One for the road: QT's Shamelessly Gushing Review of Serenity (SPOILERS!) by QueenTiye

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

One for the road: QT's Shamelessly Gushing Review of Serenity (SPOILERS!)

POSTED BY: QUEENTIYE
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 04:55
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 3275
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Saturday, January 11, 2003 5:13 AM

REPOSTING FROM REVIEWS (BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE IS ACTING FUNKY...)

Part 1
I knew I was going to write a shamelessly gushing review for this episode. How could I not? I've already decided to gush shamelessly over the star of the show - could he be less than gushable in the episode that was intended to introduce him? And so, it came as a surprise to me, at least, that in the first couple of minutes, I nearly missed gushing over him. Anyway, I've got to do this - so

Look

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Spoilers

Below!!!

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Sargent Reynolds was something of a good old boy, joking, wisecracking, and generally not someone I'd care to know. Yes, I'm that much of a stick in the mud sometimes, but he would have irked the daylights out of me. That was my very first impression of him. And yet, in his moments away from people, the real Mal Reynolds showed up, and so, within the first five minutes of the show, I was in love, all over again. It was this juxtaposition of this happy-go-lucky jokester, against this highly responsible, principled man that kept me off balance... you know... the way women like to be kept off balance by men who they are gonna fall in love with?

Before I go much further with my shameless gushing, I have to say this - this was truly the most enjoyable 2 hours of television I've seen in a while. Nothing was "predict-a-plot" - the pacing was smooth, and in the two hours of time that we had, we got to know 9 characters just enough to want to know them more! So kudos to Joss Whedon. This was an amazing outing. And because it was so amazing, I have to briefly run through all that was amazing about this ep:

1. Zoe & Wash. I was the first to say "I don't get it, and I don't like them together." I get it now. AND, I like them together. And I don't hate Wash. (he still rates pretty low on my liking scale, but at least he's on it...)

2. Wow. I can totally get Kaylee's crush on Simon. What's that chinese word she used to describe him? Suei? Whatever it was - yes. Simon is YUMMY all dressed up in his shiny clothes!

3. And how about Kaylee talking to her ship? Loving it? I'll say it again - we didn't need Kaylee humping the engineer to get it that she loves ships...

4. Jayne - man, I love Jayne. I haven't said that before, but if Mal weren't my whole heart, Jayne would be. Damn. Did anyone's heart leap to their throats watching Jayne spying on Kaylee's progress? Truth be told, a tear came to my eye. Just that one little scene made Jayne human in a way that nothing else could. And makes you forgive his crassness in every other scene - indeed, made me kinda love him a little bit for it! And, um... as much as I hate bullies, I thought it was kinda sexy when Jayne deliberately bumped into Simon on the way out...

5. BOOK! K. I hated his last scene with Inara - that just felt WRONG - we had no plot development prior that suggested that Book would be having such an emotional crisis. And given that we've seen no hint of it since, (or rather, PRIOR...GRRRRRRRR!

), it just seemed stupid. BUT, his every other scene was amazing. WOW, WOW, and WOW to Ron Glass! I was simply blown away by this preacher, coming to bring the word to "them that need it." I was impressed with how authentic in his faith he is. Whatever it turned out that Shepherd Book was, I believe that he was a man of God.

6. Zoe - k. I wanna BE Zoe...nuff said. What an amazing woman! Strong and feminine at the same time...with NOTHING compromised, EVER... where did they FIND her?!?

7. River - we get a first glimpse of her... she's weird, but she's here to stay.

8. Inara - of all the characters, I was most disappointed in her, without ever disliking her. It is apparent to me that Inara's profession is just what it looks like - legalized prostitution, with a grand amount of training to support the fantasy that she provides. Mal's little joke of calling her an "ambassador" highlights this. I'm disappointed, as I had hoped to see something a bit more for her, and had hoped that this was not a story destined to end with Mal making an "honest woman" of her. Truth be told, the romance between them is so apparent, and yet so light, that they could have stretched this over a few seasons, with lots of ups and downs, and made it so that we, as viewers, finally were rooting for Mal to succeed in his crusade. Nevertheless, I officially cancel my registration in the Academy...

it isn't what I had hoped it would be. Still...the relationship between her and Mal is sweet, angsty, nice, tense...everything a shipper could hope for...

QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006

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Saturday, January 11, 2003 5:14 AM

QUEENTIYE

Part 2

O.k. enough of that! Back to MAL!

I wrote to a friend after watching the ep - "Mal can be a real jerk...and I would have been totally in love with him!" His stunt with Inara and Book was unkind to both of them, and actually unforgiveable. It was crass, and mean spirited, and I couldn't like him for it. For his own amusement, he set Inara and Book against each other. That they, neither of them fell for it is good on them. But Mal's amusement at the situation was purile at best - a kind of frat boy sniggering humor. At worst, it was hypocritical - as the person most uncomfortable in the presence of either Book or Inara is MAL. And yet, it wasn't long before I was forgiving him What you learn about Mal's core crew after watching them for like - 30 seconds - is that they are true. By that I mean - they are who they are, authentically, solidly. Mal can count on them being just who they seem to be. Who is inauthentic here is Simon, and Inara (not surprising, given their connections with the civilized, evil Alliance world). So, while I could have kicked Mal for his little stunt with Simon - I kinda "got it"... Simon became crew in that moment - having passed his intiation.

Um... did anyone else's heart flutter when Mal almost lost it over Inara? I could have paid LOTS of money to have been Inara in that moment. ~SIGH!!!~ Nice recovery, btw, Capt. Tightpants...

Speaking of which - was there any real purpose for us observing Mal zipping up after a visit to the little boys room? It wasn't sexy. It was rather crass. We all make those little runs, and we all know what it looks like. Don't we? Aren't we all adults here? Ick.

"What it is is what it is." Wow. No one doubts who the captain of the ship is...his leadership shines through in moments like this...I guess it's Mal's way or the highway, right? Any complaints, Inara? LOL! Well, anyway, he's pretty straight, so you can feel pretty comfortable with him setting the rules...did I mention before that this man has my heart near entirely? Don't suppose there's any real life Mals floating around, do ya? 'Cuz, I'd like to meet one if he's out there...LOL!

O.k. I'm amusing myself here, but there's one more scene for me to gush over - and no, it's not when Mal says "Everybody's making a fuss!" Although, I laughed my head off at that whole Patience discourse! Very funny stuff, and Nathan Fillion played it so perfectly straight, it was funny 3 times in a row! Anyway, the scene that tickled me pink, and at the same time made me once again swoon completely over Mal was when, after carefully considering for a good half an episode what to do with this guy, Mal comes on the boat, and shoots the mole dead without breaking stride...Um... this is the stuff westerns and tough guys are made of, and Mal wears it well. So very like Mal - when caution was no longer a commodity they could afford, he simply dispenses with the problem and moves on...remind me to stay on his good side, will ya?

And that's it folks. On this note, we say goodbye to the Firefly Shamelessly Gushing review. Fox has killed the show, and UPN won't pick it up... we fans are grasping at straws hoping against hope that some miracle will happen, but truthfully, I know in my heart that t.v. this good is not long for this world...I'm hoping that there is some new paradigm of television that grows up out of the growing discontent of fans like us who love shows like these, and keep getting our hearts broken time after time. But until that time, I'm signing off, thanking all of you for reading my review, and thanking the cast, crew, and writers of Firefly for making it one of the most wonderful, if shortlived series ever.

Yours,
QT

QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006

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Monday, January 20, 2003 7:51 PM

DELVO

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Sargent Reynolds was something of a good old boy, joking, wisecracking, and generally not someone I'd care to know. Yes, I'm that much of a stick in the mud sometimes, but he would have irked the daylights out of me. That was my very first impression of him. And yet, in his moments away from people, the real Mal Reynolds showed up

I don't have any idea what you're talking about. It looked like the same old guy all along to me, showing the kind of reaction under extreme pressure that I expected from how he's reacted to pressure in episodes I saw before.

