Personally, if my car went up in a ball of flame, even if that flame ate up all the fuel, I wouldn’t say I was “out of gas” I would call it being “blowed up”. This episode should be called “Blowed Up”.

Anyway, this is the one where part of the ship blows up and they’re stranded out in space. It’s also got flashbacks to how the crew got together (the ones who didn’t join during the pilot, I mean). I almost wish those could have been two separate episodes. Maybe they could have done the meetings as a little anthology episode, and the stranded in space as another. But the reason for that is being stranded in space, so far from other humans, is something I’d want a deeper look at. The vastness of space, the largeness of infinity, how small we are, that stuff interests me greatly. But it’s probably less “space western” than getting ambushed by someone who wants to steal the ship is, the show did what it does instead of catering to me.

Anyway, what is most important here is that it is Simon’s birthday. Somehow. River actually mentions that measuring time by Solar cycles doesn’t make a lot of sense given their spacefaring, but somehow is still IS Simon’s birthday. Does that mean that back on whatever planet/moon he was born on a yearly cycle has been completed? Or, I must ask again, is there some standard of time set by some authority? I demand answers and refuse to look up if anyone who worked ont he show has ever said!

This is the one where the amoral jerk idiot character finds out that because he botched a crime years ago in a very specific way, he is now considered a folk hero by the whole town. I am on the record that the big dumb character on pretty much any show will be the one I will relate to, and even though Jayne is a bigger jerk than I prefer those characters to be, I remember on first viewing that I enjoyed him getting a focus episode like this. And I still do. It’s always nice to see a well-done, self-contained episode of television. Even Inara’s sub-plot, which seems unrelated, ties in at the end. And the River/Book stuff deals with the themes of faith and symbols relevant to how the town sees Jayne. Overall, just well made.

But you know what isn’t well made? The statue of Jayne that the town put up! He’s just standing there. That’s not heroic! Why didn’t you have him thrusting a victorious fist in the air or something? You just want a guy with his arms at his side, kinda scowling? That’s your hero? You idiots.

I guess the bit that amused me most in this one was when the doctor was like “Okay, I’ll go, just stop describing me.”

This is the one where a woman sneaks on board the ship, pretends to be from “primitive” society with simple rituals that mean she’s married to Mal, but it turns out she’s a femme fatale trying to steal the ship. The crew deal with that situation and the femme fatale, Saffron I believe, gets to be set up as a potential recurring character. I think she may actually come back before the show ends, but I can’t remember the details of that return.

Not much to report (apart from being disappointed that the idea of men wearing dresses is still meant to be funny in a future where humanity is spread over a bunch of worlds). One thing I did quite like was the idea of using a spacesuit to make sure a gun had oxygen so it could fire in a vacuum. I liked that.

I can’t think of much to say about this one. Another perfectly fine episode. I guess the most notable thing here is the flashbacks showing Simon and River’s relationship and how it all leads to him being willing to be burned at the stake alongside her. It’s all well and good.

There’s also the part where a job goes bad and Book gets shot and, without their doctor, the crew need to find a way to make him not die. There are hints at Book’s mysterious backstory, but that story is more about what Mal is willing to do for his crew. And he’s willing to do a lot, because it is his crew. He’s a possessive guy, which can make him a prick, but also can make him loyal. Lookit this complicated prick. He’s still a prick, though.

I will note that the episode picks up with the crew finishing a cattle smuggling job they got hired for last time. In my memory that subplot lasted longer, with maybe a whole episode taking place while they were in space with the cows. Maybe it was just the fact I liked that they had cows on the ship that made it stand out as something more in my mind. Because I did like that.