Firefly Reflection: Episode Seven

"It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kinda son of a bitch or another."

Mal's comment, likely astute, was made to comfort Jayne after an entire town of people had celebrated our beloved space cowboy as a flawless hero by building a statue in his honor and writing folk songs in his name. Jayne, although he relished the attention at first, had been confronted by a man from his past life who spoke honestly to Jayne about his dark and sinful past. When one of the townspeople dove in front of this man's bullet, meant to hit Jayne, Jayne saw himself very clearly and was crushed by their selfless adoration of him.

This episode had many wonderful moments of entertainment. From the budding mutual crush between Kaylee and Simon to River's fear upon seeing Shepherd Book's impressive--and usually hidden--afro to the astonishment of the whole crew once they realize Jayne had selfless moments in his past life, it was very fun and interesting to watch. I would consider it one of my favorites in the realm of entertainment thus far.

I would also rate this episode high in its application and discussion of a specific theme--in this case, heroism. Watching a town acclaim Jayne, the violent space cowboy, as a hero, brought up many questions, aptly dealt with during the episode. By the end it is clear that their beloved Jayne Cobb is really an antihero, just as human and self-serving as any other human. And yet, even after this is revealed, the townspeople still chose to worship him. Why?

As Mal points out to the disheartened and guilty Jayne, sometimes people need someone to adore. It is not truly because that person is a perfect individual (and often, they are quite far from it), but it is because of an ideal that their "hero" represents for one reason or another. The men and women that we idolize are just that--only men, and mortal and flawed ones at that.