When Simon is kidnapped by a group of villagers in need of a doctor, Serenity is forced into contact with an Alliance ship, in order to seek medical help for the critically wounded Book

The weakest episode so far for me I think.

It's not that bad, just not as good as the episodes which have gone before. There's some good insight into Simon's plight concerning River, the whole 'who/what is Book' scenario goes up a notch and there's still that trademark humour there.

The part I didn't particularly like was the Simon/River abducted by hill folks storyline. It just seemed rather mundane to me and served little purpose. Although it was nice to see that Jayne took all of a minute to start rifling through Simon's bunk when he thought he wouldn't be back.

Jayne: - "Dear Diary...today I was pompous and my sister was crazy." (flips page) "Today, we were kidnapped by hill folk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."
:lol:

Kaylee:- "Well, we're headed for help... right?"
Zoe:- "Captain will come up with a plan."
Kaylee:- "That's good. Right?"
Zoe:- "Possibly you're not recalling some of his previous plans."

:lol:

As I said, not a great episode by any stretch of the imagination, but still decent enough.

Personally I didnt find anything wrong with this episode.

It allowed us more of an insight into Simon and River's background and even showed there is more to Book than meets the eye.

Shame with only 14 episodes and this being almost the half way point that most of the questions will probably remain unanswered.

Good but not brillent.

I liked it, liked the background on Simon and River. Liked the cattle showdown contrasting with the maypole type dancing, lovely camera w**k, very surreal.

Not to sure about the burn the witch bit, not really necessary but very sweet moment between brother and sister.

Book's ID sure was interesting.

and :lmao: when he chucks it all back quickly

Good episode but obviously it through up the whole mystery of who Book really is which we never got answered, very annoying. Hopefully the film will give us some answers ;)

This was my favourite episode so far!

I love the Simon/River story, and theirs is my favourite Firefly relationship. It was so heartbreaking when River said "You gave up everything you had to find me. And you found me broken." :tear: I love River, but she makes me so sad :(.

The Book stuff was interesting, I just wish it could have been developed more. And yay - more Jayne funnyness! :lol: :lol:

:tear: I love that moment

Its funny but I enjoyed it much more the second time round, not sure why, maybe because I knew the characters more.

I've seen this episode twice now, but first time round it was my favourite (up to this point) as well. For me, this is the episode where you really get to know the characters more. Simon's devotion to River is really shown, we see that Mal is really a good guy who cares about his whole crew, we see that Jayne is out for himself! (and that's why we love him). Obviously the more episodes you see, the more you get to know the characters, but I really appreciated this episode first time round as well because I feel that you really get into (some of) the characters.

:) Yes, I think the first time I was mainly following the story and didn't like the whole kidnapping and witch idea, but the next time I was far more interested in the flash backs and the growth of Simon's character.

:)

I loved his episode becasue of the background wi Simon and River. It was wonderful to watch her learning the dance moves and joining in, with a huge smile on her face :lol: This is first time watching for me, and i can't believe I am nearly half way thru already :(

I loved this ep for the Simon/River backstory. It was also the first time we ever saw River happy - the look on Simon's face as he watched her enjoying her dancing was really lovely.

It did surprise me that in 500 years time, there are people out there who would make folk in the Deep South look liberal. Most of the Serenity crew are pretty godless (Book excepted) so it does make you wonder exactly what happened to cause some people to regress so much to a primitive belief system where people are burnt as witches. I think this was a missed opportunity to give a clue as to what happened historically on the outer planets; it would have made a good contrast to Simon/River's privileged upbringing.

Great :thumbsup: Really enjoyed this.

Firefly seems so much better now I own it on DVD, must be the lack of ads and censorship :lol:

:blush: i actually missed this episode out by mistake the first time, so this was the first time yesterday. :blush: It was brilliant :thumbsup: .


What I don't get is River's parents??? What is up with that from initially being so caring and thoughtful to seemingly not giving a toss?

Its a shame it never got to be explored further.

Their dad had a quite a high profiled status, maybe he was too afraid to lose it, maybe he owed some favours to people who were involved. It would have been interesting to find out.

Some nice moments here, but not in my top 5 list of fav episodes as there were also a few thinks that really bug me <_<

Such as the sounds the guns make in the fight where Book is shot. They sound more like lasers or something than real guns. Also the editing of the gun fight and the dance seems a little jarring to me, though other people here seemed to like it.

I wasn't sure whether I'd like this episode when I read the description - "Simon is kidnapped by villagers in need of a doctor" because I didn't actually like Simon, but I really enjoyed it. I liked how Simon and River's backstory gave more insight into their relationship and how much Simon had actually given up to rescue River, which culminated in his being prepared to burn with her. I guess this episode served much the same purpose as "Family" on Buffy and "Fredless" on Angel in bringing characters who at first seemed as though they may be expendable into the family fold (in this case Simon and River) .

Like a lot of other people, I didn't think the witch scene was necessary and it was rushed. Cardelia made an interesting point about it being an opportunity to show what was happening on the outer planets, but I think the main purpose of the scene was to show how far Simon would go to protect his sister. And I suppose that it was interesting in that no matter how far in the future the show is set, people are still wary of strangers and persecute those whom they fear or don't understand.

I'd thought in previous episodes that something wasn't quite right about the preacher, but now I'm even more suspicious of him. Does he, or did he w**k for the Alliance? (Damn that word filter!) Does he know, or think he knows, what happened to River? What Nick said about River's parents was also very interesting. Did they know what would happen to River, and/or did they allow it to happen? So many questions! :lol:

I liked the way this one started. Nice little flashback, to see how Simon and River communicated with eack other then. Then it comes back to the present and River is going crazy, if you like. I think this episode was good for the flashbacks.

When they had that gun fight scene, I thought, that was cool, but when they went over to shepard I thought he was dead :tear: but this was the first time I saw it. I'm glad he survived. I think he has some kind of connection with the allience. :ponder:

Jayne was good in this one. "I like hitting 'em" that line was great, and so was the part where he was looking in Simon's diary. :lmao: And his reaction when Simon returns, throwing it all back in. :thumbsup:

It was disgusting to watch those men skin that rabbit. :x

I liked the way Simon would do anything to save River's life. At the end where he says, take me instead, I thought the was nice. River, witch, how did they figured that one out? Well I have to say, if I was there, I would've thought she was a witch.

Anyway, overall this episode gets an 8/10. I really like some of the scenes. :thumbsup:

Rewatched this one again.. not really much more to add on previous comments, but it's still one of my favourite episodes of the entire series. River's my favourite character and the River/Simon relationship is my favourite of the show, so I love all the backstory we get here.

"MAL: Cut her down.
VILLAGE PATRON: The girl is a witch.
MAL: Yeah, but she's our witch. (Cocks gun) So cut her the hell down." Go Mal! :thumbsup:

Definitely very average and not as good as the previous Espenson effort. sk