To me the oddest thing about the opening scene was the similarity to Kyle Reece's flashbacks in "The Terminator". It especially jumped out and screamed at me when he was shooting the big turret gun at the enemy craft that got close, with the flashing light of the guns, the slow hovering machine with its whining sound and a handful of searchlights, and the sound track's nearly identical pulsating electrono-bass that was popularized in the early 80s.

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1. Zoe & Wash. I was the first to say "I don't get it, and I don't like them together." I get it now. AND, I like them together. And I don't hate Wash. (he still rates pretty low on my liking scale, but at least he's on it...)

I don't see how this episode fixed them for someone who didn't think they worked in the first place! What's different? Is it just that this is the first episode you've seen in which Wash's problem with Zoe & Mal showed up like it should have all along? (And that dinosaur thing with Wash was just ridiculous; they seemed to be trying to tell us that he's got a disorder that kept his brain at the second-grade level.) I even saw those two as a bit worse than before; for example, the sracastic exaggerated smile and thumb-up sign he gave her when she called Mal "sir" just after he'd said "Call him 'sir', he likes that." That way of handling a real issue with their relationship and trying to make sure it was a scene Mal would take notice of is the most childish thing he's done, and just makes he tolerating him more mysterious.

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4. Jayne - man, I love Jayne. I haven't said that before, but if Mal weren't my whole heart, Jayne would be. Damn. Did anyone's heart leap to their throats watching Jayne spying on Kaylee's progress?

I do love that character and what he did for the show (although nowhere near what you mean by that verb of course). But I disliked that scene, which felt like character assassination. Everything else we've seen about Jayne makes him look much less caring than that, or at least leaves room for doubt. Even his un-betrayal of the Tams in the hospital never showed us anything about his REASON for it. If this episode had been the first I'd seen of Jayne, that would have cast EVERY subsequent scene of his in another light, because then his detachment would have been established as an act all along. I can't say if it would have felt inconsistent as originally conceived, since then my whole concept of Jayne would have been different all along, but it sure felt inconsistent in the screwed-up order we were shown. I guess part of my problem with it is that the main thing I had always liked about Jayne was that he didn't try to hide how uncivilized he was, and now it turns out that apparently his uncivilization is itself mostly hiding someting else. But, I have to figure it was intended as part of his original character establishment and development, along with how his feelings seemed hurt when Mal told him to leave the table for making dirty jokes about Kaylee. Now I feel like I should review tapes of all the episodes I saw before this one, with this completely different Jayne in mind, but I don't have them.

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5. BOOK! K. I hated his last scene with Inara - that just felt WRONG - we had no plot development prior that suggested that Book would be having such an emotional crisis.

Ditto. It's like he's someone else entirely for that scene.

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8. Inara - of all the characters, I was most disappointed in her, without ever disliking her. It is apparent to me that Inara's profession is just what it looks like - legalized prostitution, with a grand amount of training to support the fantasy that she provides. Mal's little joke of calling her an "ambassador" highlights this.

Ditto. It's not a euphemism, it's a parallel. They're both people who do something completely unremarkable or disreputable or pointless, but get lots of money and credit for it because they manage to fluff up their image with a lot of hi-falutin' pretentions and fancy résumés designed to fool or placate naïve or shallow high-society types. I'll bet she was on the Student Council in her high school.

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...the romance between [Mal and Inara] is so apparent, and yet so light, that they could have stretched this over a few seasons, with lots of ups and downs, and made it so that we, as viewers, finally were rooting for Mal to succeed in his crusade.

There's no romance there! But I can see that what they DO have is a classic cheesey stereotypical of-course-they'll-shoehorn-a-thoroughly-implausible-romance-into-it setup. BOOORIIING... and about as subtle, intelligent, and original as romances in any modern sitcom and most "romantic comedy" movies (or attempted serious romances of unintended stupid humor, like on Buffy). BTW, how exactly was Book supposed to have caught on to Inara's infatuation with Mal? He mentioned it but had never been shown seeing any evidence of it.

