I've finally reached an episode that doesn't bore me and is actually pretty good, so of course I'm having difficulty writing about it. Why is it so much easier to complain than to compliment?

I'm not quite sure how to describe the storytelling technique Tim Minear uses in this script. I suppose most simply put it's three different timelines that Minear interweaves, though it doesn't quite feel like nonlinear storytelling to me. I think the inter-cutting between the present (wounded Mal trying to fix the ship) and the near past (how Mal ended up shot on his broken ship) is quite effective because it allows the story to begin in medias res. The plot isn't terribly complicated nor particularly original, so the structure gives it a little pizazz. Not surprisingly, I don't love the deep flashbacks showing how each of the crew members ended up on Serenity. For the most part, I don't think they provide much information about these characters who, on the whole, sorely lack backgrounds.

Wash and Inara's flashbacks irk me the most. Wash's flashback exists for the cheap "laughs" of his mustache and Zoe saying that she "don't like 'im." Of course she didn't like him. No couple in the history of television liked each other at first. Yawn. The flashback with Inara renting the shuttle essentially rehashes what her interview with the Alliance officer in "Bushwhacked" reveals. Nothing new there. And similar to Zoe's "I don't like 'im," Inara tells Mal not to call her a whore ever again, which of course he does all the time. So I guess that flashback does provide new information: Mal is even more of an ass than I thought.

Jayne's flashback is entertaining, though not particularly revelatory. Like I said previously, I don't feel the need to learn more about Jayne's past at this point because it's clear how he ended up flying with Mal, so "entertaining" is perfectly satisfying. I think the final flashback serves as a nice coda to the episode, though again it's not all that telling. Kaylee's flashback is the only one that provides some new background information and character development. I remember being a little shocked by the introduction of Kaylee in flagrante delicto with Bester* because she has seemed rather naive about relationships up to this point in the series, despite all the talk of her nethers in the Big Damn Movie. We also learn that before flying with Mal, Kaylee lived on a farm with her parents and even seemed to have a good relationship with her father. But of course, we never see this father who isn't an overbearing dictator or a deserter.

*Do we ever have any indication of how long the crew of Serenity has been flying together when the series begins? That fact never seemed that important until I read that Jewel Staite thinks that Kaylee is supposed to be around 19-years-old. Staite was 19 and 20 while filming the series, so that's not an outrageous assumption. But if Kaylee is supposed to be 19 when the events of the series happen, then how old would she have been in this flashback? Would she have been over 18? Because Bester is clearly not a teenager. (The actor is 10 years older than Staite.)

I totally don't buy that wounded Mal with his one bitty gun would scare off the half-dozen pirates who shoot him. Even if they find him enough of a threat to retreat to their ship, why didn't they wait until Mal expired to take over Serenity? Mal had a good chance of dying: even if the gunshot wound to the gut didn't kill him, it could prevent him from repairing the ship so that he would suffocate. The pirates could easily have flown away when they saw the shuttles return. Anyway, that's what I would have done.

Nathan Fillion has to spend a lot of time alone in this episode, and I think he does a great job keeping the audience involved, even though he doesn't have any dialogue. He really sells Mal's pain without going too over-the-top or too hammy with it — he really knows how to bring physicality to a role. Even though I know that Mal won't die, Fillion's acting and David Solomon's direction manages to make me genuinely concerned for him. I like the sense of finality Solomon creates when the crew is saying their goodbyes and Mal is closing up the ship after the shuttles depart. Also, having Mal be simultaneously in danger of suffocating and bleeding to death effectively creates dramatic tension at the climax of the episode.

Favorite lines:

• "You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?" (Zoe)
• "'Day' is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It's not applicable. ...I didn't get you anything." (River)
• "I mean, let's say you did kill us...or didn't. There could be torture. Whatever." (Mal)
  

Also? Simon is so pretty.

I've been putting off writing about this episode. It's not that "Jaynestown" is horrible — the plot doesn't make much sense, but that just means it's on par with the rest of the series. It's no worse than "Shindig" or "Safe" and it annoys me less than "The Train Job," but I've been avoiding it because I don't care about anything that happens in this episode.

I like Jayne fine, but I think he is decidedly a supporting character. I love that I can laugh at him and that he actually serves a purpose in telling stories, but I have little interest in learning much more about him. At least not right now. I find Jayne's mercenary attitude refreshing amongst all these criminals with hearts of gold, so I really don't understand this lengthy, blatant attempt to humanize him, especially with an effort this shallow. Moments in "Serenity," "Ariel," and even "The Message" flesh out Jayne as a character better than this half-baked plot.

