Dumpy ships, Robinhood's Merry Band, and Fringe society - is it as glorious as it sounds?

      For a show that focuses so heavily on the libertarian ideals, of free will in political, monetary, and social spheres, it made a bit of a humbling criticism of renegade culture. Jayne the obvious stand out in this episode proves how the legend of the civilian hero, is more of a myth, an important myth at that, but based more on hope and expectations than reality.
    It's seems reasonable that an oppressed and destitute community, much like the serfs throughout much of medieval history, would be happy to believe in a "robin hood" character - a person who gives to the poor and takes from the rich based on nothing but integrity and morals, with little regard for personal safety or necessity. Firefly sheds and realistic light on this idealistic archetype, and shows that this person does not exist, want and greed are universal. Even though Jayne is essentially a fraud, the show uses a softer tone to show how, even just a story is enough to keep a hope going for a people in distress.
      Firefly doesn't completely trash on the Robinhood story, in fact it still very much fancies it. With it's use of a mostly provincial crew and run down ship it creates an endearing image of a mostly good crew of citizen heroes. Firefly likes the idea of a libertarian society, but also is willing to cater to the idea that even that would not be a utopia - people are still greedy and insecure, regardless of power structure.
    

Yo where the Nadias at!?.. and other issues with an over philosophized political climate in the face of critical issues.

    It's news to most people over the age of 7 (sadly) that the world has a lot of problems that we are forced to deal with, albeit many of them are conflated non-issues, but there are usually no easy solutions. In an era where many of our most impactful issues are attempted to be resolved through hypothetical debate and deliberation in order to find the "right" solution, "Nadias" are as rare as ever. "Nadias" don't spend too much time wondering what the easiest course of action is, they instead focus on finding and putting a solution into action.
    When a person is drowning, they don't usually think about designing a new Eco-friendly scuba device, usually they are focused on figuring out which way the bubbles are going; maybe afterwards they'll devise a sustainable and hardy flotation device. "Nadias" are just people who apply that basic logic to the real world, which is easier said then done. A "Nadias" true strength lies in their ability to look past extraneous details and instead evaluate a situation in realistic and modifiable terms.
      This does not go to say that we don't need earth shatter-ers like Arkady or legendary inspiring figures like John, just to say that a healthy balance will never be achieved for society if progress relies solely on a battle of ideologies. Nadia shows that work and progress can still be done during times of non-harmony - stalemate or even revolution.
     By focusing heavily on characterization, for characters such as Nadia, Robinson finely evaluates the underpinnings of human cultures and civilizations, as each character represents certain parts of a functioning (and non-functioning society). Robinson never admits to his fictional society becoming a Utopia, more that it is a society that is chronically striving to not be a dystopia. A society is a continuously adapting thing that requires maintenance from all sorts of people, "Nadias" included, and there is no piece of paper, no matter how well written, that will solve all future and current issues. They say a society is only as good as the people within it, if by good they mean full of integrity and well intentions, then by all means I agree.