You are perceptive and well spoken, I'm very much enjoying your reactions. One piece of friendly advice: this show is loaded with quick quips both humorous and informative. Maybe pause if you are going to comment as it'd be a shame to miss them.
The Chinese language and culture is used to show the progression of the worlds two superpowers (America and China). The Chinese swearing also gets past the moderators 😂
I'm confused how pretty much every reactor says they don't know what "two by two, hands of blue" means when literally the next scene shows two people after river both wearing blue gloves.
Firefly has been described as thirteen hours of pure bliss, and a lifetime of withdrawl. Two decades gone, and I still get misty, singing "The Ballad of Serenity".
It's been twenty plus years, and I'mstill bitter that only Mal, Zoe, Kaylee, Wash, and Jayne got action figures. My collection will never be complete!!
@@Justwatch100 i have a 3d printed miniature of Serenity, a 13 inch-long Chinese knockoff LEGO kit, and a wooden panel with a wireframe diagram of her woodburned into the surface. I've got a few other items, but I can't discuss them, without spoiling future episodes.
I'm not sure if you picked up on the fact that when Mal returned the medicine, the sheriff recognized that Mal was a man of good character and that's why he let him go. (You commented that the sheriff was planning to steal the medicine himself... which their dialogue revealed was the opposite of the truth).
@@Justwatch100 Do you remember what the sheriff said he would do the thieves who stole the medicine? That was a tip off that he's a just/solid lawman in the tradition of 19th century Old West peace keepers.
Companion = Space Geisha. Yes, there is sex, but that is not the point. It's like getting a Ferrari when a Toyota would do. She's expensive arm candy. she's "look, I can afford a companion. unlike you peasants."
"You have seen Crow. He loves to stand at the door to say... 'boo!'" - Niska 😂 Bit late to this reaction, but it means I can now immediately watch your 'Bushwhacked' reaction too
@@Justwatch100 You're welcome. I'll probably say it several more times as the series progresses. Simon is remarkably dense about his sister's abilities.
@@Justwatch100 She *is* a child, or at least a teenager. Actually, the problem is different. I don't want to give too much away, but River has been tortured. She has something closely approaching the worst case of PTSD *ever.* And Simon is a doctor, so he approaches River as both her brother and her doctor. But The Alliance is *_really_* interested in getting River back; this isn't the last time we'll see the "Two by two, hands of blue" guys, and they're creepier every time we encounter them. So, why? What does The Alliance care about a teenage girl who's escaped from their top-secret school? For that matter, what the heck were they doing in that school? Why were they torturing River? What else did they do to her? And, always, the burning question is "Why?" Simon never asks himself "Why?"; only "What?" and "How?": "What did they do to River and how can I fix it?" And whenever River says something "crazy," that's what Simon hears - something crazy. He never notices that the "crazy" things River says actually conform to reality, because the reality they conform to is something River couldn't know about. He can be excused for missing the "hands of blue" thing, because he hasn't seen them, only we did, but there are a lot of other things that he misses when he should have caught them. Some of what River perceives is utterly horrifying, and Simon wants to fix the terrifying "hallucinations" she's having, but _they aren't hallucinations._ So Simon keeps trying to help by reassuring River that she's safe, when she isn't, and that it's only a bad dream, when it's actually something much more than that. And not even River understands what was done to her, so she trusts her big brother, her rescuer, her doctor, and accepts what Simon tells her. And Simon has told everyone else on Serenity that River was tortured and is suffering from hallucinations, and he's obviously both a doctor and the person who knows River best, so they accept his appraisal. Though maybe not Kaylee and Inara, but since they never challenge Simon on it we can pretty much discount whatever doubts they may have. But Kaylee at least gives River a chance to do the little girl things (like playing jacks - no, you didn't miss it, later episode but hardly a spoiler) that she missed out on because she was at the Academy, and River definitely needs that.
@@margretrosenberg420 Kaylee is very kind so not surprised she would take care of River. Yeah it is weird he never asks why. My guess is she has telekinetic powers they were studying.
I LOVE Firefly! When it used to come on I wouldn't watch it, the cowboy theme then a spaceship flying above in the opening threw me off. I watched the movie SERENITY first then bought the series. Love the theme song!
@@Justwatch100 Yes! Fans were so upset when this was cancelled after 1 season they began a writing campaign and would write and call the network complaining. They ended up with the movie SERENITY to give the fans ( Brown Coats) an ending.
@@Justwatch100 Just be sure to wait until you've seen all the episodes first - the movie was meant to solve the two major mysteries of _Firefly_ and tie off loose ends, so if you watch it too early you end up with spoilers.
Always been a big fan of this episode. I'm a fan of episodic stories of the week, and good old fashioned "moral of the story" ones like this. I've always compared the sheriff in this one to Andy Griffith....except Mayberry has fallen on really, REALLY hard times. Look how when he's interviewing Mal and Zoe he lights that little cigar, and hands it to the guy in the drunk tank. Such clever and efficient character building.
Inara isn't exactly an "escort," though that's close, and she would never use confidential information about her clients to pressure someone; it would be a major violation of her ethics. To the best of my knowledge there is currently no analog to Inara's profession. "Geisha" and "courtesan" both come close, without hitting the mark. Inara is a Registered Companion. Among other things, this means that she has successfully completed several years of training, in everything from high culture to s3x techniques to psychology to ethics. When a Registered Companion openly shows up on a fringe world it's the equivalent of Taylor Swift arriving by private helicopter in Middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas. To be a Registered Companion is to be a person of great elegance and _very_ high status.
@@Justwatch100 That's well within Inara's abilities, but it isn't a role one would expect a Registered Companion to play. What Inara did in this episode was something she did as Inara, the woman, not as Inara the Registered Companion; she just used her understanding of people and her celebrity status to pull it off. But Inara's professional services are more personal. She may serve as an elegant date for some public event, but that's basically giving the client a way to show off - arm candy. She may simply provide a roll in the hay. She may provide what amounts to s3xual therapy. She may just give her client a non-judgmental ear while the client deals with personal problems. Or a back massage and time to unwind - whatever the client needs. The term "companion" really is a fairly well-chosen name for the function of Registered Companions. When Mal calls Inara a "wh0re," that's his insecurity speaking (the s3xual tension between these two is so thick you could cut it with a knife). But when he calls her "Ambassador," that's his honesty talking; Inara's presence on the Serenity lends them a certain amount of credibility that they don't otherwise have and desperately need. There will be plenty more chances to find out about Registered Companions in general and Inara specifically as the series continues, though as with everything in _Firefly,_ never enough. Inara's character also had a whole multi-season story arc worked out which was cut short with the cancellation.
