut of my (slightly lame) homemade Firefly icon. (The "Also, I can kill you with my brain" icon is more of a mood thing (and probably even lamer, but I've no talent for this kind of thing). Stop me before I try to make a "too pretty to die" of the whole cast . . . )

"War Stories" (109): In which Wash picks the wrong job to insist on accompanying Mal.

I was very relieved that they didn't get captured because of Wash. The torture scenes were bad enough without that—actually bad in a couple of ways, because Mal and Wash talking kept making me want to laugh from the sheer incongruity of it all, right until they got zapped again.

I love their respective reactions after being rescued, Wash's resolve and Mal's "No it's not!" when Zoe says that killing the torturer is something he needs to do himself. (And if there was any doubt that Niska was Evil, the random gaping hole down the middle of his space station should've dispelled it.)

Other stuff:

• Jayne bought a whole crate of apples for the crew, huh? Hard to make amends if they don't know what he's doing or why, but I give him points for the effort.
• Zoe and Wash coming back is the first time we hear Book use Chinese; I noticed it, and then in the commentary after, Nathan Filion and Alan Tudyk confirmed it. (They are very silly during the commentary, but don't say anything else that I found of note.)
• Poor Kaylee. If I'd been shot in the stomach during the pilot, I might have freaked out a bit in a firefight too.
• River and her eyes-closed sharpshooting act!
• I love Zoe's deadpan "Take me, sir. Take me hard," and the repeated line about being in one's bunk.

Good stuff, though the beginning will probably continue to make me cringe a bit—I understand where Wash is coming from, but demanding to go on the job wasn't really a useful way of dealing with it.

"Trash" (110): In which Saffron returns and proposes a job. AKA the naked Mal episode.

Saffron will make up for large quantities of Mal/Inara snippiness, though I admit the idea of Serenity smuggling bobble-head dolls is fairly amusing. (I am so going to hate "Heart of Gold," aren't I?) And I do like a good caper, which this very much is, right down to the ending.

In ongoing plot news, River picks up on Jayne's shame, as she eventually had to; and Simon completely befuddles Jayne with his reaction. I thought he handled this well; he couldn't possibly win on Jayne's level, by threatening or bribing, but on this level he has a chance of getting through.

I thought I had more to say about this, but I'm not coming up with anything. A day dealing with tech support has eaten my brain, apparently.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

love Zoe's deadpan "Take me, sir. Take me hard," and the repeated line about being in one's bunk.
Me too. That episode was, um, unintentionally comic in places, but on balance it amused me.

I quit "Heart of Gold" two minutes in in sporky rage, and was advised this was a correct decision. (In fact, people urged me not even to try.) I don't know if it will seem so immediately bad to you...

[kate_nepveu]

Unintentionally comic where? 'Cause I have to think that any Wash-centered episode is going to be pretty intentionally comic, even in bad situations.

I'm saving "Heart of Gold" for a night where we can watch "Objects in Space" immediately after, to take the expected bad taste out of my mouth. However, I do want to watch the whole series at least once, so I will do my best to sit through it all. This may be unnecessarily masochistic, but hey, at least I might get a good rant out of it . . .

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I think the torture scenes were a little over-the-top, although I remember thinking that this was at least in part necessary to defuse the painfulness of, well, having to watch torture.

OTOH, you're right; the setup is going have to go somewhere at least partly comedic.

Eh, I don't know what I'm talking about. :-p

[kate_nepveu]

Hey, I said the combination made me uncomfortable, because wanting to laugh during torture scenes is just weird. But I do think that was the effect they were going for: the wince, the giggle, and then the admiration at Mal's tactics. Tough stuff to balance, and it doesn't surprise me that it might not jell for everyone.

[hhw]

Heart of Gold is my least favorite, but I was surprised to find it improved a bit on second viewing. Which is not to say I'm suggesting you watch it twice, but it may be that very low expectations work to its advantage.

[kate_nepveu]

That may be so; I'd that "The Train Job" was considered the weakest episode, and I didn't think it sucked. I certainly enjoyed it more than "Shindig", which I don't get the impression is generally disliked.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I preferred "Heart of Gold" to "The Train Job," but did feel those were the two weakest episodes. "Shingdig" also rounds out my bottom three.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks, I am further forewarned.

no

[(Anonymous)]

shindig is amazing because of the people and the story was amazing...it was a twist from the other episodes so yes i see where your comeing from if you dont like that kind of stuff but shindig was so funny and VERY creative :)
Stay Shiny
-se

Silly question...

[seawasp]

... not having been following this series of posts carefully, but... I was under the impression that Firefly lasted a whole most-of-a-season before being axed, leaving about 13 eps or so total. So where's three digits of eps coming from?

Re: Silly question...

[kate_nepveu]

The first number is the season. There isn't going to be a second season, but the site I get the shooting scripts from didn't know that at the time, I imagine.

(I've seen TV episode numbers done all kinds of ways, and settled on season:episode for myself.)

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I rather like Heart of Gold myself, but I always like a weeper.

MKK

[kate_nepveu]

Okay, thanks--I hadn't gotten that impression of it, and I think it'll help to know to expect that kind of thing.