Whenever I get into one of those moods where I think \u201cI don\u2019t want to live on this planet anymore,\u201d I start watching my favorite sci-fi space drama. But unlike a\u00a0lot<\/em> of nerds, my favorite space drama isn\u2019t\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> or\u00a0Star Trek.\u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s\u00a0Firefly<\/em>.<\/p>\n I got into\u00a0Firefly<\/em> long after it got cancelled. I just got done with\u00a0Doctor Horrible<\/em> and started watching\u00a0Firefly<\/em> since the main character was played by Nathan Fillion. (It\u2019s also why I got into\u00a0Castle<\/em>.) Lucky for me, it was streaming online through Hulu and Netflix and is still streaming to this day. I hope to own the series and the film\u00a0Serenity<\/em> on DVD someday as well.<\/p>\n The reason I love the show so much is because it\u2019s a show that puts characters first. The characters of\u00a0Star Trek\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> are definitely memorable, but at times, they feel more like archetypes or mythological beings than actual people. When I watched\u00a0Firefly<\/em>, I felt like I could belong and relate to these characters right away. But I also love\u00a0Firefly<\/em> because of all the shows created by Joss Whedon, it\u2019s the series that looks into the ideas of morality the most.<\/p>\n But before I can talk about the show, lemme introduce you to the characters. Spoilers and fangirling ahead. You were warned.<\/p>\n Captain Malcolm Reynolds<\/strong> is a man of very strange morals. On the one hand, he doesn\u2019t want anything to do with God. On the other hand, he gets into situations with a lot of risk and very little to no reward because he thinks it\u2019s the right thing to do. He\u2019s protective of his crew and will gladly ask for their help when necessary. The best example of that is in \u201cWar Stories,\u201d when the crew comes to rescue him and Wash from Niska (the villain of the episode) and Mal gets into a fight with one of Niska\u2019s henchmen. Zoe says \u201cThis is something the captain\u2019s got to do for himself.\u201d Mal disagrees, shouting, \u201cNo, it\u2019s not!\u201d cueing Zoe and the others to open fire. It\u2019s hilarious! I also love his determination. He\u2019ll never go down without a fight. Gotta love that in a Captain.<\/p>\n Zoe Washburne\u00a0<\/strong>is the second-in-command, the cool, calm, and collected one of the team. She keeps Mal and Jayne from going over the edge and is great strategist in a hard situation. She\u2019s loyal and protective, a true Mama Bear to the crew. What stands out about her is that she is a tower of brute strength in contrast to Whedon\u2019s usual line of small girls with super powers. Plus she came up with the line of \u201cBig Damn Heroes,\u201d which is awesome. \u201cWar Stories\u201d is also a great episode that showcases her character. But Zoe\u2019s greatest moment in my opinion wasn\u2019t anything from the show, but in\u00a0Serenity<\/em>. I dare not spoil the scene. But say the phrase \u201cI am a leaf on the wind\u201d in front of any Browncoat and I will guarantee you, they will start crying and ask \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with you?!\u201d<\/p>\n Wash\u00a0<\/strong>is the pilot, the comic relief, and Joss\u2019s avatar. His establishing scene in the pilot with the dinosaurs is basically him in a nutshell: hilarious and childlike one minute, but ready for business the next. His devotional love to his wife is heartwarming and endearing. I keep thinking of this lovely scene in \u201cShindig,\u201d when instead of going out to the fancy party that Mal, Kaylee, and Inara are attending, Wash and Zoe are in their bunk doing what married people do and exchange in a bit of pillow talk. I wish I could\u2019ve seen\u00a0how<\/em> they got together since in \u201cOut of Gas,\u201d it\u2019s shown that they weren\u2019t exactly a case of love at first sight. Also, Joss? You\u2019re a bastard. But you already knew that.<\/p>\n Inara Serra<\/strong>\u00a0is not and never was what you would call a \u201cspace hooker.\u201d Fellow Browncoats and I compare her to a geisha: a woman who is trained to be intelligent, sociable, and alluring. She\u2019s fanservice but she\u2019s actually not objectified as often as one might expect. In fact, Mal points out in \u201cShindig\u201d that he respects her as a person, but he does not like her profession. \u201cShindig\u201d is my personal favorite episode because it shows the gamut of Inara\u2019s job. (Well, really it\u2019s my favorite because I\u2019m a sucker for costumes, especially period-themed costumes. But I digress.) You see Inara belonging amongst the upper class, entertaining her client beyond just being a mistress, and teaching Mal how to fight with a sword. (Did I mention that I also love the episode because I\u2019m also a sucker for swordfighting?) I also recommend watching \u201cHeart of Gold\u201d but I can never watch it alone. Mostly because I cried my heart out.