Firefly: Objects in Space

"Objects in Space" is the 14th episode and series finale of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. Serenity encounters Jubal Early, a ruthless professional bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to retrieve River. But River, feeling unwelcome on the ship, takes a novel approach to escaping from the long arm of the Alliance. The inspiration for this episode came from Tim Minear, who gave Whedon the idea by merely mentioning Boba Fett. Whedon expanded upon the suggestion and extrapolated it into the villain of this episode, the "preternaturally cool, nearly psychotic bounty hunter" Jubal Early — who shares a name with Jubal Anderson Early, a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Whedon has said that if he were forced to pick one piece of work to represent his entire body of work, he would pick this episode. River's and Early's tactile and spiritual connection with physical objects reflects an existential experience in Whedon's youth and his subsequent study of Jean-Paul Sartre's existential novel Nausea.