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Objects in Space

Season 1, Episode 15

Written by Joss Whedon

Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: 13 December 2002

 

Wash "Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction."
Zoë "We live in a spaceship, dear."

 

REGULAR CAST

GUEST CAST

  • Richard Brooks as Jubal Early

SYNOPSIS

  • Serenity glides through space near a moon. Inside the ship, River awakes in her bunk. She leaves her room to find Simon and Kaylee talking and flirting on the couch. Simon is telling a story about getting drunk after graduating medical school, and how good those days were. River thinks she sees Simon turn to her and say, "I would be there right now." Shocked, she leaves. She next comes across Jayne and Book. Jayne is marvelling at Book's abstinence. During the conversation, River sees Jayne turn to her and say, "I got stupid. The money was too good," followed by Book saying, "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not." She leaves them and continues wandering.

    In the cargo area, River steps on what she thinks is a tree branch. She picks it up and suddenly sees hundreds of leaves on the ground. The crew begins to swarm around her, telling her to "put it down." In reality, she had picked up a gun off the floor. Mal eventually grabs the gun off of her. River runs off and Mal tells Simon he needs to take extra care with her.

    Continuing through space, a bounty hunter's ship comes up behind Serenity. Inside the ship, the hunter, Jubal Early, has "Wanted" posters of River. In the cockpit of Serenity, Mal and Jayne enter, arguing about Jayne leaving his gun out for River to find. Mal wonders if it's time to bolt River in her room. Wash thinks that's a little drastic, and Zoë agrees, saying River has probably never picked up a gun before. Kaylee appears and disagrees.

    Outside, Early leaves his ship and floats over to Serenity. In the dining area, Kaylee tells the crew the story of their mission to rescue Mal from Niska. Kaylee was pinned down, and River took Kaylee's gun, closed her eyes and blasted three of Niska's henchmen. Below deck, River is listening to their conversation through the floor. Atop the ship's hull, Early listens in electronically as Mal asks the crew if River belongs on the ship. They debate whether or not she has psychic abilities.

    The crew hunkers down for the night. Early opens a hatch and sneaks into the ship. Mal spots Early. They fight and Mal is knocked down a hatch. Early locks the doors to everybody's private quarters. He finds Kaylee tinkering with the engines. He ties her up and tells her not to make any trouble before asking her where River sleeps.

    Book walks back from the bathroom when he hears some noise upstairs. Early jumps down the stairs with a dropkick, knocking Book out cold. Early moves through the ship, finding Simon next. He asks where River is. She isn't in her bunk. Simon refuses to help Early, who says that's fine. He can just shoot Simon now, then go upstairs and have his way with the little mechanic he tied up in the engine room. Simon relents and they go off in search of River.

    Throughout the ship, there aren't any signs of River. Early begins to lose patience and shouts out for her to come up before he spreads her brother's brains around a bit. River's disembodied voice speaks out to Early. It says he's wrong about her being on the ship. They didn't want her there, so she melted away. The voice fills the entire ship, waking up Mal from his unconscious state, and awaking Wash and Zoë in their bed.

    Early asks what she means. The voice says she's not on the ship. She's in the ship. She is the ship. Simon calls out his sister's name, but the voice says, "River's gone." Early asks whom they're talking to. The voice says, "You're talking to Serenity. And Early, Serenity is very unhappy."

    Kaylee is still tied up in the engine room. The voice speaks to her and reassures her. Early isn't going to hurt her. He's only visiting. Kaylee apologizes for telling Early where she was, but the voice says it's okay. Still in the cockpit with Simon, Early wonders where the voice went. The voice laughs and asks if she can call Early "Jubal." He says nobody calls him that, but the voice says his mother does. Or did. She's dead now. The voice tells Early his intentions are dishonourable. He hurts people. Early says he only hurts people when he has to, and he's about to shoot Simon if she doesn't come out.

    By this time, Mal is coming to. The voice says she needs him to do her a favour. Over in the engine room, Kaylee is now untied. She sneaks out the door and through the ship. Just outside the cockpit, she unlocks the door. Inside Wash and Zoë's room, the voice describes Early to them, and says they can't use any guns on him. Just sit and be good and he'll go away. Below deck, the voice tells Mal to go now.

    In the cockpit, the lights go down. The voice tells Early he's not welcome here. He says he ain't leaving empty-handed. The voice tells Early all about his past. He became a bounty hunter because he likes the power. The pain. Early finally realizes: she's not in his mind, she's on his ship! River is sitting in Early's pilot seat. She says she can see everything from there and tells him to put his gun away. He does. He tells River not to fiddle with any dials. River says he's not righteous. He has issues. He nervously agrees with everything she says.

    She says not to worry. She's going away with Early since she's too dangerous and nobody trusts her on the ship. She'll become his bounty and just fade away. Early begins walking back to his ship, but Simon attacks him. They struggle briefly, but then Early shoots Simon.

    Early walks down the stairs from the cockpit when Simon jumps him from behind. Early knocks him off. He exits through a hatch on top of the ship and watches his ship glide toward Serenity. Mal appears behind him and shoves him off into space. He slowly floats away. River floats down to Mal and the Serenity's crew is back together. Simon talks Zoë through surgery to remove the bullet from his leg.

    As the ship returns to normal, Kaylee and River happily play a game together, and Early is left floating in space. Alone.

TRIVIA

  • This is the final episode of the show as it was cancelled by the FOX Network.

  • Jubal Early is the name of one of Nathan Fillion's ancestors, a renowned southern general of the American Civil War. Nathan mentioned the name and the general's story to Joss Whedon in the course of filming, and Joss used the name for this character.

CONTINUITY

  • When River is ‘reading’ the crew, she hears Jayne mention that the ‘money was too good,’ referring to the events of Ariel. Jayne complains about not wanting River on the ship, and Mal menacingly asks him, "Is that the direction you want this conversation to go in?", alluding to Mal's nearly throwing him off the ship the end of that episode.

  • Jubal Early tells Simon that he’s been tracking them down since the Feds were tipped off on Ariel, referring to the events of the same episode.

  • Jayne also refers to time when River slashed his chest apart to get at the Blue Sun logo, which strangely happened in… Ariel.

  • Kaylee tells the crew of River’s uncanny shooting ability which she demonstrated in War Stories.

  • When River is ‘reading’ Book he comes across as very un-Shepherd like, commenting that he doesn’t care if someone is innocent or not. It’s unclear if he’s talking about River or Jayne, who he’s talking to at the time. When Simon asks Early if his plan involved beating a Shepherd, Early, who’s comments about the crew have been spot-on so far, comments that Book ‘ain’t no Shepherd.’

  • The crew finally acknowledge that River has psychic abilities.

GOOFS

  • When River is still claiming to have merged with Serenity, she is able to speak to several rooms individually. Is this possible to do from Early's ship? And how could she tell that Mal was rolling his eyes - was it a psychic awareness?

  • Jayne asks if River can read minds - two episodes after calling her a 'mind-reading witch.'

 

Serenity (Part 1) | Serenity (Part 2) | The Train Job | Bushwhacked | Shindig

Safe | Our Mrs. Reynolds | Jaynestown | Out of Gas | Ariel | War Stories

Trash | The Message | Heart of Gold | Objects in Space


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