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Firefly

Episode 1.06, "Shindig"
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Vern Gillum

Hollyfeld: Firefly has an unusual capacity for traipsing between genres. Usually the show feels like a western, a space opera, or a little of both, but this week there's an almost Elizabethan quality to it. Science fiction has almost no bearing on tonight's episode - instead it's a stark contrast between Mal's old west attitudes and Inara's old England social circle. "Shindig" opens with Mal once again starting a saloon fight after stealing the pocket money from slave traders. This kind of behaviour, we see, doesn't go over too well with Inara, even though we all know by now that she's pretty much in love with him.

Atherton Wing (check that name out - you just know he's pretentious), a longtime client, has requested Inara's companionship on the planet Persephone, which gives the rest of the crew a little time off to do a various frivolities. Kaylee spends her time mooning over dresses in shop windows, then being hurt by Mal's unkind words towards such generally useless attire. Book, Simon and Jayne play cards for chores, Wash and Zoe have sex. It's actually nice to see them have sex, I say without a trace of horniness. One of the big problems with Firefly so far has been the unexamined relationship between the two of them. They just don't seem to belong together. In "Shindig," we finally see a bit of them actually getting along together. In private, Zoe seems infinitely more receptive to Wash's humourous charms, and in public she actually just seems flattered by them. Little things like Wash getting jealous over dirt really pay off in the long run. And Wash's eulogy for his beloved, intended for after Jayne slits her throat, is lovely: "Here lies Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive, now that she's all corpsified and gross…" Ah… romance…

Elsewhere, Mal gets down to a little business with a guy named Badger, who actually is introduced badgering our Captain. "I'd like a bit of a sit-down," he says. "I'd prefer a bit of a piss off," is the reply, but regardless Mal finds his way into a potential smuggling operation. Potential, because the client doesn't give his trust easily - but over alcoholic tea and sandwiches, Mal and Jayne agree to give it a shot. In order to meet the client, however, Mal needs to gatecrash the party Inara and Atherton Wing are attending. That's okay though, because it gives him a chance to apologize to Kaylee by purchasing her that fancy layered cake of a dress she was mooning over earlier, and inviting her to be his date (platonic, of course).

Kaylee spends her time pre-occupied with the buffet table and the floating chandelier (which is pretty cool, but they spend so much time talking about it I get the impression that it's the only special effect they could afford this week, so they wanted to milk it for all that it's worth). Soon, she finds herself the brunt of the jests of upper-class society types, (one of whom I'm pretty sure was Kim Onasch, who only recently left "As the World Turns" - the best of all soap operas), but then finds herself the center of all the men's attentions.

Mal finds the client, Sir Mori Carroll (Larry Drake - the ultra-cool bad guy from Darkman) who completely denies needing anything smuggled whatsoever. Mal keeps trying, but takes a break eventually to dance with Inara. Atherton Wing becomes offended by Mal's intrusion - he is paying for her company after all. Plus, he's made Inara an offer to be his personal companion for life. In the process of relieving her from Mal's company, however, almost calls her the dreaded "Wh" word. Mal punches him in the face, and finds himself in a duel. Great, he thinks - Mal could shoot this guy into oblivion. Oh wait, not that kind of duel. The kind with a sword. Mal knows how to hold a sword… pretty much. Sir Carroll agrees to be Mal's second, which is encouraging - it shows that the client is beginning to like our Captain. Mal is then imprisoned in on-planet quarters to make sure he doesn't run away, which is decidedly discouraging, since as Inara reminds him, he is very, very good at running away. Monty Python good, I myself would add. Mal is a survivor, which means running away to run away another day. Atherton isn't a survivor, but he's killed a lot of people in duels, which makes Mal's survivorness less likely to continue.

