Firefly - Episode 6: 'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Recap: After a wild night of partying to celebrate a rescuing a village on a backwater planet, Mal discovers that he has a stowaway who claims to be his wife. Saffron is a shrinking violet who only wants to please her husband - except for the whole actually-a-honey-trap-who-seduces-everyone-and-sells-out-their-ship part. The crew barely escapes their ship being scrapped with no survivros, and Mal gets a final word in on Saffron but spares her life.
I'm sensing a turning point.
Actually, I don't know where the turning point would have been. I didn't see signs of the series improving here; I saw a completely different series. 'Our Mrs. Reynolds' is easily the best episode since the pilot and probably better than that.
The characterization hasn't changed, but it's being leveraged better. Mal is still an overbearing bastard, but take his interactions with the pastor (who's completely healed) - rather than making unprovoked YOUR GOD SUCKS DON'T TALK ABOUT IT comments, he's worried because he thinks he might actually go to that 'special Hell.' He's a total jerk (as you'd expect) to Saffron at first, but literally everyone calls him on it, indicating a shift away from the show's Mal-centric morality.
Zoe in the past has been the Cool Woman Who Can Hang With The Boys because she's good at violence and enjoys sex with her husband. Lately, she's been smiling and laughing more; it's great to see her teasing Mal. But then for the first time perhaps, her femininity is threatened by Saffron's subservient cooking for Mal. I don't like that she defines herself based on refusing to cook - and I don't like men who do that either - but the pride she takes in Wash's turnaway is awesome.
I really haven't enjoyed Inara as a character prior to this episode and thought that her scenes with Mal were the worst part of the show. But this episode finally made me enjoy both her and her interactions with Mal. For a change, Mal knocks on the door before entering, and Inara denies him permission to enter. Naturally, Mal enters anyway, and notes, 'This is why I usually don't ask,' while Inara rolls her eyes.
It's infinitely more palatable than Mal's prior invasions, and I think it's worth examining why: The direction, the acting, and the writing influence the tenor of this scene - there's that level of sibling-ish, bratty familiarity in the way that Mal acknowledges that he's doing something against Inara's will, and the eye-roll/sigh indicates more exasperation than anger. (It also helps that Inara's tsundere-ness toward Mal is more clearly established prior to this instance in the episode.)
This time, no mention is made about the power dynamic - no mention of the fact that Mal rents this ship out to Inara, or that Inara should be able to kick Mal out. In fact, she actually does kick him out, and he seems to understand that he deserved it. The lack of that imbalanced power dynamic definitely improves the way the relationship reads. Oh, and in the episode's final interaction, Mal knocks, and Inara says, 'Come in!'
Oh, and it helps a lot that Inara is hilarious later on, too. What's this? Firefly taking Inara less than deadly serious?! Like Jayne in 'Train Job' with the paralysis, she carries the end of the episode after collapsing from the poison on Mal's lips. She bumbles around and tries so hard to look inconspicuous lying in the chair, and instead of being presented as oh-so-sagely, she's extremely focused on making sure people don't know she kissed Mal. I've never seen the overly specific denial in real life, but it never fails to crack me up on TV. And then that tease at the end, where Mal realizes that it was poison... but thinks that there was hot girl-on-girl action. So good.
And how about Saffron as a character, man. I'm glad they don't take her too seriously, either - because as Mal points out very plainly, she chooses an incredibly inefficient way to scrap one hunk-of-junk spaceship, and she fails at killing people even when she seems amoral. Her response, of course, is that it's not about the outcome. She enjoys that process. It's the only thing that makes sense, and it makes her instantly much more enjoyable, too. You also gotta love the way that it took me a while to realize it was Christina Hendricks because of the relatively loose, flowing clothing that Saffron wears to start the episode... because they're saving her body for when it counts.
For my money, I was rolling my eyes at the best moment of foreshadowing, not realizing that it was just a lie for seduction: Saffron's story becomes super-sketchy when she claims that she's not pleasant to look upon. It's really hard to believe that, but okay, maybe she really thinks that. (More realistically, it's clearly playing upon the fantasy of being the only one who can appreciate the beauty/goodness/whatever of a seemingly perfect member of the opposite sex.) But then she complains about how her sister had to marry an ugly man, and you realize that something smells. Awesome in retrospect, like a minute later! Also better in retrospect: Saffron telling Mal that he's a good man.
