S01.E12: The Message

[Lisin]

From Wikipedia:

A former Independence soldier who had served with Mal and Zoe returns in a dramatic manner, with a vicious Alliance officer chasing after him for some unusual smuggled goods.

 

The Hat! 

[decembar13]

 

Elvis has left the building!

[Danny Franks]

Pretty cunning, that hat.

 

Jayne Cobb, a legend to millinery as well as those seven deadly sins he's such a fan of. Only Adam Baldwin could have made a murderous, stupid, selfish, petty mercenary as appealing and almost loveable as Jayne could be.

 

I always loved the Mal/Zoe friendship, and so loved whenever they would bring up the war, and the experiences they shared. Tracey was a bit of a clown, and I guess only that old brothers-in-arms bond could keep Mal and Zoe from abandoning him, but I still felt for them both when he died, and they carried his body home to his family.

[jhlipton]

The one part of this I didn't like is that prison rape, even in the oh-so-ordered Alliance, is still so prevalent that it can be used to intimidate men.  I've never liked that on cop shows, and hated it here.

 

"Tracey was a doofus, but he was our doofus!"

 

I think the thing about Jayne is that he has no pretentions.  He doesn't pretend to be smart or caring (the one time he finds himself caring about someone else,  it shocks him).  And he chokes up when he gets a letter from his mom.  (The way he read it, I heard one semi-literate reading the words of another...) That makes him better than most villains who think they're the hero.

[Danny Franks]

I think the thing about Jayne is that he has no pretentions.  He doesn't pretend to be smart or caring (the one time he finds himself caring about someone else,  it shocks him).  And he chokes up when he gets a letter from his mom.  (The way he read it, I heard one semi-literate reading the words of another...) That makes him better than most villains who think they're the hero.

 

 

I love that aspect of him. On the DVD commentary for the pilot, I recall Joss talking about how he told Adam that Jayne really does think he's the hero of this story. So Adam always played him with that in mind, which I think allows him to seem more reasonable and tolerable, even in his moments of true callousness.

[decembar13]

Oh, god, I laughed so hard after watching this:

 

 

Nathan is brilliant!

[Danny Franks]

One of my favourite outtakes ever, along with Nathan elaborately going off book during the Haven aftermath scene in The Big Damn Movie. The one that has Jewel doubling over in laughter and Adam just looking baffled in the background.

 

He seemed like so much fun on that set. And, coincidentally, that's why I think he could become really difficult to deal with, 16 hours a day, every day. Too much energy, man. Either you can get on board with that, or you can't.

[Raja]

Before we have seen Zoe's armor, but Tracey was shot in the chest and moved quite well. Besides the sound effect making the old cowboy weapons something besides bullet throwers was this something phasers on stun?

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎08‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 11:45 PM, Danny Franks said:

 

 

Jayne Cobb, a legend to millinery as well as those seven deadly sins he's such a fan of. Only Adam Baldwin could have made a murderous, stupid, selfish, petty mercenary as appealing and almost loveable as Jayne could be.

 

 

Not even Bruce Campbell?

 

On ‎09‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 3:36 AM, jhlipton said:

The one part of this I didn't like is that prison rape, even in the oh-so-ordered Alliance, is still so prevalent that it can be used to intimidate men.  I've never liked that on cop shows, and hated it here.

Where would L&O;SVU be without it?

 

On ‎09‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 11:13 AM, Danny Franks said:

 

I love that aspect of him. On the DVD commentary for the pilot, I recall Joss talking about how he told Adam that Jayne really does think he's the hero of this story. So Adam always played him with that in mind, which I think allows him to seem more reasonable and tolerable, even in his moments of true callousness.

Aren't we all the hero in our own minds?

 

On ‎26‎/‎09‎/‎2015 at 7:47 PM, Raja said:

Before we have seen Zoe's armor, but Tracey was shot in the chest and moved quite well. Besides the sound effect making the old cowboy weapons something besides bullet throwers was this something phasers on stun?

Yeah, I noticed that, I guess they don't use conventional gunpowder in the future?

