Watched Firefly 1x01 (Serenity) again last night with Pajai Jen. Realized something new that I don't think I'd noticed before. Almost every scene involves either an immediate reversal to subvert your expectation or pays off an earlier setup using a reversal/subversion.

*spoilers*

- Air support coming. No it's the bad guys

- Wash saying 'it looks all good here' - but he's talking about the dinosaurs

- The dinosaur play is about a 'sudden but inevitable' reversal

- Reverse the food, it's samped

- Old man - not a grandpa

- Ambassador, Whore

- Shepherd comes to deliver food, not sermon

- Bad guy is the boring dude, not the Shepherd or the Mysterious doctor

- Girl in the box is a sister not a bride

Etc etc.

All the way to the end where..

- Of course Patience double crosses him and Mel reverses it on her (foreshadowed by the Dinosaur scene. Sudden but inevitable betrayal.)

- The 'treasure' is actually food

- The ship has to do a mid-air reversal maneuver to get away from the reavers

- The Companion administers confession to the shepherd

- Jane tells Mel to get rid of the doctor asap, but Mel asks him to stay.

Amazing construction. Amazing show.