"Jayne! The man they call Jayne!"This episode is Firefly's best take on an episode structure that Joss Whedon had established well on Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- a breezy, comedic story that takes a late turn to deliver an emotional, dramatic ending.
Writer Ben Edlund delivered top notch work here. The first two-thirds of Jaynestown are almost wall-to-wall jokes -- and they're all funny too. First, there's the endless well of humor about Jayne's heroic status and statue. ("This must be what going mad feels like." "We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm the hero.") Second, there are several other amusing side elements. (Simon swearing only when it's appropriate. River's reaction to Book's unrestrained hair.)
Then comes the powerful punch of the ending, where Jayne learns that the problem with being a "Hero" is that good people will sacrifice their lives for you. This actually isn't the most vulnerable we would see Jayne in the course of the show (that's yet to come), but it is the most emotionally raw and true. And it's the first time we've seen him in any capacity other than "tough guy" or "comic relief." The writing serves this turn up perfectly, and actor Adam Baldwin rises to the challenge brilliantly.
If I had any reservation about the episode, it would be the way the ship and crew manage to escape so easily at the end. The son of the local villain intervenes somewhat anticlimactically, lifting the land lock on Serenity. But it's hard even to quibble with that, as you can easily argue that it was really Inara who made that possible, and it connects her subplot to the episode in any case.
So, another grade A episode of Firefly in my book.
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