Serenity suffers a massive explosion and loses all power, including life support, and Mal must try to save his ship in order to save himself and his crew.

Ask and ye shall receive. This is the standout episode I was hoping for. After setting all the pieces in place, here we get a story that explains what brought many of them to Serenity in the first place, and starts to develop the characters. The way it's set in two pasts and present throughout is exceptionally well done, with each scene linking to the next flawlessly, as we see how reactions are determined by the way the relationships between the crew have been working over time.

Mal comes across as an even more capable captain than he has up to now, and you can see why the others follow him. The way he puts the crew together shows his good taste and sense and his tough command style where what he says goes. It also shows new sides of the familiar characters. Zoe's first meeting with Wash after which she claims she hates him provides an excellent counterpoint to the scenes set after the explosion where Wash refuses to leave his badly injured wife in the medical bay until Mal forces him to. We see two different sides of most of the characters. Jayne's mercenary tendencies are superbly exploited by Mal on their first meeting, yet when the crew start in-fighting, he is the first to remain calm and keep things moving along. He seems somehow gentler and very much a part of the team when the going gets tough, and this is the first time we've really seen them all pull together.

Of all the introductions, Kaylee's is the best, especially her first appearance when she is the person Mal's genius engineer is caught screwing in the engine room. In one scene we see her painted as sexy, bright and exceptionally competent, which again counterpoints a later scene where she is mourning the fact that she didn't see the accident coming. We also see Inara's arrival and Mal's obvious unhappiness at the prospect of having her on his ship while at the same time knowing how much prestige she will bring. Their confrontation answers several questions and paints the softly-spoken Inara as a strong character who is very much in charge of her life. And the good thing about all this is there are several characters whose backgrounds remain unrevealed.

Set almost entirely on the ship, this is a real test of the characters and whether they can hold a story, and this proves that they all can. Each one gets a turn in the spotlight except maybe Book, and although you know what's coming, Mal's encounter with his would-be saviours is still surprising and well played while underlining that you really can't trust anyone out in space. Hopefully we can see more stories like this one, with some very real threats coming from very simple problems. This is the kind of show we should be getting on a weekly basis.

*****

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