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Post by TechnoSlut on Jun 14, 2004 12:35:40 GMT -5
Written by: Joss Whedon & Tim Minear
Directed by: Tim Minear
Air date: Never Aired
Mal and Zoe receive a crate containing the body of an old wartime friend, but the man turns out to be very much alive... and smuggling secret cargo.
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Post by Nickim on Sept 20, 2004 19:14:38 GMT -5
Right from the first shot of this episode we are bombarded with "Messages." The space station is covered in billboards. The side-show barker is shouting his "message" of "alien life." His message is proves to be false, a warning that we have to investigate messages before they are believed.
Kaylee wants Simon to tell her "more good things about me." Simon's attempt at flirting backfires, his "message" gets lost.
Jayne gets a message from his Mom--letters from home still mean a lot.
Was River picking up on Tracey's thoughts when she was lying on the coffin and said she was comfortable?
Tracey overhears Book's message to Mal, but misinterprets it, again showing that we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Tracey asks Mal, "What are we now?" He should know that Mal is the same kind of person who "carried" him during in the war, and that Mal wouldn't turn him over to the Alliance.
Seems to me the message is that the struggles of everyday life are the real battles. "The hardest thing about this world is living in it."
Some favorite lines:
S--I'm not good at talking to girls.
Z--Is there someone you are good at talking to?
T--Zoe's married? Next you'll be telling me she smiles and has emotions.
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Post by Linda on Sept 20, 2004 22:43:54 GMT -5
Right from the first shot of this episode we are bombarded with "Messages." The space station is covered in billboards. The side-show barker is shouting his "message" of "alien life." His message is proves to be false, a warning that we have to investigate messages before they are believed. Kaylee wants Simon to tell her "more good things about me." Simon's attempt at flirting backfires, his "message" gets lost. Jayne gets a message from his Mom--letters from home still mean a lot. Was River picking up on Tracey's thoughts when she was lying on the coffin and said she was comfortable? Tracey overhears Book's message to Mal, but misinterprets it, again showing that we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Tracey asks Mal, "What are we now?" He should know that Mal is the same kind of person who "carried" him during in the war, and that Mal wouldn't turn him over to the Alliance. Seems to me the message is that the struggles of everyday life are the real battles. "The hardest thing about this world is living in it." Some favorite lines: S--I'm not good at talking to girls. Z--Is there someone you are good at talking to? T--Zoe's married? Next you'll be telling me she smiles and has emotions. Hi Nicki! May I just say that I enjoy reading your thoughts on the episodes? Very cool. Eetah about the Messages thing. I think it ties in with the "eyes" thing I noted in my post below. Although regarding the "alien" message: I think that Joss' is implying that humans are more than alien enough here: Simon, Jayne, & Womack for example, by way of awkwardness, hatness & meanness. ;D Linda, only two more episodes?  |
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Post by Linda on Sept 20, 2004 22:51:07 GMT -5
Hi all! Missed you guys! I am nowhere near caught up on the main thread due to no working computer at home (waahhhh!!). I did get to catch up a bit on my Firefly watching, though. Y'know, this weekly viewing has increased my appreciation of ALL of the episodes. There's so much to see. In fact, that's one of the themes of this episode: Eyes. Kaylee (after Simon's foot-in-mouth "compliment": Nee GAO-soo NA niou, TA yo shwong mei-moo?"Why don't you tell the cow about its beautiful eyes?"(courtesy of fireflychinese.home.att.net ) This is another Joss episode referencing eyes. Simon's first stumble of the episode is when he pulls back from complimenting Kaylee about her eyes. And he rubs his own eyes shut as he's doing so. And then, after Simon delivers his insult, Kaylee marches off, muttering the above phrase . Later, in Tracey's recorded message, he asks that Mal & Zoe make sure that his eyes are closed. In this episode, I think I know what the eye references mean: actions are more important than words. 