So many shows have been canceled before their time, yet the cult Sci-Fi classic Firefly is perhaps one of the hardest to swallow. This genre-blending of Sci-Fi and Western, spaceships and cowboy-like characters, was not really given a chance to succeed by the executives at Fox. The network aired the show on the Friday night death slot and putting out its episodes in the wrong order, forcing producer Joss Whedon to do a flashback episode halfway through the season to explain who all the characters were.
Firefly’s loyal fans still lament its loss to this day despite the success of the follow-up film Serenity. Among the show's 14 episodes and one feature film, some stories still stand out as the best of the bunch. Here are five of the best episodes of Firefly.
5 "Jaynestown" (Episode 7)
Who would have thought that grumpy, tough and self-serving muscleman Jayne would be the hero of any story? Yet that is what Whedon delivered in Firefly’s mid-season episode. The shock and awe of Captain Mal Reynolds and his second-in-command Zoe in finding that Jayne has a statue of him in the middle of a town square are absolutely priceless. If their jaws had hung any lower, they would have had to scrape them off the ground with shovels. This shock is only compounded when they discover that Jayne has a song written about him “The Hero of Canton,” which is as catchy as it is hilariously unexpected.
This episode doesn’t exactly drive the plot forward or tell viewers any details about the backstories or motivations of the protagonists, but it is a self-contained parcel of fun that brightens up the series. Hidden within that, there are some deeper lessons on the nature of heroes, legends, and the truth that lies behind them, which Whedon skillfully weaves into the narrative of this episode.
4 "Out Of Gas" (Episode 8)
This mid-season episode gives Firefly’s characters some much-needed backstory, given that Fox aired the episodes in the wrong order. As a result, the audience learns more about their beloved characters.
This episode tells the story of how the crew of Mal’s ship, Serenity, came together; the early conflict between Zoe and her now husband and pilot Wash, Mal’s slightly awkward meeting with engineer Kaylee, and Mal’s first and love-filled sight of Serenity.
These flashbacks are interwoven into a heart-stopping present-day episode, and Mal experiences them as he slips in and out of consciousness on a ship that is in serious trouble. This episode has viewers on the edge of their seats until the very end, with the rest of Serenity’s crew saving the day.
3 Serenity
While this series did possess cult status, it was the follow-up film Serenity that gave the show a new lease on life, and elevated its status even higher. Three years after its cancelation in 2002, Firefly was given a second chance at glory with a full-length film, something that not many canceled shows get. The film was a true testament to the place it held in its fans’ hearts.
With this film, Whedon finally got a chance to wrap up the Firefly universe, even though it was far from the way he wanted it to be. Serenity finally gives fans some of the answers that Firefly fans have been begging for: Who is River Tam? Why is she being hunted by The Alliance? Who are the dreaded Reavers, the boogeymen of the galaxy?
While some questions are still left unanswered, like the identity of the mysterious and multi-faceted Sheperd Book, Serenity makes up for it with amazing sequences, space battles, and deaths of beloved characters that broke audiences' hearts. Serenity is brilliant, in and of itself and as the ending of the Firefly series, a bittersweet end to a TV show gone too soon
2 "Objects in Space" (Episode 14)
The series finale of this tragically too-short series is a true masterpiece. Even the show’s creator said that this episode was the one that he would want to represent his entire body of work. High praise indeed. In this episode, the hunt for River Tam continues, with the arrival of a less-than-stable bounty hunter aboard Serenity, keen to claim the reward for her capture. However, the hunter becomes the hunted as River does what she does best: surprises everyone.
River pretending to have become part of Serenity is undeniably a high point of the series. Given River’s previous unexplainable exploits, it is uncomfortably uncertain to the watching audience whether she has in fact achieved this supernatural feat. Whedon gives this episode a beautiful touch, finally showing the audience the world through River’s eyes, colored by coping mechanisms and defensive strategies against the trauma she has suffered at the hands of the Alliance.
1 "Ariel" (Episode 9)
"Ariel" seems to have got everything right. It features an intricate heist, beautiful cinematography and special effects and some well-crafted character development. This episode is like a bomb going off of story development. For nine episodes, audiences have seen Serenity’s crew engage in space-age criminal activities and learn piecemeal details about the characters. However, this episode delivers the audience a full payload of plot information.
In the hospital on Core Planet Ariel, Simon discovers more about what horrific things the Alliance did to his sister's brain. Jayne betrays his crew for the promise of Alliance credits, and Mal almost throws him off the ship (literally) because of it. All the audience’s positivity towards Jayne gained in the “Jaynestown” episode evaporates in rage against his betrayal.
This episode was full of more drama and adventure than is usual for Firefly, but it was done extremely well. There were also some funny moments, with Mal and Zoe endlessly rehearsing what they needed to say to get into the hospital, only to find that it wasn’t needed at all. All of these elements crown “Ariel” as the best episode of the series.