Episode discussion – The Message S01E12

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Robb Stark

King in the North
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Sineya
Original air date: Never Aired
Written by: Joss Whedon & Tim Minear
Directed by: Tim Minear

Plot:
A pleasant day out at a space station turns sour when Mal and Zoe receive the dead body of one of their old army buddy's in the post office. Their old friend is named Tracey who fought with them during the Battle of Du-Khang during the Alliance-Independence Civil War six years earlier. Along with Tracey's body is an audio message, asking them to take him to his home planet to be buried by his parents. However, Mal begins to suspect something might be wrong when Alliance agents, led by the relentless Lt. Womack, start chasing Serenity, demanding return of their property: the body. It soon turns out that Tracey is actually alive and reveals the real reason why he faked his death, and why he's going to die soon.

Trivia:
Although it is not the last episode aired, this was the last episode ever shot.

The hat Jayne's mother made for her son became a fan favorite, with people creating their own knit and crochet versions and one fan even writing a song about it ("Jayne's Hat" by Stan Peal).

By the time this episode was shot the cast and crew knew that the show would be canceled. When Greg Edmonson wrote the music for the funeral scene at the end, he told Joss Whedon that he wasn't saying good bye to the character Tracey, he was saying good bye to the show.

--All of the above comes from IMDB.com

I'll provide my take in a few hours
 
-"You're literally the only girl in the world". Wow, Simon, that was just...wow.
-Mal grabbing that pickpocket kid was awesome. I have a feeling Mal may have been that kid, once upon a time.
-Jayne's hat is awesome. At that he totally misses the joke is even better.
-I'm pretty sure that the crappy soldier Zoe saved is the Nox from S5 of Angel and the vampire from "Conversations with Dead People" in Buffy S7.
-Zoe talking about the merits of stealth and Mal just going Rambo is such a classic Joss scene.
-Okay Kaylee, get over it...
-I thought the scene with the recording from the soldier was really cool. Seeing the little reactions in each of the characters, like Wash heading directly to the bridge and Jayne taking his hat off, was neat. Powerful moment.
-You know you've met the bad guy of the episode when he opens with "you're ugly". And, you know, when he tries to light people on fire.
-As interesting as River is, she has the creep factor down pat. Crawling on the casket? Yep. Creepy.
-Okay, soldier guy (I'll figure his name out soon, promise) is alive. I did NOT see that coming. Jayne's line was beauty: "Pretty spry for a dead guy".
-Ah, Kaylee and Tracey have the high school chemistry going on. Simon might have to pick up his game (or at least stop saying stupid crap)...
-Wash owned that scene with the flying through the mountains.
-Okay, Tracey is now disobeying orders and making some shifty eyes a hand gun...and now pointing the gun at everyone on the bridge. Clearly more than meets the eyes here.
-Alright, if Tracey had taken that shotgun blast from Zoe at that range, he'd have been cut in half. And yet he doesn't even fall down? I mean, Mal's revolver knocked him off his feet. Bit of an editing error there.
-Man, Joss sure likes the "searching for a mission" themes in his episodes. Tracey has that whole speech and in Angel S5 (which either aired at the same time as this or the year after), in "Why we fight", they have an entire episode about it with Angel in WW2.

-This was a pretty good episode. Not my favorite, but I liked it. For whatever reason though, it almost seems like they didn't even need to have the whole "back from the dead" angle with Tracey. The theme of the episode would have remained pretty much the same.
 
Sad episode with loads of great quotes.
Before we get started, yes that's Jonathan Woodward from both Buffy and Angel.

Are Simon and Kaylee on a date? Now we just have to wait for Simon to screw it up. Or?

There it is. Joking or not. "...so you're more or less, literally, the only girl in the world."

"Oh my God, it's grotesque! Oh and there's something in a jar."

"My food is problematic."

Inara and Kaylee. <3

"How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't you think?"

"A man walks down the street in that, people know he's not afraid of anything."

"What did you all order a dead guy for?"

Flashback!

"First rule of battle, little one... don't ever let them know where you are."
*Mal storms in shooting like crazy*
"Whee-hee! I'm right here! I'm right here! You want some of me?! Yeah, you do! Come on! Come on! Whoo-hoo"
"There are other schools of thought."

"They don't like it when you shoot at them. I worked that out myself." You're so smart Mal.

"Did we get something fun?" Great timing as usual Simon.

River being comfortable lying on the coffin. A little bit freaky I must say.

Remembering the dead the way it should be done. Talking about the good times.

"What do I do? Shadow puppets?"

Dead guys coming to life. Not scary at all.

Kaylee becoming hostage. Again. Starts to feel very familiar.

Book once again show knowledge about things you wouldn't have guessed and it helps save the day. We really need to learn more about him.
 
-Still new proof of alien life this far into the future? Hmm.
-Awww, Simon and Kaylee on a date. Love it!! "Tell me more good stuff about me."
-Oh, Simon, you inserted your foot quite completely into your mouth. Again. Love Wash's comment, "Oh, it's grotesque! And there's something in a jar."
-Nice to hear the Mona Lisa is still around. Funny hearing Mal refer to Inara's "career".
-Jayne got a pretty sweet hat from his mom. I was wondering when that would show up.
-Dead man in a box. Huh.
-Hahaha. Big difference between Zoe and Mal's battle theories. "They don't like it when you shoot at them."
-Did River just call Simon a boob?? Hahahaha
-It's nice to see the camaraderie the crew has for each other. Even though Zoe and Mal were the only ones who knew, everyone showed their respect for the young man and did what they could to honor his wishes.
-Leather-dustered jerk face. :/ Wow. Seriously.
-"I guess we all have different reactions to death." Very true, Shep.
-"Police procedure has changed since I was little." No joke, Wash. Can the feds just do whatever the heck they want??
-Well, that guys IS pretty spry for a dead dude, Jayne. I just realized I've seen some of this episode before.
-Jayne holding the puke bucket. hahahaha.
-Smuggling human parts. Ick. I couldn't even imagine having someone else's innards in me.
-I pretty much don't like any of the characters on this show except the crew. Jerk faces. 😛
-Ahhh, rogue Feds??
-Do it, to it, Wash!!!
-Serenity really needs to get some big guns.
-Tracy needs to be backhanded many, many times. And Kaylee really has poor survival instincts.
-"Do you think I'm stupid?" "In every way possible." Uh, yeah. And Tracy, you killed yourself because you got greedy. That call didn't murder you. Moron.
-Though I did like the comment of "I think I broke your junk." Heh.
-Womack got served by the Shepherd. And Jayne should have shot him for that comment.
-Very sad to have such a young life wasted.

This is the first/only ep I had ever seen of Firefly before this watch and I didn't see the whole thing. Makes more sense now. Still very sad.
 
I love this episode. Jonathan Woodward's performance was amazing. As Holden Webster in Buffy he was just plain annoying & I couldn't wait for him to get staked! As Knox in Angel, I hated him for what he did to Fred. As Tracey Smith, I got mad at him, but he also got a lot of my sympathy. He was definitely an interesting character, his chemistry with Kaylee was great, and he has become one of my favorite single episode character in the Whedonverse.

Wikipedia says that "The Message" was nominated for a 2004 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
 
Finally catching up! 🙂

The famous beanie finally made an appearance!

Love Kaylee's hammock, looks so comfy!

I wasn't crazy about the Tracy story line. Seemed like a lot going on, I'm more curious about River and the rest of the crew....although this was the first episode where I wished there were more than 14 episodes.
 
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