Objects In Space (115)

[Trek_Girl42]

My absolute favourite Firefly episode.....
Loved the stuff from River's POV.

[sarah_uk]

I think this is my favourite Firefly episode along with 'Safe' (I am a big River fan.)
I loved how the camera went through the ship at the beginning before focusing on River through the vent and then followed the ball river was playing with and down through the ship out to space.
I also loved the bit at the end where Kaylee and River are playing, I love the little bits like that. For example in another ep river and Kaylee are running round the ship and in another ep (If I remember right it's 'safe') where River and Simon go into the kitchen area and the crew eat together. It's all the 'family' moments i love so much!

[scifi_girl]

wow. one of fav firefly episodes. sad that is the last episode.

[MB.Eddie]

Pretty good ep. Ended the season with a sense of family, and the whole incident brought them closer together imo.

[Trek_Girl42]

I love the episode commentary on this one as well- Hallowed is Joss Whedon.

[scifi_girl]

i love all the commentry for the episodes. its a great feature to have on the dvds

[Legionnaire]

Seems this episode was also a step forward into Books past...we all heard what he was saying. Sounded like an interogation.

Yea, I was pretty curious as to why Book said what he did say when River read his mind: "I don't care whether you're innocent or not, so where does that put you." I suspect Book used to be someone like the Operative before becoming a shepard, and that deep down he has some sort of resentment or dislike of River for what she may have done or known. Too bad we didn't get to see it play out.

[Buddhawasanancient]

Easily my fave Firefly episode probably cause it has quite possibly the funniest thing Ive ever seen in a sci-fi show (I know thats blasphemy on a STARGATE board but whatever). When everyone is locked in their rooms and Jayne hears something and wakes up like he's gonna kick some a$$, rips the blanket down next to him on the wall uncovering his HUGE collection of guns, then covers himself with the blanket and goes back to sleep...CLASSIC

[Trek_Girl42]

Easily my fave Firefly episode probably cause it has quite possibly the funniest thing Ive ever seen in a sci-fi show (I know thats blasphemy on a STARGATE board but whatever). When everyone is locked in their rooms and Jayne hears something and wakes up like he's gonna kick some a$$, rips the blanket down next to him on the wall uncovering his HUGE collection of guns, then covers himself with the blanket and goes back to sleep...CLASSIC

That scene was just so amazingly funny.....(and I think The Hat was in it as well!)

That is exactly the kind of humour I absolutely loved on Firefly.

[Buddhawasanancient]

That scene was just so amazingly funny.....(and I think The Hat was in it as well!)

Oh I loved the ski hat from mom!

That is exactly the kind of humour I absolutely loved on Firefly.

Exactly...

[girlinabox]

Probably my favorite episode! River just rocks!!

[poundpuppy29]

I loved this ep probably my favorite of all. I love River so that's why. I liked Simon and Kaylee when they were talking. I love how River read their minds. Loved how River fooled that guy. Shame on Fox for cancelling this show.

[Coela Bellatore]

This episode is probably one of the best episodes of any show I have ever seen, period. And that is a pretty big deal coming from a guy who has seen over 50 boxed sets of shows since November of last year.

This episode really demonstrates the qualities of Firefly that make it so great: the amazing combination of superb acting and writing. Take the scene where Early is holding up Simon in the corridor and looking in River's room. He is pointing a gun at Simon, which is a serious situation, but at the same time the scene is hilarious. He mishears Simon's alliance comment and then goes on a tangent about lions. How often does that happen in TV shows? Almost never. How often does that happen in real life? All the time. And then afterward he insists he heard him say "a lion" and not "the alliance", to us this is ridiculous but it is really incredibly well done dramatic irony (the kind where the audience knows something the characters don't). We are watching a sci-fi show so we are expecting everyone to be focused on the alliance. Spaceships, lasers, browncoats, alliance: all these things stand out to us in the show, but to them the statement "a lion" is just as common as " the alliance".

He then goes on to philosophize about the nature of objects, and if their value is "imbued" by humans. This is something that people, (maybe just me then) do all the time, bad guys are no different; it's ironic and normal at the same time. The irony comes from the fact that someone is doing something that occurs often in real life, pondering about random things, in a situation that seems absurd. Early's attempt to remember the word "imbued" is also both funny and natural. Even if you were holding someone at gunpoint, wouldn't you also attempt to remember a word if you tripped up? It lampoons both the Hollywood phonology we are used to as well as the average "super evil" bad guy image.

Then we get to the point where Simon asks if he is a bounty hunter and he responds that he isn't, he's a bounty hunter. Now were asking ourselves if this guy really is insane. It challenges our notions of sanity, because how can someone who seems off his rocker have disabled a war hero, broken the will of someone in under a minute, flying drop kicked a dude, and discussed philosophy to a guy he captured. It blurs the line between genius and insanity, while River seems to be more on the insanity side, Early seems to be on the genius with some crazy bleeding in. Maybe his craziness allows him to function so effectively.

Early then proceeds to accurately predict exactly what Simon will do, "you gonna help me, because every second your with me is a chance to turn the tables". Isn't this exactly what everyone would do? And wouldn't the bad guy also know that? An understanding of human nature is what makes real world villains so effective, Hitler is a very obtuse example, politicians are a better one. TV characters rarely have the ability to truly comprehend the motivations of others, something that all powerful real world people do.


Then he goes from bumbling and jocularly prodding Simon to more than deadly serious. You know he would do it too, he could just shoot Simon and then leave with his body, Simon will never know the difference, he'd be dead. There is no need for him to go back and rape Kaylee but you know he would do it anyway. Not just because he is evil, he would do it because of the principle of the thing, not because he is some sadistic ******* that likes rape, he even says he isn't, but because he operates by his own morals. He would rape her because he said he would and if he threatens it he damn well is going to go through with it.

Finally in response to Simon's "your out of your mind" comment Early tells him "that's between me and my mind." Who is Simon to tell Early that he is out of his mind? Didn't Simon's dad tell him something similar when he tried to spring River? Well here he is, on the far side of the 'Verse taking care of his obviously mentally ill sister, that seems illogical at least to many people. Early seems to have done fine at his job so far, he is even better than anyone of the "sane" people on the Serenity crew. Only another "insane" person, River, ends up stopping him. Early's response sums up the entire episode, what is insanity but a different sanity, and is sanity really better. Early personally has chosen his own "insanity" and does quite well with it.

Early is both an enigma and an everyman, a character that has the depth of someone from a novel or an old movie, someone who manages to show every of emotion, every aspect of humanity, in a 45 minute tv show. Only a freaking good actor and writer could create such a character.

And that is just one 5 minute scene.

And that *almost* rape scene was just ridiculously awesome in a terrible way. Quite a fitting Halloween ep to watch.

[maneth]

Enjoyed the ep, had some of the best acting on this show or any other I've seen. Certainly the best Kaylee scene. The ending was a bit of an anti-climax though.