Firefly Flashback: Ariel

There's really just one thing I don't like about this episode of Firefly, and I'll lead straight out with it: Shepherd Book does not appear in the episode. It's not that he's a favorite character as such, or that I have a clear vision on just what role he might have served in this plot. And I understand the realities of television budgets; some actors are sometimes contracted for fewer episodes than others as a cost-cutting measure. But the problem is that there turned out to only be 14 episodes of the series. And mixed with the mountains of salt in that wound is this extra pinch -- that for Shepherd Book (and actor Ron Glass), it wasn't even that many episodes. Sigh. (Inara does only a little better, appearing only briefly at the beginning and end of the episode.)

Other than that, I find Ariel an exceptional episode of the series -- my second favorite, in fact. It's a heist! It's personal taste, I'm sure, but when a heist story is well executed (in film or television), I find it virtually impossible not to love. Adventure! Tension! Cleverness! What's not to love?!

And I do find this an incredibly well executed heist. First, bonus points in that the entire idea comes from Simon. He seems an unlikely person to embrace criminal behavior like this, but the fact he does so is a huge step for his character. He has a goal to achieve (getting help for River), and he won't let morality stand in the way. And it makes sense that he'd be really good at planning a heist. We've been told what killer "book smarts" he has, and now we get to see that in action.

We see Simon effectively coach Zoe, Mal, and Jayne in the parts they must play. We see a new side of Mal, that he will "take orders" when it's called for. We see Zoe and Mal work together effectively as they must have in their war days, improvising in the hospital when there are complications in the plan. And we get the hilarious "trying to train a monkey" thread of teaching Jayne to behave like a paramedic. Plus, you get some fun moments on the side of Wash and Kaylee building the phony medical shuttle. (Including a throwaway joke where they find in the junkyard the exact part that nearly cost them their lives in Out of Gas, and discard it without a thought.) All great stuff.

But the greatest element of the episode is that it dares to turn one of the main characters into the "bad guy." Jayne makes good on his threat of several episodes to sell out River and Simon (and, as stated explicitly in the pilot, turn his back on Mal when the money was good enough). No, it's not the first time that a hero became a villain on a Joss Whedon show. Nor the second or third. Nor for the longest period of time. Nevertheless, this is still territory that to this day few television shows dare to venture into. And even the ones that do rarely do it so well. What makes Jayne's betrayal here particularly interesting to watch is that he gets caught. Not only does the person he deals with turn on him, but Mal easily figures out what happened and punishes Jayne for it. The scene at the end, where Mal confronts and threatens Jayne, is incredibly effective. Nathan Fillion serves up Mal's anger in the most chilling way. And Adam Baldwin makes you actually feel bad for Jayne when you realize he seems willing to pay the ultimate price for his actions -- so long as the others never find out what he did and don't think bad of him.

Great stuff. Another grade A episode of Firefly.