Why "War Stories" is the best episode of Firefly

If you haven’t seen the TV series Firefly, this won’t make much sense to you.

   War Stories is the best episode of Firefly ever. I will prove it here. My second favorite of course is Out of gas, and then Jaynestown and Shindig.

   War Stories is the best episode of firefly because of the characters. My favorite scene is of course when Mal and Wash are getting tortured by Niska. Wash is definitely out of his element here, and Mal knows it. So to keep wash focused he brings up the elephant in the room. The tension and insecurities that Wash has are played out and realized in this scene. Mal brings those feelings up on purpose to distract Wash so he won’t give in to the torture.

 

  

   There are actually two scenes going on here: The character and relations between Mal and Wash, and the bigger story about Niska and Mal.  The amazing thing about this episode is that it wouldn’t work without all the characters being themselves and all of them trying to get what they want.

   Wash wants to be a part of the crew besides just being a pilot. He also wants more control in his relationship with Zoe. Wash wants to be part of the action so he can tell ‘war stories’ and fit in with the crew. Wash sees Mal as a threat to their marriage and he is scared of loosing Zoe. She has known Mal a lot longer and has a fierce loyalty to him.

   Mal wants to just get out of the torture situation. He wants to protect his crew also. Mal cares a lot about Wash because he talks about Zoe just to keep Wash’s focus away from the torture. It also helps Wash to talk about what is going on.

    Niska wants to keep his reputation as a bad guy, and wants to use Mal and crew as an example that nobody can cross him. He tries to manipulate Mal and Wash during the torture scene and later when Zoe comes to rescue them.

    Niska tries to manipulate Zoe by making her choose who she should save, but Zoe doesn’t even have to think about it. She knows Mal can last a lot longer in such an intense situation because they were both soldiers in the war. Mal has done this before. Wash hasn’t and won’t last as long. So of course Zoe chooses Wash right away. They are in love. Zoe doesn’t let Niskas manipulation affect her. She doesn’t even react when he cuts off Mals ear.

 

  The torture scene wouldn’t be so amazing without all these character motivations. If Niska didn’t know who Mal was or if Mal had completed the train job for him it would have been a lot different scene. If Zoe was there being tortured with Mal instead of Wash, the scene wouldn’t have been as interesting. If Wash wasn’t there,  he would have felt powerless to save his wife. This is why I love this episode and the show in general. The entire story is motivated by the characters. They are making things happen instead of things just happening to them.

  War Stories also gives us a lot of insights in the other characters as well. We see the whole crew come together to risk their lives to save Mal. Even Kaylee, the most peaceful of the group, is willing to pick up a gun and fight to save her captain. We learn about Shepard Book, who is surprisingly very knowledgeable about weapons and ships. He picks up a shotgun and there is a line about the bible being vague about kneecaps…

Simon is also willing to fight. After Ariel he seems to be an actual part of the crew.

  The biggest reveal though is the scene where River saves Kaylee by shooting three men. Before this we knew she was really smart, crazy, and could read minds. But we didn’t know how good a fighter she is. It also shows us how much River cares about the crew. She has no hesitation when her friends are in danger.

 We learn for the first time in this episode that Inara takes female clients. She has good taste. And “one cannot always be ones self in the company of men.” We see Jaynes’ wonderful reaction to the girls being together. “I’ll be in my bunk”.

  

   I love the part where Mal and Niska are fighting and Zoe tells the crew not to help Mal. It’s a great comedic scene but it also gives us insight into Mal and Zoe’s relationship.  Zoe thinks Mal has so much pride that he needs to defeat the bad guys alone but Mal says he can use all the help he can get. Mal will always fight the hardest for himself and his crew.

   That is why I think ‘War Stories’ is the best episode. There is good action and a great emotional core. Firefly works so well as a show because there are so many characters all working together but at the same time all the characters are very different. Just the characters themselves make so many opportunities to tell different stories. What other TV series do you know of that has 9 lead characters that tell such good tales?