I ignored the advisory at the beginning and watched it anyway.
Some rough stuff, but this was the best of all the Fireflys I’ve seen (I missed a couple—please, please tell me there will be second-runs!).
Best. Episode. Ever.
Some possibly helpful Chinese translations of the racier stuff follows. These are off the top of my head, so probably not comprehensive. Yes, they are speaking Mandarin, but with Western accents (i.e. nonexistent intonation). Here’s how I might spell them phonetically.
from 12/6 episode:
pee goo = butt
nyoh seh = cow dung
zow gow = trouble
from earlier episode:
go seh = dog doo
Damn good episode. And it’s so nice to see a homosexual relationship portrayed non-judgementally. There’s too much heteronormativity on TV (even if Inara’s visit from the Counselor was a desperate ratings grab 
).
I like that Mal keeps making smart alec remarks, even when he’s being tortured. It implies that this is the “real” him, that Niska was trying to meet. He’s a wiseass on the inside, just as he is on the outside.
And nice to see a little friction between Zoe and Wash. The path of true love never did run smooth (or however that goes), and it’s undertstandable that Wash got pissy about his wife having such a close relationship with Mal. Also nice to see Wash get developed a little more.
Sam Stone - you make a really interesting point about River possibly being a weapon prototype. It hadn’t occurred to me, but it’s a cool idea. I guess they haven’t quite perfected it yet, though, since a Super Soldier who bursts into tears and has screaming fits at odd moments isn’t going to be so great in battle (though she did a pretty good job helping Kaylee out).
Right. That’s all I have to say for now. Damn, I wish Fox would advertize this show a little. Grr.
Sorry not happening. From www.tvguide.com
Question: The fact that Fox has already picked up John Doe while Firefly waits for a final decision has me thinking about whether it could flourish on a channel like Sci Fi if Fox canceled it. Unlike Angel, which is nearing the magic 100 episodes for syndication, Firefly could continue to air new episodes on Sci Fi. Gaining a Joss Whedon show would boost ratings, too, I would think. I’m curious as to your thoughts, since it seems like you’re someone who’d also like to see the unique concept continue somewhere in prime time. — Betsy M.
Matt: I think it’s about time we face the fact that as unusual (and to some, as enjoyable) as Firefly is, it’s probably not going to make it. Pulling it from the lineup in January is the first step in what’s almost certainly going to be a death notice. Fox isn’t taking the midseason opportunity to move it to a more visible night. Instead, it’s turning over Ally McBeal’s time period to another cheesy relationship show that’s bound to attract a lot of headlines — with lemmings (er, viewers) sure to follow. And Firefly is almost certainly too expensive a production for Sci Fi to even entertain assuming control. (Same goes for launching it into first-run syndication, as some have suggested as well.)
I said “hope”, Silly.
I just mention it in a general informational sense, as many people had discussed the point. I hope it would to. But after how Sci-Fi handled Sliders and the royal screwing it gave Farscape, Sci-Fi is not the answer.
Crap. I really like the show. Damn you Fox. 
BTW- I also thought it was a Russian accent (ala the KGB torture expert angle). But that was just my impression.
Also- the ending was a bit A-teamish in that the enemy guards got really bad really fast. Still, it was not as bad as another unnamed series in this regard. 
Yeah, I was also thinking that Niska’s accent was Russian… Or possible Polish?
But, then, those countries don’t exist anymore, in Fireflyland, so maybe it’s a moot point. Or maybe not, I dunno.
FYI: at one point Niska turned to his torture lackey to say something private, and the closed captions read “[speaking in Czech].”
Let me add my appreciation for the Niska/Zoe “Ah, now you must choose --” “I choose him!” part. That surprised me and left me impressed. I also thought the moment at the end when Mal and Zoe awkwardly pretended to try to kiss each other was really sweet – aww, they were teasing Wash (whom I grew to like dearly during this episode).
How could I have forgotten? It began to really fellate when whats-his-name was spilt or fused or whatever. That was the actor, was it not, not the PTBs?
Gallows: thanks for the Czech.
Man, this is one great show. And execs who bitch about getting a 2.4 on a Friday night during December are smoking too much crack.
Of course, they being TV execs, they’re probably smoking too much crack anyway, but that’s beside the point.
Firefly is like Sports Night-- expect it to get the ‘best show you’re not watching’ award in the near future.
As for Zoe, I don’t think she’s was trained as a soldier. She has displayed telepathic/precognitive abilities, and I think that’s all she needed to know where these soldiers were. She didn’t need to turn her head (but it’s more impressive that way…).
Zoe?
I think he is speaking of River.
Must mean River… To confuse things further, Zoe is trained as a soldier.
Oh, I just remembered: How gross was the ear-chopping thing? Ugh. But it was cool that Zoe just calmly tucked it in her vest and walked out. I don’t think I’d want to walk around carrying a severed ear. That’s a bit yucky.
Yeah, that Bobbit lady threw it out of the car.
Well, she threw something out of a car, though I was under the impression that it wasn’t an ear.
Hmm. We seem to have wandered from the point.
Blue hand or Blue Sun? Anyone noticed those?
In “Shindig” (I think it was) River is pulling the labels off of some cans and doing her usual babbling. The labels all say “Blue Sun”. Then, in “Ariel”, Jayne is wearing a shirt that says “Blue Sun” when she slashes him with the knife. I think there was also a “Blue Sun” ad on the videophone he uses to call the feds in on them at the hospital.
Blue sun… hands of blue… something going on here?
(I don’t know if this ties in, but some things I have seen say that the end of the Mayan calender (2012) is marked by the appearance of a blue sun. Just a passing observation.)
Sorry.
I thought the ear was cool.
So, what happened to the tractor/four wheeler/thingie that they set on fire and ran into the station entrance?
sh*t, I mean River. Sorry.
The 4-wheel ATV (which they called the mule) blew up the door to the station…
Damn tanstaafl, that’s mighty observant of you.
Of course, River may have “seen” that Jayne was likely to betray her…
Oops. Don’t want to claim credit that isn’t mine. A friend of mine pointed it out to me and apparently he got it from a Buffy board somewhere so its apparently information that’s drifting about but not widely known (yet). Apparenly “Blue Sun” is something significant in the overall plot that is only hinted at so far.
Here’s a pic of Jayne in his Blue Sun shirt, btw… http://www.sadgeezer.com/firefly/episodes/episode1-02-images/Pdvd_050.jpg
It’s a soft drink.