The good; Love the ice planets, someone should make those for real. We see more of Mal and Zoe during the war pre-Battle of Serenity and nobody pines as well as Kaylee does (except Willow?)

The bad; Kinda a weak story with not that great a denouement.

Best line; Zoe (to Tracey); "The first rule of war is never to let them know where you are" Mal (exposing himself to the enemy and firing wildly) "Here I am! Here I am!" Zoe; "Of course there are other schools of thought" also like; Jayne (non-plussed by Tracey's unexpected resurrection but observes) "Spry for a dead fellow!" and Tracey; "Do you think I'm stupid?" Mal; "In every possible way" not to mention Mal; "There's always someone out there keeping a bullet with your name on it. The secret is to die of old age before they get a chance to use it" which leads to; Tracey; "You killed me" Mal; "You killed yourself, I just carried the bullet for a while"

Kinky dinky; Jayne infers that seeing corpses puts him in the mood for sex but is quick to deny necrophilia. Naked Tracey.

Capt subtext; Womack threatens the postman with homosexual rape in prison. Mal straddling naked Tracey.

How'd they get away with that? Simon cutting Tracey, yeesh!

Whedon clichés; Devoted siblings, haunted charismatic leading man. Teenage girls with superpowers. Hookers. Babbling insane girls with truth in their madness. Fake cockneys. Misguided religious zealots. Numbered t-shirts. Girls with botanical names (Willow, Saffron, Jasmine). Absent fathers. Clever use of extensive flashbacks. Women in boxes.

Bondage; I've been reminded that I didn't include Mal and Wash tied up by Niska in War Stories so... Mal; 2 River; 1 Simon; 1 River; 1 Jayne; 1 Wash; 1

Knocked out; Book; 2 Simon; 2 Kaylee; 1 Jayne;3 Mal; 2 Wash; 1 Inara; 1 Zoe; 1 River; 1

Kills; Zoe kills 2 Alliance soldiers during the war. Mal kills Tracey who seems very resilent, perhaps due to his organ smuggling surgery? Mal; 12- Zoe; 12- Jayne; 11- Wash; 2 River; 3

Alliance good or bad?; Inara seems to be suggesting she return the Lassiter for a reward but Mal won't hear of it, maybe to avoid her getting in trouble or maybe he just couldn't stand dealing with the Alliance? Womack is operating by himself as obviously the Alliance consider organ smuggling illegal although it doesn't seem to bother Mal and co.

Missing scenes; One rumoured storyline for later in the season is that Mal is approached to join a group of ex-Browncoats who want to restart the war and destroy the Alliance. He is then faced with the choice represented by Zoe on one side who wants to go back to the war and Inara on the other who says that would be madness. Also supposedly a scene where Zoe and Wash ask Dr Simon for advice on conceiving a child.

Reminds me off; The spaceport very reminiscent of Blade Runner whilst the post office scenes are reminiscent of season 4 of Babylon 5 (governments rise and fall but the postal system is forever). The police craft is reminiscent of the former US Navy F14 Tomcat fighter.

Questions and observations; No aliens in the Fireflyverse, much like BSG. Simon just seems to live with his foot in his mouth (even River thinks he's a 'boob'). I guess being such a goodlooking guy and a successful surgeon he never really had to try to get girls before. His observation that every other woman in his extremely limited social circle is married (Zoe), a professional who refuses to 'service the crew' (Inara) and his sister leaving Kaylee as a last resort is about as sensitive as bombing Hiroshima. Jayne has a mother (and possibly a sister?) whom he sends money to. Jayne wears a hat which is unusual, in Firefly it's mostly the bad guys who wear hats. A very different version of pre-Serenity Mal here, funloving and seeming to think of the war as a great big game. Kaylee has rigged a hammock in the engine room, perhaps because of the events of Out of Gas? Or because that way Simon can just walk casually in on her which he couldn't in her room cabin? The mule has survived it's use as a kamikaze in War Stories and is lodged in the Serenity's hold. Interestingly Jayne who we think of as a tactically shaven gorilla shows surprising sensitivity, removing his hat at the sight of the corpse and telling Book that seeing the dead makes him value life all the more. Nice mention of Saffron, Mal&co thinking that the Feds are after the Lassiter because she sold them out. Shepherd once again shows an interesting depth of knowledge of the Alliance police.

