The BEST episodes of Firefly

Every episode of Firefly ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Firefly!

In the far-distant future, Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a renegade former brown-coat sergeant, now turned smuggler & rogue, who is the commander of a small spacecraft, with a loyal hand-picked crew made up of the first mate, Zoe Warren; the pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburn; the gung-ho grunt Jayne Cobb; the engineer Kaylee Frye; the fugitives Dr. Simon Tam and his psychic sister River. Together, they travel the far reaches of space in search of food, money, and anything to live on.

Last Updated: 1/23/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
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Objects in Space
star
8.49
4556 votes

#1 - Objects in Space

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/13/2002

A bounty hunter named Jubal Early sets his sites on capturing River Tam and manages to sneak aboard the Serenity in deep space.

Directors: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Serenity
star
8.33
4747 votes

#2 - Serenity

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/20/2002

In desperate times, the crew of Serenity is transporting passengers to another planet, only to discover that one of them has smuggled something strange in their cargo.

Directors: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Watch Now:Amazon
Ariel
star
8.32
4740 votes

#3 - Ariel

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/2002

On return to Ariel, Simon hires the crew out to smuggle River into a hospital so Simon can figure out what the Alliance did to her.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Writer: Jose Molina
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Out of Gas
star
8.30
5082 votes

#4 - Out of Gas

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/2002

When Serenity’s life support system fails, Mal orders the crew off the ship — but he stays behind.

Directors: David Solomon
Writer: Tim Minear
Watch Now:Amazon
Trash
star
8.30
3088 votes

#5 - Trash

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/21/2003

Mal has to make a tough choice in whether he should trust Saffron when she offers the Serenity crew an opportunity to make a lot of money on a risky job.

Directors: Vern Gillum
Watch Now:Amazon
War Stories
star
8.23
4544 votes

#6 - War Stories

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/6/2002

Tensions begin to run high on board the Serenity when Wash finds himself feeling threatened by the closeness between Mal and Zoe.

Directors: James A. Contner
Writer: Cheryl Cain
Watch Now:Amazon
Shindig
star
8.12
4558 votes

#7 - Shindig

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/2002

On a mission to transport some goods on the planet Persephone, the Serenity crew attend a ball where Mal finds himself at odds with one of Inara’s “clients.”

Directors: Vern Gillum
Watch Now:Amazon
The Train Job
star
8.12
6654 votes

#8 - The Train Job

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/2002

The Serenity crew is coerced into pulling a train robbery. When they discover the stolen cargo is actually medicine intended for refugees, they are forced to reevaluate their priorities.

Directors: Joss Whedon
Watch Now:Amazon
Bushwhacked
star
8.11
5288 votes

#9 - Bushwhacked

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/2002

The Serenity crew drifts upon the ruins of a colony ship and goes on a salvage mission. The expedition turns from bad to worse when the entire crew massacred… except for one.

Directors: Tim Minear
Writer: Tim Minear
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Our Mrs. Reynolds
star
8.06
5322 votes

#10 - Our Mrs. Reynolds

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/2002

Mal unwittingly marries a beautiful village girl during a job in the backwater. But the surprises don’t end there.

Writer: Joss Whedon
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Message
star
8.01
3090 votes

#11 - The Message

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/28/2003

What starts out as a nice day at a space station goes very wrong when Mal and Zoe receive the corpse of their old war buddy in the mail.

Directors: Tim Minear
Watch Now:Amazon
Jaynestown
star
7.97
4951 votes

#12 - Jaynestown

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/2002

When the Serenity crew travels to a planet to strike a smuggling deal, Jayne discovers the populace worships him as a hero; Inara makes a man out of a magistrate's 26-year-old virginal son; Book's nerves fray as he tends to River.

Directors: Marita Grabiak
Writer: Ben Edlund
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Safe
star
7.95
4602 votes

#13 - Safe

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/2002

Things go terribly wrong during a job on an outer planet; both Simon and River are kidnapped by the locals in need of a doctor, while the rest of the crew finds themselves in need a doctor of their own.

Directors: Michael Grossman
Watch Now:Amazon
Heart of Gold
star
7.91
3089 votes

#14 - Heart of Gold

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/23/2003

The Serenity goes to the moon of Deadwood to answer a distress call from Inara’s old friend who runs a brothel.

Directors: Tom Wright
Watch Now:Amazon