Firefly: Serenity’s New Crew Just Broke The Show’s First Rule
Under Captain Malcolm Reynolds, the crew of the Serenity had one rule held above all others. But the ship’s new crew have changed the game.
Spoilers for Firefly: Brand New Verse #2 ahead.
In the pilot episode of Firefly, Captain Malcolm Reynolds made it clear he and the crew of the Serenity traffic in all but one thing: people. Now in the sequel series set twenty years later, Firefly: Brand New Verse, the next crew has inadvertently broken this golden rule. Nobody tell Mal.
Firefly and its cinematic spin-off Serenity are set in the early 26th century. Humanity, under the leadership of the fascistic Alliance, has left Earth and settled in a new solar system. In the years before the show, the Alliance fought a bloody Unification War against a group of rebels called “Browncoats,” including Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the eponymous Firefly-class spaceship. In the first episode, Doctor Simon Tam boards the ship with his sister River in stasis. When Malcolm first discovers her (assuming she is being sold into slavery) he makes it clear with his fist that he does not traffic in people. It was a rule that held trey for the rest of the show; now, things have changed without Mal in the picture.
The issue opens with the Serenity crew boarding a derelict Alliance ship, and on board they find a passenger, speaking Spanish (a dead language in this time) and trying to fight them off. Meanwhile, the crew must play a game of cat and mouse with another, much bigger Alliance ship – also searching for the mysterious person. The crew are able to bring the passenger back aboard the Serenity and give the Alliance the slip. Later the crew discusses the mysterious passenger, and while they try to sort out what to do with her, Zoe, Mal’s most trusted ally, proposes she is just “loot.” A far cry from the old days, and Mal’s line in the sand.
Realizing they have few options, they track down their former doctor Simon Tam, now married to Kaylee Frye, to help their new friend. The seasoned soldier Malcolm Reynolds smuggled many valuable items in his day aboard Serenity, but he was adamant abut not trafficking people, but in Brand New Verse, he is still absent – so what might he think of his old crew breaking one of their cardinal rules? To be fair, the crew did it inadvertently, and seek compassionate help for their new passenger, perhaps taking some of the sting out of what they did?
While the crew of Serenity has largely held true to their rule of not smuggling people, at times they have broken it and fans can see it in Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse by writer Josh Lee Gordon, with art by Fabiana Mascolo, and colors by Lucia Di Giammarino in stores now.
Original article at SCREENRANT.
This article has been reproduced for archive purposes.
