Firefly 1.9: "Ariel"

Written by Jose Molina
Directed by Alan Kroeker

In which Simon hires the crew to break into a hospital so he can figure out what happened to River, but a betrayal places everyone’s future in jeopardy…


Status Report

Having introduced all of the characters and the essential aspects of the “Firefly” universe, Joss Whedon and Tim Minear set forth to trigger some of the plot complications set up in the first several episodes. Two major plot threads had been hanging around since the very beginning of the series: the mystery of River’s medical condition and Jayne’s mercenary desire to profit from their eventual capture. These two threads intertwine in this episode, and it is not a pretty sight.

What makes this episode particularly interesting is that this situation has been developing for quite some time, right in the open. There’s been very little attempt to hide the fact that Jayne is out for himself, and he doesn’t care at this point what Mal or the others might think. He doesn’t worry about what might happen after the fact, because that would involve long-term planning. Jayne doesn’t do the thinking thing.

The teaser, however, is rather shocking, since it takes a typical conversation on Serenity and turns it into a major turning point. Scenes like this can seem out of place or over the top, if the previous character development doesn’t make it realistic. In this case, the scene starts out like any other, with the characters bickering over whether anyone other than Inara should set foot on Ariel, since it’s a Core planet and therefore trouble for ex-Independent types.

The scene takes a rather unusual turn when River slashes Jayne across the chest, prompting much shock and awe. The scene is staged to suggest that River attacks Jayne for being incredibly rude and dismissive with Simon, but that’s not necessarily the case. Jayne is wearing a Blue Sun shirt, and River slashes right across the logo. This is not the first time she “attacks” the Blue Sun label; she also went a little nutty on the canned goods earlier in the season, which just happened to have the corporate label prominently displayed.

This is important because the secret behind the experimentation on River was never revealed, thanks to the fate of the series. Any clue is worth exploring as a possible source for speculation. It’s firmly established that River was a test subject in an experiment conducted by some secret ops group within the Alliance. It’s somewhat less obvious that Blue Sun is the corporate aspect of the Alliance. The question is: does River attack the symbol because the corporate Blue Sun was behind the experiments, or because the experiments involved “programming” the test subjects to undermine Blue Sun?

If Blue Sun was behind the experiments, what could their goal be? Being part of a military corporate structure, this could be the ultimate in aggressive consumer research; imagine people who could know, in exacting detail, what you want and what you’re willing to do to get it. Of course, that doesn’t explain the military technology used by the “Men in Blue Gloves”. It’s more likely that River was the test subject for military purposes, probably for use in the intelligence community. If the Alliance is worried about the Independent movement resurging, it might find it useful to have an army of telepaths/psychics running around as an early warning system.

Whatever the case, Jayne takes the opportunity to push Mal on the idea of selling Simon and River out. Completely in keeping with his characterization, Mal refuses to even consider the notion. Instead, he treats Simon and River like he would a soldier under his command; if one goes nuts and starts attacking fellow soldiers, then the commander has to find a way to deal with it. Mal makes it clear to Simon that a solution to River’s mood swings is a necessity; otherwise, her presence could become a serious liability for everyone. It’s clear, however, that Mal has sympathy for Simon’s situation and prefers that River get help, not a one-way ticket to some border world.

Just like that, the episode’s caper is born. Simon, all too aware that Mal is not kidding, recognizes that he needs to get the right equipment to find some treatment for River’s condition. He needs the rest of the crew for that, of course, and the trick is making it worth their effort. Being a doctor, Simon knows which medicines command the best resale price, and of course, those medicines just happen to be in the same kind of medical facility as the equipment Simon needs. And Simon, having been a rising star in the Alliance medical universe, knows exactly how one would get into such a medical facility.

It’s a job that appeals to the pseudo-Robin Hood morality of the crew. Simon appears to have learned something from his short tenure on Serenity; it’s a little unnerving to think of how diabolical Simon could be under the right circumstances. As the crew follows Simon’s plan in every detail, it’s easy to miss the moment of Jayne’s betrayal; the second time around, of course, it’s very easy to spot, demonstrating how well the scenes are executed.

