I think Tracy's big problem was that he never thought things through, as evidenced by his war scenes. No plan, just blunder through life,(I empathize with that) but never thinking through what the outcome means.

This is true about selling the organs to the highest bidder. He just assumed he'd deal with the replacemnt organs when the issue came up. And in the "just run" attitude on the planet.

This is also evident in his relationships with Mal and Zoe. Mal was Sarge, world without end. Zoe was Zoe, who would marry her?

It shocked his world that these people had moved on, even if Mal is only starting to. In the end his lack of planning cost him his life.

Just re-watched The Message.

God DAMN, I do love this show. Which is becoming something of a tedious refrain by now, I realise, but -- God DAMN, I do love this show.

Adam Baldwin's Jayne -- absobloodylutely priceless. Really. A constant delight. Funny as hell, but more than that too. The whole parcel-opening and letter-reading and delighted reception of the hat -- God, he's adorable. And his glee at the possibility of Tracey's body being full of gold -- man, I did laugh like a drain. But I was also a hair's breadth away from crying several times in this episode -- particularly, on rewatching, because you get to appreciate the full whammy of the irony at the time, with the message itself, and the flashback sequence. River, for all that she has so little to do in this episode, is also wonderfully good -- Summer just inhabits the role beautifully. She's utterly convincing.

I already gushed about the station itself, didn't I? Well, consider me gushing again. It's all so well judged and detailed. Wonderful stuff.

The snow chase scene -- it struck me this time that part of the reason this blew me away is because the effects are excellent, really excellent, but they aren't allowed to showcase themselves. It's a matter of fact inclusion -- had it been a car chase, or a horse chase it would have had the same amount of screen time. What's important is Wash and Mal and co inside the ship, and TraHoldKnox making coweyes at Kaylee. That's class. Moreover, the cinematography (and I guess this isn't the appropriate term for CGI, but I'm buggered if I know what the correct word would be, so we'll leave it at cinematography) is wonderfully naturalistic - the faint wobbliness and the shift of focus lending a near-documentary flavour to the whole spaceship chase sequence, rather than the too-perfect camerawork we're most accustomed to on screen. (In the UK this kind of fauxrealism gave This Life a very distinctive character, and I know I've seen it on US shows before then - this is more delicately managed than that, but it's bloody effective.)

I love Zoe. Did I mention that lately? I love Zoe. But I also love Inara, for entirely different but equally valid reasons. And Book is cool as fuck. And Wash is worthy of Zoe.

And Simon's attempt to show a girl a good time -- too endearing for words.

Plus, nekkid TraHoldKnox! Which was nice. Go Team Nekkid Boyflesh.

(Let it be noted that my failure to sing Mal's praises simply reflects my attempt not to overpraise my husband-to-be in public. Wouldn't want to be accused of favouritism wrt my tightly bepanted Canadian)

Fay, have you read Shack's recap at TwoP now that you've seen the show? He has a hilarious riff about the moment that Tracey wakes up during the autopsy.

No, I haven't read any of the TwoP recaps. I guess I probably need to -- my relationship with Smallville was very much in relation to the TwoP recaps. I've not read the recaps for AtS or BtVS -- partly, I think, because the fun of watching SV is precisely because one is mocking it (affectionately), whereas I take my ME stuff a leetle too seriously.

(still sore from the stupid fucking Skittles Sours indent ads we've had on Sky for a couple of years, which ripped the shit out of the show. Because the Skittles are sour, you see. So they make sarcastic remarks. Watching an animated Skittle voiced by Tony Hawks being snide about how cliched and stupid Buffy was, and then watching the various uncliched and thoroughly depressing plotlines of Season 6, was very angry-making. Mocking something which is acutely aware of its own cliches and plays with them, and mocks itself? Not so funny. Especially since it was more the Cordy-like character from the movie that was being mocked. And especially since Season 6 is about as far removed from the perky fun of Season 1 as it's humanly possible to be. And...I need to calm down about this, don't I? But it was a feature of every sodding episode of BtVS for two years, until they finally finally finally came up with a funny, subtle, clever, appropriate campaign using visual gags that tapped into the show's sensibility, rather than ripped the shit out of the show. ....er, right. Calming down.)