1. I think I remember Joss or Tim Minear mentioning that Jayne's real message from home was the hat, and not the awkwardly read words. (Eeetah with both Kaylee and Wash about the hat -- complete with the head-tilt indicating that Jayne is an alien, too.) 2. Simon's extremely dumb remark to Kaylee about her being the only girl in the world was *true*. Because it holds true for Kaylee as well. When she encounters someone else who is youngish and attractive (and not Jayne), she is smitten. But there are two significant, wordless actions which indicate deeper feelings between Simon and Kaylee. Simon's wordless retreat from the engine room as he overhears Kaylee replaying Tracey's message shows that he understands her. And the other act is Kaylee's wordless reach for Simon's hand during Tracey's funeral. 3. In the flashback: Zoe's reconnaissance is silent and effective. 'Course, there are other schools of thought. ;D 4. Tracey apologizes to everyone about getting them in trouble. And yet he causes even more trouble when he feels threatened. This episode also seems to me to be majorly about Simon. Who better to personify the ineffectiveness of words? So much of what Tracey does and says can be directly compared to what Simon did and said throughout the season. In random order: 1. Both Simon and Tracey try to use Serenity as a transport ship for concealed reasons. And both of them are being chased by Alliance or Alliance affiliates. 2. The concealed cargo in both cases is a human being in stasis. I think that it is deliberate that River's stasis is a birth image and Tracey's stasis is a death image. 3. Simon's wooing of Kaylee (yeah, I totally agree with Wash **snerk** ) involved awkward honesty. Tracey's wooing involved pretty lies -- or words that were later invalidated by his actions. 4. Simon always seems to be doing the right thing and saying the awkwardly wrong thing that gets him into trouble. Tracey does the wrong thing and says the awkwardly charming thing that gets him out of trouble. 5. Zoe, who was shown in the flashback to appreciate silent effective action over noisy showy words, is so much more openly affectionate with Simon than she is with Tracey. Certainly part of that would be their former military relationship. But not all of it. 6. The scene in the cockpit where Tracey has the choice to do what Mal and Book tell him to do is, I believe, a deliberate echo of Simon's choice in Bushwhacked, where he is told to go get River when they are about to be boarded by the Alliance. Tracey chooses distrust while Simon chose trust, although he had less prior knowledge of Mal and therefore less reason to trust him than did Tracey. 7. Kaylee mentions feeling queasy when feeling the simultaneous pull of real planetary gravity and the ship's (artificial) gravity drive -- another real vs. fake comparison. Other stuff that I loved: Wash: Oh my God! It's grotesque! Oh, and there's something in a jar. River: My food is problematic. River (to Simon): You are such a boob. Kaylee: I think it's the sweetest hat ever. Wash: When people on the street see you wearing that hat they will know that this man is not afraid of anything. Also, there was a nice little post- Ariel illustration of the evolving relationship between Jayne and Simon. In the infirmary, when Simon is asking Tracey about which drug induced his simulated death, Jayne knows exactly why Simon is asking him to get the pan and he holds it and takes it away without complaint (although I don't blame him for the disgusted look on his face.) Smallish continuity hang-ups: Jayne's remark that River was a mind-reading genius who couldn't figure out how to eat an Ice Planet seems to imply that Objects in Space has already occurred -- because of Jayne's matter-of-fact acceptance of her powers. And River's matter-of-fact inclusion in the group circle around the casket. Plus, there is the repetition of a small sphere standing in for an entire planet again. As I said, lots to see. And Knox is not dead enough. Linda, no internet access at home, dammit!!! |
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Post by Rachael on Sept 20, 2004 23:45:58 GMT -5
