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Firefly
Episode 1.07, "Safe"
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Michael Grossman
Air Date: 11.08.02
Ultra Magnus: I think I've come to a realization. Now I'm not entirely sure if it's indicative of my predispositions towards certain storylines or settings (possibly) or rather a trend in the show itself. (likely?) In any case, this is the way I see it, and well, I'm the guy typing right now. To date, Firefly has aired seven episodes. I've enjoyed exactly three of them quite a bit. The other four, however, not so much. Curiously enough, the three I would personally deem as "good" were the three that primarily took place in space aboard Serenity - "Bushwhacked", "Our Mrs. Reynolds", and "Out of Gas". The other four were mostly planetside episodes. And quite frankly, they've bored the hell out of me.
"Safe" starts off with a nice little bit of continuity as it takes place just days after "Shindig". Our heroes - or whatever they are - are set to deliver their illegal cargo (a herd of bovines) to the buyers. Now I could tediously describe the non-events of this episode, but here's the short of it - once on the planet, law men break up the black market negotiations and start shooting. Shepherd gets critically injured. Meanwhile, Simon and River have gone off on their own (are they idiots? Don't they know something awful will happen to them end by first act's end?) Needless to say, they get kidnapped. Some locals figured they could use a doctor around town so why not just take one. Meanwhile, Mal and Serenity have just left them behind to go find adequate medical attention for Shepherd. Although initially dismissive to the idea, Mal takes Inara's advice and goes to an Alliance transport for help. At first they say no, but wouldn't you know it - turns out Shep's get a secret or two. At the very least, an I.D. card that gets him first class treatment by the Alliance. So this is our second hint so far this season that Shephard's lived an interesting life. And someday, we may just learn some of those details. In the meantime, however, River's about to be barbequed at the stake for her witch-like tendencies - the mind reading and what not. Simon is obviously distraught and frustrated with the morons, to the point where he's willing to be burnt alive himself just to make a statement. So in the end, Mal and Co. come back for the heroic rescue in the nick of time - but unfortunately, only to find their smoldering corpses.
Oh wait - no... that's not actually what happened. My bad. No, Mal & Co. are in fact on time and they save them. Now tell me, wouldn't my smoldering corpse ending have been more poignant? Ah well...
Okay, so then - that about covers the events. And if you read my commentary on "Shindig", you're probably about to experience a little déjà vu. While once again not bad, was this actually interesting? Here's another theory I've been tossing around. Ever since Farscape got cancelled, maybe I'm just a bitter guy that hates everything. But then again, I've really enjoyed those other three episodes, so no - this was just boring. And witch burning? I don't know. While I suppose it's certainly possible, it just frustrates me to no end to think that people would ever belief in that crap ever again. So much for advancement of the species, huh?
So what was my point? Oh right - Firefly in space, good. On a planet, bad.
I will end this week's commentary with a positive note, though. Check out this article from the official website. For those not familiar with the actual process of television writing, it's a really interesting explanation by Jane Espenson, who wrote "Shindig", as well as being a staff writer for Buffy.
- UM's score: 5 out of 10.
Hollyfeld: I find myself in the somewhat annoying position of agreeing more or less wholeheartedly with UM's stance on Firefly, while at the same time just liking it a bit more than he does.
But for the moment, let's look at your main gripe - "Firefly in space, good. On a planet, bad." So far, at least, that's historically accurate. But I think I know why that is. Whenever Serenity goes into drydock (well, "dock," anyway), the planet is always completely different in style and tone. We've had old-fashioned Western communities, Victorian melodramatic ones, and Deliverance meets The Crucible type towns. In space, it's hard to change tones. Every space episode involves characters being forced to interact with each other, regardless of thematic content, with technology, deceit or overall piracy as the theme. Whenever we're off the ship, Firefly is just downright schizophrenic. My theory is that Whedon & Company finally got a bit too smart for their own good. They figure that each planet, and social circles on those planets, would have different customs, etc. (The notion that some planets are high-techer than others is the simplest version of this.) At the same time, however, it makes the Firefly galaxy harder to get a grasp of. I say just pick one: Colonialism, Westerns, Costume Dramas, whatever, but stay consistent for a while before you fuck with your audience, which is desperately trying to get the feel of a show that is being shown out of order, and without a freaking pilot (and no, I will never stop harping on about that... Fox is treating Firefly miserably).
