No power in the 'verse
A countdown of Firefly's best three episodes
A countdown of Firefly's best three episodes
Summer Glau as Firefly's crazy, deadly River Tam
I'm so much of a geek, I'd probably like Firefly even if it were some typical, Star Trek-lite science-fiction series. As long as there are lasers and aliens, I'm happy. But, wait, Firefly doesn't have lasers. Or aliens. Those facts didn't hit me right away when I caught the tail end of the show's original, 11-episode run on Fox in 2002. But after the DVDs came out—which include three episodes not aired until 2003 on the Sci Fi Channel—I absorbed Firefly in its gritty, funny genre-busting entirety. It was then I realized that Firefly is that rare commodity: science fiction so human and touching that anyone, geek or not, could relate to it.
I've since watched all 14 episodes of Firefly about, oh, eight or nine times; as well as seen creator Joss Whedon's big-screen sequel, Serenity (which screens tonight at as part of the international charity even Can't Stop The Serenity). And the show just gets better each time around. The characters are richer. The jokes are funnier. And the ache of being a group of hounded, misunderstood outer-space crooks with hearts of gold—trying to stay alive and sane in a ship (hell, a whole solar system) that's falling apart—is all the more palpable and relatable. Seeing as how the show itself was just as hounded and misunderstood by Fox during its initial run, some episodes turned out better than others; and so, without further ado, here's a countdown of my three favorite eps of Firefly.
3. "Shindig"
On the surface, "Shindig" is one of the lightest, breeziest episodes of Firefly. But the story of Captain Mal Reynolds' duel-by-sword with a would-be suitor of shipmate Inara—a dignified, high-end courtesan who couldn't fall further from Mal's roughhewn bluntness—reveals some deep insights into the crew of Serenity, as well as into the Confederacy-like caste system that has sprung up on certain worlds in the Firefly universe.
2. "Out Of Gas"
Firefly's two-hour pilot, "Serenity" (not to be confused with the theatrical feature of the same name), is ostensibly the best introduction to the world of Mal Reynolds and his ship full of mercenaries, fugitives, an adorable genius mechanic, and the odd preacher. But "Out Of Gas" uses a string of gorgeously structured vignettes—framed by a truly harrowing stranded-in-space scenario—to recount how Mal acquired each member of his crew, and ultimately how he fell in love with the corroded lump of a spaceship he calls home.
And the winner is…
1. "War Stories"
One of the greatest relationships in Firefly is between the ship's wimpy, wisecracking pilot Wash and his "warrior woman" of a wife, the Amazonian Zoe. Wash's insecurity about Zoe's war-buddy past with Mal comes to a head in "War Stories" when the pilot and captain are captured and tortured by a sadistic, philosophy-spouting gangster named Niska. The dialogue, plot, and action are perfectly intertwined, and the balance between brutality and humor is pretty much masterful. Plus, Mal gets to shoot off one of his best punch lines of the entire series when the Serenity crew comes charging in to rescue their leader from Niska's evil clutches:
