Firefly: Exploring Wash & Zoe’s Relationship

gamerant.com:

Most often, romances on television show couples meeting, falling in love, overcoming obstacles, and eventually getting together. Sometimes there's a will-they-or-won't they, on-again-off-again dynamic; other times a show's creators will keep the couple together and explore their deepening relationship. It's not nearly as common, though, to portray a couple that has already been through the beginning stages and has built a solid foundation. Married couples appear plenty on television, but often, they are shown bickering or are even resentful of each other, and their relationship serves as a point of drama or contention. It's actually quite rare, on TV, to see a couple in an existing healthy relationship, and to see the show explore their dynamics without breaking them up.

One such relationship can be seen in Joss Whedon's Firefly, the prematurely canceled space western whose legacy reigns strong even twenty years later. Zoe and Hoban Washburne (the latter of whom is known simply as «Wash») have been wed for some time by the start of the show. Their relationship isn't flawless, as they are not flawless people, but its portrayal reflects something not often seen in TV shows: a couple who have already built their foundation, and work to keep it in good shape as they care for each other.

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Audiences do see these two meet for the first time, during a flashback during the episode «Out of Gas» when Zoe declares that «something about him just bothers [her].» Viewers don't get to see the journey they took to get from that first meeting to the moment the wedding bells rang, but that's part of what makes the relationship unique. It's not about their falling