TV Tuesday -- Firefly

June 17, 2014 03:06 PM Posted by juliannadouglas

Another wonderful storytelling medium and one of my other big hobbies is television. Once I find shows and characters I like, I just can't get enough of them. I probably watch way too many TV shows, which is why, much like with movies, I'm rarely up to date on any of them. With the popularity and availability of TV on DVD and Netflix, I also enjoy rewatching old favorites and discovering new-to-me shows as well. My apologies in advance for potentially discussing a particular show or episode my readers may have watched a long time ago, but if I tried to stay up to date on all the shows I love, I'd never have time for writing. Not to mention, perhaps I can stir up some fond memories for you or help you discover a show you've never seen before (in the event that might be the case, I'll try not to be too spoilerish).

Today, I'm going to muse about my all-time favorite TV show, Firefly. This show is so freaking awesome, amazing, and stupendously fabulous, it's the end all be all of TV shows for me. If I were stranded on a deserted island (and had access to electricity:-)), this is the show I'd want to have with me. Joss Whedon is a genius storyteller, and the cast is pure perfection. Even after a decade, I'm still bitter that there are only fourteen episodes of this show (some of which never even aired on television) + the reunion movie, Serenity, but hey, I'll take that over nothing. With it being so short, I'm not sure how many times my hubs and I have seen it (several I know), but we're currently rewatching it again, while introducing out fifteen year-old daughter to the joys of Firefly.

There's so much I could say about this show and its cast, but I'll try to save some of the love for future posts. Today, I'll just focus on the two episodes we watched last weekend, “Our Mrs. Reynolds” and “Jaynestown.” In “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” the crew finds a young female stowaway aboard, claiming to be Mal's wife. This episode has an interesting twist to it, so just in case you haven't see it, I won't spoil it for you. I really enjoy this episode, because there's a certain romanticism to it. Mal gets to show the gentlemanly side of himself (at least to the extent that he can manage ;-)). I also loved how Inara got to show off her intelligent side too. My favorite quote of this episode is Shepherd Book to Mal: “If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.” Of course, the scene where Jayne tries to make a trade with Mal is LOL funny too. It was just a great episode all around.

The other episode we watched, “Jaynestown,” is one of my favorites. In this one, the crew of Serenity land on a planet, whose main commodity is mud, to pick up some contraband. Years before, Jayne ran a heist in this town that went horribly awry, and now, the entire crew, including Jayne, is shocked to discover that he's accidentally become a legendary folk hero. This is a hilarious episode. Jayne is basically the ultimate anti-hero, so to see him lauded by a whole town is truly funny stuff. I love how the cast played this too. The looks on their faces and their reactions to this news is priceless. But in the end, it's not all fun and games, and Jayne learns a hard lesson from the experience. I also loved Inara's sub-plot in which she's hired to divest a kinda geeky guy of his virginity. One of my favorite quotes from this episode is when Inara tells this man that being a virgin at twenty-six years old isn't an embarrassment, it's merely a state of being. She also treats the occasion with a great deal of reverence. I though this was wonderful wisdom for young people who might be overeager to rid themselves of their innocence. Back on the ship, more humor ensues as River and Shepherd Book argue over the validity of the Bible. All in all, this was one of the best episode of the show ever.

So, to all my readers out there, if you haven't ever watched Firefly, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. I'm not the only one who thinks so. IMDB users have given this show a 9.2 rating, which is virtually unheard of. So, what are you waiting for? It's the best TV show in the Verse. And to my fellow Firefly fans...Browncoats unite!:-)

Categories: TV Tuesday

Tags: Browncoats, Firefly, Inara Serra, Jayne Cobb, Joss Whedon, Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity