“The Message” Written by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear Directed by Tim Minear The Story The crew stops at some kind of trade hub where Mal tries and fails to sell the blaster they stole last time. No luck. But they do have mail! Jayne has a hand-knitted tufty earflap hat from his mom and Mal and Zoë have the corpse of Tracey, an old war buddy. He knew he was about to get killed, so he made a recording for them. He wants them to send his body to his family. But it turns out he’s actually conning them. He’s alive, and he’s transporting lab-grown organs inside him. The guys he cheated are after him, and cause a lot of trouble for the Serenity and the crew. He thinks Mal and Zoë are going to give him up to save themselves, so he threatens them with a gun and tries to escape in a shuttle with Kaylee as his leverage. His behavior forces Mal and Zoë to shoot him. Then the guys chasing him (who claim to be Alliance police) arrive, and it turns out Mal and Zoë only ever meant to call the dirty cops’ bluff and send them packing, which means Tracey got himself fatally shot for nothing. They end up taking his body to his family after all. Sprinkled throughout is a Simon/Kaylee subplot in which Simon is a dork and Kaylee is interested in Tracey. Things I Liked
Things I Didn’t
The Characters Mal was even a huge dork during the war! Which makes his line in the movie about how the side of him that fought the war is different than anything Inara’s ever seen not really make much sense. She’s definitely seen Mal being a dork. Don’t shoot Zoë’s man. She’ll shoot you right in the chest. Keep reacting to things, Wash! It seems you’d have a pretty decent shot in the zombie apocalypse. (Provided they aren’t fast zombies who know how to fly harpoon-wielding spaceships. :/) Inara is such a good audience for Mal and Zoë’s story! She’s never laughed that much on the whole show. Also, I think the moment when she asks Kaylee about aliens and Kaylee laments Simon's courting ineptitude is one of the cutest moments of Kaylee and Inara's friendship. Jayne sends money home to his folks! Dangit I want more of Jayne’s backstory SO MUCH. I bet Ma Cobb is one of those tiny but fierce old ladies. And as respectful as Jayne is of Book’s desire to give Tracey a religious sendoff, it makes me wonder if maybe his whole family is the same denomination as Book. Kaylee and Tracey, very irritatingly, do seem like they’d get on very well in other circumstances, and it’s really sweet how his heart speeds up the first time he sees her, but I think they’d be better as buddies than as a couple in the long run. I kind of love how Simon is so brilliant at medicine but a complete spaz when it comes to flirting. But I wish he’d tried a bit harder while Kaylee was making googly eyes at Tracey. It seems like he just kind of conceded defeat. Fight for her! River doesn’t lose her place in counting even when she takes a break to explain to Simon why she’s counting. Impressive. Book is quite good at doing the intimidating calling your bluff speeches. Overall Rating 3/5
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The Watcher's Diary
In this blog, I'll be reviewing, analyzing, and generally fangirling over excellent television. Exhibit A: the Whedonverse. Archives
March 2018
Categories
All
|