Immediately I'm perplexed when Zoe stays behind while Kaylee, Wash, and Simon tag along on the job. Zoe says she stays with the ship because she outranks Wash, but that's not really an answer. Why Mal wants Kaylee and Wash to help out remains a mystery: he doesn't give a reason at the top of the episode, and they spend most of their time being drunk and, in Kaylee's case, barking up the wrong tree. Kaylee, sweetie, Simon is gay. He's gay. And possibly very close to sleeping with Mal if the intense once-over – that's really more of a thrice-over – the captain gives him is any indication. (Seriously. Watch that scene on the cargo ramp. Mal gives Simon some lusty glances and checks out his ass at least three times.)

So Mal allows himself to be talked into bringing Simon along (like he needed much convincing) because Simon can pose as a buyer and distract the foreman of the mud fields. Except after alerting the foreman to their presence, they all leave and go to the bar to meet Mal's contact. Shouldn't Simon have stayed at the mud fields and, you know, actually distracted the foreman? Mal and NotKessler seem so concerned about slipping their goods past the foreman, but I think someone "magically" pulling a coin out of his ear would have distracted him sufficiently. And why can't they move Serenity so that they don't have to bring the cargo through the mud fields? It's not like they landed in a port or something. It's just a field. Surely there are other fields. And why does Mal think that he has to arrange some Jayne Day celebration the following day to distract that oh so alert foreman? The town already seems plenty distracted by Jayne's presence when Mal makes that suggestion. Plus, it's nighttime. Which means it's dark. Which provides cover for criminal activities. Mal is the WORST. THIEF. EVER. The thieving is obviously not important to the plot of this episode. We don't even know what the cargo is. So stop pretending like we should care, writers.

OK, and how did the mudders know who Jayne was and that he dropped the money on the town? I mean, not only did they know his name, which is a stretch if he just came to the moon to rob the magistrate, but they were able to make a statue that's a pretty good likeness of him. Was Jayne, like, passing out his school picture at lunchtime before he stole the money?

Book and River have an utterly inconsequential subplot that involves Book explaining that the Bible:

It's not about making sense. It's about believing in something and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you.

What? Faith is believing in something that you don't think can actually be true? Wow. Book is the WORST. PREACHER. EVER. River screaming and running away from Book's hair is too ridiculous for me to find it anything but silly. However, I do like when River says that even if Book puts his hair away, "It'll still be there...waiting." I understand, honey. I feel the same way whenever I know that Book is going to be in an episode. It makes me want to hide in the cargo bay too.

Inara has the sex in this episode, which means that she can be helpful. She uses her feminine wiles, which I think means she asked, to get Fess to release the landlock on Serenity. I don't understand how that landlock works, but I'll just leave it alone at this point. Inara also gets to deliver some nonsensical words of wisdom when she tells Fess that, "A man is just a boy who's old enough to ask [if he is a man]." Um, OK. WORST. SPACE HOOKER. EVER. No, I'm kidding. I'm sure she's a fantastic space hooker.

I wish that I liked this episode more because without "Our Mrs. Reynolds" there couldn't be "Trash," which is one of my favorite episodes of the series. And while this episode is definitely one of the better ones, I just can't get behind the conceit of the plot. I struggle to believe that goons who run a chop shop would go through the trouble of hiring a thief to go undercover in a colony, wait for a passing spaceship to come through, and arrange to marry someone on said ship just to get on board. It's too convoluted. Why not go to a port like Persephone and pay for passage on a ship like Simon and Book did? They wouldn't even have to stow away because the ships invite people to come aboard. Seems much easier. I would like this episode 35% more if Joss had not implied that Saffron was working for the seedy guys. Instead she could have sent Serenity toward them because she happened to know about the chop shop, which could have been accomplished by the deletion of two lines. In fact, you don't even need to have any scenes with the chop shop guys because Book explains what the sparkly Ring O' Death is, and removing their scenes would avoid this really stupid exchange:

"It's a wreck."
"No, no. This is good."
"It's parts. A lot of cheap parts we'll never unload."
"This is why you'll never be in charge, Breed. You don't see the whole. The parts are crap –"
"I said exactly that –"
"– but you put 'em together, you got a firefly."

...Yes. The parts of a firefly do make a firefly. But it's already assembled, see? You shouldn't take apart the ship and put it back together again. That's just creating a lot of extra work for yourself.

