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.