When it comes down to having the “medical team” rehearse their lines, the usual Whedon-esque comedy creeps in. It’s hilarious to watch Jayne swim so far out of his depth, and even Mal becomes so invested in the caper that he gets frustrated at his own mistakes. Of course, that makes the whole situation that much more interesting; there’s a high chance of someone screwing up, even without Jayne helping things along.

Just as soon as the comedy sets a lighter tone, the writers pull the audience back to reality with the scene between Simon and River. As soon as Simon mentions how the two fugitives are going to bypass the checkpoints, a sense of dread permeates the entire scenario. Even as Simon assures River that it’s a temporary situation, the audience isn’t left with much more in the way of certainty. After “Angel”, it’s all too easy to imagine a major character getting killed off early in the series.

Lest anyone forget the possibility of further complication, Mal gives Jayne a stern warning on the way to the hospital. Mal’s no fool; he’s expecting Jayne to do something incredibly stupid and self-serving, even if it’s playing games with Simon at the absolutely worst time. Jayne nicely deflects any suspicion by acknowledging that Simon came up with a good plan. Whatever else might be true about him, Jayne has some skill at self-preservation.

He also has his eyes on the prize, so as soon as the coast is clear, he sets up the exchange with the Alliance. It would have been easy for the writers to let Jayne continue to act without remorse, but that would have ignored the lessons he learned in “Jaynestown”. Having discovered something about himself and humanity in that episode, he can’t help but consider what he’s done when he sees Simon risk everything to save one life. In that moment, Jayne knows who the bigger man is, and he hates himself for it. (Not enough, of course, to change his mind!)

Despite a couple small complications, Mal and Zoe make it to the supply vault. The “bodybags” make rather convenient storage devices. Meanwhile, Simon begins scanning River’s brain using one of the coolest medical props ever created for a television series. Sean Maher sells the idea of a holographic control system with his practiced and confident hand movements; it’s hard not to believe that the holograms were actually floating there in front of his face.

The writers finally drop some serious hints about what was done to River, and as noted earlier, it’s not pretty. The Academy sliced into her brain and then stripped down her limbic system, which regulates emotional control. The description Simon provides to Jayne (as he works it out for himself) fits perfectly with River’s symptoms: not only is she empathic to a heightened degree, but she has no way to filter out anything she feels. Since it also seems that the Academy experiments made her psychic, this seems to have been designed to prevent River from naturally blocking out such input to her brain; she’s forced to experience and react to every piece of information that slides into her mind.

Perhaps to prove the point, as soon as Jayne starts lying to Simon about why they need to leave early through the back door, River freaks out, her brain chemistry going into uncharted territory. She’s not concerned about Jayne’s betrayal so much as what she sees coming on the heels of it. And that’s not the normal Alliance agent in contact with Jayne, either. River is very likely reacting to the approaching presence of the two “Men in Blue Gloves”.

Somewhat predictably, Jayne ends up getting shafted by the Alliance, while the Alliance officer in charge takes credit for the Tams’ capture. It takes less than a minute for Mal to realize something is amiss, which is actually much faster than it usually takes. What makes it worse for Jayne is that Simon didn’t see what really happened; he thinks Jayne jumped to their defense. Having been proven a fool, Jayne doesn’t want to hear it.

Things begin looking up when Jayne and Simon manage to subdue their guards while being relocated, and Mal leads a rescue effort through the back door. Of course, the already-bad situation gets worse when someone other than the usual Feds show up: the “Men in Blue Gloves”. River sets the tone when she announces their arrival with absolute terror. That’s never a good sign, and once the Men show up and eliminate everyone who had contact with River, it’s clear why.

Jayne may be morally weak, but he’s not so stupid as to ignore the screaming of men dying in horrible ways. Even so, he’s way behind Simon and River. Mal and Zoe show up for the heroics just in time to get the Tams out of harm’s way, and by the time that happens, everyone in the audience is very, very happy. After all, it’s one thing to know theoretically that River was an unwilling test subject; it’s quite another to see what those running the tests are willing to do.