I'm also bothered by this episode because Mal is charged with giving lectures about feminism to Saffron and Jayne. Mal who regularly degrades Inara by calling her a "whore," who doesn't respect the boundaries Inara sets regarding her personal space, and whose female crew members, and just the female members, call him "sir" deferentially. I also dislike that one of his feminist tirades goes from, "She's not to be bought. Nor bartered, nor borrowed or lent," which is fine although overly didactic, to, "She's a human woman, doesn't know a damn thing about the world and needs our protection." I know it's not Joss' intention, but it reads like because Saffron is a woman she is clueless and defenseless. I'm not saying that Mal is an out-and-out chauvinist, but as I have previously noted he enforces patriarchy, so schooling Saffron on feminist thought should not be left to him. The situation also reads like women can only achieve empowerment through men or by men's permission.

The argument between Wash and Zoe is stupid. I hate that Zoe, one of the most level-headed people on the ship, suddenly becomes jealous about something petty, and that her jealousy is assuaged when Wash doesn't kiss Saffron like Mal does. ...Because faithfulness is something to be rewarded rather than expected from our partners.

Also, shut it, Book. Where's Simon and River?

Because Joss Whedon wrote this episode, some of the dialogue may be snappy, but the plotline is pretty weak. The rising action doesn't happen until 20 minutes into the episode when the chop shop is revealed (Jayne "threatening" Mal doesn't count because who actually bought that misdirection?), and the main piece of the plot doesn't start until 25 minutes in when Saffron drugs Mal. Then the end feels completely rushed when it cuts from Kaylee fixing the ship's navigation controls to finding Saffron on some planet where it's winter.

Finally, stuff I do like. I like Christina Hendricks, though I don't think she gets to be as awesome here as she does in "Trash." That welding strip she uses to seal the doors to the bridge is also neat. It's nice to see Zoe get to display more colors of emotion, and Gina Torres shows that she can do line deliveries besides deadpan. Morena Baccarin cracks me up with her "You stupid son-of-a" fall and trying (poorly) to deflect suspicion that she kissed Mal. I wish she had had more opportunities to be this silly-funny instead of her usual dry-funny because she is very entertaining.

"I'm fine. I don't need to be examined. I'm comfy." (Hee!)

"Safe" continues the boring precedent that "Shindig" established, but I have sort of a soft spot for this episode because it's about Simon and River. Theirs is probably my favorite relationship on the show because I feel like I so rarely see a platonic yet loving relationship between a man and woman. I also finally started to like River when I first saw this episode, because she gets to be lucid for a few moments. And she dances. I like almost anyone a little bit better if I get to see them dance so unselfconsciously as River does here.

This episode begins with a flashback, which usually would make me cranky. But the flashbacks in this episode actually aren't so terrible because they provide information that isn't rehashed a thousand times during the course of the series, namely that Simon was the beloved child and he severed his relationship with his parents when he rescued River. I only wish that the first scene had been written a little better. And didn't involve Zac Efron. But isn't that Summer Glau's voice coming out of young River's mouth? I think so. Joss does the same trick in The Big Damn Movie, which makes me wonder why he thinks having Summer voice all of River's incarnations is so important.

I don't understand the inclusion of the scene with the mountain people in the teaser. That moment telegraphs the main plot of the episode and kills any suspense that could have been created in the moment that Simon is kidnapped. Not that the kidnapping plot is at all interesting. I never feel as though Simon and River are in real danger.

The writers jump through an impressive number of hoops of contrivance to separate Simon and River from the crew so that they can be kidnapped. Mal says he wants River to leave because she makes his disreputable dealings "not be smooth," but if one considers the previous episodes, River had little to do with Mal's criminal activities not going smoothly. River has yet to be a benefit or a detriment to any of the jobs. Mal has managed to screw up all by himself. Then Mal sends River and Simon into town rather than into the ship and to their rooms. If Mal were really concerned about the sale going smoothly, I would think he would want the fugitives safely tucked away out of sight. Even if the Alliance doesn't regularly patrol a "backwater" planet like Jiangyin, Mal knows that criminals are afoot. And criminals might turn in River and Simon for a reward or to bring trouble down on Mal. Or the criminals may be pursued by law enforcement officials, you never know. It could happen. Apparently, the mountain people conclude that Simon is a physician because Mal calls him "Doc." Maybe it's the academic (and the Back to the Future fan) in me, but I would need a mention of treating wounds or stitching people up to decide that Simon wasn't just a really educated person.

