Out of Gas

Up until this point, it was a nice series full of interesting characters. But "Out Of Gas" breakes past barriers. As said in a review before, I'm not one for flashbacks usually but man, they were absolutely necessary here. They helped so much to just sink in the "we are about to die" scenario. It certainly is the darkest episode (so far) and the time shifts with hurt Reynolds only strengthen the tension. Amazing pacing, editing, acting and the plot just keeps giving.

Bravo Whedon and team. One of the best single episodes I can think of.

Mal and the Serenity crew are celebrating Simon's birthday when there is a fire in the engine room. Soon Keylee learns that the life support system is not working since they need a new converter. Mal order his crew to live Serenity in the two shuttles and Wash releases a distress signal. While breathing with difficulty, Mal recalls how most of the members of his crew joined him in the Serenity while waits for a miracle.

"Out of Gas" is a tense episode of "Firefly" and maybe the best so far. The plot is well developed with the use of flashback and the conclusion is great. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Out of Gas"

What a shame the Producers never stuck with this series. This was just one of many memorable episodes with a scene I would rank up there with Dr. Watson's enigmatic first interview with Mycroft in the initial Sherlock series.

Friendly camaraderie around the table is disrupted by a sudden explosion and a Sr. Crew member getting seriously hurt. What to do? As Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) struggles to do a damage assessment, the oxygen supply starts to dwindles and hard choices must be made. Catch this great line when a crew member tells Mal he doesn't need to stay behind & die alone. 'EVERYONE DIES ALONE.'

Woven into this tragic account is a flashback to when Mal and Zoe were first shopping for space vessels. Mal sees the Firefly and is gobschmucht! He can't see any other ships--it's love at first sight.! We realize, then, that Mal wants to save the Firefly as much as he needs to save the crew.

Brilliant stuff. Like every FIREFLY episode, the dialogue is fresh and snappy, as Whedon spins a crackling script, never using retread terms or phrases.

My review (and rating) aren't based on my being a fan, which I am. There are episodes in this series that are frankly not all that great. But even those have value because they add layers to the character's stories, relationships and plot arcs.

This episode is IMO the best of the series, closely followed by "Objects In Space".

Written by Tim Minear, the interlaced plot lines are beautifully conceived and edited. In one we get a straight forward catastrophe where the crew, and mostly Mal, are faced with an agonizing death. But instead of chopping through to a simple predictable outcome, we see relationships strained to the breaking point, unrequited yearning, and two twists.

In the second plot thread, we see how the core crew (Mal, Zoe, Wash, Jayne and Kayley) are brought together. Shiny.

The third, less obvious, subplot is Mal's love affair with Serenity. Their first meeting, his against the advice of others head over heels embracing of her, and the slow assembly of her working order and crew.

The artful interweaving of these threads is incredibly well done, and offers layer after layer of characterization and relationship details that make it rich.

I love the intended broadcast order of the series, but an argument could be made to make this the second episode.

Added icing to the (protein) cake are the multiple iconic lines that live on even after the show has been off the air for over twenty years.

Keep flying.

A hackneyed plot, supposedly "suspenseful" though the outcome was obvious as soon as the plot kicked in, similar to Hitchcock style settings which are supposed to be tension filled scenes to set the audience on edge -which run waaaay tooooo looooong- sapping all audience (me) engagement as the scene drags on past the 5 second point -yeah, I got it ...I got it ...I got ..,it. Not really revealing since the characters and the show had not established itself when it aired.

Would have been a good episode to end the season as an unresolved cliffhanger to be resolved in Season 2 Episode 1 with a fuller explanation of the daily travails of life on the border and what it took to get by.