Firefly Syncrowatch: Ep. 14 - Objects in Space

[Watchtower]

Come join us, fellow Browncoats, as we watch episode 14 of Firefly at 8:30pm EST/ 7:30pm Central.

[Mistermoonlight]

Houston, we have launch.

[Mistermoonlight]

Any epsisode that starts out with Simon and Kaylee drunk and flirting, and River being crazy is all right by me.

[AntiArbitrator]

River seems to be causing people to tell the naked truth and they seem unaware of the implications. She also seems to be feeling what Zoe is feeling with Wash. How did the stick turn into a gun?

[Watchtower]

Um... wow. That was an interesting opening scene.

Most likely the stick was the hallucination while in reality, she was holding a gun.

[Mistermoonlight]

I think it's pretty obvious River was hallucinating about the stick, which puts her other observations in question, to me.

[Watchtower]

Same here... I'm not sure, but I think I know what it looks like. I had a similar case study in class.

[Mistermoonlight]

If I hadn't said it before, Summer Glau is a classicly trained ballet dancer, and it shows in many shots in this episode.

And time for a Mandarin lesson:

"Well that's feifei de piyan. " - Jayne refuses to believe in River's marksmanship

[AntiArbitrator]

I was impressed with the way River balanced on the railing. The conversations about her might cause her a great deal of concern. Wonder how she will handle it?

Now I have seen everything - sneaking aboard a ship in outer space. Someone regularly sneaks aboard Serenity.

[Watchtower]

Holy crap, poor Kaylee!

[Mistermoonlight]

Jul 16, 2012 19:57:19 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

I was impressed with the way River balanced on the railing. The conversations about her might cause her a great deal of concern. Wonder how she will handle it?

Now I have seen everything - sneaking aboard a ship in outer space. Someone regularly sneaks aboard Serenity.

You are so right. We've seen that in the past two episodes, haven't we?

Jubal Early is a sociopath, he has no feelings, but he does have some kind of a code, much like Dexter, the serial killer on HBO.

[Watchtower]

Huh, that explains it, a sociopath.

[AntiArbitrator]

Early is very interesting and I think he might have studied too many philosophy books with talk of is it her room if she's not in it. I hated having to discuss that stuff because I always felt like "who cares?". Early is the most scary character I have seen on Serenity. He hears things differently than is being said. That is also strange.

[Mistermoonlight]

How wonderful is it that River is in control of the whole damn ship?

[AntiArbitrator]

I love it! River is the ship and Serenity is unhappy.

[Mistermoonlight]

This is the second time (I think) that we have seen River in control. The first was when we saw her shoot the three guys in a firefight without looking. Remember, Simon once said, 'compared to her I'm an idiot child."

[Watchtower]

Actually River is in the other ship? How...

And what River was saying... awe... I know that feeling... a feeling of being unwanted and it got me a bit teary eyed...

[AntiArbitrator]

I guess River got on his ship the same wa he boarded Serenity? Only 4 minutes to the end and I cannot guess what will happen.

[Mistermoonlight]

And there we go, off into the wild black yonder of the 'verse.' And that's how, thanks to the geniuses at Fox, the series ends.

Don' t you feel like there is so much more to know? We'll get some of those answers in the movie.

[Watchtower]

I think this one was my most favorite episode. It was wonderful.

And yes, it does leave questions to be answered... at least there's the movie.

[Mistermoonlight]

Jul 16, 2012 20:22:42 GMT -5 Watchtower said:

Actually River is in the other ship? How...

And what River was saying... awe... I know that feeling... a feeling of being unwanted and it got me a bit teary eyed...

I think we all know that feeling, Chloe. I am rewatching the episode with Joss Whedon's commentary. Joss's idea was that he wanted to do an episode where River became a member of the crew.

[AntiArbitrator]

It leaves many questions to be answered, like why did Early say "That's no Shepherd."? How did Early obtain his skills?

Why did Jayne hear the ruckus and not help? I understand why he lied about being disappointed in not seeing any action.

Why was I willing to suspend disbelief and accept River as incorporeally controlling the ship?