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[Mal's] stunt with Inara and Book was unkind to both of them, and actually unforgiveable. It was crass, and mean spirited... it was hypocritical - as the person most uncomfortable in the presence of either Book or Inara is MAL.

Why he's so openly hostile is rather mysterious. But I figure that's the point.

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Um... did anyone else's heart flutter when Mal almost lost it over Inara? I could have paid LOTS of money to have been Inara in that moment. ~SIGH!!!~ Nice recovery, btw, Capt. Tightpants...

Huh? No scene in the tape you sent me even vaguely resembles that!

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Speaking of which - was there any real purpose for us observing Mal zipping up after a visit to the little boys room? It wasn't sexy. It was rather crass. We all make those little runs, and we all know what it looks like. Don't we?

It was good for illustrating the simplicity and function-driven design of the ship, but that's all.

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"What it is is what it is." Wow. No one doubts who the captain of the ship is...his leadership shines through in moments like this...

Agreed. But it wouldn't be enough to make his character likable to me if he pulled stunts like that one with Inara & Book more often.

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there's one more scene for me to gush over - and no, it's not when Mal says "Everybody's making a fuss!"... after carefully considering for a good half an episode what to do with this guy, Mal comes on the boat, and shoots the mole dead without breaking stride... when caution was no longer a commodity they could afford, he simply dispenses with the problem and moves on...

That's guy movie stuff, and you're a woman! You're supposed to roll your eyes in irritation at boys' silliness for enjoying such scenes, like women always do at macho characters guys like to watch on TV or in movies! What's wrong with you?

OK, some more notes to add:

1. Interesting camera work and direction in several cases, usually (but not quite always) pretty good. For example, fading to black and then back again during the surgery was a good way to show the passage of a lot of suspenseful time. And it was a nifty thought to de-focus the picture, simulating the extreme pupil dilation that happens when people have an orgasm, at the end of the sex scene; far more tasteless ways to do that scene could have been done. But then the temporary loss of focus is also used randomly in a few places and times that just don't make any sense and aren't enhanced by it in any way. The animated bulletin "paper" that Badger held up was also a nice touch in a way, although it might also belong in the next point as well...

2. Some science-fiction clichés that don't make sense and/or don't fit were thrown in, almost as if to hang a sign on the show that reads "THIS IS SCI-FI". For example, the name of the planet Earththatwas evokes an overused image of absolute planetary apocalypse. And the "protein in every color of the rainbow" and making such a big deal out of fresh produce is just too Soylent Green and incongruous with this universe.

3. Any idea that the decision to have silence in space was for scientific reality should be dispelled after one sees this episode; the visual effects of that main engine firing were OVERWHELMINGLY atmospheric (or even marine). But its apparently drama-motivated origin keeps turning out very well, as with the passing of the Reaver ship. Also notice that they used the same trick for the same effect IN the air at the end of the battle scene near the beginning of the show. (Excellent soundtrack music helps this a lot.)

4. Kaylee seems to have been more bouncy/bubbly/perky in this episode than in most. This episode had some of her best character illustration ever, including the lines (and how she delivered them) "I love my captain" (with that kiss and giant grin, right after being teased for her bounciness/bubbliness/perkiness) and the ridiculously cheerful "OK, now I can't get down".

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Tuesday, January 21, 2003 4:55 AM

QUEENTIYE

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Originally posted by Delvo:
I don't see how this episode fixed them for someone who didn't think they worked in the first place! What's different? Is it just that this is the first episode you've seen in which Wash's problem with Zoe & Mal showed up like it should have all along?

That could be it. That and the fact that it is fairly apparent that Wash is a complete idiot, except when he's not. I can see him irking the daylights out of Zoe,and then having moments of brilliance that just "do it" for her... maybe even enough to where she'd fall in love and marry him.

