Firefly - Out of Gas

Ahhh, time's running short. It's almost over. Gotta get a move on.

Out of Gas. My very favorite-ist episode. There are some that come close, to be sure. Real close. It's really "These are my favorite and these are not." And even those are really good.

I remember reading reviews of this ep (Television Without Pity comes to mind) that thought the flashbacks were from The Unaired Pilot. That this was somehow addressing the "AIRED IN THE WRONG ORDER" problem. Well, no. This would have been told exactly the same way, aired order or no. And what a way it's told.

I love "out of order" storytelling. Probably my favorite use of this was Steven Soderberg's The Limey. I admit, it catches my interest. I enjoy the cleverness of it. (Having said that, BSG is never allowed to use a "48 hours ago" card ever again.)

I love how this tells about the "core" crew of Serenity. (Notice there's nothing about Book or the Tam's? That's because that was all in TUP.) We never got the full scoop on Inara, but this is a start. Wash joining is another "playing against expectations" moment from Tim and Joss. So is the "genius" mechanic. I'd have liked to have eventually seen more of how those Zoe and Wash came together. But then they canceled the show. And we had the whole Leaf business. Kaylee's is as cute as we'd figure. Jayne's intro explains a whole lot, doesn't it?

But this is really about Mal's love affair with his girl. How Serenity is the fix to all his hurts. The freedom that he lost. This ship is
his new faith. (A little sad, but Mal's a sad character.) Mal and Zoe first walking into the cargo hold is one of my favorites in the whole show.

It's also got a dinner table scene. Always did love them too. There was something different about this aspect of the show. It said a lot about the "family" aspect as well as just adding a reality of life out in the black.

Not a lot of Zoe, since she had to go be in a terrible Matrix movie. But some really good Wash stuff. Wash is almost as much a fish out of water with this crew as Simon is. And as much at odds with Mal, much of the time. By contrast, Kaylee is a little too whiny when Serenity breaks down.

River continues to be built. Again, I'm amazed at how slowly they developed this character. Just little notes here and there. More on that in another two episodes. The best River writing would ground her weirdness in some sort of normalcy. "I didn't get you anything." The best best River writing would ground her weirdness in being Simon's bratty kid sister.

Book seems to be firmly in "humble preacher, way out of his depth" mode. Certainly not the criminal mastermind we glimpse in many other eps.

Quentin Tarantino has much to answer for for introducing the "adrenalin to the heart cures everything" gag.

This ep runs into the same problem that shows up a lot in the series: Space is big. And empty. So it's hard to get lost in. Or snuck up on. And if you "run out of gas" you do tend to keep moving. Go watch Apollo 13, Tim. Never did figure out why the bad guy ship (who's bridge I have stood on, BTW) didn't just hang around and wait for Mal to die. Or why the shuttles didn't see them coming or going. Space. Big. Remember? But it's yet ANOTHER example of someone telling Mal "People just suck" and Mal saying "Oh no they don't."

And the last scene. It's love. In point of fact.

Next up, a mighty fine Shindig. (And BADGER!)