So yeah, that and my previously recorded criticism that episodes almost always lack a satisfactory conclusion are my main problems with Firefly. But damn it, I still like the thing. There was a lot to like in "Safe." The plot was a little simple, sure, but there were some wonderful character moments. Simon gets himself kidnapped, but kidnapped to be a doctor, so he just gets to work. This was a great way to establish how he identifies himself - he's not a guy who just happens to be a doctor. He's a doctor, and in many respects that dictates how he lives. The flashbacks in this episode, excellently done and providing some great backstory for both him and River, detail quite simply the conflict he faces today. He gave up his life's calling, or at least success therein, to focus on the other thing that defines him: his love for his sister. And does anyone else suspect that his Mother and Father weren't just naïve, but that they freely handed River over to the Academy on purpose? There's more going on there - I hope we get to see it.
Jayne also continues to amuse, and regardless of how other characters are handled on the show (I'll get to that in a moment), they never fail to let Jayne behave exactly how he should. The second he thinks Simon and River aren't coming back, he steals their stuff, and makes fun of them too. He's an asshole, basically, and it's to Firefly's credit that they aren't afraid to show it.
Mal, on the other hand, they seem to be scared of. In fits and starts, Mal acts like a total badass: kicking bad guys into jet intakes, stabbing a guy because it's funny, and here, abandoning Simon and River to their kidnappers and chalking it up to acceptable losses. But then he'll turn around and pussyfoot around his decisions. He says they'll take any job, "don't much care what it is," but then returns stolen goods. And here, he comes back for his crewmen after freely abandoning them. Perhaps had he noted as Serenity left the planet that they were going to find help for the Doctor and then come back to see if the two were all right, I would have bought it. But Mal suddenly decides to call them members of the crew? You need to set that up before making it a plot twist, and damn it, in this episode they didn't do that. The writers of Firefly seem to be treating Mal as a basically good guy who has to struggle to be badass, enjoying it whilst in the moment, and feeling bad about it later. Thus far, it's not working very well, and he just comes across as indecisive. At the risk of offering a suggestion to individuals with at least a little more experience than I, I think skewing Mal in the opposite direction would be more dramatic - a generally amoral (or at least unethical) guy who finds himself surprised by occasional bursts of sympathy.
I also cannot help but feel sorry for the individual, I don't know her name, sorry, who played the thankless role of the teacher in this film. It's hard to play a character who seems to be fundamentally stupid. When Simon criticizes her community for kidnapping, she says that he was meant to be there and that he should accept it as his fate. It's one thing to be a fatalist... it's another thing entirely to preach it to someone whom you yourself have forced into an unpleasant situation. On top of all this, she had to play the quintessential Butterfly McQueen "Mammy" role, which must be trying for any African-American actor (but hey, it's work - I know from experience that in the acting world, work is work). She did have what was, for me, the episode's most amusing scene. Paraphrasing: "She talked to you? It's a MIRACLE!" "Wait a minute, she may not have talked to you? YOU'RE A WITCH!!! BURN IN HELL, DAMN IT!!! IT'S THE LORD'S WILL!!!" And that's always funny. Mal's speech to the mob at the end also amused me greatly, stating very accurately that God's wrath is nothing compared to Jayne's right now, since he's not happy about taking Simon and River back and probably is just in a shooting mood.
I find myself easily swayed by amusing moments and character development in television shows, and consider them far more important to the show as a whole than the individual plot of any given episode. So, I liked this episode more than Ultra Magnus. At the same time, however, Firefly needs to get its act together with the week-to-week storytelling - they've created what seems to be a fascinating universe, but thus far haven't really sold it very well.
That said...
Hollyfeld's score: 7 out of 10.
HF's score - 7 out of 10. UM's score - 5 out of 10.
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