Hi all! In this episode, I think I know what the eye references mean: actions are more important than words. 1. I think I remember Joss or Tim Minear mentioning that Jayne's real message from home was the hat, and not the awkwardly read words. (Eeetah with both Kaylee and Wash about the hat -- complete with the head-tilt indicating that Jayne is an alien, too.) 2. Simon's extremely dumb remark to Kaylee about her being the only girl in the world was *true*. Because it holds true for Kaylee as well. When she encounters someone else who is youngish and attractive (and not Jayne), she is smitten. But there are two significant, wordless actions which indicate deeper feelings between Simon and Kaylee. Simon's wordless retreat from the engine room as he overhears Kaylee replaying Tracey's message shows that he understands her. And the other act is Kaylee's wordless reach for Simon's hand during Tracey's funeral. 3. In the flashback: Zoe's reconnaissance is silent and effective. 'Course, there are other schools of thought. ;D 4. Tracey apologizes to everyone about getting them in trouble. And yet he causes even more trouble when he feels threatened. This episode also seems to me to be majorly about Simon. Who better to personify the ineffectiveness of words? So much of what Tracey does and says can be directly compared to what Simon did and said throughout the season. In random order: 1. Both Simon and Tracey try to use Serenity as a transport ship for concealed reasons. And both of them are being chased by Alliance or Alliance affiliates. 2. The concealed cargo in both cases is a human being in stasis. I think that it is deliberate that River's stasis is a birth image and Tracey's stasis is a death image. 3. Simon's wooing of Kaylee (yeah, I totally agree with Wash **snerk** ) involved awkward honesty. Tracey's wooing involved pretty lies -- or words that were later invalidated by his actions. 4. Simon always seems to be doing the right thing and saying the awkwardly wrong thing that gets him into trouble. Tracey does the wrong thing and says the awkwardly charming thing that gets him out of trouble. 5. Zoe, who was shown in the flashback to appreciate silent effective action over noisy showy words, is so much more openly affectionate with Simon than she is with Tracey. Certainly part of that would be their former military relationship. But not all of it. 6. The scene in the cockpit where Tracey has the choice to do what Mal and Book tell him to do is, I believe, a deliberate echo of Simon's choice in Bushwhacked, where he is told to go get River when they are about to be boarded by the Alliance. Tracey chooses distrust while Simon chose trust, although he had less prior knowledge of Mal and therefore less reason to trust him than did Tracey. 7. Kaylee mentions feeling queasy when feeling the simultaneous pull of real planetary gravity and the ship's (artificial) gravity drive -- another real vs. fake comparison. Other stuff that I loved: Wash: Oh my God! It's grotesque! Oh, and there's something in a jar. River: My food is problematic. River (to Simon): You are such a boob. Kaylee: I think it's the sweetest hat ever. Wash: When people on the street see you wearing that hat they will know that this man is not afraid of anything. Also, there was a nice little post- Ariel illustration of the evolving relationship between Jayne and Simon. In the infirmary, when Simon is asking Tracey about which drug induced his simulated death, Jayne knows exactly why Simon is asking him to get the pan and he holds it and takes it away without complaint (although I don't blame him for the disgusted look on his face.) Smallish continuity hang-ups: Jayne's remark that River was a mind-reading genius who couldn't figure out how to eat an Ice Planet seems to imply that Objects in Space has already occurred -- because of Jayne's matter-of-fact acceptance of her powers. And River's matter-of-fact inclusion in the group circle around the casket. Plus, there is the repetition of a small sphere standing in for an entire planet again. As I said, lots to see. And Knox is not dead enough. Linda, no internet access at home, dammit!!! Wow. Good stuff, Linda. I hadn't noticed that theme, at all, but I'm certain now that it's there. Neat. And Knox is not dead enough. And his dying was spoiled for me by him trying to make me care that he was dying.  Let's see. . .do I have anything to compare with what you have? Hmm. . . . There's one significant thing, that I'm working out the meaning of, still: Mal and Zoë had to shoot their kid. I mean, if you look at it in one way, Tracy was sort of their son - they carried him through the war, when he was just a child, really, and once he was "grown up", and out of the house, who does he come to when he's in trouble? The scene that has the most emotional resonance for me in this ep is watching Mal watch Tracy die. 