Marks out of 10; 6/10 A little disappointing after the quality of the preceding eps, largely rescued by a few good lines.

[jhlipton]

re threats of prison rape:

11 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Where would L&O;SVU be without it?

One of the MANY reasons I can't stand that show.

11 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Missing scenes; One rumoured storyline for later in the season is that Mal is approached to join a group of ex-Browncoats who want to restart the war and destroy the Alliance. He is then faced with the choice represented by Zoe on one side who wants to go back to the war and Inara on the other who says that would be madness. Also supposedly a scene where Zoe and Wash ask Dr Simon for advice on conceiving a child.

Ugh.  Both of these are horrendous and I'm glad they got left out.

[Danny Franks]

10 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

Ugh.  Both of these are horrendous and I'm glad they got left out.

This is one of the main reasons that I often feel like it's better that the show was cancelled, rather than run for years. Because these are the sort of plotlines that writers would have resorted to. And I'm sure Mal/Inara would have ended up being awful to watch, with me hating at least one of them. The 'will they, won't they' was set up with far too substantial an obstacle for them to ever overcome it, and dragging out their non-relationship would just have been annoying. Then they'd have teased a Wash/Zoe breakup, and I'm sure Simon and Kaylee would have broken up and got back together several times.

Seeing River grow and heal would have been so good, but so much of the rest of the show would have lost the gloss very quickly, over several seasons.

[SVNBob]

Another typical thing that happens when filming tv shows is shooting the episodes out of order.  This may be due to budget, location, or a host of other factors.  I mention that to bring up that this was the final episode of Firefly that was filmed.  And the reason that that is important is the score; particularly for the funeral scene at the end of the episode.

One of the great things I've always heard about Firefly is that everyone involved in the making of it knew how special it was.  Not just the cast, but the crew on every level of the team; from the directors and editors to the key grips and gaffers.  And that includes the composer.  Also, by this point, they knew that this was probably it for the show (barring a miracle).  So, when they gave the composer the version of the episode for him to write the score and music for, he also knew this special thing was about to end and he wanted to say goodbye.  So he did, with the score.  That's why the music in the funeral scene is extra-beautiful.  It's not just for Tracey, but for all of Firefly.

[jhlipton]

13 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

And I'm sure Mal/Inara would have ended up being awful to watch, with me hating at least one of them. The 'will they, won't they' was set up with far too substantial an obstacle for them to ever overcome it

You mean the fact that he thinks she's a "whore", which means he really doesn't understand or value her?  That little detail???

[Joe Hellandback]

13 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

This is one of the main reasons that I often feel like it's better that the show was cancelled, rather than run for years. Because these are the sort of plotlines that writers would have resorted to. And I'm sure Mal/Inara would have ended up being awful to watch, with me hating at least one of them. The 'will they, won't they' was set up with far too substantial an obstacle for them to ever overcome it, and dragging out their non-relationship would just have been annoying. Then they'd have teased a Wash/Zoe breakup, and I'm sure Simon and Kaylee would have broken up and got back together several times.

Seeing River grow and heal would have been so good, but so much of the rest of the show would have lost the gloss very quickly, over several seasons.

I agree it's better for a series to end rather than outlive its' coolness but at only 14 eps Firefly was a long way from there. 

 

14 hours ago, jhlipton said:

re threats of prison rape:

One of the MANY reasons I can't stand that show.

Ugh.  Both of these are horrendous and I'm glad they got left out.

I'd have liked to see the second one, we never got much interaction between Simon/River and Wash/Zoe and it would be nice to explore. 

[jhlipton]

5 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I'd have liked to see the second one, we never got much interaction between Simon/River and Wash/Zoe and it would be nice to explore. 

There are any number of ways they could interact without the "gotta have a baby" trope!

I had forgotten that Zoe and Wash brought that up in Heart of Gold.