Mal spends the evening trying to learn how to use a pointy metal stick, and Inara is kind enough to help him. In the process, they have a heart-to-heart chat, and almost admit that they like each other. Almost. Inara does make the astute observation that Mal calls her a whore at his leisure - hitting someone else for almost doing the same is beyond hypocritical. Meanwhile, back on Serenity, Badger has taken the crew hostage so that they can't give Mal any support. If any ruckus occurred as a result of his involving the crew of Serenity in his smuggling ring, his reputation could be ruined. Of course, his reputation is that of a psychotic lowlife (which Mal thinks is, "an insult to the psychotic lowlife community), but evidently this is worth saving. Zoe and Jayne and everyone else try to put a plan together - something involving a diversion, they think. River appears and gives the perfect diversion, mimicking Badger's cockney accent and putting him in his place, but leaves before everyone realizes that it was the kind of diversion they could have used. Oh yeah, River has also been tearing the labels off of aluminum cans. What's up with that?

At last, the duel - Atherton toys with Mal, but eventually pokes the crap out of him - with a sword… with a sword…. Just when all seems lost, however, Inara bravely agrees to be Atherton's personal companion if he spares Mal's life. Then Mal punches Atherton to the ground, stabs him a couple of times, and points a sword at his neck, winning the duel. Mal doesn't kill him however. He finds that being branded a loser/coward/ignoble thing is much worse. He does stab him though. No reason. He says, "it was just funny." Inara goes back to the ship with Mal, blackballs Atherton Wing from her Companion League (or whatever it is) for life, and Sir Carroll agrees to hire Mal to smuggle his cargo.

All in all, "Shindig" was a decent episode, which also made a joke out of my biggest complaint with the series so far - the cop-out ending. We get a bit of build-up for a big escape and rescue mission from the crew of Serenity, only to have Mal show up before anything can happen. Jayne says, "We were just about to spring into action." Wash, "I was going to watch. It was very exciting." I'm reminded of a favorite Blackadder exchange, in which Balrick suggests a bold and cunning plan to escape execution. "We let them shoot us…" "And then we spring into action?" "Oh, you've heard this plan." Too little too late, but at least they planned to do something this time, instead of everything miraculously working out for the best.

So while a lot of the little moments made this episode watchable, the main storyline was something of a disappointment. During the first half of the show almost nothing of consequence actually happens. We get a series of conversations, some more interesting than others, and then a second half in which some things happen (the duel, the party) and some don't (anything else, really). This isn't really a terrible thing, but it gives "Shindig" an extremely laid back tone, keeping us from getting particularly involved with the storyline. I liked "Shindig." It's a far cry from the worst episode so far, but then again it's not exactly in my top three, either.

Ultra Magnus: Far cry from the worst episode so far, my dear Hollyfeld? I think not. While slightly more engaging than the tedious "Jaynestown", there was precious little to enjoy in this outing. Like you admit, the storyline was weak. The dialogue was simply functional, and there was no style to it like the far superior "Bushwhacked" or "Out of Gas".

Firefly's only had six episodes so far. And I've been pretty bored with exactly half of them. In a way, this pisses me off far more than the continued mediocrity of Enterprise since Firefly is fresh out of the gate and should be ripe with interesting tales. Now I know that these guys aren't exactly heroes and that the fate of the galaxy isn't hinging upon their actions or anything, but seriously, as you also pointed out, where's the science fiction? An anti-grav chandelier? Gimme a break. The climactic duel was certainly fun, but come on - Mal got his ass handed to him. To avoid being skewered, he essentially cheated by taking advantage of Atherton's mercy. (or at least potential mercy) I don't care how far outside the paradigm Joss is trying to go with these characters, that just came across as decidedly un-heroic to me.

I suppose I've come to a realization about my stance on fundamental storytelling. Everyone I talk to raves about how Joss' shows are about 'the characters.' But without a compelling story, why am I supposed to care about the characters? If this were simply the first episode like this, I wouldn't be so put off. But it's definitely turning into a distressing pattern. I mean, I know it's really early still, but when is this show going to start going somewhere?

Oh well. In lieu of an actual direction, let's just hope for more episodes like the aforementioned "Out of Gas", and fewer as uneventful as this.

HF's score - 7 out of 10. UM's score - 5 out of 10.

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