A bounty hunter boards Serenity hoping to take in River and Simon for some ready cash. However, he doesn't expect River to demonstrate the ability to absorb herself into the ship and make his job trickier.

This is a weird episode. Too much time has now been spent on River, especially considering that we still know next to nothing about her except that she was experimented on, she's not 'right', and she's psychic, a conclusion most of us had reached way before the captain or any of the rest of them. Part of my frustration is borne of the fact that I know there are only four more episodes left after this one, and I want some things decided. Why can't Simon and Kaylee get together? Why can't Inara and Mal act on their obvious attraction? Who is Book? I'm a little tired of the same questions being brought up again and again. How come everyone else seems to know Book's no Shepherd except the Serenity crew? Are they missing something obvious?

Richard Brooks, formerly star of the much-missed GvsE is excellent as bounty hunter Jubal, although his comedic touch seems better suited to quirkiness than Joss Whedon's writing, as some of the jokes fall flat, especially in earlier scenes when he seems to have a hearing problem and keeps mistaking words. It's an idea that Joss seems to get bored with a short time in as well, as it suddenly ceases without explanation. Where he is good is in his nastiness. Considering I was used to him on the side of good, I did find him believable as an outwardly reasonable but inwardly vicious man, his quiet demeanour working well for him, especially in the calm way he asks Kaylee if she's ever been raped. Really horrible. One thing he does seem to suffer from, however, is a drop in intelligence later in the episode, when he seems convinced that River really could possess Serenity. For a moment we almost believe it as well, but the ludicrousness quickly kicks in.

That aside, we're still stuck with a bit of a simplistic episode. Unlike the other stories where we've seen the characters on board the ship, we really learn little more about them in this episode than we already knew, and we seem to be back to suffering from a lack of desire to give away too much too soon, doubly frustrating knowing the opportunities are running out. What this episode doesn't suffer from is any dragging, which is odd considering that there's little going on except wandering about in Serenity's corridors and a spot of threatening behaviour. I like the ongoing surprise that is River's personality, and further to last time, this episode continues to demonstrate how dangerous she could be. I just wish we could see more forward motion in the story arc now.

***

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