I find this episode difficult to rewatch because of the emotion it stirs up for me. Perhaps it’s just because I have a loved one in a war zone right now, but the idea of people coming back “broken”, not physically but mentally or emotionally, really hit me where I live. I think that final scene is going to be one of the scenes in the Whedonverse through which I sob regardless of how many times I see it. (I started to list a few and realized that there are a LOT.)
I’m always pleased when I find a way to work the line, “My food is problematic,” into conversation.
At the beginning of the episode, when Simon is alone in the dark with Kaylee, I thought, “How can he possibly screw this up?” Yet, he managed; Simon has a genius for saying the wrong thing.
Obviously, the plot is kind of thin, and the dirty cops chasing them call it a day way too easily, but I still like the episode. I like Book’s confrontation with the bad guy, and how his face goes from gentle to hard as nails in a second.
I’m a little confused about the sequence of episodes, though – I assume that the order of episodes in the DVD set is correct, but it almost seems as if this episode makes more sense as the last one. For one thing, Jayne refers to River as a “mind-reading genius”.
You know, I just this very moment got the connection between the confection that River was trying to eat and the, er, planet of ice. Ai ya, hwai leh!
That hadn’t bothered me before, because I’d assumed that Jayne had figured out how Simon knew about his treachery, but maybe not. If Jayne did suspect that, you’d think he’d at least have brought it up with Mal, quick as he is to bitch to Mal about everything else concerning SimonRiver.
And the part where Jayne talks about how short the lives are of people in his line of work, and the way he asks Book if he’d read words over him when he’s gone.
Kind of a reach, but in “Trash,” River has the “I can kill you with my brain” line.
This ep is a mixed bag for me, for the reasons already listed, but it definitely has some highlights. In addition to those previously named, I like the fact that we stop in at a space station, which greatly enlarges my sense of the world. The production design for the marketplace, with its crowds of people and teeming business climate, was very strong, considering this was a show that had to watch its dollars carefully.
Oh, and Wash’s reaction after being grazed by the bullet is absolutely priceless. “Ow!?”
Okay, I just finished watching the episode, and my new take is that there simply wasn’t time to tell Tracy the plan. He had Kaylee with a gun to her head before they could say anything and you know Mal, nothing comes before the life of his crew.
Favorite moments:
Zoe’s pose when she slit that guy’s throat in the flashback. Amazon woman! Go Zoe!
River saying to Simon “You boob.” Man, it’s gotta be tough when your crazy sister is mocking your social skills.
Jayne’s “I’m just sayin’…gold!”
The Hat. I’m tempted to knit myself a Jayne hat come winter. Hehe. There were a couple guys wearing that hat at the Serenity screening last month.
I love the word “corpsified”. I’m working to bring it into general use in the English language.
Kaylee and Simon taking each others’ hands. Awww.
Also, is it my imagination, or is Tracy’s tattoo the same as Mal’s in “Trash”? Not that we get a good look at Mal’s tattoo, but it seems to be the same size and shape.
Zoe rocks, but I would have been happier if she’d stabbed the guy straight in the side of the neck, commando-style; more reliable than trying to cut across the throat. A nitpick.
Is Book in it a lot? I know that he is listed on imdb, but in the trailer that I saw (admittedly only the US version) he doesn’t appear in any of the scenes.
WARNING: info from the movie below (though minor, I think):
I’m not going to say this is definitive, but I got the distinct impression that Book was a former operative (like the one that was chasing them throughout the movie). It fits with all his martial knowledge and abilities and fits with the theme of the movie of needing to believe in something worthwhile (presumably, when Book came to believe in a higher power than the Alliance, he quit being an operative and became a shepard). I know this isn’t iron-clad proof, but Book was certainly more than a soldier (Mal and Zoe were soldiers and couldn’t do half what Book was capable of doing). I won’t say that I couldn’t be wrong, as there’s a LOT of interpretation in this, but it does seem to me to be very likely.
I agree that Book is more than just a Shepherd, for sure, but we can see that just from the TV show, especially “Safe”. Is there anything specific in the movie you’re referring to? Cause now I’m wracking my brains trying to remember every bit.
[spoiler]Sorry, nothing specific. All that I can say is that it “feels” right, with Book refusing to talk about his past and being a superman (the only other person we see in the series and the movie that’s on his level is the operative). And that it fits with the aforementioned theme of needing to believe in something. Book had already gone down the path that the operative in the movie was forced down (he had been an operative for the alliance, but had lost faith in them and developed faith in a higher power/need to atone for what he’d done; the operative in the movie goes through much the same change).
And let’s not even get started on the “Inara is dying” theory. [/spoiler]
