The BEST episodes of Firefly season 1

Every episode of Firefly season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Firefly season 1!

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: 10/9/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
Objects in Space
star
8.49
4592 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
4791 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
4777 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
5116 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
4578 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
4594 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
6711 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
5332 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
8.07
5356 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
4989 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
4642 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