When I saw this episode the first time, I thought it was maybe third best relative to Objects in Space and Out of Gas. You have to keep your knowledge of what Saffron really is out of it in the first part, and enjoy the interplay of the crew calling Mal out for something that isn't really his fault. And the twist with Saffron is so well done, it's storywritting icing on the cake of comedy. There's plenty of material there, rather than just focusing on how Saffron isn't yet in her range for the first half. This was actually the first episode of Firefly that wasn't really predictable for me, though I enjoyed the prior ones for reasons that didn't have much to do with plot twists.
I'm probably a little bit tainted because it's a long time since my first watching and I've forgotten the joy of not knowing (same problem with the pilot but I'm going to acknowledge it when I get round to it). 10th best really isn't an insult to the episode (which is why I starting naming them 'xth best' after we got through the bad ones.). And you're right that it's probably one of the straight out funniest episodes too, but what stops me from enjoying the comedy as much as I should is, is just I find Saffron's manner (pretwist) in this episode really really grating. A part of it is that you know what the meaning of her dialogue is in the first half after pretty much the first word. Saffron is being possessive, Saffron is being meek, Saffron is being sexy but the dialogue always continues for quite a bit after that and I'm impatient and want to move onto the next thing in a scene. (For example when she starts her sexy-space description to Wash, you can understand what she's doing and how Wash is reacting in the first few seconds, and then I just don't want to hear her continue the story, I want Wash to do his bit and move on with the scene). She's good in Trash, just not here for me.
Without the hangup on Saffron and with the mystery remembered it would probably be a good contender for 6th (I was umming and ahhing about whether it was better than Trash for example) but I don't think it could break my top 4. Just because the top 4 all contain good character points (this did include some good Mal/Inara stuff though) and themes and story points/memorable moments. My top 4 all involve the defining episodes for a particular character, but I don't think this is the most important episode for Mal or Inara. You will be very entertained, you will laugh, you will learn a little about Manara, you'll be introduced to what would have been an excellent recurring villain, but I think in the end it can be forgotten incomparison to stuff like Ariel (if any forgetting had to go down) =D
Having read a few of your reviews so far, I have noticed a disturbing trend. You do not like slow pacing. (this is directed at the reviewer of course). I am not saying this is a bad thing, just a thing. A lot of good writing can come from a slower pacing and this show benefits whenever time is taken to let you get involved in the moment.
As an individual review, this is one time I think you are missing the point because of your lack of desire to wait for the scene to play out.
Thats interesting, I'll keep an eye on that. On the other hand Out Of Gas is my favourite, and it's one of the most slowly paced episodes of the series and I would've have ranked Objects In Space around 5th and that's another slow one.
But I think here (unlike Trash) it's not the pacing I'm taking issue with as a sort of redundancy. Saffron didn't quite agree with me and there was a lot of time where she was still talking long after the point had been made. When you're drawing things out and slowing things down there's normally an emotion you're absorbing (like Out of Gas) or information you're digesting. Here it's not really that, instead you're meant to be entertained by Saffron's performance and I wasn't
I will grant you after the first or second time she does her schtick, it DOES get redundant... I am not sure on the exact count, but it feels like she plays the blushing moron a little more than five times. And here bit in the cockpit might have been a little long in the tooth considering that at that point in the story she was supposedly in a rush to do her sabotage and get gone, but I think that was kind of the point.
Consider how she tries to avoid Inara (a TRAINED and registered companion) and when she does finally encounter her, tries to play her. At this point again, still more rushed than with Wash. Slow and methodical still. I got the impression that everything she did was far more planned out than the episode had time to deal with.
So redundancy may have been the point for that first encounter. Note how drastically her character changes in Trash. And I don't get the impression that it was a change in writing styles. She just played out her cards on the crew of Serenity in Our Mrs. Reynolds and had to go a different route (still trying to play them of course).
I personally am not sure it deserves a 10th place spot... but I couldn't begin to imagine placing an order on the episodes... or could I? Time to write my own episode rankings :D
Have a go it's fun =D. This episode is 10th best the gap in quality is tiny between them all, it's 10th not because it's bad but because there are even more brilliant episodes. Stuff I really liked got pushed down because there was other stuff that not only did I really like but were actually impressive enough to become trope namer for Big Damn Heroes and things like that
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Our Mrs. Reynolds - 10th best
(I'd like to note places 12-6 are incredibly close, Firefly is quality =D) Unsurprisingly, the start of our Mrs. Reynolds is very funny. And not just for Nathan Fillion cross-dressing but for all the bickering that accompanies such an act and demands to be pretty. We've got Jayne and his rainstick, which again displays how it's impossible to think of Jayne as not being good, in a strange twisted way, at heart. He has all this bluff and threatening (and he will go through with it at somepoints) but all the same he's grateful for his stick and it's hard to shake off the idea that if it was just about money, Jayne would have left a long time ago. He's a contradiction and sometimes it can go too far and make his character feel impotent, but the dynamic keeps him from being stale and allows him to be more flexible than can possibly be imagined. All this is brought right into the light, by the again rather funny (surprise!) confrontation with Mal, over his delightful but unwanted new wife Saffron, and negotiations over Vera.
The other two highlights are Book and his special level of hell, which helps establish him as the conscience of the ship and Inara's reaction to Saffron which satisfyingly provokes the tension between the two and both brings the comedy with the kissing incident and allows for a very worthwhile exploration of Inara's feelings for Mal and how she hides them.
Saffron herself is a good character to be produced, complete master of manipulation which gives her a good rivalry with Inara and can really test the bonds of the crew (Wash + Zoe etc) which is perfect for something as character focused as Firefly. Whilst most thuggish villains don't have a place in a Firefly where the Captain is perfectly willing to shoot anyone who may look like becoming a recurring villain, Saffron will never pose enough of a threat to be shot, yet can justifiably come around again and again without getting boring.
However her submissive performance is grating here, it's too soft and bland (which is the point) and a little uncomfortable (again the point) but it means as soon as she starts speaking, we know the essence of what she will say and can't wait to move on back to the reactions of the crew towards her. It's not an intrinsic part of Saffron, as seen in her later showing, but it's enough to hold back this episode just slightly.