Firefly Review

Several years ago I heard of Firefly from some of my Harry Potter fandom friends and I wasn't at all interested. The idea of a western in space didn't really appeal to me. I didn't think it would be at all my kind of thing. How wrong I was. Now that I've finally got down to watching the show I think it's awesome! Below I review the TV show without any major spoilers so you can go watch it yourself if you still haven't done that!

World-Building: Awesome
Characterization: Awesome
Plot: Great

Firefly is an excellent TV series that gives us a glimpse into a world rich in detail and very real and believable. Each episode works as a stand alone story with a specific job or heist that the characters have taken on and these episode plots are tightly-paced and well-written. The show's biggest strength, however, is in its characterization. The characters, their strengths and weaknesses, their strained relationships, their betrayals - it all feels very, very real.

The series begins with Serenity - a two-part episode running about an hour and a half in total. This episode slowly introduces us to the crew and passengers of the ship serenity, beginning with the captain Malcolm Reynolds who used to be a leader of the resistance in a war fought with the Alliance. His rebel group - referred to as the Browncoats - failed/surrendered and Malcolm and his friend Corporal Zoe were left to try and find a new life for themselves in a world ruled by their old enemies.

Mal bought himself an old ship and with the help of Zoe he found himself a crew and began a new, no less rebellious life, on the outer planets (far from the strong grip of the Alliance on the Central Planets). The main crew consists of Mal, Zoe, Wash the pilot, Kaylee the mechanic, and Jayne (male) the assasain/mercenary, as well as Inara a "companion" who provides them with a cover of legitimacy. They take on jobs, usually illegal ones, but sometimes innocent/regular ones. In the first episode, Serenity, they land on a planet to get payment for their latest job and refuel/restock their ship and they also decide to take on some passengers, some of whom bring them trouble and some of whom end up becoming part of the regular crew.

This is a wonderful series opener that gives a great introduction to all the important characters and the universe they inhabit. There's a great blend of the whole cowboy/western thing as well as the Chinese cultural/linguistic influences and the sci-fi space aspects.

Serenity is such a great series opener that I am a little shocked that it wasn't shown first. Apparently on it's original run FOX aired the show's episodes out of order and Serenity ended up being shown last instead of first. This makes zero sense as the series really did develop the characters over the episodes in a logical order starting from when they met in "Serenity" to the last episode "Objects in Space". After I finished watching it in the proper order I had a look at the order in which the episodes were aired and I was shocked. No wonder the series didn't get a high viewership - who in their right minds would air the first episode of a story last and expect people to actually get invested in it?

Overall, I highly recommend this series to all. It's very enjoyable and very well done. You won't be able to resist re-watching the episodes over and over and, unfortunately, no matter what I say in my upcoming Serenity Movie review you won't be able to resist watching the movie wrap-up to the story.