"Bushwhacked"

Written by Tim Minear
Directed by Tim Minear


In which Serenity stumbles across a derelict in open space and the crew finds a survivor, only to discover that the survivor may not have been the fortunate one...

Status Report - Memorable Quotes - Final Analysis







Status Report

When this episode first aired in the United States, the audience did not have the benefit of knowing about the Reavers from “Serenity”. Tim Minear made a valiant effort to straddle the same divide that Joss Whedon had to tackle in “The Train Job”, writing an episode that works on two levels, but ultimately, the lack of background robs the episode of a strong layer of subtext.

The beginning of the episode is another attempt to remind the audience about River’s condition and their fugitive status, something that would have been far more apparent had “Serenity” aired. When Serenity comes upon the derelict, by virtue of smacking into one of the passengers floating in the nearby vacuum, it doesn’t take long for the crew’s usual criminal proclivities to rise to the occasion.

Building on the information from the previous two episodes, it’s clear that there is a distinct wave of colonization at play. The parallels to the history of the American Old West period are obvious and yet still compelling. One of the more “romantic” concepts of the Old West was the idea of staking out a new life, free from the restraints of the establishment. Just as then, in the time of “Firefly”, not all the settlers make it to their intended destinations.

Mal’s decision to find out if there’s anything useful left on the derelict, paying lip service to the more civilized idea of checking for survivors and granting aid, begins to set up the somewhat disturbing analogy at the heart of the episode. While Mal is definitely the character being studied and explored in this instance, Jayne’s comments about Simon and his belligerent behavior typify the less civilized world in which some believe Mal lives in.

Like Whedon and his approach with Niska in “The Train Job”, there’s no pulling of punches in this episode. The settlers aren’t just theoretical; the evidence of their lives is on display as the crew of Serenity conducts its search of the derelict. Most effective are the constant reminders that children were involved; it would be easy, seeing just evidence of families, to subconsciously overlook that gut-wrenching detail.

The first act is dedicated to the mysterious nature of the derelict’s missing personnel, slowly building up the idea that something very quick and violent swept through the vessel. River’s growing psychic awareness adds to the tension, and also serves to remind the audience that the extent and nature of the Academy’s experiments remain unknown. The later revelation that her empathy has been heightened, allowing her to pick up on emotional states, past and present, fits well with this episode.

Mal deals with the survivor of the attack with decisiveness, but also with a small measure of brutality. It doesn’t take long for the survivor’s ramblings to connect with the rest of the evidence, at least from Mal’s point of view. Once the survivor is under sedation and Mal begins explaining the situation to the rest of the crew, the exploration of Mal’s character deepens. Even so, the underlying suggestion about Mal and his state of mind remains elusive and subtle.

Mal’s suggestion to kill the survivor of the Reaver attack is tempered by the fear that the rest of the characters experience. Having seen the reaction to the threat of the Reavers in “Serenity”, it doesn’t take much to allude to the source of that fear. Without the context afforded by the pilot episode, however, it’s left to the subtext in the dialogue to communicate the depth of terror generated by the Reavers. It works to a certain extent, but the audience didn’t have enough background to stay with the characters as they went through the process of reacting to the news.

Mal and Book take two very different stances regarding the survivor and the nature of the Reavers. From Mal’s point of view, the Reavers have left the trappings of civilization behind, reverting to something more primal and predatory, killing for the sake of the hunt and to salve their own madness. Book, on the other hand, sees the Reavers as humans who have lost their way, yet may still be redeemed.

Mal goes a long way towards discussing the fact that the Reavers went out too far into the isolation of deep space, to the “edge of the galaxy”, and they lost whatever humanity they had in the process. Not only does this expand on the idea of the “space geography” of the series, but it reveals something about Mal’s internal logic.

Mal has no problem sending Book, Simon, and Jayne to attend to the dead, making himself look good in Inara’s eyes, while covering up his true intention: making sure Serenity is free of harm when they leave with the profitable goods. More is made of the Reavers’ trap than needs to be, based on what Kaylee ultimately does to correct the situation. But it does provide the time needed to show River reacting to the survivor as he awakes, spiraling into his own madness.

Mal demonstrates his ability to think quickly when he pulls the recovered cargo into plain sight, just as Book once again displays keen insight when he correctly guesses Mal’s intentions for Simon and River. Jayne thinks that Mal will sacrifice Simon and River, because Jayne doesn’t think beyond personal gain. Mal isn’t that far gone.

By this point, it’s clear that the encounter with the derelict is merely a plot device by which certain characters are forced to reveal something about themselves. Mal’s description of the Reavers explains why he has such a fear of them. Mal started his current journey while running from the encroaching control of Alliance “civilization”. He fought with the Independents to maintain his personal freedom, and then found himself betrayed.

In that moment, he lost faith and trust in humanity, with the only exceptions being those who have proven themselves. Over the past six years, he has been forced farther out into space to find his freedom, and the farther he goes, the more isolated he becomes. Somewhere deep inside, he has to wonder if he could go so far in his desire for freedom that he would find himself caught in the same madness as the Reavers, losing what remains of his morality and character in the process.

It goes a long way towards explaining his complex relationship with Inara. As Inara tells Harken, there is an underlying business arrangement that is mostly skewed to Mal’s benefit. One can’t help but wonder what is suggested: whether Inara remains within the business relationship out of a love for Mal and the man he could be.

Mal, on the other hand, always seems to disrespect Inara for her vocation. Considering the respect that Companions typically enjoy as courtesans, Mal’s attitude is hard to fathom. Granted, on the frontier, Companions are not always respected as one would expect, based on what has been revealed. Mal needs Inara, because without her, he loses one more thing that he needs to remain human. At the same time, he’s not sure that he can trust Inara enough to give his heart away, and so he constantly uses his disapproval of her place in society as a convenient wedge.