And does Simon walk through an alleyway and end up in a field? Who planned that?

Book receiving such quick medical treatment from the Alliance is intended to add to the "mystery" of his past, but personally I don't find his background all that intriguing. So he's a preacher who knows about nefarious dealings and has an in with the government. There are several explanations, all of which have been explored in literature, film, and television before. I'd be interested in Book's mysterious past if the explanation finally showed up and was something new and different. These "hints" are tiresome.

I'm rather fond of some dialogue from this episode. Mal's "Morbid and creepifying I got no problem with, long as she does it quiet-like," gets a chuckle from me, and Simon scores with "I'm very sorry if she tipped off anyone about your cunningly concealed herd of cows." "Safe" also features the "big damn heroes" line that Browncoats seem to like, but it sounds awkward to me. I think the situation calls for an f-bomb or some other two-syllable curse word. "Big gorram heroes" would have worked.

I'm not sure if I dislike "Shindig" more than "The Train Job," but this episode certainly represents a nadir of the series' short run. Where "The Train Job" is schmaltzy, "Shindig" is boring, and both are predictable.

This episode attempts to illustrate that Mal doesn't really belong in "his world" of thieves and Inara doesn't belong in "her world" of manners and fancy parties. No, they belong together! on Serenity! because they luuuuuuuurve each other! Or something. But really "Shindig" acts as a vehicle for Mal (and others!) to degrade and objectify Inara even more than usual. Also, Inara has the opportunity to establish that the only way she'll ever be useful on the series is when she can sleep with someone. The only part of this episode that I find somewhat unexpected and refreshing is the gender role reversal of Mal asking Inara to teach him how to fight.

Mal also gets to assert his patriarchal authority over Kaylee when he pretty much orders her to come to the ball with him, telling her that she "got no need to speak." Just to look pretty on his arm at the dance. Mal is real different from Atherton, ain't he? Yeah, yeah, I know that Mal buys Kaylee the layer cake dress to make up for being rude to her earlier, but I'm not as easily won over as she is. As much as Hollywood tries to sell me on the idea, I don't think that someone being an asshole is actually endearing and romantic.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew sits around, and Summer Glau gets to show off her ability to do accents. Her Cockney isn't as impressive as her Russian accent from the Angel episode "Waiting in the Wings." However, next to Mark Sheppard who makes a living doing ridiculous voices, Summer doesn't look so bad. But I don't understand why Badger reacts so congenially to River after she completely humiliates him.

The only bit of this episode that I really like is Kaylee. I like her walking back to her bunk from the engine room and lying on her bed to stare at her layer cake dress and listen to classical music. I think Jewel Staite looks so sweet but also sexy with the top half of her coveralls dangling around her waist. I also love her beleaguered "Hi" when she returns to Serenity as the captive of Badger's henchmen.

"Bushwhacked" takes a familiar premise and pairs it with a weak plot, resulting in mediocre storytelling. Like "The Train Job," this episode attempts to play catch-up after losing "Serenity" as Firefly's pilot, and it includes a lot of exposition. The first scene exposits at length about Simon and River's situation, and the later interrogation scene provides an opportunity to recite information about Inara and Mal's backgrounds. The Alliance and Reavers also receive an "introduction."

Even though Reavers don't come off as intimidating here as they do in "Serenity," this episode better presents the spectrum of civilization in the 'verse with The Alliance on one side, Reavers on the other, and the crew of Serenity somewhere in the middle. Or to a Freudian, the three entities would represent the psychic apparatus: Reavers are the unchecked id, The Alliance represents the moralizing superego, and Serenity the pragmatic ego. Joss & Tim missed an opportunity to invoke a Western motif of women acting as a socializing force, i.e. the superego. They should have made one of the female members of the crew, instead of Book, insist they investigate the abandoned ship or cast a female actor as the Alliance officer.

The plot takes too long to get going, especially since anyone who has ever watched a sci-fi show has seen a version of this episode before. When a crew stumbles upon a mysterious abandoned vessel in the middle of nowhere, the audience knows that the ship will be full of dead bodies or some disease that's fatal to only certain members of the crew or something else equally ominous. Kaylee disarming the booby trap left by the Reavers proves to be pointless filler, and the interrogations create an awkward pause in the middle of the episode. I also don't believe that the Alliance officer would let Mal lead them in searching Serenity for Mr. Proto-Reaver, nor do I completely buy that the officer would release the crew of Serenity after Mal saves his life.