Mal’s sudden and brutal attack on Jayne, once the thrilling tales of misadventure are over, brings everything back to the very beginning of the episode, when Mal made his expectations rather clear. It’s rather clear that Mal fully intends to kill Jayne for turning in members of his crew, but then Jayne asks Mal to lie about it. In that moment, Jayne proves that he has some remnant of human remorse left.

It’s been established that Mal is struggling to retain his humanity, pulling people into his orbit that remind him why he seeks redemption. Jayne is more than just the hired muscle; he’s everything that Mal is afraid of becoming, because it’s one step away from the kind of amoral behavior of the Reavers. Mal probably told himself that he would take Jayne out if he ever slipped further down that slope, so when Jayne shows some sliver of humanity, Mal gives him a chance to prove himself. After all, if Jayne can redeem himself, so can Mal.

Up to the final scene, the episode runs the table from comedy to horror, and everything in between. It’s only fitting that the episode end with one of the most endearing moments in the entire series’ run. Simon comes to River with a possible treatment, the end result of everything they’ve just gambled for, and tells her that it’s time “to wake up”. Sean Maher delivery of that line is beyond authentic, and like so much about this series, it rings true on every level.

As mentioned already, this is the first episode to take previously established plot threads and pay them off. The plot is relatively straightforward, but very little time is wasted; everything that happens pertains to the story. All the same, this is an episode that needed to come after all of the characters are adequately introduced, and that’s exactly what Joss and Tim had in mind. Jayne takes an unexpected turn after his attempt to turn in the Tams, and now the stakes are raised in terms of escaping Alliance notice; it would be hard to believe that the Men in Blue Gloves failed to make the connection between their prey and Serenity.

This episode also continues the worrisome use of vague terminology for the location of planets in the “Firefly” universe. Ariel is constantly referred to as a “Core” or “central” planet, which sounds a lot more like galactic reference points that a single terraformed system. Wash also refers to planets on the “rim”, which suggests the outer edges of a galaxy. The problem with that is rather obvious: the Core planets cannot be in the center of the galaxy since that space would be dense with stars and radiation. Also, Earth is technically close to the rim, so why would humanity relocate to the center of the galaxy?

The technology for “Firefly” suggests sub-light travel, which is hard to reconcile with the notion of a huge galaxy of planets. Given how often Serenity ends up landing on a moon, it’s more likely that there’s a small conglomeration of planetary systems under Alliance control. This would still require an FTL drive of some kind, but nothing so outlandish as travel across thousands of light years would require. The region of space covered by human colonization could spread from the space around Earth outward towards the rim of the galaxy. Thus, the older and more established planets would be those originally colonized, while those on the frontier would be further and further out into space.

The intent seems to have been “escalation”; Joss and Tim were constantly pressed by the FOX network to tone down the intensity and darkness, especially in the character of Mal. (Odd, how the WB network did the same thing with “Angel” in its first season!) Slowly but surely, the material slides into that darker world. This is only appropriate, since it wouldn’t be long before the crew would face some serious interpersonal issues.


Memorable Quotes

SIMON: “Could you not do that…ever…”

RIVER: “He looks better in red…”

MAL: “…the patients were cynical and not-responding, and we couldn’t bring them back…”

SIMON: “What about the cortical electrodes?”
JAYNE: “We forgot ‘em?”
SIMON: “Let’s try that again…”

MAL: “Pupils were fixed and dilapidated…”

KAYLEE: “Hey, Inara, how was your checkup?”
INARA: “Same as last year. What’s going on here?”
KAYLEE: “Well, lets’ see. We killed Simon and River, stole a bunch of medicine, and now the captain and Zoe are off springing the others got snatched by the Feds. And here they are now!”

MAL: “Next time you decide to stab me in the back, have the balls to do it to my face.”

RIVER: “Is it time to go to sleep again?”
SIMON: “No, mei mei…it’s time to wake up.”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is a logical and thrilling extension of two of the plot threads established early in the season. Not a moment of time is wasted, and the stakes are raised for the crew once the episode is over. River and Jayne both come to a turning point, whether they realize it or not, and Mal gets to show some of his dark side again. This is an example of an episode with few mistakes and plenty of highlights.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Original Rating: 9/10
Final DVD Rating: 9/10