I find this re-ordering completely mystifying. Feather was not a stronger episode, it was throwing you into the middle of the series without explaining much of anything. There's a reason Storm Front was going to be the premiere, and two hours. It was the first book in the series, so I imagine it would have done what any good series premiere would, which was to set the stage, explain the basics, and open the world of the show to the viewer. You'd think the network execs would have figured out after Firefly that it doesn't work to pick a "stronger" episode from the middle of the season, and show it first, completely out of context, chronological and otherwise.