Not surprisingly, both of my favorite moments involve Simon. Especially on Angel, Joss far too often uses badly written misdirection that's telegraphed within the first seconds of the scene. But Jayne tricking Simon into putting on a spacesuit and entering the other ship genuinely surprised me. That bit of misdirection also works to establish relationship dynamics amongst the crew. I also really like the scene with River and Simon hiding from the Alliance. River staring wondrously out into space while Simon blanches at the same view reveals a lot about these two characters.

Though they interrupt the narrative flow, the interrogation scenes do provide a couple humorous character moments. I love Kaylee's rant about a ship that really would be junk, unlike Serenity, and Zoe's terse conversation with the officer. "You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?" "Fought with a lot of people in the war." "And your husband?" "Fight with him sometimes, too."

Mal continues to assert his patriarchal authority. As the Alliance is boarding the ship, he tells Simon to fetch his sister without telling him why. I know the writers are attempting to create some dramatic tension here. But in the time it takes to make Simon obey the instruction, Mal could have said something like, "I'm not gonna turn you in. Just get your sister," which still would leave the reveal of Simon and River clinging to the side of the ship a surprise. Instead Mal, with inexplicable support from Book, imposes his authority on Simon because he doesn't follow orders blindly.

I really hope the production designer didn't think those Chinese checkers would suggest an Asian cultural influence because Chinese checkers? Not so much Chinese. Zoe, Mal, and Jayne should have been munching on fortune cookies too. That would have been really "Chinese."

I know that FOX deserves some if not most of the blame for the lameness of this episode. For whatever reasons, the network elected not to air "Serenity" and instead made Joss & Tim write a different pilot. Give us bigger than life villains! they said. Make the main characters snuggable, little bunnies! they said. And while you're at it, give us 37 minutes of exposition! they said. OK, maybe they didn't say that last part, but that's what they got.

Perhaps Joss & Tim didn't have a choice but to include all of the background information presented in "Serenity" in their reworking, but I don't think they really needed to. Pilots should demonstrate the interpersonal dynamics between the main characters, but they do not necessarily have to reveal all the characters' histories. Why Simon and River are fugitives, for example, could have been addressed in a subsequent episode, which would have reduced the exposition by about 40%.

Mal and his merry band of thieves are supposed to be our morally ambiguous but relatable antiheroes; however, FOX really isn't comfortable with that "anti-" part. So Joss & Tim brought in Nishka of the fake accent and Crow of the intimidating face tattoo so that the audience knows who the real bad guys are. The crew of Serenity may steal things, but they don't cotton to torture. And they aren't foreigners or have unsightly body art. They're also touched by the hardships of others and would never steal medicine from thems that need it...except when they do that a few episodes later in "Ariel." As well as providing the one surprise in a terribly predictable plot, Mal shoving Crow into the turbine offers the only evidence that the captain might actually have some bite.

You know, Mal invites Simon and River to stay aboard if Simon earns his keep, treating wounds and the like, but Book just stays on the ship and no one says a word. I really doubt that Book has the money to pay for being shuttled around everywhere they go, he doesn't really do anything as a crew member on a regular basis, and Mal doesn't particularly seem to like having a shepherd on his boat. So why does no one question Book's continued presence on the ship?

A doped up Jayne is the only somewhat enjoyable bit of this episode. "What? What do you mean back? I waited for you guys!"

Also, in my quest for HoYay! I note that when Inara is brushing her hair, Kaylee asks if Inara ever brushes her clients' hair, which suggests Kaylee thinks of hairbrushing as something that's done between people who sleep together. Heh heh heh. And Mal goes to the infirmary to wash his cuts from the fight. He could have done in his quarters, so I think he just wanted to see Simon.

While I think that the idea of a space western is actually quite germane, I'm not thrilled with Joss' execution. Outer space is a very appropriate setting for a western, which is a genre that explores the effects of men having a lot of space. Instead of relying on really stylized production design, I would rather Joss focus on common themes of westerns to make Firefly seem westerny, such as civilization encroaching on wilderness, morally ambiguous justice in the absence of law, and the subordination of nature and the original inhabitants of the frontier. While the more primitive, seemingly more agrarian conditions on the outer planets make antiquated lifestyles and simpler, homemade styles of dress practical, most of the western dress and props feels stylishly "retro" and ridiculously over-the-top so that the audience knows IT'S A SPACE WESTERN. A WESTERN THAT'S IN SPACE, GEDDIT? Greg Edmonson's score and Joss' terrible theme song also try too hard to be folksy. I don't so much mind the western dialogue, when it's done well, because it isn't pervasive: it's used to differentiate class and implies greater association with the outer rim rather than the central planets.

