War Stories

_****

Hoping to gain a better understanding of Zoë's relationship with Mal, Wash volunteers for a field assignment, only to find himself face to face with a crime lord looking to exact vengeance on the Serenity.

The review for "Ariel" can be read here.

Serenity's crew has proven to be a tight-knit group, and while every bond between these people is strong in some way, there are some that are simply stronger than others. Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Zoë (Gina Torres) have a rich history wherein they've relied on each other in the worst of situations, and while Wash (Alan Tudyk) has been around long enough to have formed healthy relationships with both of them, there are times, one would think, that he might feel jealousy over the friendship that Mal and his wife had cultivated before he himself had come into the picture.

Finally having discovered what was wrong with her, River (Summer Glau) is put on a series of medications intended to bring her former personality back to the forefront, and, in many lucid moments, appears to have found herself again. What makes her story compelling is that she's not immediately cured, but instead is struggling with her medications and her inability to find the perfect balance of who she once was and how she thinks she should be. She states that she's frustrated because she gets to experience once more what it is to be a girl, to walk on her own feet and to hear with her own ears and knows, every time, that it won't last. River isn't sure how to function as an individual anymore, and for a girl who grew up knowing everything, her defeat here is palpable. Remnants remain of what was done to her, as evidenced when Kaylee (Jewel Staite) is pushed back onto the ship by armed marauders and River picks up the gun, shooting blindly without any training, and kills all three with single shots, hinting that there might still be some kind of subconscious suggestions hidden away within her mind. In the end, Kaylee, who had proven to be River's first real friend beyond her brother Simon (Sean Maher,) shies away from River because she's afraid of what River's becoming and what she's capable of, and so too is the viewer.

Wash and Mal end up in a heated argument about Zoë's tendency to blindly follow Mal's orders, even in the face of absolute danger; it's clear through the dialogue that Wash's jealousy stems not from the threat that Mal might take his wife, but out of the fear that his wife might get hurt, and the desire that has Wash looking to save Zoë, to protect her from Mal's influence, is what makes his argument valid. Displeased with being told he's a threat to his greatest friend and ally, Mal shoots back by stating that Zoë had disobeyed his most important instruction in marrying Wash, and he says it not to make any point, but to hurt Wash in a way that he knows will sting. Mal so often is in the face of death, quipping with the villain to his last breath, and while he always aims to strike a foe to the ground, he very rarely tries to destroy them as a person, and in doing so to Wash he shows his priorities: his friends are his family, and anyone that would challenge that notion is an enemy, so the fact that Wash would speak against him hurts all the more, forcing Mal to respond in kind. Mal keeps this tactic in mind as Niska (Michael Fairman) tortures the two of them, keeping the argument running throughout their imprisonment as an opportunity to make Wash all the angrier, hoping to keep him focused enough to stay alive, and through their shared experience here they come to an understanding about who they are to each other as well as what Zoë means to the both of them.

Wash's jealousy in regards to Zoë's relationship with Mal is understandable, but portrayed here somewhat sloppily, as it seems strange that the notion wouldn't have been raised before now, after having spent a good number of years aboard the ship together. Noting that Zoë often defers her decisions to Mal, backing his opinions and seemingly ignoring her own, Wash states that he's no longer sure if she's speaking in her own voice or in Mal's, wondering if she might be losing who she is out of a sense of loyalty to her captain. The root of Wash's jealousy is completely understandable, and the way in which it has grown is shown fairly accurately, but the fact that he would give his wife an ultimatum, effectively blackmailing Mal into going on a mission without Zoë, is completely out of left field, and it seems that they might have been able to work things out through conversation and time had the plot not necessitated his threat.

Inara (Morena Baccarin) makes a lengthy attempt to hide from the crew the fact that her client is female, despite having told them that she sometimes takes on women as clients. Everyone reacts with shock and a loss for words, and it's notable that, this far in the future, the subject of human sexuality and, more specifically, homosexuality, would still be a cause of shock and awe. One would imagine that homophobia would largely be a thing of the past, but Inara's potential bisexuality here causes everyone pause, and it's disturbing that this would still be an issue.

Everyone delivers largely good performances in this episode, and Fairman is great as the recurring villain of the piece. He brings a certain level of danger to the situation, creating an eerie and off-putting vibe in his scenes as his relatively mild dialogue is veiled with threats and he becomes a very real danger to these people. Glau's portrayal of River here is one of a real person, and while she hadn't before had an opportunity to expand on who her character really is, she's able to open up now and display a proper range of emotion for someone in River's situation, maintaining who the character was up until now while showing who she could become and who she feels she should be.

Director James Contner maintains a subtle focus on the sense of family among the crew of the Serenity, showing River and Kaylee playing tag in the cargo hold, effectively acting as young sisters, while Inara and Mal watch on as their parents, Mal telling them, as a father might, that one of them will fall and die and he won't be the one to clean it up. Niska tries to use the bond between these people against them, asking Zoë to choose between Mal and Wash, though she chooses her husband before he even finishes speaking, leading to him ripping Mal's ear off as a punishment for not being as torn in her decision as he had hoped she would be. In learning of the mission to save Mal, initially an outing with only Zoë and Wash, Simon, Kaylee, and Book (Ron Glass) all volunteer without prompting, stating that their captain would never leave one of them behind, and displaying just how important each of these people are to one another.

Cheryl Cain's writing has a certain quiet nod to continuity in having the characters question Jayne's (Adam Baldwin) recent generosity in regards to his share of the previous bounty, acknowledging that his confrontation with Mal in the previous story has had ramifications, but proving that Mal kept his word in saying nothing to the others. The mystery behind Book's identity continues, as he shows a healthy knowledge of firearms, leading Jayne to ask if he had "[done] a lot of shootin' at the abbey," and while Book's response is simply "rabbits," it's clear that there's more to him than he lets on, later taking up arms against the enemy and stating that the Bible would advise him not to shoot his fellow man dead, but is "somewhat fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps." Her characters are all written very well here, keeping with their voices and showing sides to their relationships that haven't yet been fully explored and hinting at what's to come, and it's a pleasure to watch these actors bring her words to life on screen.

Mal is clearly tempting fate in having not killed Niska, and is likely to run into him again somewhere down the line, but, more importantly, the mystery of what happened to River deepens here. River has been given latent skills that are extremely dangerous, and whether or not she's some kind of sleeper agent or a tool to be used by the Alliance remains to be seen.

The review for "Trash" can be read here.