Summer of Firefly: "Bushwacked"

Oh, my god! What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!? Oh, right. That would be me. Back to work.

Episode 03: "Bushwacked"

Directed by: Tim Minear

Written by: Tim Minear

Original Air Date: 9/27/02

Plot Summary:

*If you've seen the episode recently or have a pretty good memory of what happens, skip this Plot Summary*

At the edge of space, the crew of Serenity stumble upon a seemingly abandoned vessel. Captain Malcolm Reynolds quickly notes that it's a ship used to transport several families to a new settlement. There's some debate as to what to do amongst the crew. Jayne would like to just move it along and forget the ship entirely while Book is interested in giving any help to possible survivors, citing the story of the good Samaritan. Eventually, Malcolm Reynolds decides to check it out. If there are survivors, they can help them out, and if not, well they can take a look around and see if they might have left behind something of value. The afterthought suits Jayne just fine.

As they explore the ship, they discover that it was attacked by Reavers when they find the mutilated bodies of the former passengers. Fortunately for the crew of Serenity, the Reavers that did the slaying don't seem to be around. In fact, it would seem they've run into quite a bit of fortune as they find some very valuable supplies aboard the attacked ship. They also stumble upon a survivor that they quickly bring back to Serenity so that Simon can provide medical aid to the poor soul. After getting a better look at the 'survivor,' Mal quickly learns more about why the guy was able to 'escape' with his life. The Reavers made him watch as they raped and mutilated the people aboard the spacecraft. Psychologically, the 'survivor' has no choice but to become like a Reaver himself.

Mal allows Book and other members of the crew to put the bodies to rest properly and load the cargo while he, Kaylee, and Wash deal with a booby trap that would prevent Serenity from taking off without...well, exploding. Fortunately, Kaylee saves the day when she disables the trap just as Jayne and folk return with the fortune that they could all use so desperately. Just as Serenity prepares to leave the ghost ship behind, an Alliance cruiser arrives. In addition to getting them on an illegal salvage charge, a post claiming fugitives Simon and River Tam are aboard a Firefly class vessel puts Malcolm Reynolds and crew in a very tight spot. As the Alliance soldiers board Serenity, Captain Reynolds plays it innocent. He puts all the salvage front and center, notes how they rescued a passenger from the derelict, and hides River and Simon outside the ship with the aid of a couple space suits.

Unfortunately, the rescued passenger, in a fit of insanity, has started cutting on himself, so the commanding officer quickly decides to arrest the crew. As he questions each member, looking for more information about Simon and River, he suspects that Malcolm Reynolds killed everybody on board the derelict and tortured the last remaining survivor as a twisted form of revenge for losing the war. Just as he's about to close the case, he learns that the rescued passenger has escaped by way of a murderous rampage back to Serenity. Captain Reynolds offers his services to help track down the man since he's the best expert on how Reavers work. As they explore Serenity, Mal manages to save the life of the officer in charge by killing the rescued passenger attacking him. Having his life saved by Mr. Reynolds, the officer is willing to let Serenity and crew go free, although not with the derelict's cargo. In the episode's final moments, the Alliance cruiser destroys the ghost ship and puts the whole incident behind them.

Discussion:

You've heard me go on and on about Joss Whedon, but you haven't heard me say much about Tim Minear. When Joss needed somebody who could captain Firefly while he was busy making sure his other two shows (Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel) were still flyin', he considered quite a few people. Eventually, he landed on Tim Minear, one of his frequent writers on Angel. He's an absolutely essential crew member for the show. I believe last post I said Tim was the Zoe to Joss' Malcolm Reynolds. I still stand by that claim. We've seen him work with Joss to get a 'second pilot' with very little time, and now we see him write and direct and episode all by his lonesome. Tim Minear will be back as writer for two more episodes of Firefly, so it's best not to forget about him.

When Tim Minear set about to write "Bushwacked," he had a few goals in mind. First, since "The Train Job" was mostly about being funny, he sought to create something a little darker. Second, since the Fox network had already expressed their distaste for the western elements in Firefly, Mr. Minear set the entire episode in space. Third, since the pilot "Serenity" had not been aired first, as it should have been, he needed to reinforce some of the major elements in the universe. Namely, Tim Minear gave us a reintroduction of the Reavers as well as the Alliance. In the Firefly Official Companion, Tim Minear explains that the first half "is about homesteaders and regular people trying to get by. It's about the savagery of being too far away from civilization. The second half was about civilization being so civilized that it becomes this collectivist, bureaucratic behemoth that can't get anything done, and it's trying to control too much." He uses these extremes to emphasize how the crew of Serenity finds itself somewhere in the middle.

There are a lot of great River moments in this episode (it's why I've made a point to include two screenshots of her for this update). At the very beginning we can see her watching as the crew plays some sort of basketball-ish sport. She watches attentively, enthusiastically, and studiously. We get another similar moment (screenshot at the very top) when she's hiding outside of Serenity with her brother. Her look of fascination with the emptyness of space is precious. As smart as she is, she still can take great pleasure in the world around her. Her fascination with space is contrasted nicely with Simon's terror of it. When River says "let's go again" to her brother, I smile everytime. There's also an interesting connection developed in this episode between River and the Reavers. She seems to share some kind of supernatural bond with the survivor. Perhaps will learn more about this in the episodes to come.

There are two interactions between Mal and Shepard Book that I think are worth looking into. The first is when Book encourages Mal to check the derilect for survivors, and the second is when Book encourages Mal to let him put the bodies to rest. In each instance, Mal agrees, but we learn it's out of some self-interest, i.e. salvaging cargo and creating a distraction while they take care of the booby trap. Here's a question I pose to you. Does Mal agree because Book convinces him, and only then coming up with some form of profit from the agreement, or does Mal have an idea of profiting before hand and only agrees with Book coincidentally?

I've been leaving favorite moments up to my readers, and I think I'll continue to do that, but this time I will include a couple of my own as well. The whole interrogation of the crew segment is one of my favorite parts of the whole episode. I love the way the questions and answered are juxtaposed from different members of the crew. I'm also a particularly big fan of Mal's line "may have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one." I'm always moved by the last shot of "Bushwacked" when the Alliance cruiser destroys the derelict. I've always been a fan of the Firefly score for it's western elements, and I think it really sells that last shot. There's a sadness to it.

Well that's all for this week. Sorry for the delay. The next episode on the list, "Shindig," is one of my favorites, so I look forward to getting it posted on time.