<\/p>\n Jayne Cobb<\/strong> is the muscle of the team with the most ambiguous morals. Okay, in actuality, he probably has\u00a0no<\/em> morals. \u201cJaynestown\u201d is the best example of that. He\u2019s great in situations where he can work with his hands. He is the personification of the Id, moreso than McCoy because, well, his two loves are weapons and women. But in\u00a0spite of his moral ambiguity, he wants to be a good man. He prefers to be honest and he\u2019s got a lot of heart. Why else would he wear such a ridiculous hat? (Note to self: My brother needs to crochet that thing.)<\/p>\n Kaylee Frye\u00a0<\/strong>is adorable. She is basically sunshine and rainbows and strawberries all wrapped up in a lovely mechanic-shaped package. Her love for the ship Serenity is best seen in \u201cBushwhacked\u201d and \u201cOut of Gas.\u201d Going back to \u201cShindig,\u201d Kaylee gets her share of fun at the party. First of all, she wears this bright pink layer cake of a dress that most Sweet Lolita cosplayers would give their left arm to have. (Myself included.) Secondly, she gets the attention of most of the men who aren\u2019t on the dance floor just by being herself. She talks about her specialty: mechanics and engines, to the point that the men would prefer her conversation than just having a dance with her. I relate to\u00a0Kaylee the most in spite of my own lack of mechanical expertise because I relate to her personality and her unrequited crush on Simon. We\u2019ve all been there, girlfriend.<\/p>\n Dr. Simon Tam<\/strong>\u00a0is a character I admire more than I can relate to. But he is also the character who has the most to lose. He sacrificed his privileged life and his job to protect his sister. He\u2019s also the butt of a lot of jokes, especially in his conflicts with Jayne. His best episode is \u201cAriel,\u201d but I personally love this scene from \u201cTrash\u201d when he has Jayne on an operating table and intimidates him in the calmest but borderline frightening way possible. Heck, put into a different context, you could probably drop the scene down in a horror movie.<\/p>\n River Tam<\/b> is my second favorite character on the show. She has 2 of the most memorable lines in the series, she can be crazy one moment and mind-blowingly awesome the next. Watch\u00a0Serenity<\/em> to see just how awesome she is or the episode \u201cObjects in Space.\u201d All I can say is that Summer Glau needs to find a show to be in. She has the power to read minds, which can really be a deterrent because she can also feel the pain of those she reads. Interesting little trivia: Summer Glau has a background in ballet, so Summer Glau\u2019s fighting style is best described as being a \u201cdance battler.\u201d Watch her dance, btw. She is\u00a0amazing<\/em>.<\/p>\n Last, but not least, we have\u00a0Shepherd Book<\/strong>, the preacher with a mysterious past. Thank you, Joss Whedon, for\u00a0not<\/em> making Book the stereotype I hate the most. (I still can\u2019t forgive you for Caleb though.)\u00a0The origin of Book gets revealed in the comics and I agree with most of it except for the part that Book wasn\u2019t his real name. I always imagined he was like Jayne, a mercenary who joined up with the Alliance with sort of this bloodthirsty manner, but seeing the consequences of the Alliance caused a crisis of faith and so he chose to become a Shepherd.<\/p>\n Morality is a funny thing in\u00a0Firefly,<\/em> and in Joss Whedon\u2019s works overall. Out of all the Whedon oeuvre,\u00a0Firefly<\/em> is the one that deals with morality the most.\u00a0Buffy<\/em>\u00a0has mostly a very secular black-and-white sense of morality that gets a lot more confusing later on.\u00a0Angel<\/em> has gray morals and has a pessimistic, borderline nihilistic tone about it.\u00a0Dollhouse<\/em> has the darkest tone when it comes to morals and the questions that get brought up aren\u2019t exactly answered all that well. But\u00a0Firefly<\/em> and\u00a0Serenity<\/em> constantly ask questions about morality and ethics and try to define what exactly right and wrong mean. How? Well, keep reading the blog and you\u2019ll find out.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whenever I get into one of those moods where I think \u201cI don\u2019t want to live on this planet anymore,\u201d I start watching my favorite sci-fi space drama. But unlike a\u00a0lot of nerds, my favorite space drama isn\u2019t\u00a0Star Wars or\u00a0Star Trek.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0Firefly. I got into\u00a0Firefly long after it got cancelled. I just got done with\u00a0Doctor Horrible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,416],"tags":[547,534,537,536,533,548,544,539,550,201,540,535,549,545,546,542,551,553,543,541,552,538],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fandoms-2","category-television-2","tag-adam-baldwin","tag-browncoats-forever","tag-captain-malcolm-reynolds","tag-fangirling","tag-firefly","tag-gina-torres","tag-inara-serra","tag-jayne-cobb","tag-jewel-staite","tag-joss-whedon","tag-kaylee-frye","tag-morality","tag-morena-bacarrin","tag-mutant-enemy","tag-nathan-fillion","tag-river-tam","tag-sean-maher","tag-serenity","tag-shepherd-book","tag-simon-tam","tag-summer-glau","tag-zoe-washburne"],"yoast_head":"\n