Episode Guides:
Romans 7:15-21
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.
Synopsis:
Serenity comes across what seems to be an empty and abandoned star ship and decide to board it to search for equipment that might be of use or of worth. In the search the crew becomes aware that the ship was not actually abandoned, but instead was attacked by a people called “Reavers” who not only practice cannibalism and rape but also many other frightening versions of torture on their victims.
After finding all the dead bodies of the deceased crew and passengers of the ship Jayne is attacked by a survivor who seems to have been forced to watch the terror and is extremely tormented by what he saw. Mal seems uneasy about taking on the survivor as a passenger and suggests that they might be best to kill him there after what he’s been forced to see.
After putting the survivor under sedation the crew start to deal with the dead, disable a booby-trap that the Reavers had set and empty the ghost ship of equipment and supplies, and then are startled by an Alliance ship as it hails them.
The arrival of the alliance forces them to hide the two fugitives (the Tams) while the ship is searched and the crew are questioned. To make matters worse the survivor becomes so tormented by his torture that he has started mutilating himself an killing the crew of the Alliance ship. Mal and the Alliance crew have to team up and catch the survivor before he kills again, and before the Tams are found.
Scenes of Note:
a) Simon and Inara have a conversation at the beginning of the episode in which he shares with her that he’s not sure if he’s able to look after his sister, he feels as if he has failed and that he doesn’t know if the ship is the right place for River. Inara comforts him and tells him that he’s given up everything for his sister and that is admirable.
b) The crew have an argument about if they will look after the dead on the ship, Book says “How we deal with our dead is what differs us from those who did the killing” and they go ahead with the plan to look after the dead.
c) The Alliance ship arrives sending Mal into a frenzy of giving orders, Simon gets scared that he is going to give up his sister to the Alliance and starts to argue and fight. Jayne seems to understand Mal’s intentions include using the Tams as a bargain chip so that they might be released. Instead Mal and Book convince Simon to calm down and get his sister so he can hide them from the authorities.
d) While being interrogated Mal realises that the survivor has become one of the creatures that originally tortured him and killed the passengers of the original ship. Mal tells the commander that the only way someone can respond to that kind of torture is to become that which tortured him.
For Discussion:
Sacrifice:
One of the things that this episode encouraged me to ask is what does it mean to give it all up for someone you love, and to then ask what it would mean to give it all up for someone you don’t know?
In one of the initial scenes Inara has a conversation with Simon about what happened to River and what seems to be affecting her. Simon reflects that he’s not sure if he’s doing the right thing, or enough and Inara tells him that he’s done a selfless thing to sacrifice everything for his sister.
I want to ask if it’s more selfless to give up one’s life for someone they love, or for someone they don’t even know, and this is a massive question that we are constantly faced with during the Firefly series.
The crew of the ship Serenity are constantly faced with the opportunity to risk everything, sometimes for each other, other times for friends, and, eventually for people they don’t even know, and possibly will never get to know (see the discussion on the film later).
What is the real sacrifice? Is there a difference? What makes a hero heroic?
Being Suffocated By Evil:
What happens when you come so close to evil that you become it?
I’m sure that there’s a part of us that says that there’s no way known that we’d become a Reaver, but how often are we tempted to become a part of the system that supports slavery, homelessness, poverty, death or environmental devastation? How often are we faced with evil, and how often are we tempted to cross the line, to become a participant, to become someone who creates the evil?
One of the realities of life is that we’re often tempted to participate in evil, and sometimes we fail to resist it. This is what we have called sin, the act of becoming a part of the evil of the world, of becoming an accomplice, or of becoming indifferent or even dependent on these injustices…
Looking After The Dead:
“How we treat our dead is what makes us different than those who did the slaughter…”
How much of this is true? Why, why not?
What would make us different from those that did the slaughter?
I actually got to write up the fourth episode “Shindig” last night, so I’ll post that tomorrow…
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