Firefly: Ariel Review

Simon Tam (better known in some circles as the old Zac Efron) and his sister River have been among Firefly's most intriguing characters. Not necessarily due to the chops of the actors that portray them but rather the recurring impact their histories have on the overarching plot of the show. While the back-stories for Firefly's supporting characters range from mysterious allusions (Shepard Book, for example) to entire episodes (Jaynestown, for example), the recurring impact of the Tams' suggests that theirs was meant to be one of the core drivers for the series.

In Ariel, the mystery behind what happened to River is deepened slightly as Simon employs the crew to help him sneak her into a state-of-the-art hospital on Ariel, a core planet in Alliance space. While there, Simon discovers that River has undergone multiple surgeries on her brain which, combined with the increasingly super-natural abilities of the young lady, is making this side story downright Fringe-ian. Where this will take us by the season's (and series') end is certainly addicting but I don't hold out hope for a satisfying conclusion given the premature nature of the show's demise.

Firefly: Jaynestown Review

Hero.

Fame is a corrupting thing. It's allure so encompassing that those who have tasted it will go to any lengths to maintain it. It's lens so perverting that those in its thrall will abandon all wisdom. It is, in many ways, akin to an ego-boosting drug. Anything to maintain the high. But we, while momentarily entertained by the coke-addled friend's antics, soon shift our attention to more genuine bits of interest. If only fame worked like the soul-expanding narcotics, great artistry might be maintained. (The differentiating metric of ego-inflating versus soul-expanding narcotics is a useful one but one that is a bit too much of a tangent for an article ostensibly about a sci-fi television show.)

Of course, the above understanding of fame is usually understood only when applied to an individual. But similar effects can be seen on groups of people or whole organizations dedicated to a piece of entertainment. Like, say, a television show. The pressure of maintaining the fame trumps the soulful artistry which made the show famous in the first place and soon the show reduces itself to meta-self-reference and naval-gazing.

With an introduction like this, it should be clear that this reviewer's opinion of Jaynestown is anything but positive.