Saffron's most direct seduction scenes are really fun. Already been through Mal's - Saffron pretty accurately identifies him as someone who desperately wants to be the 'hero.' But her read on Wash is way off. He does get flustered, and he's smitten and faithful to Zoe, so it's possible that he'd never cheat on her anyway - but assuming that Zoe doesn't respect him is a huge mistake and costs her. And then we move to Inara, where she tries some sisterly bonding and admiration. Inara says that Saffron was clearly trained, which implies that Inara's only able to resist because she recognizes that she's being seduced. So two outta three ain't bad!
Okay, let's just dive into the obscenely long 'hilarious moments' section.
---
* Mal's not real good at first with the self-deprecating Saffron, but he does get the great line, 'Don't you ever stand for that kind of thing! Anyone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back!'
* That dinner scene with Wash and Zoe. 'I would appreciate it if one person this boat would not assume that I'm an evil, lecherous hump.' / 'No one's saying that, sir.' / 'Yeah, we're pretty much just giving each other significant glances and laughing incessantly!'
* At the end of that scene, Mal attempts to storm out on his tormentors. But before he manages to get out of the room, Saffron stops him. 'If you're done with supper,' she begins demurely, and Mal turns around. 'Would you like me... to wash your feet?' A blank stare, then a turnaround ahd a walkout. INCREDIBLE.
* 'I swell to think of you inside me... and I see that you do too.'
* Jayne's encounter with Mal. 'I'm not looking to get in a fight here,' Mal says as he leaves Inara's room. He walks right into Jayne with the giant gun pointed at his face, claiming that he never gets taken seriously, and attempting to trade woman for gun. Mal stares at him. 'Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.' And the only sensible thing to tell Jayne to do: 'Jayne... go play with your rainstick.'
* Saffron's not too crazy about Jayne, either. 'I don't wish to be wed to the large man.'
* 'You were poisoned.' / 'I was drugged.' / 'That's why I never kiss them on the mouth.' The matter-of-fact way that Jayne delivers that is SO GOOD.
* Okay EVERYBODY NOT TALKING ABOUT SEX, IN HERE. Everybody else, out!
* Final, incredible Jayne moment - the crew discusses the plan to survive the weird electromagnetic ring. 'See those six brightest points? Those are the breakers. Hit one of those, you should short it out.' The camera pans to Jayne, who dramatically replies, 'What do you mean, short?' - This is one of the great Whedon tricks. The finale of Angel Season 4 has exactly such a moment in its cold open and it's SPECTACULAR.
I'm sensing a turning point.
Actually, I don't know where the turning point would have been. I didn't see signs of the series improving here; I saw a completely different series. 'Our Mrs. Reynolds' is easily the best episode since the pilot and probably better than that.
The characterization hasn't changed, but it's being leveraged better. Mal is still an overbearing bastard, but take his interactions with the pastor (who's completely healed) - rather than making unprovoked YOUR GOD SUCKS DON'T TALK ABOUT IT comments, he's worried because he thinks he might actually go to that 'special Hell.' He's a total jerk (as you'd expect) to Saffron at first, but literally everyone calls him on it, indicating a shift away from the show's Mal-centric morality.
Zoe in the past has been the Cool Woman Who Can Hang With The Boys because she's good at violence and enjoys sex with her husband. Lately, she's been smiling and laughing more; it's great to see her teasing Mal. But then for the first time perhaps, her femininity is threatened by Saffron's subservient cooking for Mal. I don't like that she defines herself based on refusing to cook - and I don't like men who do that either - but the pride she takes in Wash's turnaway is awesome.
I really haven't enjoyed Inara as a character prior to this episode and thought that her scenes with Mal were the worst part of the show. But this episode finally made me enjoy both her and her interactions with Mal. For a change, Mal knocks on the door before entering, and Inara denies him permission to enter. Naturally, Mal enters anyway, and notes, 'This is why I usually don't ask,' while Inara rolls her eyes.
It's infinitely more palatable than Mal's prior invasions, and I think it's worth examining why: The direction, the acting, and the writing influence the tenor of this scene - there's that level of sibling-ish, bratty familiarity in the way that Mal acknowledges that he's doing something against Inara's will, and the eye-roll/sigh indicates more exasperation than anger. (It also helps that Inara's tsundere-ness toward Mal is more clearly established prior to this instance in the episode.)
