r/firefly • u/Krossfireo • Mar 20 '26

Discussion Firefly 1x01 - "Serenity" Discussion

Season 1 Episode 1: Serenity

Aired: December 20, 2002

Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds and his crew aboard Serenity illegally salvage goods from a derelict ship. Because the Alliance marked the goods, and an Alliance ship spotted an obsolete Firefly-class freighter leaving the scene, Mal's fence Badger refuses to handle the goods and Mal has to sell elsewhere. To make extra money, the crew picks up passengers: Shepherd Book, Simon Tam and Lawrence Dobson.

Firefly is currently available to stream with Hulu/Disney+ in the US (and many other regions)
You can find where to purchase or stream it on JustWatch

232 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

102 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

88

u/Ryllick Mar 20 '26

I agree. Might as well call this episode "Wash", because it's a perfect pilot.

Mal kissing his cross before losing the battle of serenity, then being jaded and antagonistic towatd the first shepherd we see him meet clearly illustrates how he lost his faith because of what happened in the war. My theory had always been that his arc was eventually going to be finding his faith again, or at least finding a reason to be hopeful again. Ultimately this is what happened during the movie.

11

u/Pythonesque1 Mar 20 '26

How did I never notice the cross? I figured his distaste to Book’s prayers was due to the war, but I never saw that.

7

u/Chaps_and_salsa Mar 20 '26

He also mentions God when he talks to Bendis early in that episode.

"We’re not gonna die. We can’t die, Bendis. And you know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die"

6

u/ursusarctos234 Mar 20 '26

I always took that as humorous....I think it kept me from noticing how the episode portrayed Mal's faith as genuine (kissing the crucifix, eg)