This episode gives us our first real glance into what the “core worlds” look like and how they function – the land of plenty with little care for those who “choose” to live outside. We also find out a lot about what really makes Jayne tick, and we see the dreaded “blue gloves.”
This is a terrific episode. The ending is the best - it’s where you find out how close Mal is to his “family” and the extent that he will go to protect his family. Jayne learns a hard lesson on this subject. He also learns to stay away (literally) from people waking up from a drug-induced death. 
I love the fact that Jayne cares what the others think of him. He cares if they know what he did, even if he’s dead. That’s why Mal lets him live and that’s why we love him so much.
…and that’s what I mean when I say “we learn a bit about who Jayne is.” Anyone who’s seen him can guess that he’ll sell everyone out for the right price. What we didn’t know is that there’s a person down in there.
A really, really messed up person. A person that loves Vera. But a person none the less.
this was the episode that made me fall in love with firefly, I was watching it must have been one of the first ones I’d seen it seemed okay quirky fun.
But thing that grabbed my attention. Is the obvious last scene between Mal and Jane, where the entire mood switches in literally seconds? It comes out of nowhere, and turns from fun Stealing high jinks to god almighty don’t ever cross mal.
This was the moment I realized firefly was something very special.
This moment for me was always like the moment Boomer shot Adama. It was you blink and everything has changed.
and Jayne not wanting the others to know, well that was just a little heart breaking.
I LOVE THIS EPISODE!!! Only the second time I’ve seen it, and rewatching after seeing the entire series, well, it’s just special - actually a high point for all involved if you ask me. Mal’s courage in returning to get his crew (in the Serenity movie he still doesn’t seem sure of River and Simon as his crew, but in the series proper he’s dead on), Jayne and his reluctant chivalry, and all of the characters performing at their best in what they specialize in. I loved the scenes where they were practicing to play the parts.
Favorite moment: When Jayne yells at the foo-foo Alliance gun that won’t work to blast the door down.
I love this episode. Probably one of the most complicated break-in hiest jobs the Serenity crew has ever done.
Just as an aside: There’s one thing that always makes me smirk a bit: those silver containers they use as the “body” containers: They are totally recognizable as those Thule-brand roof rack storage boxes. (I happen to have one that put on my little honda civic when I go camping—fits right on my Thule bike rack.)
Check it out: http://www.lakelandgear.com/images/rooftop_cargo_box/685_thule_atlantis_large.jpg
I noticed that too. We have a Thule for the top of our old Chevy Tahoe and when I first saw this episode, I giggled from the time the containers first made their appearance until the end of the episode!
Okay, I am the only one who might consider this to be my favorite episode. It was the first episode of firefly I ever saw, and I feell in love iwth it. It was fun, and dramatic.
I think Ariel would be in my top three. The hiest plan is complex in a compelling Ocean’s 11 like way. But I can’t call in my favorite because it lacks a couple things that are part of the essence (I think) of Firefly. One is not much time on Serenity in the episode, and second it lacked elements of the “western” theme that is so important to Firefly.
-Thot
I also loved this episode. Right down to the A-Team-esque montage!
This isn’t my favorite episode because it shows the side of Jayne I hate to admit exists. And I love Jayne. MissMuffet you’re right on the money here. I just re-watched the pilot when Mal and Jayne had that great conversation-
Mal- “How come you didn’t cross me, Jayne?”
Jayne-“Money wasn’t good enough.”
Mal- “What happens when it is?”
Jayne-“Well that’ll be an interesting day.”
And Jayne made the mistake of not realizing he was crossing Mal by turning on Simon and River. I think it would be easy for some to see Jayne as prideful in not wanting the others to know of his betrayal, but that isn’t it at all and it makes his character all the more layered than the big strong dumb guy. What I love about this show is how it takes stock characters- big strong dumb guy, hooker with the heart of gold, etc. and makes them more dimensional than we’ve ever seen.
I love every minute of it.
This is definitely the “Big Mac” episode. I borrow the phrase from David Eick, who described the episode “Hand of God” as their Big Mac.
You have to love the internet…I was going to mess up the quote by writing what I remembered…but with a few search terms found the exact quote I was thinking of,"‘The Big Mac’ and ‘The Big Mac’ is what we tended to call it around the offices. ‘The Big Mac’ because it’s sort of fast food - its like here’s the guilty pleasure, let’s go out and blow a lot of stuff up, let’s have some fun, let’s do a war story, let’s sort of get back to the roots of what the show is about"
This is one of the reasons I love Ariel. It is my Big Mac episode. If my top two eps are Objects in Space and Out of Gas…this one fights Jaynestown for third place. Why? Let’s enumerate.
