Firefly - Episode 8: 'Out of Gas'
Recap: A component in Serenity's engine has blown, eliminating life support. Mal sends off the help flare, evacuates his crew and plans to go down with his ship. The flare brings substandard help, but Mal is nonetheless able to repair Serenity and is saved by his crew. Flashbacks show us how the crew is recruited.
Visually, the most striking episodes of the series thus far. I'm reminded vaguely of Buffy's 'The Body,' another episode with dramatic cuts and uncompromisingly visuals.
We open on Serenity's halls and rooms, unoccupied. Now, Serenity is a full-sized spaceship, and the crew numbers in the single digits, but because of the way the show has been filmed thus far, it's jarring to see them so empty and dead. The bluish-grey light contributes to this eerie, haunted feel, as Mal falls to the floor.
I'm describing this scene in such detail because the most powerful technique that the creators use in this episode is striking contrast. From Mal's disadvantage point on the floor, the icy blue fades into the orange we're more familiar with for the - and tinted even with sepia. We alternate between real flashback - the recruitment of Zoe - and the events that directly led up to Serenity's current predicament. The most jarring cut is the one to the dinner hall. The crew is often jolly, but this time there's an extra edge to the laughing - an almost unnatural comfort that might feel over the top in another episode, as the Shepherd concludes his tale. It goes on for a few minutes before, of course, coming to a crunching stop with the engine explosion. The moving fireball is a thrilling visual.
There's not a ton of fear of losing characters this episode (Zoe being hospitalized feels more like a running joke than a threat), but the tragedy is very real nonetheless. And maybe that's because of the finale/death tropes it pulls out. I'm generally a hater of 'X days earlier' in media res in TV episodes, but this episode somehow manages it without being insulting. We're confused how Mal has ended up where he is, but those questions are actually answered within the first set of flashbacks. Because of the way the episode alternates between three timelines, we're simultaneously engaged in the kindling relationships between Serenity's crew, the human cycle of grief as they try to cope with death and escape, and in Mal's animalistic struggle to keep Serenity alive. Interspersing flashbacks is a classic finale technique - see the finales of Lost Season 5 or Buffy Season 2 - and it makes you feel like the stakes have been raised.
My ranking of the scenes/subplots of this delightful episode, ranked:
14. Mal and Inara meet for the first time
This scene basically features all the stuff I don't like about Mal/Inara's relationship, full of the promises Mal makes to Inara that he basically doesn't keep. Not a fan.
13. Mal and Inara say goodbye, for now
Played without any of the enjoyable levity from Saffron's episode.
12. Mal is not quite rescued
It's kind of crushing and predictable (as we know that Mal winds up bleeding on the floor and alone), and it feels like 'just a convenient obstacle' - Mal gets his piece, and somehow, bleeding, he's able to hold off five armed people who were just trying to kill him. Could probably have been a little better thought out.
11. Mal is pitched one ship, but a Firefly catches his eye instead
A really nice finisher; the pitch from the salesman is overheard at the beginning of the episode, but it's actually for a different ship. A nice litlte 'twist' - Mal is theo ne who picked out Serenity from the beginning.
10. Mal is rescued
Just really sweet.
9. Mal fixes the engine
HELL YEAH MAL.
8. The dual adrenaline shots (Zoe in the 'how we got here'; Mal in the 'present')
Never going to see an adrenaline shot without thinking of Pulp Fiction. Love the way this one is cut.
7. Mal meets Kaylee (while she's banging his mechanic)
I suppose the foreshadowing was there that Kaylee didn't really mind getting frisky when she told Simon that she didn't care for 'propriety.' She's typically sweet and adorable, but I don't really buy that she 'just knows' literally everything about ships without training. It feels contrived and undermines an otherwise awesome/hilarious scene.
6. The initial establishing shot of the episode
5. Mal and Zoe step aboard Serenity
4. Dinner, interrupted
Went through these, but they really set the contrasting tone early on, along with the spectacular visual style.
3. Mal and Zoe interview Wash
Wash has a GOAT porn stache here. Zoe's skeptical of Wash, and Mal notes that Wash is reputedly a 'genius' - and suddenly, the surfer dude mechanic appears, delighted - no one's ever called him that before! Mal gives Zoe the dead fish eyes. Zoe shifts uncomfortably on Wash: 'He just bothers me.'
2. Mal and Wash fight
Jayne is the 'manly man' of the group and the most openly hostile toward his captain, but it's Wash's devotion to his wife that results in the most open mutiny. Mal imposes his will (as he needs to, being captain). Later, the conflict and passive-aggressiveness extends to the cockpit, where the two yell at one another until Wash realizes, without changing his argumentative tone of voice, that Mal actually does have a point. One of the cooler parts here: Jayne of all people ridiculing them. 'What do you two think you're doin', fightin' at a time like this?!'
