Firefly: Ranking Episodes From Worst To Best

4. Episode 10: War Stories

River: "No power in the 'Verse can stop me."

It's amazing how much writer Cheryl Cain manages to pack in to forty-five minutes: Mal and Wash are kidnapped and tortured by Niska, the crew endeavors on a nearly-suicidal rescue mission, during which River kills three men with almost supernatural speed and skill,the issue of Zoe's conflicting loyalties to Mal as the captain and Wash as her husband is finally brought to the forefront, and, just to make life on Serenity a bit more interesting, Inara takes on a female client.

What I love about this episode is that we get to see just how much Mal cares about his crew. Even under horrific torture that actually does kill him (before Niska then revives him to continue said torture), Mal focuses everything he has on keeping Wash from succumbing to the pain. Wash realizes what he's doing and begins to understand why Zoe holds so much respect for the captain. Even through torturous pain and death, protecting his crew is still what matters most to Mal.

I also love this episode because it refuses to acknowledge even a hint of a love triangle between Mal, Zoe, and Wash. Love triangles are tired cliches and demeaning to the woman in the middle who's forced to dither, making her ultimately come across as fickle and unintelligent. Fortunately, when Niska tries to make Zoe choose between Mal and Wash when she brings their ransom, her answer leaves him speechless:

Niska: "I think this is not enough ...not enough for two, but sufficient perhaps for one? Ahhh, you now have-"

Zoe: "Him." (points at Wash) "I'm sorry, you were going to ask me to choose, right? Do you want to finish?"

Badass, right there.

It's good to see a strong female character who knows her own mind and isn't having any of that love triangle bullcrap. It's also worth noting that even Jayne agrees that the idea of Mal and Zoe as a couple is "downright unsettlin'."

We also get our first hint of River's full potential as a dangerous weapon. While before she only demonstrated psychic abilities, in this episode she shows how truly threatening she is in combat when she kills three men, one shot each, with her eyes closed. Whatever the academy did to her, now we know it wasn't simply to toy with her brain; they have created something deadly. Combine that with River's unpredictability, and the future does not bode well for the safety of Serenity's crew.