![Firefly: War Stories [Ep 10] ✦ Watchalong Reaction & Review](https://img5.samuzai.com/storage/6/da/ey/ee0934-019e7b8e-cd76-72ab-939c-78be0c9e17d9.jpg)
Firefly: War Stories [Ep 10] ✦ Watchalong Reaction & Review
Added 2025-02-20 18:45:01 +0000 UTCHi everyone! Bit of an intense episode! Looking forward to your comments! 😊 [Direct link here.]
✦ KL
Comments
I was saying while watching this and the conversation they were having during the torture that this was a conversation that needed to be had and to be fair, I don't know if it would've been had WITHOUT torture.
Thadman
2025-03-01 05:16:54 +0000 UTCThanks for that Mass Effect comparison! Very helpful.
kaiielle
2025-02-21 15:35:21 +0000 UTCSince you're a fan of the Mass Effect universe, you can also think of Inara as being like the Asari Consort on the Citadel. Sometimes all people come to her for is advice. Like on how to be a man, independent of body count. I like how Wash says, "He's crazy" and Zoe naturally thinks he's talking about Niska. It's Mal he's referring to, saying he wouldn't crack. Now he understands why Zoe trusts him so thoroughly, because they've been to the edge of the volcano together and he was still ... perhaps incomprehensibly... the same person, cracking jokes like, "Are you starting a book club? What are you tryin' to do, torture me?"
Dan
2025-02-21 15:27:10 +0000 UTC@Jason Yeah, same. "Don't forget to call him Sir. He likes that!"
Dan
2025-02-21 15:24:00 +0000 UTCSo many good things in this episode. Jayne buying apples for everyone to assuage his guilt. Wash perhaps gaining some (needed) clarity about Zoe and Mal's relationship. River showing some (scary) ability/skill. Most importantly though was _everyone_ doing what they could do help get Mal back, right down to the Shepard picking up a rifle (which he seems very good with given the accuracy of that hip-shot).
Paul Howard
2025-02-21 11:19:40 +0000 UTCWell said. You hit on all the points I came here to say. Mal kept Wash focused and distracted during the torture; Inara has many varied duties as a companion; and Wash gave hints of his unease with Zoe and Mal's relationship in the very first episode ("Don't forget to call him 'Sir'".
Jason Irwin
2025-02-21 00:03:37 +0000 UTCThere's an impressive amount of humour in this episode given the amount of torture and gunplay (side note: Is there a funnier torture scene in a TV show?). In case you didn't pick it up, during the torture Mal was deliberately pushing Wash's buttons in order to keep him aware and awake, focused on something other than the torture, so that he'd be able to get through it. By a similar measure, Zoe immediately picks Wash to 'buy back' not only because he's her husband, but because she knows Mal can handle the torture - which is rather proven by him taking on Niska *after* having been tortured to death! Incidentally, Nathan can look quite scary when he needs to! Companion's in Firefly are loosely based on geishas, so they are highly educated courtesans that do a wide variety of things for their clients - as you've seen, the sex aspect is only a part of their role. For example, whilst there was sex involved with Fess in Jaynestown, Inara was also in a sense acting as a therapist for him. This isn't explained in the final cut of the episode, but the counsellor is actually gay but is pretending to be straight in public - the credit for the 'Vanilla husband' is for her husband, who she's 'with' in public. There were hints that Wash wasn't entirely OK with Mal and Zoe's relationship back at the beginning of Serenity - that because of how loyal she is to Mal it could give the impression that she's completely subservient to him, always taking Mal's side over Wash's. Also note that the apples were bought by Jayne for the whole crew - guess he's feeling guilty after last episode!
Sean Ellingham
2025-02-20 20:14:27 +0000 UTC
