Firefly: Season 1, Episode 5Out of Gas (25 Oct. 2002) 8.9
When Serenity's life support system fails, Mal orders the crew off the ship - but he stays behind. Director:David Solomon |
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Firefly: Season 1, Episode 5Out of Gas (25 Oct. 2002) 8.9
When Serenity's life support system fails, Mal orders the crew off the ship - but he stays behind. Director:David Solomon |
|
| Watch Episode 0Share... |
| Episode cast overview: | |||
| Nathan Fillion | ... | ||
| Gina Torres | ... | ||
| Alan Tudyk | ... | ||
| Morena Baccarin | ... | ||
| Adam Baldwin | ... | ||
| Jewel Staite | ... | ||
| Sean Maher | ... | ||
| Summer Glau | ... | ||
| Ron Glass | ... | ||
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Steven Flynn | ... |
Captain
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| Ilia Volok | ... |
Marco
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| Lyle Kanouse | ... |
Salesman
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| Dax Griffin | ... | ||
| Roderick McCarthy | ... |
Lacey #1
(as Roderick L. McCarthy)
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On Simon's birthday, Serenity's engine stops turning and an explosion knocks out auxiliary life support, severely wounding Zoe. With few options, Mal orders the rest of the crew off the ship, but he stays behind hoping for a miracle. The story is told in multiple time frames shifting from Mal's time alone on the ship to the events prior to the crew's departure. Flashbacks to Mal's initial meetings with many of his crew members are also a part of the narrative, showing how and why Mal and Zoe decided to buy the old Firefly-class ship, as well as revealing it wasn't love-at-first-sight for Zoe and Wash when he was hired as the Serenity's pilot, as well as how Inara charmed her way into letting Mal rent out one of the Serenity's shuttles for herself, how Mal met the mechanic/engineer Kaylee in a compromising position, and how the crew met Jayne who was an tough, but dumb, interplanetary bandit. Written by Azure_Girl
I love Firefly, all of it. But this episode was so powerful that it should have been the final episode. We get to know the characters a little better and it sort of had a surrealistic feel to it that made it different from the other episodes. All the typical Whedon cleverness you've come to expect was present in all its glory, but it felt more dramatic and serious. It was like watching a family you really like fall apart after many, many years of bonding. It's very sad and disturbing to see a trusty spaceship, that's normally bursting with life and activity, completely abandoned. And for a while, I thought that we had seen the last of its crew,during the flashback sequences.
Fortunately, the ending could not have been any better. It may seem schmaltzy, but the director played it out exceptionally well. I'm a pretty jaded, cynical guy, but this really moved me to teary eyes. I don't want to tell what happens exactly, but I think that if you know your Whedon, you'll be able to sense it. It doesn't matter, though, because it was inevitable. And like I said, this whole episode would be even more powerful if it was listed as the final episode.