Firefly - Episode 9: 'Ariel'
Recap: Serenity visits the Core Planet Ariel so that Inara can get her official medical checkup. With River's condition worsening, Simon proposes breaking into the hospital to use their diagnostic equipment. The mission to check out River is successful, but Jayne sells Simon and River out, and the Alliance captures them all, including Jayne. The trio is rescued by Mal's reinforcement, after which he confronts Jayne.
Real talk - this might be the most important Jayne episode yet, even more so than the eponymous 'Jaynestown.' Simon's decision to break in to the hospital provides the plot of the episode, but there's no meaningful conflict without Jayne's decision.
One of my favorite scenes from the first half of the episode is Jayne's dedication to learning medical jargon. Zoe, Mal, and Jayne partake in a good-old-fashioned training montage, which is actually a little cringe-worthy. But then, we go to the actual mission - and Jayne is dead serious about getting it all correct. He goes uncharacteristically along with the plan, acknowledging its merits, and practices really hard and really professionally. Really nice sequence, and when the lameness of the training montage is justified by not needing the skills at all, Jayne of course cannot let it all go to waste, and blurts out his line anyway.
In the end, having the Alliance be such assholes that they turn an excellent mole into their enemy is a shortcut for the story. Jayne winds up playing on Team Serenity again because of this rejection, and it results in another artless, savage killing. The awful consequences of Jayne's decision ironically wind up endearing him to his most obvious enemy, and you can see that the shame of his betrayal actually softens him toward the doctor. It's almost a karmic, happy, near-sitcom ending.
Mal won't have that. His punking of Jayne is excellent. Jayne's not really a great words- or smarts guy, but he's extremely self-interested - so it's no surprise that the threat of death so easily exposes his lie. One thing I love is that this happens all after Jayne's erstwhile heroics (as opposed to being the impetus that gets Jayne out there to rescue the crew), that Jayne is hurt by the notion that he's betrayed Mal, specifically. Given their ignominious beginnings, it's a little surprising that Jayne is so subservient to Mal - I wonder if there's more to that story to be shown.
But here, Jayne seemingly accepts death. And his final wish is that he be remembered not as the traitor he is. It's an amazing angle for someone who has shown zero affection for any of the non-Mal crew members to this point. Given the show's early demise, I don't anticipate any further Jayne uprisings during its run.
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* 'Two by two, hands of blue.' - Awesome to find out where this comes from. That high-frequency brain-disintegrator is one vicious weapon.
* Is it just me, or does this episode not really actually tell us much about what happened to River?
* Simon smirks to his captor that the people on high want both him and River alive. This got me really excited for the possibility that Simon himself would die, since River seems like the only one of note. Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, he gets to continue by being the MIRACLE DOCTOR who gets to SAVE THE PATIENTS from the INCOMPETENT ALLIANCE DOCTORS.
* 'Do you remember why we went to the hospital?' / 'Time to go to sleep again?' / 'No. Time to wake up.'
* I generally am a big fan of the way episodes are introduced in this show. Here, the crew is impatient as it becomes clear that the situation is basically 'rainy day' - nothing cool to do outside. And then River freaks out on Jayne. Good stuff.
Real talk - this might be the most important Jayne episode yet, even more so than the eponymous 'Jaynestown.' Simon's decision to break in to the hospital provides the plot of the episode, but there's no meaningful conflict without Jayne's decision.
One of my favorite scenes from the first half of the episode is Jayne's dedication to learning medical jargon. Zoe, Mal, and Jayne partake in a good-old-fashioned training montage, which is actually a little cringe-worthy. But then, we go to the actual mission - and Jayne is dead serious about getting it all correct. He goes uncharacteristically along with the plan, acknowledging its merits, and practices really hard and really professionally. Really nice sequence, and when the lameness of the training montage is justified by not needing the skills at all, Jayne of course cannot let it all go to waste, and blurts out his line anyway.
In the end, having the Alliance be such assholes that they turn an excellent mole into their enemy is a shortcut for the story. Jayne winds up playing on Team Serenity again because of this rejection, and it results in another artless, savage killing. The awful consequences of Jayne's decision ironically wind up endearing him to his most obvious enemy, and you can see that the shame of his betrayal actually softens him toward the doctor. It's almost a karmic, happy, near-sitcom ending.
Mal won't have that. His punking of Jayne is excellent. Jayne's not really a great words- or smarts guy, but he's extremely self-interested - so it's no surprise that the threat of death so easily exposes his lie. One thing I love is that this happens all after Jayne's erstwhile heroics (as opposed to being the impetus that gets Jayne out there to rescue the crew), that Jayne is hurt by the notion that he's betrayed Mal, specifically. Given their ignominious beginnings, it's a little surprising that Jayne is so subservient to Mal - I wonder if there's more to that story to be shown.
But here, Jayne seemingly accepts death. And his final wish is that he be remembered not as the traitor he is. It's an amazing angle for someone who has shown zero affection for any of the non-Mal crew members to this point. Given the show's early demise, I don't anticipate any further Jayne uprisings during its run.
---
* 'Two by two, hands of blue.' - Awesome to find out where this comes from. That high-frequency brain-disintegrator is one vicious weapon.
* Is it just me, or does this episode not really actually tell us much about what happened to River?
* Simon smirks to his captor that the people on high want both him and River alive. This got me really excited for the possibility that Simon himself would die, since River seems like the only one of note. Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, he gets to continue by being the MIRACLE DOCTOR who gets to SAVE THE PATIENTS from the INCOMPETENT ALLIANCE DOCTORS.
* 'Do you remember why we went to the hospital?' / 'Time to go to sleep again?' / 'No. Time to wake up.'
* I generally am a big fan of the way episodes are introduced in this show. Here, the crew is impatient as it becomes clear that the situation is basically 'rainy day' - nothing cool to do outside. And then River freaks out on Jayne. Good stuff.
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