This time, no mention is made about the power dynamic - no mention of the fact that Mal rents this ship out to Inara, or that Inara should be able to kick Mal out. In fact, she actually does kick him out, and he seems to understand that he deserved it. The lack of that imbalanced power dynamic definitely improves the way the relationship reads. Oh, and in the episode's final interaction, Mal knocks, and Inara says, 'Come in!'
Oh, and it helps a lot that Inara is hilarious later on, too. What's this? Firefly taking Inara less than deadly serious?! Like Jayne in 'Train Job' with the paralysis, she carries the end of the episode after collapsing from the poison on Mal's lips. She bumbles around and tries so hard to look inconspicuous lying in the chair, and instead of being presented as oh-so-sagely, she's extremely focused on making sure people don't know she kissed Mal. I've never seen the overly specific denial in real life, but it never fails to crack me up on TV. And then that tease at the end, where Mal realizes that it was poison... but thinks that there was hot girl-on-girl action. So good.
And how about Saffron as a character, man. I'm glad they don't take her too seriously, either - because as Mal points out very plainly, she chooses an incredibly inefficient way to scrap one hunk-of-junk spaceship, and she fails at killing people even when she seems amoral. Her response, of course, is that it's not about the outcome. She enjoys that process. It's the only thing that makes sense, and it makes her instantly much more enjoyable, too. You also gotta love the way that it took me a while to realize it was Christina Hendricks because of the relatively loose, flowing clothing that Saffron wears to start the episode... because they're saving her body for when it counts.
For my money, I was rolling my eyes at the best moment of foreshadowing, not realizing that it was just a lie for seduction: Saffron's story becomes super-sketchy when she claims that she's not pleasant to look upon. It's really hard to believe that, but okay, maybe she really thinks that. (More realistically, it's clearly playing upon the fantasy of being the only one who can appreciate the beauty/goodness/whatever of a seemingly perfect member of the opposite sex.) But then she complains about how her sister had to marry an ugly man, and you realize that something smells. Awesome in retrospect, like a minute later! Also better in retrospect: Saffron telling Mal that he's a good man.
Saffron's most direct seduction scenes are really fun. Already been through Mal's - Saffron pretty accurately identifies him as someone who desperately wants to be the 'hero.' But her read on Wash is way off. He does get flustered, and he's smitten and faithful to Zoe, so it's possible that he'd never cheat on her anyway - but assuming that Zoe doesn't respect him is a huge mistake and costs her. And then we move to Inara, where she tries some sisterly bonding and admiration. Inara says that Saffron was clearly trained, which implies that Inara's only able to resist because she recognizes that she's being seduced. So two outta three ain't bad!
Okay, let's just dive into the obscenely long 'hilarious moments' section.
---
* Mal's not real good at first with the self-deprecating Saffron, but he does get the great line, 'Don't you ever stand for that kind of thing! Anyone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back!'
* That dinner scene with Wash and Zoe. 'I would appreciate it if one person this boat would not assume that I'm an evil, lecherous hump.' / 'No one's saying that, sir.' / 'Yeah, we're pretty much just giving each other significant glances and laughing incessantly!'
* At the end of that scene, Mal attempts to storm out on his tormentors. But before he manages to get out of the room, Saffron stops him. 'If you're done with supper,' she begins demurely, and Mal turns around. 'Would you like me... to wash your feet?' A blank stare, then a turnaround ahd a walkout. INCREDIBLE.
* 'I swell to think of you inside me... and I see that you do too.'
* Jayne's encounter with Mal. 'I'm not looking to get in a fight here,' Mal says as he leaves Inara's room. He walks right into Jayne with the giant gun pointed at his face, claiming that he never gets taken seriously, and attempting to trade woman for gun. Mal stares at him. 'Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.' And the only sensible thing to tell Jayne to do: 'Jayne... go play with your rainstick.'
* Saffron's not too crazy about Jayne, either. 'I don't wish to be wed to the large man.'
* 'You were poisoned.' / 'I was drugged.' / 'That's why I never kiss them on the mouth.' The matter-of-fact way that Jayne delivers that is SO GOOD.
* Okay EVERYBODY NOT TALKING ABOUT SEX, IN HERE. Everybody else, out!
* Final, incredible Jayne moment - the crew discusses the plan to survive the weird electromagnetic ring. 'See those six brightest points? Those are the breakers. Hit one of those, you should short it out.' The camera pans to Jayne, who dramatically replies, 'What do you mean, short?' - This is one of the great Whedon tricks. The finale of Angel Season 4 has exactly such a moment in its cold open and it's SPECTACULAR.
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