Lee McKusick

Power in the ‘Verse: Spiritual Parallels of Firefly

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 | Fun, God, Tv

Firefly is one of the most awesome shows ever made.

I’ve been watching the whole series over the past few days. Why Fox canceled it is beyond me. It’s funny and intelligent, dramatic and action-packed. Anyway, enough raving, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it. Or come watch it with me, it’s a great time.

Also if you haven’t seen it, and don’t like spoilers, you might want to stop reading now. If you don’t mind them, you might see one of the reasons I love this show so much.

To give some backstory first, they just rescued Jayne, and Simon and River (both wanted fugitives) from the Alliance after Jayne ratted them out for the reward money. Mal, being a man who looks after his own, has a little chat with Jayne.

This is probably the most moving (and chilling) scene in the whole series for me, because it directly parallels reality.

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” - Matthew 25:45

The words and sentiments of Malcolm Reynolds directly parallel those of Jesus Christ. “You turn on any of my crew, you turn on me…You did it to me, Jayne.” I said it was chilling because it’s not a far stretch to put myself in that airlock, feeling the same fire of righteous fury directed my way. I imagine that that’s quite similar to how Jesus will respond to those who have sinned. I can’t think that the Creator of the ‘verse would take any more kindly to betrayal…

Another thing that made me shiver a bit was Mal’s response to Jayne’s question:

Jayne: What are you gonna tell the others?
Mal: About what?
Jayne: About why I’m dead.
Mal: I hadn’t thought about it.

Jayne’s betrayal caused a rift so great that Mal would simply abandon and forget him. Sound similar?

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,[a] lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” - Matthew 27:46

But it’s what happens next that brings hope. Jayne accepts his impending doom, and genuinely repents. And because of that, Mal shows him mercy, and the rift is gone. Well, maybe not gone, as Jayne gets to ride in the makeshift brig for a while, but then again, he’s only human. Atherton Wing can attest to that:

Because of it’s spiritual parallels, and awesome humor, plot, and characters, I love Firefly. You should too. Dong-ma?

Tags: firefly, jayne, jesus, serenity

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