In “Serenity”, it was strongly hinted that Zoe was conflicted between her duty to Mal and her love for Wash. It’s not hard to see why Zoe would be so devoted to Mal, in light of this episode. She knows exactly what he experienced during the Battle of Serenity Valley, and she knows that her loyalty is one thing keeping him from sinking into the abyss. At the same time, she has her own life and future to consider, and Wash is a big part of that, especially since he’s bound to Serenity as well.

Wash, of course, doesn’t have any reservations when it comes to talking about his relationship with Zoe. Zoe wouldn’t want to give Harken any reason to think that Mal was unstable or capable of anything so violent as the Reaver attack, and so she wouldn’t want to discuss her reasons for staying loyal to Mal. Wash’s reasons for being with Zoe are harmless and transparent.

Kaylee, of course, approaches the world with her usual blunt honesty and openness. It’s easy to see why Mal relies so much on Kaylee’s presence on Serenity. Mal treats Kaylee like a little sister, someone he can protect. Just as his bond with Zoe helps him retain a measure of his humanity, his care for Kaylee reminds him of the better angels of his nature. In contrast, Jayne is there simply to act as Mal’s muscle, to exercise force and brutality when it is most needed. It’s not surprising that Jayne is so afraid of the Reavers; he’s not all that far removed from them. Likewise, he has nothing to say to the Alliance in defense of Mal.

It’s hard to know why Book declines to use his credentials as former Alliance in this situation. Perhaps he simply doesn’t know enough about Mal to justify using his best bargaining chip so quickly. Allowing Mal to deal with the situation tells Book quite a bit, because character is revealed during crisis. Once again, this suggests that Book was once involved in some kind of intelligence community within the Alliance during the war.

Even Simon and River reveal something of themselves. Simon, forced by circumstance and the love of his sister into the void, is terrified by the thought of being so far removed from the safety of the “civilized” confines of Serenity. It works nicely on a metaphorical level. River, of course, cannot help but express her wonder. River’s universe has expanded, just as her time outside the ship expands her point of view. River is awestruck by what she has discovered, whether by the joy of the beauty of space or the terror of madness.

It all comes down to Mal, and Harken lays it all on the table. Going too far in the desire to escape civilization can drive people to extremes, and apparently Mal wouldn’t be the first, to hear Harken tell it. Indeed, Harken may be speaking a bit too closely to the truth of Mal’s situation. Mal is still fighting the war, if only in his heart and soul, and he must fear the lengths to which he might pursue that desire. There’s little wonder, then, that Mal understands what the survivor must be going through; he knows all too well what seeing the faithlessness of men has done to his own world.

The rest of the episode is largely an exercise. Harken learns his lesson, and wipes out the derelict. Simon and River emerge unscathed and undetected. Mal gets back his freedom, but loses the profitable items recovered from the derelict. It seems a bit too easy for Mal to get away without any real penalty, but it wouldn’t be very useful to take the entire cast and send them to an Alliance cell in the third episode!

One interesting aspect of the episode is the terminology used throughout, suggesting a wider geography for human-controlled space. Most of the references continue to denote one large system with dozens of terraformed worlds. The Alliance controls the inner or “core” planets, sending settlers to the worlds on the frontier, past the “border” of Alliance-held space. But Mal also talks about the Reavers being “past the edge of the galaxy”.

So there’s two very different suggestions: a single system with a bit too many habitable planets and/or moons, and a galaxy filled with humans expanding into hundreds of systems. The answer could be in-between: a few systems closely located to one another, with the more immediately habitable “core” planets initially colonized before Earth was abandoned, followed by the second wave of settlers onto the terraformed worlds.

Whatever the case, the geography isn’t as important as the metaphor: rich, industrialized Alliance planets, frontier worlds resisting the encroaching homogeny of the federal corporate world, and the wild spaces where dangerous and primal forces lurk. Mal operates between the intersections of all three, both physically and spiritually, and as a result, it’s hard to know what influences will push him to what extreme.

Without knowing Mal’s experience in the Battle of Serenity Valley, beyond Harken’s mention of it, seeing the layers of subtext and character exploration in this episode can be a daunting task. The DVDs take care of that oversight by placing the episodes in the proper context, so that an informed audience can see how the Reavers are more than just marauders; they are also what Mal could very well become, if he lets himself become too isolated.


Memorable Quotes

ZOE: “Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something.”
WASH: “Oh my god, what can it be? We’re all doomed! Who’s flying this thing? Oh, right, that would be me...back to work!”

SIMON: “Oh, yes, he’s a real beast. It’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

MAL: “It’s a real burden being right so often...”

MAL: “You tell me right now, little Kaylee, you really think you can do this?”
KAYLEE: “Sure, yeah, I think so. ‘Sides, if I mess up, not like you’ll be able to yell at me...”

MAL: “Stack everything here, in plain sight. Wouldn’t want it to seem like we got anything to hide. It might give them Alliance boys the wrong impression.”
WASH: “Or the right one.”
MAL: “That too.”

HARKEN: “You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?”
ZOE: “Fought with a lot of people in the war.”
HARKEN: “And your husband?”
ZOE: “Fight with him sometimes, too.”

HARKEN: “Seems odd that you would name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of.”
MAL: “May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is a strong and subtle look into the forces at work in Malcolm Reynolds. The plot is almost incidental, providing a near-perfect lens by which key interactions are revealed. Without the benefit of seeing the pilot episode, this episode isn’t as effective; having seen the pilot first gives this episode proper scope.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/2

Original Rating: 6/10
Final DVD Rating: 8/10




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