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Every character has a significant plot/sub plot. Well, let’s be fair…Inara and Book are off to the side, but it is probably to make room for the fat plots for the other characters. When you think about the role Inara and Book play in the show, it makes sense they weren’t here…and quite honestly, you barely miss them (not that we don’t love them any less)
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New Serenity shots, new sets. Gotta change the scenery every now and then
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“The Plan” seeing the whole team come together to accomplish something greater than themselves…as someone else said, gotta love the A-Team element
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Perfect mix of humor, intrigue, betrayal and surprises.
JAYNE: Gotta be one of our best takes ever.
MAL: Doc had a good notion. Boy’s got a decent criminal mind.
JAYNE: What’re you buying with your cut?
WHAM
That and the next scene get me every time. You learn that although Mal’s plans rarely work out the way he intended, his secret is insight. He knew immediately what had happened and acted on that instinct. You learn what it means to be on Mal’s crew and what it means when you threaten any of them. You learn that Jayne is more than a paid thug.
…and that is all very, very sweet.
Sorry if you’ve read me say it before, but I’m a new Browncoat. I watched FF when it aired 'cuz I was a Buffy fan, and while it was good, it didn’t grab me. I remembered it vaguely as simply a show about some people in space doing some stuff. I caught Serenity on cable.
Anyhow, my point being this: Now I’ve just finished re-watching the episodes… I’d totally forgotten that River’s various abilities (details omitted to avoid spoilage) were so mysterious through the series, and how they gradually revealed them.
Were the gloves themselves dangerous or just the two guys wearing the gloves, one of whom had the little antenna-thingy that made the guards’ brains implode.
Also, about Jayne. He’s stupid.
Were the gloves themselves dangerous or just the two guys wearing the gloves, one of whom had the little antenna-thingy that made the guards’ brains implode. I assume they were operatives?
Also, about Jayne. He’s stupid. And Mal … maybe what he did to Jayne actually reformed him but I have doubts. But I guess I’ll just find out in the few episodes that I have yet to watch.
Don’t read this spoiler if you plan on reading the Serenity comic, but those two men: [spoiler]the “two by two, hands of blue” are from the Blue Sun Corporation. They are not operatives, more like private contractors the government hired to track down the Tams. In the Comic they catch up and try to board serenity. It doesn’t work out all that great for them, and as a result, the alliance calls in the operative you see in the Serenity movie.[/spoiler]
Jayne is an interesting character. If I were to plot which characters I liked the most when I first watched Firefly Jayne would have been dead last. He is an oaf. He is a meat head. He is all brawn and no brain. He is course. He is a thug.
The weird thing tho is that over time he changes in one’s mind. I remember distinctly thinking on my first re-watch, “Wait…is Jayne actually funny?” I started to realize he is in fact a very interesting character. Adam Baldwin did a brilliant job in portraying him…he actually steals every scene he is in without pulling focus. He is always doing something…touching something, eating something…totally in character. He also is smart in his own way. Think about the interogation scene in the Serenity pilot…he is excellent. “Aw, and I was goin’ to git me an ear too!”
Ultimately…he isn’t stupid per se…he is greedy and amoral. As the show runs its course if you are paying close attention you will see that that all begins to change.
As an example, note the first scene in War Stories after the credits. Everyone is sitting around eating apples. It is a throw-away line…but note who purchased them and the timing of the event.
Oh yeah, I totally get that. Jayne is funny, it’s my first time and I think I’ve already caught a lot of his funny moments, lots of small things, a few words here and there, a look on his face just right before they cut to something else. The actor is indeed brilliant. I should have been more precise - Jayne’s stupid because he shouldn’t have trusted his Alliance contact, I mean Jayne wasn’t born yesterday, he was all over the 'verse doing illegal things, he should’ve known better than that. And then there’s moments when I can’t help but feel sorry for him, it’s not that he doesn’t like Mal and the others, it’s just that he likes money more or THINKS that he likes money more than his “friends.”
grrrrrrrr! you should know better than to tease me - I’m not anywhere near strong enough to not read spoilers. But thanks, you can tell whoever it is you’re working for that NOW I’m DEFINITELY going to get the comics!!! 
NOW I know why Adam Baldwin always looked so familiar to me,
he was in Full Metal Jacket!
And in “The Cape”, a show known to me as “Countdown X” - I watched this when it was on originally, too bad it got canceled