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I even saw those two as a bit worse than before; for example, the sarcastic exaggerated smile and thumb-up sign he gave her when she called Mal "sir" just after he'd said "Call him 'sir', he likes that." That way of handling a real issue with their relationship and trying to make sure it was a scene Mal would take notice of is the most childish thing he's done, and just makes her tolerating him more mysterious.

All of this was in character immediately after we saw the whole dinosaur thing. If Zoe could love this guy, she loves all of him, imbecility included. She's figured managing his imbecility was part of her wedding vows. And her being Zoe - she figured she could handle it. I figure she can too. Now whether she SHOULD handle it or not, that's another story. And, none of anyone's business but Zoe's.

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But I disliked that scene, which felt like character assassination. Everything else we've seen about Jayne makes him look much less caring than that, or at least leaves room for doubt.

Maybe it's my female instincts, but I've never believed Jayne was totally uncaring - your later use of the word uncivilized is more appropriate, and is NOT the opposite of caring.

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If this episode had been the first I'd seen of Jayne, that would have cast EVERY subsequent scene of his in another light, because then his detachment would have been established as an act all along.

I don't know of any examples of Jayne being "detached." His crude sense of humor has always shown him up to be very much attached - he wants people to laugh at his jokes, he wants to be a part of the crew. But he is crude enough not to have loyalties in that civilized, moral sense.

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I guess part of my problem with it is that the main thing I had always liked about Jayne was that he didn't try to hide how uncivilized he was, and now it turns out that apparently his uncivilization is itself mostly hiding someting else.

I don't follow you here. What is his uncivilization hiding?

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8. Inara - of all the characters, I was most disappointed in her, without ever disliking her. It is apparent to me that Inara's profession is just what it looks like - legalized prostitution, with a grand amount of training to support the fantasy that she provides. Mal's little joke of calling her an "ambassador" highlights this.

Ditto. It's not a euphemism, it's a parallel. They're both people who do something completely unremarkable or disreputable or pointless, but get lots of money and credit for it because they manage to fluff up their image with a lot of hi-falutin' pretentions and fancy résumés designed to fool or placate naïve or shallow high-society types. I'll bet she was on the Student Council in her high school.

Got something against Student Council types?

Anyway, her character established for me Joss Whedon's approach to storytelling - start with off the shelf characters and then see what you can pull from them... the wealthy prostitute is fairly a shoe-in character for a western, so of course, we have one.... and of course she's in love with the hero of the show. Inara is only interesting viz-a-viz Mal. Which is a shame.

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...the romance between [Mal and Inara] is so apparent, and yet so light, that they could have stretched this over a few seasons, with lots of ups and downs, and made it so that we, as viewers, finally were rooting for Mal to succeed in his crusade.

There's no romance there! But I can see that what they DO have is a classic cheesey stereotypical of-course-they'll-shoehorn-a-thoroughly-implausible-romance-into-it setup. BOOORIIING... and about as subtle, intelligent, and original as romances in any modern sitcom and most "romantic comedy" movies (or attempted serious romances of unintended stupid humor, like on Buffy).

Well... again, Joss Whedon's approach to this whole thing was to take several standard elements and work with them. From what we were allowed to see, he has been mostly able to give them unique voices that make them stand out from their myriad other counterparts...I love a good romance, and love romantic comedies... the entire point of which is that you know the outcome in advance - you are only interested how they get there. In retrospect - this romance was another thing that worried me - rushed development. It is very easy to see this romance being resolved by season's end, had we seen the season's end. SO is Book's mystery, Jayne's compassionate side, River's illness... without having been a prior Joss Whedon fan, I can't say if I trust completely how he would have written himself out of some of the corners it looked like he wrote himself into. What is scary is the idea that I keep reading from other fans, that Joss has no compulsion about killing off characters - which is,of course ONE way to shake things up...

And, re: no romance... you must be blind! Anyone can see that there is SOMETHING there - quite possibly a past history. Or are you defining romance differently somehow?

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BTW, how exactly was Book supposed to have caught on to Inara's infatuation with Mal? He mentioned it but had never been shown seeing any evidence of it.

