"Our love for him now ain't hard to explain. The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne"
ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 18th October 2002
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 7
WRITTEN BY: Ben Edlund
There's a lot of great characters in Firefly, but this episode was Jayne's chance to shine, as we arrive on a planet where he's hailed as a hero, after accidentally dropping a bag of money onto the houses of the "mudders". But obviously not everyone is happy to see Jayne back, and Boss Higgins plots to take him down. Jayne proved he was up to the task of having an episode center on him and was brilliant throughout.
The scene where the minstrel sings the song about Jayne is some brilliant comedy. Simon's reaction is the funniest, wondering if he is "going mad", seeing his nemesis being heralded with praise. And if you want more laughs, check out Book's hair.
The concept of the episode was great, because Jayne is the character least deserving of hero status. He's selfish, arrogant and completely lacking in morals and class. And he knows it. The guilt he feels when his secret is exposed feels genuine, and gave it a sombre climax.
It also leads to a great ending, where Mal explains that the people needed something to believe in, whether it was true or not. He then caps the episode off with a great quote: "every guy who got a statue made of him was one kind of sonuvabitch of another".
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