Episode Quotes

Mistakes/Goofs

• Goof (continuity error): In the flashback when Mal and Zoe first walk onto Serenity, Mal's coat has the bullet hole where one of Patience's men shoots him during the pilot episode. However, because the pilot was not originally aired until after the show was canceled (and then in an edited version), at this point in the original on-air order the coat's damage has no origin and cannot be considered a continuity error. The repaired hole has always been visible, even in the opening fight sequence of "The Train Job", the first on-air episode. The viewer has no reason yet to question the age and condition of the coat or any damage. Only in the episode order of the DVD set does this become apparent as a lapse in continuity.
• Goof (continuity error): One candle on Simon's birthday cake is lit and unlit in alternating shots.
• Goof (continuity error): The leather rope necklace that Zoe wears is a symbol of her commitment to Wash (like a wedding ring), but in the flashback scenes in this episode where Zoe and Wash first meet and when Mal and Zoe first enter Serenity, she is wearing the necklace. (However, the information of the commitment symbolism comes from the costume designer on the DVD commentary for the episode "Shindig" and might not be canon as created by Joss Whedon or the other writers. Therefore this may not be a true continuity error if the symbolism exists only in the designer's concept.)
• Goof (continuity error): Kaylee has just put Simon's birthday cake down on the table when the explosion happens, but in many subsequent shots of both the table and the floor in the dining room, the cake is nowhere to be seen.
• Goof (continuity error): In the scene where Zoe and Mal meet Jayne for the first time, each Mal close-up shows his bangs blowing in a steady breeze, but when we see him and Zoe together, his hair barely ever moves.

Trivia

• Gina Torres' character spends most of this episode unconscious in the ship's medical bay, partly because Torres was absent for part of the shoot. She was on her honeymoon with husband Laurence Fishburne.
• The red button Wash rigs to call the shuttles back and return the crew to Serenity was removed from the set on one of the last days of filming by Alan Tudyk, as by that time the cast and crew knew they were being canceled. Scenes on the bridge for "Firefly" (2002) {Out of Gas (#1.5)} were filmed the next day, and the button is noticeably absent. Alan then mailed the button to series creator Joss Whedon, with a note saying "When you get your miracle, just hit this" (quoting Wash's line). Whedon was hoping to revive the series, which he did, in the form of the film Serenity.
• Previously, Kaylee had been complaining about the "crappy compression coil." It was the compression coil finally blowing that crippled Serenity.