The two Ja(y)nes I love to watch. (And just so happen to be men…)

Ahem, I have an announcement to make… I have made the conversion to being a browncoat in spirit. What is a browncoat? A group of die hard fans to the doomed Fox Network show Firefly. Their name is derived from the distinctive jacket that smuggler Capt. Malcolm Reynolds sports throughout the series. The fans' appeals and demands resulted in a movie tie-in, Serenity, which was to provide a conclusion. And it does indeed deliver. I liked it better than the entire series on TV, and that is saying something. It further develops characters to a lovely and satisfying ending of the beloved series, if such a thing could be.

The characters in Firefly are as follows. The aforementioned Reynolds, who is a former sergeant in a war fought on the wrong side. The Independents surrendered to the Alliance after the Battle of Serenity, in which Reynolds’s platoon was under siege for two weeks. He is now the captain of a Firefly class spaceship, searching the galaxy for smuggling jobs. His first mate is Zoe, who has had his back from Serenity the battle to Serenity the ship. She is Reynolds’ most trusted friend and is married to the ship’s pilot, Wash. Wash is the best pilot in the system, fond of wearing Hawaiian shirts and talking at all times. Kaylee, my favorite character, is the ship’s intuitive mechanic, feeling her way around Serenity’s inner workings. She is always smiles, optimism, and cheerfulness – seeing the bright side of everything. Then, there is Jayne, my conveniently named title character. He is the muscle of the crew, a cynical and surly fellow who says whatever he thinks at all times, no matter how crude or insensitive. He is, however, sensitive about his girly name and takes great care of his guns, naming his favorite weapon Vera. Serenity also has its fair share of passengers – a frequent resident, Inara, a Companion, who rents a shuttle that docks on Serenity. Don’t want to say too much about her profession, which says enough. Shepherd Book, a preacher who has spent his life in a monastery, and has an odd skill set that he has from his lifestyle. Finally, there are the fugitive siblings, Simon and River. Simon was a brilliant doctor in the central system, he left his practice behind to save his sister. She was the victim of a twisted government program determined to explore her genius level mind. They broke her down into a gibbering mess who is vacillates between eerie wandering to spouting the laws of quantum physics offhandedly. Now, the Alliance want her back, and the crew of the Firefly shelter them, making Simon into the ship medic for as long as he chooses to stay. My sister was called River by a college age ne’er-do-well who royally unsettled her. The title was more telling of him than an appropriate description of her. River was my least favorite character – It is unsettling to the plot when she wanders around with a tenuous grasp of reality. And when she is lucid I have no idea what she is talking about, making me feel like her when she is crazy. Complicated, but in short, she doesn’t connect with the audience on a relatable level. Overall, I love the series, its theme song sets the stage for the attitude of the series; it is lazy, relaxed, and feels like a western. The lands are desolate, the jobs are sketchy, and the gunfights are rampant. Firefly should have lasted beyond its 14 episodes, if only to fully flesh out River as a character…

The other Jane is Patrick Jane, from the CBS Thursday drama The Mentalist. Simon Baker is an intriguing character, driving the series. He is a gently sadistic, quick witted, keen observer who delights in getting to the truth even (and especially) if it involves getting under suspects’ skin. He has been punched, insulted, threatened, and even incarcerated. Each episode ends with an elaborate trap to ensnare the perpetrator into giving themselves away. Part of the reason I enjoy the Mentalist is that the wrongdoer is always someone in plain sight for the entirety of the episode, a whodunit. The perennial adversary is the mysterious Red John, who killed Jane’s family in a clinically correct and untraceable manner. The killer has a habit of painting a smiley face out of his victim’s blood upon the wall. Jane's supporting cast from the California Bureau of Investigation includes Jane’s handler, Teresa Lisbon, who tries to keep him in check enough to avoid being prosecuted - Jane tends to needle those who are rich and powerful, those who do not take kindly to certain subjects being raised. There is also Kimball Cho, no nonsense and matter of fact agent who plays frequent roles in Jane’s schemes, as he is confident that Patrick knows how to catch the right person. Kimball’s partner is Wayne Rigsby, a nervous eater who is enthusiastic about his job. To round out the main cast is Grace Van Pelt, Rigsby loves her, but they both know that it is against CBI protocol to allow romantic relationships – it creates a conflict of interest on the job in dangerous situations. Grace is the information expert on the team, mostly staying at HQ, but also a capable field agent when called upon. Jane is the only untrained member of the group, preferring to use verbal barbs and insight to gunshots and fisticuffs. The Mentalist is a little more family friendly, though that is not saying much in the television world – TV networks have the mindset that is summed in the equation: Unexpected Edginess (character behavior + subject matter)= Higher Ratings.

I disagree with the equation as I stated it. I am a member of a large family. The ideal TV series in our house would follow the same formula Pixar uses to clean out the box office: Solid Storyline+Multilayered Cleverly Relatable Humor-(Senseless Swearing, Grotesque Violence, and Sexual References) = Enjoyment Anyone Can Feel Thrilled To See. You don’t have to shock or coddle your audience to gain a following – just tell a novel tale involving characters that the audience can relate to being or wish they could become. Pixar’s genius comes from their ability to breathe life into a fantasy in which their audience once believed. Who hasn’t been convinced as a child that toys had a life of their own? That monsters existed in a world accessible from our closet door? Or even that superheroes existed and were forced to go undercover by a modern world’s sensibilities? Who hasn't secretly thought of sailing around the world in a flying house? These are the daydreams and wonder-filled thoughts of youth come to vivid life on a screen for all of the young (and the young at heart) to see. Television shows deliver their perspective of what we need to see, and seem reluctant to hear what their audiences plead to see. The cult of browncoats is an inspiring story, one which should be a precedent of things to come rather than merely an isolated and rare occurrence.