1. Mal and Zoe meet Jayne
Sometimes you save the best for last. 'Do we look reasonable to you?' hisses Jayne's boss. Mal demurs: 'Well, looks can be deceiving.' Jayne in full-Jayne here.
Visually, the most striking episodes of the series thus far. I'm reminded vaguely of Buffy's 'The Body,' another episode with dramatic cuts and uncompromisingly visuals.
We open on Serenity's halls and rooms, unoccupied. Now, Serenity is a full-sized spaceship, and the crew numbers in the single digits, but because of the way the show has been filmed thus far, it's jarring to see them so empty and dead. The bluish-grey light contributes to this eerie, haunted feel, as Mal falls to the floor.
I'm describing this scene in such detail because the most powerful technique that the creators use in this episode is striking contrast. From Mal's disadvantage point on the floor, the icy blue fades into the orange we're more familiar with for the - and tinted even with sepia. We alternate between real flashback - the recruitment of Zoe - and the events that directly led up to Serenity's current predicament. The most jarring cut is the one to the dinner hall. The crew is often jolly, but this time there's an extra edge to the laughing - an almost unnatural comfort that might feel over the top in another episode, as the Shepherd concludes his tale. It goes on for a few minutes before, of course, coming to a crunching stop with the engine explosion. The moving fireball is a thrilling visual.
There's not a ton of fear of losing characters this episode (Zoe being hospitalized feels more like a running joke than a threat), but the tragedy is very real nonetheless. And maybe that's because of the finale/death tropes it pulls out. I'm generally a hater of 'X days earlier' in media res in TV episodes, but this episode somehow manages it without being insulting. We're confused how Mal has ended up where he is, but those questions are actually answered within the first set of flashbacks. Because of the way the episode alternates between three timelines, we're simultaneously engaged in the kindling relationships between Serenity's crew, the human cycle of grief as they try to cope with death and escape, and in Mal's animalistic struggle to keep Serenity alive. Interspersing flashbacks is a classic finale technique - see the finales of Lost Season 5 or Buffy Season 2 - and it makes you feel like the stakes have been raised.
My ranking of the scenes/subplots of this delightful episode, ranked:
14. Mal and Inara meet for the first time
This scene basically features all the stuff I don't like about Mal/Inara's relationship, full of the promises Mal makes to Inara that he basically doesn't keep. Not a fan.
13. Mal and Inara say goodbye, for now
Played without any of the enjoyable levity from Saffron's episode.
12. Mal is not quite rescued
It's kind of crushing and predictable (as we know that Mal winds up bleeding on the floor and alone), and it feels like 'just a convenient obstacle' - Mal gets his piece, and somehow, bleeding, he's able to hold off five armed people who were just trying to kill him. Could probably have been a little better thought out.
11. Mal is pitched one ship, but a Firefly catches his eye instead
A really nice finisher; the pitch from the salesman is overheard at the beginning of the episode, but it's actually for a different ship. A nice litlte 'twist' - Mal is theo ne who picked out Serenity from the beginning.
10. Mal is rescued
Just really sweet.
9. Mal fixes the engine
HELL YEAH MAL.
8. The dual adrenaline shots (Zoe in the 'how we got here'; Mal in the 'present')
Never going to see an adrenaline shot without thinking of Pulp Fiction. Love the way this one is cut.
7. Mal meets Kaylee (while she's banging his mechanic)
I suppose the foreshadowing was there that Kaylee didn't really mind getting frisky when she told Simon that she didn't care for 'propriety.' She's typically sweet and adorable, but I don't really buy that she 'just knows' literally everything about ships without training. It feels contrived and undermines an otherwise awesome/hilarious scene.
6. The initial establishing shot of the episode
5. Mal and Zoe step aboard Serenity
4. Dinner, interrupted
Went through these, but they really set the contrasting tone early on, along with the spectacular visual style.
3. Mal and Zoe interview Wash
Wash has a GOAT porn stache here. Zoe's skeptical of Wash, and Mal notes that Wash is reputedly a 'genius' - and suddenly, the surfer dude mechanic appears, delighted - no one's ever called him that before! Mal gives Zoe the dead fish eyes. Zoe shifts uncomfortably on Wash: 'He just bothers me.'
2. Mal and Wash fight
Jayne is the 'manly man' of the group and the most openly hostile toward his captain, but it's Wash's devotion to his wife that results in the most open mutiny. Mal imposes his will (as he needs to, being captain). Later, the conflict and passive-aggressiveness extends to the cockpit, where the two yell at one another until Wash realizes, without changing his argumentative tone of voice, that Mal actually does have a point. One of the cooler parts here: Jayne of all people ridiculing them. 'What do you two think you're doin', fightin' at a time like this?!'
1. Mal and Zoe meet Jayne
Sometimes you save the best for last. 'Do we look reasonable to you?' hisses Jayne's boss. Mal demurs: 'Well, looks can be deceiving.' Jayne in full-Jayne here.
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