Edited June 10, 2018 by jhlipton

[Danny Franks]

12 hours ago, jhlipton said:

You mean the fact that he thinks she's a "whore", which means he really doesn't understand or value her?  That little detail???

Pretty much, yeah.

They gave her an occupation that Mal would never respect, understand or accept. And Inara was not someone who was going to give up what was important to her, just so she could get with a guy she liked. So before long, it would have become a source of more than just snide comments and judgemental attitudes. It would have become toxic and divisive, on the show and amongst fans. Some of whom would feel, as you do, that Mal didn't understand or value her. Some of whom would start to call Inara all sorts of disgusting names when she didn't give up her job to be Mal's girlfriend.

I've yet to see a dragged out 'will they, won't they' pairing that didn't end up being horrible in one form or another, and I think Mal/Inara had the ingredients to be possibly the worst ever.

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I've yet to see a dragged out 'will they, won't they' pairing that didn't end up being horrible in one form or another, and I think Mal/Inara had the ingredients to be possibly the worst ever.

Jake and Amy on Brooklyn 99 lasted 2 or 3 seasons, but it was well handled, and once they "would", the relationship has been beautiful (the best on TV, ever.)

[Danny Franks]

9 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Jake and Amy on Brooklyn 99 lasted 2 or 3 seasons, but it was well handled, and once they "would", the relationship has been beautiful (the best on TV, ever.)

I don't consider that a drawn out 'will they, won't they' really. Because the show never relied on it as a crutch, like most shows do, and the writers wrote it with more maturity and common sense than you ever get on television. In the hands of anyone else, Jake and Amy could have ended up eating the show, with fans stressing out over whether they'll get together, whether they'll break up, who this new character is who might come between them. All of the tropes that nearly every television writer goes to at every opportunity. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine writers actively made fun of those devices, and proved that you don't need them.

But when I think of Bones/Booth, Castle/Beckett, Apollo/Starbuck, Ross/Rachel, Sam/Diane or any other pairing, I can only think of the things I ended up hating about them. JD/Elliot gets a pass, as they were genuine friends who hooked up every once in a while, before getting together (although that bait-and-switch at the end of season 3 was so bad they had to drop any attempts at a relationship for about three seasons). And Chuck/Sarah gets a pass because it always felt like 'they will, and they both know it, but things keep getting in the way'. Although putting Sarah with Shaw was almost the straw that broke the camel's back.

Anyway, I think Mal/Inara had the potential to be more infuriating than any of them.

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I think Mal/Inara had the potential to be more infuriating than any of them.

I agree with everything you8 say about B99 -- it's such a beautifully written show (except, strangely, for Gina).  W@hat other show could make a cannibal who eats kids funny?

None of the other characters you mention had such a searing contempt for a core aspect of their partner's personality as Mal did of Inara -- and it doesn't matter whether it was because of her profession or her ties to the Alliance.  Mal admired Saffron more than he did Inara (I think they would have been a better pair over all, as they kept playing not too mean tricks on each other.)

[Danny Franks]

13 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

I agree with everything you8 say about B99 -- it's such a beautifully written show (except, strangely, for Gina).  W@hat other show could make a cannibal who eats kids funny?

None of the other characters you mention had such a searing contempt for a core aspect of their partner's personality as Mal did of Inara -- and it doesn't matter whether it was because of her profession or her ties to the Alliance.  Mal admired Saffron more than he did Inara (I think they would have been a better pair over all, as they kept playing not too mean tricks on each other.)

Agreed. And to be honest, if the show had continued I'm fairly sure I'd be leaping on even the slightest pretext to 'ship Mal and Yo-Saff-Bridge instead of Mal and Inara. I also think that would have become a point of contention and discord amongst fans, as we see in other shows when secondary characters are preferred to the designated love interest.

[femmefan1946]

Missing scenes; One rumoured storyline for later in the season is that Mal is approached to join a group of ex-Browncoats who want to restart the war and destroy the Alliance.-- Joe Hellenback

 

Which is the plot of the comicbook sequel "No Power in the 'Verse", which has the crew met up with the New Independents underground. Younger and more naive than the Independents like Mal and Zoe.

Although they weren't very old when they were troopers either.