The memorable ensemble cast ofFireflyis one of the biggest reasons it maintains its devoted cult following today. Relatively unknown at the time, actress Summer Glau brought one of the show’s most iconic characters, River Tam, to life, marking the start of Glau’s career as a star of sci-fi and fantasy.
River, a child prodigy, was taken and experimented on by the Alliance. Her older brother Simon rescued her, but damage has been done to her brain and her psyche. Though still a genius, she’s often called “crazy,” and her grip on reality tends to slip. Yet despite her cryptic, sometimes nonsensical, manner of speaking, she has her moments of surprising humor and wise observations throughout theFireflyTV series.
5Too Much Hair
During the episode “Jaynestown,” River,Shepherd Book, and Zoe stay with the ship while the rest head off on a caper. River, like many audience members, is startled upon seeing the Shepherd without his hair pulled back, and throws the pages she is holding into the air with a shriek.
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Later, we see River hiding, while Book tries to coax her to come out. Zoe, too joins his efforts, but it’s all in vain. River is certain that the weight of the hair will compromise the structural integrity of the good Shepherd’s skull:“His brains are in terrible danger.“Zoe convinces the Book to tie his hair back again, but River continues to avert her eyes:“It’ll still be there…waiting.”
4The Cows
In the episode “Safe,“Serenitylands on a border planetto sell the cattle they’ve been transporting. Once off the ship, River is fascinated by the cattle, watching them intently from outside their corral.“They weren’t cows inside,“she says, when Mal remarks that she never took interest in them before.“They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see sky and remember what they are.”
River’s manner of speaking is never straightforward, but it’s easy to understand the feeling behind what she says here. When one is out of place, stuck in an environment where they don’t belong, it’s easy to lose one’s sense of self. But now the cows are back where they should be, and all is right with them. Even Mal understands, asking no one in particular: “Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?”
3You Found Me Broken
In the episode “Safe,” River and Simon sit together in a small house in a settlement on a dusty moon. River is lucid for a moment, aware that her mind isn’t quite right. It’s upsetting for her, and yet, she seems more concerned for Simon.“You gave up everything you had to find me,“River tells her brother.“You found me broken. It’s hard for you.”
Despite being disconnected from reality at times, River is incredibly perceptive —perhaps, as some fans speculate, even psychic. This time, though, she’s not reading the past experiences of a stranger; she’s not divining knowledge she shouldn’t be able to guess. Rather, the audience gets the sense that she simply knows her brother. After all they’ve been through together, they understand each other on a deep level. River doesn’t need to be a mind reader to see how everything affects him, or to appreciate the sacrifices he’s made for her.
2Looking After Each Other
Inthe show’s final episode, “Objects In Space,” bounty hunter Jubal Early shows up to collect River and take her in. He’s an unsavory character, and isn’t afraid to hurt others in the process of securing River. The girl genius has a plan to escape him, but Simon nearly ruins it with a sudden act of heroics.
Thankfully, everything turns out all right in the end, and Early drifts off into space while the crew ofSerenitystays safe and stays together. Upon welcoming her back onboard the ship,Mal tells River,“Give your brother a thrashing for ruining your plan.” River responds with a mock sigh and says,“He takes so much looking after.”
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Of course, throughout most of the show, Simon is the one who takes care of River — objectively, she’s the one who needs more supervision. And though she may be jesting here, it’s true that River does look after Simon just as much as he does for her.
1Sunlight & Chaos
At the beginning of the episode “War Stories,” Kaylee chases River around the cargo bay, the two of them shrieking with laughter. It’s a rare moment when River seems to be enjoying herself.
Later, though, Simon checks in on her, and River is no longer so lively. When Simon asks how she’s feeling, she expresses how upsetting it can be for her own mental state to be so unpredictable.“The sun came out, and I walked on my feet and heard with my ears,“says River, describing what it’s like to be lucid and present.“I work, I function like I’m a girl,“she says, and her voice starts trembling.“I hate it because I know it’ll go away. The sun goes dark and chaos is come again.”
For a moment, River got to feel like a normal teenage girl: playing games with her friend, joking, and laughing. But it’s a bittersweet feeling because it’s temporary; it’s only a matter of time before her demons start to torment her again. It’s a powerful way to describe to the audience the never-endingstruggle of battling mental illness.
