Firefly Episode 5: Brawls That Don’t Make Sense, Part 1
In this episode, after the cattle are unloaded, characters act in an uncharacteristic way in order to create a plot crisis
The vast quantities of cow dung left on the ship after a shipment of cows was dropped off is a telling omen for how this episode unfolds. We do get some much-needed exposition in the form of hints and flashbacks regarding the Shepherd and River Tam’s past but, apart from that, Episode 5 is by far the worst.
While the first four episodes had some weak moments, they’ve been funny and enjoyable. Episode 5 dives into the incoherent.
We open with the cows from the previous episode being unloaded from the ship and herded into a corral. Mal (Captain Malcolm Reynolds) and his crew work the herd like real cowboys which is enjoyable, but as they’re working, Simon Tam begins to get on Mal’s nerves, so Mal send the doctor and his sister River out for a walk.
They end up in town where they meet the Ambassador and Kaylee, who are looking at antiques. Kaylee asks how Simon is enjoying his stay on the planet, and Simon — frustrated because his sister is acting particularly erratic — begins to vent about being forced to stay on a lousy ship, constantly bullied by the captain.
Kaylee, who feels strongly attached to the ship, is angered by his dismissal and infers that he hates the whole crew. Both she and the Ambassador — who has had nothing to do with this conversation and is guilty of making a few disparaging comments regarding the crew’s lifestyle herself — march out of the shop in a huff, leaving poor Simon confused. To make matters worse, River has meanwhile disappeared, so Simon rushes off to find her.
Now, I want to pause here and offer a comment on character construction in general: One of my pet peeves is when the characters pitch a fit of stupidity merely for the sake of the plot. It’s fine for a character to make a wrong choice here and there; nobody’s perfect. But when a writer begins leaning on bad decisions to drive the events in the script, it becomes a problem. In less than five minutes, we get multiple, not only dumb, but uncharacteristic decisions by the protagonists.
For example, Mal, who is typically paranoid about the fugitive siblings, suddenly doesn’t care where they go. Simon, who is equally paranoid about leaving the ship, suddenly decides to take his sister — who is acting even more erratic than usual — not on a walk through the surrounding woods but to the local town, where she does just what he might have expected: Touch everything and run off.
Kaylee’s reaction is understandable because she’s expressing an insecurity over the social class difference between herself and Dr. Tam. But it’s still somewhat aggravating that she couldn’t clearly see that the doctor was agitated because he was chasing his sister around the store.
The Ambassador’s anger with Dr. Tam is likewise frustrating because most of her screen time is spent listening to rich men tell her she’s too good for the life she leads (and she often agrees with them). But she stays, presumably because she’s in love with Mal, even if she doesn’t realize it. And yet she’s supposed to be the reasonable one so it makes no sense for her, of all people, to leave the fugitives alone. The whole setup is clearly contrived in order to isolate the Doctor and his sister, without regard to consistency of character.
Here, is another baffling bit: As Simon leaves the shop, a group of law enforcement officers rush into the antiques store… why? Do a bunch of policemen need fancy china and antique tools? It makes no sense! Then as Mal is haggling with the men who are supposed to take the cattle, these same policemen show up out of nowhere and start a gun fight. They didn’t throw china at the bad guys so why were they in the antiques shop right before going to arrest a bunch of criminals? Then the show tumbles into the realm of complete stupidity when the old-fashioned revolvers and rifles start emitting lasers! Lasers! In the first episode, these same guns were shooting real bullets. Lasers were weapons for the ships and the Alliance types.
Even as the classic Western six-shooters and rifles are firing lasers, at the end of the fight, the Shepherd is struck down by… a bullet wound. What is going on?
The gunfight ends, and the wounded Shepherd is taken to the ship. But surprise, surprise, Simon and River have been kidnapped. Wow, what a shock! It’s almost like most of the characters were acting like morons just so the doctor and the sister could find themselves in this exact predicament. I didn’t see this coming! Not at all!
I have so much more to say about this, so we’ll finish Episode 5 next time.