Best/Worst Firefly Episodes?

[thetopher]

Firefly is often portrayed as being 'perfect' or at least close to brilliant, so in the 14 episodes of the series is there one in particular that stands out as great? And one that stands out as not-so-great?

To refresh memories, here's the list:

Serenity (Pilot)
The Train Job
Bushwhacked
Shindig
Safe
Our Mrs Reynolds
Jaynestown
Out Of Gas
Ariel
War Stories
Trash
The Message
Hearts Of Gold
Objects In Space

Best: I'm torn between 'Jaynestown' and 'Out Of Gas'. I like 'Jaynestown' because its about my favourite crew member and it's so tightly structured.
'Out Of Gas' is great because I love seeing how the crew was formed up, every scene is just about perfect and the episode unfolds in a very clever way.
'Out Of Gas' probably.

Worst: Easily 'The Message'. The only parts of this I really like are the beginning with the 'cow featus alien' and the flashback to the war with Mal and Zoe. I can't stand Tracey (played by one of my least favourite tv actors), have no sympathy for his plight/fate, and this episode showcased the lazy repetativeness of the Kaylee/Simon romance.
Basically that Simon would put his foot in his mouth, upset Kaylee, and then she wouldn't speak to him for the rest of the episode (see 'Janyestown' and 'Safe') until either he apologised or something bad happened to him; or both.

 

[nightshade]

For me the ones that stand out are, Out of Gas, Ariel and Objects in Space. The ones I tend to forget about would be the message (apart from the Jayne's hat bit!) and Heart of Gold, not overly fond of the second Saffron ep either

 

[sk]

I agree that Out of Gas stands out in a good way. It's a really good episode.
But my favourite is probably Serenity (the pilot).

My least favourite might be The Train Job.
I think it can have something to do with that they tried to squeeze in too much in that episode while converting it to a pilot.

I'm really happy that I watched it on DVD so I could see the "real" pilot first instead of The Train Job though.

/SK

 

[caitaintdead]

Favourite episode is definitely Jaynestown. Not only does it focus on Adam Baldwin & Jayne Cobb, both of whom I adore, but the side story of Zoe, Book & River with the brilliant bible scene and scary hairy scene. "He's putting away the hair now..." "It doesn't matter, it will still be there, waiting" I also really enjoyed Ariel, I loved the true heist aspect of it!

 

[Aqua]

From best to worse, today -

Objects In Space
Our Mrs Reynolds
Jaynestown
Out Of Gas
Serenity
Ariel
Safe
The Train Job
The Message
Bushwhacked
War Stories
Trash
Heart Of Gold
Shindig

I liked the Train Job a lot more on recently rewatching the series than I used to. I wonder if part of the reason I wasn't keen on it originally was because I knew about the background with the pilot. Objects in Space always used to be my favourite episode, and I'd say it's still my favourite even though I enjoyed some of the other episodes more when recently rewatching it.