On pages 1-2, Lank is singing a song. The lyrics are from
"Shall We Gather at the River?" (originally titled "Hanson
Place") by American gospel music composer and poet Robert
Lowry (1826–1899) in 1864. This same song appeared (in part)
in "The Spilling of Blood".
On page 2, Zoe's scouting troop discovers the remains of an
Alliance B86 starcraft. This is the first mention of such a
model in the 'Verse.
On page 3, the body of what PopApostle has referred to as a
Robomal (see "Blue Sun Rising" Parts 3-6) is, in this issue,
referred to for the first time as a "cop bot".
There are now memorial photos mounted in the corridor of
Serenity of deceased crew and friends, specifically
Shepherd Book, Wash, and Ma Reynolds. This is the first
indication that Ma Reynolds is deceased at the time of this
story; she was still living at the end of her last
appearance in
"Blue
Sun Rising" Part 7.
On page 6, the female bounty hunter mistakenly refers to
Wash's photo as that of Wash Hoburn. His real name is Hoban
Washburne.
Kaylee is now the captain of Serenity by this time.
Zoe's crew is still using the cargo shuttle she started
using in "Duty Calls".
Page 18 suggests that it has been years since Kaylee's crew
has seen Zoe's crew and that Zoe is fearful that River could
hurt Emma if they were reunited. But, as mentioned in the
chronology notes above,
"Return to Earth-That-Was" Part 8 has a flashback to "one
year ago", when Shepherd Book was still alive, which would
be before the events of the Serenity movie,
("Triggered",
"A Better World", and
"Living Weapon") wherein the
crew is all together, so it's actually been less than a year
that the two crews have been separated.
On page 19, Kaylee remarks on a time Jayne beat up on some
previous bounty hunters on Barstop. This is the first
mention of a world by that name in the 'Verse.
On page 25, Kaylee remarks that the portal ring found in
space by the bounty hunters appears to have been made from a
reworked tractor beam housing. The only previous appearance
(though not by name) of a tractor beam in the 'Verse was
when Serenity was captured by one installed on an Alliance
Tohoku-class cruiser in
"Bushwhacked".
On page 27, Lank tells Zoe they're going to need more fuel
before making a long trek and that he will check the brown
market. A so-called "brown market" was also mentioned by
Wash in "Clipped Wings".
Also on page 27, Lank and Zoe discover a "job wanted" listing
on Regina over the cortex, allegedly from the deceased Wash.
The planet Regina was mentioned in a few past stories. Wash
died in
"Living
Weapon".
On page 29, Zoe walks into a bar on Regina that appears to
be called Starship Boozers. This may be a play on the title
of the 1959 Robert A. Heinlein novel and 1997 film
Starship Troopers.
Seemingly, Wash is found alive on Regina at the end of the
issue, but it turns out there is more to the story than
that.
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Episode Studies
