Firefly

"We have done the impossible and that makes us mighty." - Malcolm Reynolds

Status

Complete. (14 episodes) Also see the Film section for Serenity.

Thoughts

Once upon a time, I was a stranger to the world of live-action TV, never having seen anything that really caught my interest. Then I saw Firefly, instantly fell in love with it, and thus I became introduced to the potential of live-action TV as a storytelling medium.

Anyways, with a lot of additional experience, let me properly evaluate Firefly now.

It's entertaining (not to mention highly quotable) and generally well-written, but...

Well, it's not a bad show, and a lot of potential issues with it could be chalked up to its early cancellation. But even given that, it is by no means the best show ever, or even a distant contender for such.

  • Virtually all characters are standard fare, with nothing to really mark them as three-dimensional. This wouldn't be too bad per se, but most of them don't really get (visible) character development. Mal is easily a contender for most annoying character, as he appears to switch morality principles on a whim, while the show passively supports his every move. River spends a lot of time demanding viewer sympathy with almost no payoff. Book is yet another "magical Negro" figure that spends most of his screentime offering generic, vague wisdom to Mal. Inara is apparently supposed to be Mal's love interest just because of some constant snarking at each other, and otherwise mostly just further highlights Mal's double standards of morality. Etc.
  • The cross of different cultures (American/Chinese) and genres (western/sci-fi) seems too tacked on. None of the primary cast (Serenity's crew or villains) are Asian, especially irritating given that Tam (i.e. Simon/River) is a Chinese family name. Most of the show is in western settings, with the sci-fi aspect largely being confined to space travel.
  • Episodes are rather disconnected from each other, wasting some of the storytelling potential. Some of them ("The Message") could easily be cut out with zero impact on the overall story.

For 14 episodes, it's not the worst thing ever, and it still manages to be entertaining. Just don't expect to find any sort of masterpiece here.

Episode Favorites

From most to least favorite...

  1. "Out of Gas" (8)
  2. "Ariel" (9)
  3. "The Train Job" (2)
  4. "Shindig" (4)
  5. "Trash" (11)
  6. "Serenity" (1)
  7. "Objects in Space" (14)
  8. "Jaynestown" (7)
  9. "Safe" (5)
  10. "War Stories" (10)
  11. "Bushwhacked" (3)
  12. "Our Mrs. Reynolds" (6)
  13. "Heart of Gold" (13)
  14. "The Message" (12)

Or we could say...

  • 8 > 9 > 2 >> 4 > 11 > 1 > 14 > 7 >> 5 > 10 > 3 >>> 6 > 13 >> 12

As for the movie itself, let's say it's between "Ariel" and "The Train Job".

Character Favorites

Serenity Crew

Something like this, from most to least favorite...

  1. Jayne
  2. Kaylee
  3. Mal
  4. Book
  5. Zoe
  6. Simon
  7. Wash
  8. River
  9. Inara

More clearly depicting differences:

  • Jayne > Kaylee >> Mal > Book > Zoe > Simon >> Wash > River >> Inara

Yeah, I don't like Inara. The character was written well enough, but in the meta sense, she feels like a rather pointless addition to the crew. The only reason I don't actively dislike her is because she has a few moments, e.g. end of "Trash" when she cheerfully lectures Saffron on her stupidity.

Villains

Yet again:

  1. The Operative
  2. Jubal Early
  3. Adelai Niska
  4. Saffron
  5. Lawrence Dobson
  6. Rance Burgess

And:

  • The Operative > Jubal Early > Adelai Niska >> Saffron > Lawrence Dobson >> Rance Burgess