The production design also fails to sell the integration of American and Chinese cultures. Sticking some chopsticks and a paper umbrella into frame suggests that someone made a run on World Market rather than two cultures have blended. I also wish that the Chinese dialogue had been used less as creative cursing and more to create a language like Tex-Mex in its beginning stages. I think the meimeis and dong mas are on the right track.

The episode begins with a flashback to the Unification War, showing Zoe and Mal fighting on the losing side. Joss thinks that flashbacks are a lot cooler than they really are, and he overuses them, especially on Angel. In this case, I find this scene poorly executed. It would be one thing if the flashback revealed how different Mal was before the war and leave the cause of his change in disposition a mystery to uncover in the series. But instead the flashback shows why Mal lost his faith and became (sorry) a malcontent, leaving little to reveal later on. I could convince myself to legitimate its inclusion if it hinted at why the Independents are fighting the Alliance or what exactly the Alliance is, but the scene accomplishes neither. I would rather the little bits of information this scene offers be doled out gradually throughout the series.

Another something that I wish Joss would stop doing is writing all these crazy people: first Tara, et. al. on season five of Buffy, then Fred on Angel, and now River on Firefly. No babbling crazies on Dollhouse yet, thankfully. Again, they are not as cool as you think, Joss. Mostly they are just irritating. I think that Summer Glau does a good job with the material she is given, but having a character that doesn't make sense most of the time becomes tiresome.

This episode also sets up the romantic tension amongst the characters, namely Mal and Inara and Kaylee and Simon. But I never saw much sexual tension between either of the pairings. Sean Maher does a really good job playing Simon as kind of sexless, completely focused on protecting his sister and interested in little else. And I always thought Simon would turn out to be gay. Similarly, I thought that Inara and Kaylee might end up being love interests from their little "Hey you" exchange in this episode until the scene between Inara and Mal in her shuttle made it clear that they were the intended pairing. Though they make good sparring partners, Morena Baccarin and Nathan Fillion don't have much romantic chemistry, and I would rather see Inara be with someone who doesn't belittle her or try to dominate her. So if Inara and Kaylee hooked up, then Simon could be Mal's love interest, I guess. They do often argue very intensely.

Joss includes some ridiculous shots of Inara and River because they're artsy or some shit, but I really like the shot of the Alliance ship reflected in the visor of Mal's space suit. It's a really nice effects shot and makes the spaceship seem very commonplace in this 'verse. I also like Kaylee eating the strawberry, the fuss over the fresh vegetables, and Mal selling food supplements on the black market, which give the audience a bit of a glimpse of what the lives of people "on the edge" are like.

The script has a few weak spots:

• Mal's comment about not interrupting Inara so that someone can make an honest living seems very out of character for him. Usually he speaks with nothing but vitriol in regards to her profession. That line should have been given to Wash or Zoe instead.
  
• The first scene between Inara and Book in her shuttle mostly repeats what the previous scene in the galley conveyed, that Mal is protective of his crew and doesn't much care if people like him. They also say that Mal is "a mystery" to which I say, huh? Mal is conflicted, sure, but mysterious? Not so much. He's a cynic with the heart of an idealist, but aren't they all.
  
• I can't reason why Book is involved in the discussion about River in the galley. He is hardly part of the crew at this point but acts like he is.
• Dobson looks like the most incompetent federal agent ever.
• I'm also not convinced that Mal would think it's worth the risk keeping Simon and River aboard his ship at this point.

Mal's annoying, patriarchal attitude that persists throughout the series is abundantly evident here. He tells Inara not "to tell [him] what to do" on his ship and dismisses everyone's opinions about whether Simon and River should be killed. He even takes away their efficacy, telling his crew that they "don't vote on [his] ship." Mal systemically belittles Inara because of her legal profession in effort to control the only woman on board who doesn't follow his orders. His continuing invasions of Inara's personal space also assert his authority and degrade her sense of empowerment.

Looking at "Serenity" as Firefly's pilot, this episode functions a hell of a lot better than "The Train Job," which aired as the first episode. All of the characters, as well as The Alliance, border planets, and Reavers, receive a proper introduction without too much exposition. Sure, this episode feels self-indulgent on Joss Whedon's part and a little padded, but most of the filler is pretty interesting so overall "Serenity" succeeds.

Does Summer Glau only choose shows in which she's naked in the pilot?