I appear to have some unresolved anger here. Ahem. Sorry 'bout that. Where was I? Right - TwoP. Yeah, I should go and check that out, actually -- if you liked it, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

ion, SciFi is continuing to promote the show with its lovely adverts. Go them. And the trailers for this week's show have me squinting at the screen excitedly, trying to decide whether it really is Julie Benz with dark hair or just a lass who sounds and looks like her.

Fay: Those Skittle adverts needed to die, just fucking dragged out the bag and shot, for all the reasons you stated.

Still new Firefly in an hour.

Smallville wears TWOP recaps quite well. I read one Angel one, and my blood pressure hit the ceiling.

Will not touch Firefly ones with a barge pole.

(still sore from the stupid fucking Skittles Sours indent ads we've had on Sky for a couple of years, which ripped the shit of the show. Because the Skittles are sour, you see. So they make sarcastic remarks. Watching an animated Skittle voiced by Tony Hawks being snide about how cliched and stupid Buffy was, and then watching the various bloody depressing plotlines of Season 6, was very angry-making. Mocking something which is acutely aware of its own cliches and plays with them, and mocks itself? Not so funny. Especially since it was more the Cordy-like character from the movie that was being mocked. And especially since Season 6 is about as far removed from the perky fun of Season 1 as it's humanly possible to be. And...I need to calm down about this, don't I? But it was a feature of every sodding episode of BtVS for two years, until they finally finally finally came up with a funny, subtle, clever, appropriate campaign using visual gags that tapped into the sensibility, rather than ripped the shit out of the show. ....er, right. Calming down.)

Wrod. They were awful-- and I normally like Tony Hawkes. When he's on the radio. But mocking Buffy? Not happy making.

And wrod to excitment re. tonight's show.

In fact, I think I should give up writing posts, and change my tag to "Wrod. What Fay said." It would save me typing time.

Oh, how I anxiously await the UK reaction to this one. So much revealed, so much left unsaid, somuch... Well, just so much.

And only one week until the first ever viewing of the original Objects In Space!

Thirty two minutes and counting to Heart of Gold...

Matt said:

Fay, have you read Shack's recap at TwoP now that you've seen the show? He has a hilarious riff about the moment that Tracey wakes up during the autopsy.

The recap:
[link]

the moment:

When we return, Tracey leaps off the table and starts wrestling with Simon. My mind cycles through about 500 gay jokes. Simon looks frightened and confused -- usually they're all naked and Zoe's not there. And the screaming generally has a different edge to it. Anyway, Mal pulls Tracey off Simon, wrestles him to the ground, and straddles him. Tracey, not Simon. At the moment. Hee. Sorry. Mal eventually calms Tracey down enough to realize that Simon was cutting him open because they all thought he was dead. Tracey realizes where he is, and then realizes that he's naked.

The rest of the recap is generally nasty and misses the point a couple places.

Right, I've said it before and it appears that I'm saying it again: I like Inara. I really do. I was gutted for her in this ep. I appreciate that YMMV wrt the whole 'Companion' concept, and I also appreciate that the viewing order y'all got in the US didn't introduce the characters nearly as well as Serenity did. Nevertheless, I really bloody like Inara, and I like the way Morena plays her.

For some reason I had an inchoate sense of dread watching this episode. Really not sure why, other than that the whole 7 Samurai thing seemed doomed to end unhappily. In the end it all turned out reasonably okay, though. Well, sad, but I'd been afraid somebody might be broken, somehow. I'm not sure quite what. And I suppose Inara was a little broken, but not in the way I'd half-feared.

Very much liked the first glimpse of the whorehouse and the horses and the speeder thing. Very Star Wars. Oh, but the opening ship scene was delicious. I love Serenity very much indeed, and I love the informality of people talking as they make ramen or whatever -- 'course, I've been sharing accomodation with friends, family or strangers all my life, so that's maybe part of it. It feels real. Using the table to practice manly gunplay stuff, and the remark about the place settings, and the snarkage about emergencies in people's pants -- it was all very nice.

