Firefly: The Message Review

Generations of charm.

Firefly continues to oscillate between the satire and the saccharine, the mindless and the maudlin. It's starting to feel like the wheels are falling off the show a little bit, particularly with the extremely weepy conclusion to The Message. Which is something of a shame, given how tight the episode feels overall. Slightly deeper research however, reveals an explanation for The Message's jarringly heavy-handed conclusion; the news of the show's cancellation came during the production of The Message. Whedon and Minear used the final moments of the episode as a vehicle for their own farewell to the show. Cast in this light, the episode's conclusion is no less jarring but is, at least, forgivably so, putting The Message up there with the series' best.

Firefly: Out of Gas Review

Tim Minear.

A quick review of the writing credits for each of the eight Firefly episodes seen so far reveals some interesting attributes of each primary scribe. Whedon's writing is, unsurprisingly, the most accessible and pleasing. Serenity, The Train Job, and Our Mrs. Reynolds all move effortlessly between humor and drama with neither tone feeling overdone. The guest writers range from pleasing (Jane Espenson's Shindig was a delight) to hackneyed (Drew Z. Greenberg's Safe felt mostly tacky) to overwrought (Ben Edlund's Jaynestown being the worst-reviewed episode thus far). Which leaves the work of Tim Minear, Whedon's creative second-in-command. Minear was responsible for the hair-raising Bushwhacked and co-wrote the enjoyable The Train Job with Whedon. But perhaps the most poignant Firefly episode to date is also Minear's second solo act and Out of Gas does not disappoint, suggesting that Minear might have his finger closer to Firefly's emotional pulse than even its more famous creator.