My take - Shepherd Book, like Inara, is an astute reader of people, by virtue of his profession. Her reaction to Mal's crass joke clued him in.

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Um... did anyone else's heart flutter when Mal almost lost it over Inara? I could have paid LOTS of money to have been Inara in that moment. ~SIGH!!!~ Nice recovery, btw, Capt. Tightpants...

Huh? No scene in the tape you sent me even vaguely resembles that!

The scene is when Inara is attempting NOT to leave Mal on the shuttle... he puts his hand on her shoulder, and very gently touches her hair...calls her name slightly at a lower pitch than normal... then blinks, recovers, swallows, straightens up, when she glances briefly at his hand on her, and looks at him...

Um... k. Excuse me while I THUD!

LOL!

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"What it is is what it is." Wow. No one doubts who the captain of the ship is...his leadership shines through in moments like this...

Agreed. But it wouldn't be enough to make his character likable to me if he pulled stunts like that one with Inara & Book more often.

No. He'd just be the head jerk in charge...

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there's one more scene for me to gush over - and no, it's not when Mal says "Everybody's making a fuss!"... after carefully considering for a good half an episode what to do with this guy, Mal comes on the boat, and shoots the mole dead without breaking stride... when caution was no longer a commodity they could afford, he simply dispenses with the problem and moves on...

That's guy movie stuff, and you're a woman! You're supposed to roll your eyes in irritation at boys' silliness for enjoying such scenes, like women always do at macho characters guys like to watch on TV or in movies! What's wrong with you?

I like GUYS! LOL! THAT much should be obvious from the whole rest of the review. I like guys doing guy things.

And for the record... NOTHING is wrong with me. Unless you want me to believe that guys swoon and thud over one another when they do this kind of stuff...

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2. Some science-fiction clichés that don't make sense and/or don't fit were thrown in, almost as if to hang a sign on the show that reads "THIS IS SCI-FI". For example, the name of the planet Earththatwas evokes an overused image of absolute planetary apocalypse. And the "protein in every color of the rainbow" and making such a big deal out of fresh produce is just too Soylent Green and incongruous with this universe.

I totally missed the "Earththatwas" reference. But I LOVED the protein in every color of the rainbow thing, and didn't see it as incongruous, since we know that the universe that Firefly inhabits consists of radically uneven development, terraformed worlds that are killing people, and an alliance that looks to be the stand in for the evils of technology run amuck... In fact, had we seen this episode when we ought to, I think Firefly would have retained more of its audience. Train Job was an ok ep for a pilot, but it leaned far too heavily on the "western" side of the fence, with the ship seeming very incongruous. I suspect that a number of casual sci-fi fans who were not otherwise fans of Joss Whedon checked out right after this episode. In this episode, we get to see the juxtaposition of sci-fi and western genre themes, in a way that is true to both. Seems like only Joss Whedon devotees or genre diehards could have stuck it out.

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3. Any idea that the decision to have silence in space was for scientific reality should be dispelled after one sees this episode; the visual effects of that main engine firing were OVERWHELMINGLY atmospheric (or even marine). But its apparently drama-motivated origin keeps turning out very well, as with the passing of the Reaver ship. Also notice that they used the same trick for the same effect IN the air at the end of the battle scene near the beginning of the show. (Excellent soundtrack music helps this a lot.)

Needless to say, I didn't notice any soundtrack music at all. But I did wonder about the visual effects. I don't think I know enough to know exactly what was wrong, but I kept feeling like something WAS wrong. Still, it didn't bother me - so I think I agree with ou that the drama motivation works well.

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4. Kaylee seems to have been more bouncy/bubbly/perky in this episode than in most. This episode had some of her best character illustration ever, including the lines (and how she delivered them) "I love my captain" (with that kiss and giant grin, right after being teased for her bounciness/bubbliness/perkiness) and the ridiculously cheerful "OK, now I can't get down".

Yep.

QueenTiye, Companion Academy drop-out!

Shamelessly gushing over Mal...

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