"Ariel" - Firefly

Watching episode 9 of Firefly gave me plenty to think about, but the most I focused on was Jayne. Throughout the episode, each one of the crew members helps each other out in one way or another. But surprisingly to me, Jayne turns on Simon and River for reward money.

Simon composes a plan for the crew to steal medicine from the hospital they’re near in return that they help him and River get into the hospital so Simon can do some scans on River to figure out what’s wrong with her. While no one was watching, Jayne called the Alliance to catch their fugitives so he could score big time with reward money. Jayne, however, doesn’t receive the money and is now locked with River and Simon. They do end up escaping and the whole crew reunites on Serenity without ever knowing what Jayne did.

In the end, Mal realizes what Jayne has done and confronts him by almost letting him fly out of Serenity for punishment. Jayne said he didn’t do anything to Mal or the other crew members. He only did it to Simon and River. Mal immediately says that turning on any of the crew members is like turning on him. So, questions that I have unanswered are: Was it fair for Mal to say Jayne turned on him also? I recall Mal leaving Simon and River in a town in one episode after they had been captured. Even though Mal did come back for the two, he still left. Can that be equal to Jayne turning on River and Simon because in the end Jayne fought to help all three of them escape? Was it okay for Jayne to turn on them? In one episode, Simon almost let Kaylee die if the crew didn’t help him and his sister escape from the Alliance. In this episode, River tried attacking Jayne and ended up cutting him. Would that be considered her turning on the crew also? Or is that incident allowed to be overlooked because she has problems?

The questions I asked made me feel a little bad for Jayne and made me realize that everyone has faults. But did he go too far? I can certainly say that I’m disappointed in him the most. By the way, aren't those two Alliance men crazy? Why doesn't that high pitched noise stick make them bleed to death? We now understand "two by two, hands of blue!"