'Cause, he killed him. Had to, had no choice, and yet - it's tearing him up inside. And the thing that ALMOST made me cry over Tracy? When Jayne took off his silly hat at the funeral. "Show a little respect." It's the little things about Jayne that show he's changing, and growing, as a human. Suddenly, it matters to him that his captain's friend is dead. It was also kind of interesting to watch how the various crewmembers deal with death. Jayne wants to exercise or have sex, or do something that'll make him feel more alive. River. . .lies down on the coffin. I don't know where to go with that, except to say that her being really comfortable on the coffin freaks me out beyond belief. Book does the preacher thing - he feels the need to say a few words over the coffin. Mal and Zoë get together to drink and tell funny stories about their dead friend. Celebrating, rather than mourning. And interesting, to me, was that Inara was there, too. Is it just part of her instincts/training to help comfort those that need it - because, after all, Zoe and Mal are most likely to be affected strongly by Tracy's death. Or is it just because she thinks Mal might need her? Kaylee goes to her cabin to think and listen to Tracy's supposed last words. For once, she's got no bright side, no happy words - and wants to be alone. More fun quotes: "I get a discount on account of my intimidating manner." "What'd y'all order a dead guy for?" "Spry for a dead fella." "Um, Sarge?" "Yeah?" "I think I'm nekkid." "Do you think I'm stupid?" "In every way possible." |
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Post by Nickim on Sept 21, 2004 17:43:20 GMT -5
Hi Nicki! May I just say that I enjoy reading your thoughts on the episodes? Very cool. Eetah about the Messages thing. I think it ties in with the "eyes" thing I noted in my post below. Although regarding the "alien" message: I think that Joss' is implying that humans are more than alien enough here: Simon, Jayne, & Womack for example, by way of awkwardness, hatness & meanness. ;D Linda, only two more episodes? Thanks Linda. I love reading all the posts, everyone always sees something I missed. Thanks for the translation of Kaylee's comment. It makes that scene much funnier. |
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Post by Lola m on Sept 26, 2004 23:11:36 GMT -5
Wow, everybody has such great thoughts here! Messages and eyes. Really nice observations everyone.
I'm late to the party, so I'm just gonna toss out some rough thoughts, let them lay there and see if they turn out to mean something. I don't think I have any great revelations to add, but . . . I just love this episode. I just loved this show. I'm getting all sniffly again.
* Well, gotta comment on Jayne, of course. My sweet baby Jayne. How true that the real message was the hat. It's why we see him in it the whole time. But really, the main vibe I got about Jayne during this episode was, what Jayne is like when he's really just being himself. I think this episode showed us "at ease" Jayne. He's just so confident that the hat is great and I loved him reading his mail right out loud to everyone - stops and starts and difficulty with big words and all. No shame, no hiding, just pure pleasure about getting the mail and happy to share it with the rest of the crew.
* Loved seeing Mal and Zoe in action - seeing the war flashbacks. I love when we get to peek into the background of characters, see what made them the way they are now. Zoe is so quietly capable, saving Tracey and trying to get him to pay more attention. Then we get flashy Mal running in and it would be easy to wonder how they got to be such good friends, being so opposite to each other and so on. But, we also see their later relationship already in place. Zoe the stalwart second in command, waiting to carry out the oh so right tactics and plan that Mal will come up with. For all his light hearted banter, we get to see just how good, how brilliant a leader Mal can be. There's good reasons why they survived the war.
* Tracey, Tracey, Tracey. He just hasn't changed, has he? Still just kinda bumbling along, making trouble for himself and everyone else, being sloppy and careless and figuring that he'll just charm his way out of things. Wants to be able to admit he was "playing" you with a little smile and have everything be all right.
I'm not saying some better communication by all parties wouldn't have been helpful, though. I mean, Mal or any of them could have told Tracey what they were planning straight out and maybe the whole shooting thing could have been avoided. Then again, the bad guys were right there shooting at them and Tracey had already taken Kaylee hostage by then and he wasn't exactly helping to bring about a meaningful dialog. And Mal is just so painfully honest with him. "You mailed your ugly business to me and Zoe . . . . No one's made you do anything. You brought this on yourself."