This was one of the most interesting episodes I have seen. It gave me chills and anxiety and wonder. It showed the crew is not infallible, but they, like Kaylee, draw courage and strength from each other.

There was so much excitement. Early did not seem overly concerned about being an "object in space". I'm going to watch it again.

[Mistermoonlight]

From what I can tell, according to Joss, Early's beliefs are about Existentialism, not my favorite area of philosophy, but it does explain a lot about the idea of 'objects in space.'

[AntiArbitrator]

Yes, that explains Early's seemingly random chatter. He did a remarkable job.

Favorites
Shepard: Some orders allow Shepherds to marry, but I follow a narrower path.
Jayne: But I mean you still got the urge; they don’t cut it off or nothing?
Shepard: No, I’m more or less intact.

River: She understands. She doesn’t comprehend.
Mal: Thanks for making that distinction.

Jayne: Anyone remember her coming at me with a butcher’s knife?
Wash: Wacky fun.
Jayne: You wanna have a go at me, little man?
Wash: Only if it’s someplace with candlelight.

Jayne: I don’t like the idea of anyone hearing what I’m thinking.
Inara: No one likes the idea of hearing your thoughts.

Jayne: She’s a witch?
Wash: Yes, Jayne, she’s a witch. She’s had congress with the Beast.
Jayne: She’s in Congress?
(Zoe was laughing but I’m not sure the laughter was scripted.)

Simon: I can’t keep track of her when she’s not incorporeally in control of the ship.

Jubal Early’s mannerisms, fighting skills and philosophical chatter. Early’s recurring question “Does that seem right to you?”

Bonus: Simon bare from the waist up.

[Mistermoonlight]

According to Joss, by the end of this episode River is fully accepted as a member of the crew, as seen by her playing a game of jacks with Kaylee. I have a feeling that's another existentialist thing, but I'm not gonna delve too deeply.

[AntiArbitrator]

Well, you might be right. When it was River's turn, she studied the ball very intently for a very long time.

[Mistermoonlight]

And did you notice, the ball looked like a planet.

[Watchtower]

I didn't notice that, just saw the scene again. Wow.

[AntiArbitrator]

Me too. I jut got to the end again and that's when I noticed it looked like a planet. There was so much to this episode that I am glad we watched it again.

[Mistermoonlight]

Interesting things about this epsode:

• The bounty hunter, Jubal Early, was named after a confederate general who attempted (and failed) to invade Washington, D.C. in 1864. Joss Whedon named the character as such after hearing that Nathan Fillion is related to the general, who died in 1894. Jubal Early is also the name of a ferry between the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Potomac River.
  
  
• The inspiration for this episode came from Tim Minear, who gave Whedon the idea by merely mentioning Boba Fett. Whedon expanded upon the suggestion and extrapolated it into the villain of this episode, the "preternaturally cool, nearly psychotic bounty hunter"
  
  
• Whedon has said that if he were forced to pick one piece of work to represent his body of work, he would pick this episode.
  
  
• The episode as originally aired featured an alternate version of Mal and Inara's conversation about Inara's impending departure. In this version, Inara complains about not being able to find decent clientele and threatens to leave the ship. Mal says "no one's forcing you to stay". The intended version of the scene has entirely different dialogue and makes reference to the fact that Inara had already made the decision to leave in "Heart of Gold". The alternate version was aired for the original broadcast because "Heart of Gold" had not been aired yet,
  

Great quotes:

Jayne: "And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eatin' steak."

Jayne Cobb: "Wha - are you-are you sayin' she's a witch?"
Hoban 'Wash' Washburne: "Yes, Jayne. She's a witch. She has had congress with the Beast."
Jayne Cobb: "She's in Congress? "
Hoban 'Wash' Washburne: "How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious."

Dr. Simon Tam: 'Come on out, River. The nice man wants to kidnap you."
Jubal Early: "Shhh."

Jubal Early: "Your sister's becoming a real annoyance."
Simon: "I feel for you." (I just love understated lines like that. They're so character-exclusive.)

Kaylee: "Don't let the space bugs bite!"