I liked the whorehouse a lot. And I was pleased they had boys as well as girls, and I was pleased everything was covered in solar panel sheeting. Lovely. Jayne was entirely splendid in his every scene, and continued to crack me up with his talk of his John Thomas. Lovely.

I was also particularly fond of:

"Tell me I'm pretty?"

"Were I not wed I would take you in a manly fashion."

"Because I'm pretty?"

"Because you're pretty."

Bless Kaylee. And I'm glad they didn't make more of the Simon/Kaylee thing, actually -- it might have started to feel a little too much, and it wasn't the point, and Simon was in Doctor Mode. River made me laugh, bless her. Zoe was her fabulous self. Book was good -- sorry there wasn't more Book, to some extent, but not enough time, and I did enjoy his interactions with the whores. They were a likeable bunch, the whores, and for all that they were spear carriers (or, more accurately, pistol carriers) there was still a reasonable sense of them as being individuals, I think. Petalline was cool.

Mal. I do like Mal exceedingly. "You're my kind of stupid" -- very Mal Reynolds. And I'm glad that he did have the sex, because if he'd abstained from the sex for no bloody reason it would have been too cheesy and frankly incredible. (Which is to say, precisely what most shows would have had him do. "No no, gorgeous and feisty woman of substance who runs this fine whorehouse, is indebted to me and evidently fancies me -- I cannot have The Sex with you, despite the fact that it's a good long while since I got my end away, for I have big adolescent Unresolved Sexual Tension with the beautiful hooker who constantly puts me in my place and tells me our relationship is professional -- and not in the sex industry way. So despite having no reason to think she fancies me, I must pine away, pretend I am not a big manly man with bunches of testosterone and a space monkey in sore need of a spanking, and turn away your very sincere offer of The Sex." Pah.) So, yes - glad he had The Sex, believed it. (And loved the fact that whatchamacaller said "I've been waiting for you to kiss me since the moment I showed you my guns". My kind of Madame, yes indeed. Glad also that it evidently hurt Inara a lot -- not in a yahboosucks way, but rather because it was touching and a lovely character note, I thought. And I know some of you will be all "dumb bitch, it's entirely her own stupid fault, if she wanted to bed him why didn't she just DO something about it rather than being all stupidly standoffish" about it, but I have a big old glass house situation going on there, so I'm not so much with the stone throwing. Owch. Yes. Owch. Poor cow.

Did I mention how much I loved Jayne all the way through this ep? I really did. And I loved that he had a gun lodged between him and the blonde when they were all snuggled up. Cute.

I also loved the fact that Kaylee knew immediately that there was something wrong with her ship when they went aboard. That was cool.

I was terribly worried about Zoe and Book during the shootout. They didn't seem to have any cover. It fretted me.

Now, what are we to make of the rampant chauvenism of The Baddy and his mates? And what are we to make of the roles of Companions in the 'Verse? And of women? I feel like I need to sit down and think a spell about all this. The big rousing (as 'twere) speech about putting the damn women in their place, and the whole 'suck my cock' thing -- effective and disturbing, and it makes me feel that I need to try to fathom out the various contradictions between Core planets and the rim, between Independents and Alliance, and all that stuff. Evidently no concept of either Companion-as-high-class-and-respectable-profession here -- not that they were Companions, granted, but is it possible to have Companions seen as respectable people, priestesses even, and also have all other women seen as chattle? I don't think so. And Mal's view of gender politics encompasses women as different-but-equal, in terms of how he relates to Zoe and Kaylee; he's very troubled by the whole sex-for-cash thing, equating Companions with whores regardless. And yet other service industries don't seem to be a big shame thing, so why is the sex industry? If it's not about inherent inferiority of women, and about -- oh, I don't know. There seem to be a number of paradigms at work, and I don't feel up to thinking it through, but I think it probably needs thinking through.

To sum up: very good episode, once again. And gorgeous frocks.