* Those final shots at Tracey's funeral have to be some of the finest and prettiest that Joss has ever done. The snow falling, the music, the different reactions of all the crew. But I think my favorite was just the simple act of having Tracey's message playing again - like it did at the start. With all the events that have happened since then, we remember hearing it first and thinking what we all thought and then learning it was a fake. And now it's all come full circle. The things he recorded to try to play on Mal and Zoe's sympathy turn out to have been not so false after all. That just gets to me, every time I watch this one. Handing the message over to his folks and then that final shot of just Mal is so . . . perfect.
* Book. My, my, my. He just nails that dirty Alliance/cop guy, doesn't he? He keeps knowing way too much about this kind of stuff for a simple Shepherd. What a great scene in the cargo hold. I so want to know more about Book. I really really hope the movie gives us some more answers.
Lola
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Post by Nickim on Sept 27, 2004 8:49:06 GMT -5
I can't figure out how to bold someone else's post, so I'll say it this way.
Lola, where you say Zoe was trying to get Tracey to pay more attention in the flashbacks. That's the key. He didn't pay attention to the danger then. He was more concerned about his physical comfort, and it nearly cost him his life. He was hungry, so he stopped to eat. Later, he doesn't pay attention to the danger of having his organs removed and growing organs for someone else and then double-crossing that person. He's more concerned about physical comfort again, not his own this time--getting his parents off "that rock" to someplace warmer. Mal and Zoe have tried to warn him many times, but Tracey has never payed attention to danger and finally it does cost him his life.
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Post by Lola m on Sept 27, 2004 10:51:12 GMT -5
I can't figure out how to bold someone else's post, so I'll say it this way. Lola, where you say Zoe was trying to get Tracey to pay more attention in the flashbacks. That's the key. He didn't pay attention to the danger then. He was more concerned about his physical comfort, and it nearly cost him his life. He was hungry, so he stopped to eat. Later, he doesn't pay attention to the danger of having his organs removed and growing organs for someone else and then double-crossing that person. He's more concerned about physical comfort again, not his own this time--getting his parents off "that rock" to someplace warmer. Mal and Zoe have tried to warn him many times, but Tracey has never payed attention to danger and finally it does cost him his life. Exactly! I'd relate it to the idea that Rachael mentions - Tracey almost being like Mal and Zoe's child. It's like he continues to move through the world acting like a young child. Focused only on his immediate needs, not really thinking about possible consequence, expecting "mom and dad" to pick up the pieces for him. Lola |
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Jan 26, 2005 3:41:37 GMT -5
I finally broke down and bought the DVDs, and I'm enjoying watching them and reading Sara's analyses and everyone's comments. yay.
The thing that really strikes me about this episode is Tracey as a soldier who couldn't survive peacetime. I really like how the show not only mixes elements from different cultures throughout the history of the earth but also takes elements from actual history and mixes it up. There are numerous examples throughout history of soldiers coming back from war and being unable to adjust, reconnect, move on; I thought it was really poignant to tell such a story in this episode.
Also, I liked the repetition of his recorded message but in a different context. Reminds me of the use of Doyle's
advertisement in Hero.
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Post by Lola m on Jan 26, 2005 8:33:17 GMT -5
I finally broke down and bought the DVDs, and I'm enjoying watching them and reading Sara's analyses and everyone's comments. yay. The thing that really strikes me about this episode is Tracey as a soldier who couldn't survive peacetime. I really like how the show not only mixes elements from different cultures throughout the history of the earth but also takes elements from actual history and mixes it up. There are numerous examples throughout history of soldiers coming back from war and being unable to adjust, reconnect, move on; I thought it was really poignant to tell such a story in this episode. Also, I liked the repetition of his recorded message but in a different context. Reminds me of the use of Doyle's advertisement in Hero. Oooh. Very nice observations. Tracey as someone who couldn't survive peacetime. And, in some ways, neither does Mal. I mean, physically he obviously survives. But he is so closed off, and continues to so affected by the war. He's permanently wounded, I guess. Comparing Tracey's video to Doyle's is a very good idea. The second time we see it, at the end, it brings the same feeling - sad, poignant, that feeling of "now that we know what we know". Definitely used by Joss for a similar effect. Lola |
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