Episode 7: Jaynestown
A good episode for sure, but not as great as Our Mrs. Reynolds. It provided some good character development for characters who really needed it, and I appreciate it for that. Jayne, Simon, River, and to an extent Shepherd and Kaylee all got some advancement of their characters and relationships, and all had some good dialogue among each other. The strengths of the show keep staying strengths. How wonderful.
Jayne's storyline was pretty nifty. Watching him go from fearful to elated to remorseful over the course of his time in Canton was a good ride, and it shows he's like Mal in having this odd sense of nobility while working as a thief. Inara probably compared them best with her confusion of Mal and Jayne when it was reported they were in Canton. His ended dialogue with Mal was a pretty good summary of what had happened. His encounter with Stitch was probably the highlight of the episode, especially the townsman jumping in front of the shotgun blast. I hadn't expected it, and Jayne's reaction was well done. The encounter was short, but it did its job.
Jayne was great, but I really appreciated Simon's development throughout the episode. His fumbling at the beginning acting as the boss was comedic, and his relationship with Kaylee is still being pushed, which was nice to see. I wasn't sure how fully they were going to commit to it after Shindig. They're a cute couple, though, and I'm interested in seeing how it plays out. Being proper as a form of Simon's identity was a good dialogue, too. It was just really nice to see Simon acting around with River.
Speaking of which, I really enjoyed the exchanges between River and Shepherd. The two have an interesting dynamic of faith vs. science, and I hope they play around with it a little more. River got some slight development, as did Shepherd, but most importantly we got to see Shepherd's "dat hair." It was some serious Hey Arnold swag.
Subplot with Inara and the Magistrate's son was okay. Nothing really notable besides it allowing the crew to get off the planet. I guess that's pretty notable after all, but it wasn't as interesting as everything else going on. Inara's good at her job, though. Kudos.
Character Rankings:
Mal - stays the course
Jayne - development was good to see, and I'm so glad they took him in this direction. I was very worried after the first couple of episodes that he'd just be the douche tough guy.
Inara - still going strong, though I can feel my favor for her slipping a tad bit when other characters have good episodes. Still, she's one of the more unique characters and her relationship with Mal still has plenty of potential,
Kaylee - I still like her, but she showed herself to just be another dumb girl with dumb girl reactions to the dumb things dumb guys say. Her cuteness is undeniable, though.
Simon - he really improved upon me a lot this episode. His awkwardness was humorous and endearing, and I like seeing and actual motive for being a proper, straight man.
Wash - becoming desperately in need of an episode dedicated to his development, but he's still good when he's on screen. just not doing much.
Shepherd - dat hair, though he's still the religious archetype and that doesn't do much for me. he pulls it off well, though, and is able to be comedic to balance it out.
Zoe - she, like Wash, is really in need of some development. At the very least, give her more chances to be badass. She was good in Train Job, but after that, she's just only been there for the most part in terms of doing work.
River - she's making progress, and her dynamic with Shepherd shows promise. Overall, it was just nice watching her interact with someone that wasn't Simon.
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