"THE TRAIN JOB." Firefly Episode.

Teaser:

This episode plays on the classic Western motif of the train robbery and expands on it by replacing the horses with a spaceship and by setting it on a remote planet. The show opens in a Western-looking bar. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne are playing Chinese checkers while having some drinks. A man at the other end of the bar raises his glass and yells out a toast to the Alliance. Mal walks to where the man is standing and orders a drink. The man notices that Malcolm did not toast and the two of them argue. Their confrontation escalates into a fight. A bar fight ensues when Zoe hits the man and knocks him out. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne end up fighting outside the bar where they get sandwiched between their antagonizers and a cliff. At this point, Serenity rises from behind the cliff. Wash, from the ship’s speakers, threatens "to blow a new crater" in the "little moon" if they did not leave Mal, Zoe, and Jayne alone. Once the three board Serenity, Mal takes out a sheet of paper from his jacket and announces to the crew that they have a job.

The first scene is one of River’s fragmented flashbacks. She is lying on an operating chair while needles are being stuck into her head. She wakes up startled in the infirmary. Simon asks her what is wrong. River asserts that "it isn’t relevant." Simon tells her that the more he knows, the more he can help. Mal enters the infirmary to wash his hand, which he injured during the bar fight.

Mal leaves the infirmary and runs into Shepherd. The two discuss why Simon and River are part of the crew. Shepherd calls Simon a brave man, saying that Simon gave up everything to save his sister: "It’s not too many that would do that…It’s not too many who would take them either." Shepherd asks Mal why he would take two fugitives on to his ship. Shepherd is not questioning Mal’s judgment as much as he is trying to understand the captain and how he thinks. The conversation shifts to why Shepherd’s on the ship. Mal ends the conversation by saying, "If I’m your mission Shepherd, ya best give it up. You’re welcome on my boat. God ain’t." Through the discussion, the audience gains insight into the captain’s ambiguity as an outlaw who does good. The scene also establishes Shepherd as a type of minister who acts as the ship’s moral compass.

Cut to Inara’s shuttle where she is brushing Kaylee’s hair. Mal enters the room and interrupts them by telling Kaylee to fix the engine and that they work before they play. Kaylee leaves Inara’s shuttle. Malcolm and Inara exchange sarcastic barbs. Mal also tells Inora about the crew’s new job and how Niska, the man who hired them, is dangerous.

The next scene is of Niska’s office where Mal, Zoe, and Jayne get the instructions for the job. Niska tells Mal that they will be robbing a train. Niska goes into a monologue about reputation. He says that Mal has one of getting jobs done well. He also says that he has a reputation. He then shows them a room in his office where a dead man is hanging upside down. Niska showed this so that for them, his reputation is not gossip but fact.

The next shot shows Mal and Zoe sitting on the train as passengers. Mal tries to convince Zoe that the job will be easy. They then open a door and see a car full of Alliance Feds.

The second act opens on the ship with Shepherd and Inara conversating about their respective reasons for being on the ship. They speculate about knowing Mal. Both admit that they cannot figure him out. Shepherd mentions that he feels useless because he does not play a role in the crew’s caper. With a hint of sarcasm, Inara suggests that he can pray that Zoe and Mal make it back.

On the train, Malcolm tells Zoe to stick to the plan despite the soldiers. According to him, "this makes it more fun…I’d do this job for free."

Back on the ship, Kaylee explains to Simon the logistics of their plan: Wash is going to fly the ship where it will float directly over the train, Jayne will jump onto the train, load the spoils, and then Jayne, Mal, and Zoe will climb back onto the ship from the train. Jayne walks into the area where they are talking and speaks rudely to Simon. Simon leaves. Jayne then tells Kaylee that he believes the captain will turn in Simon and River because of the monetary opportunities. The camera pans to River who overhears Jayne.

On the train, Mal and Zoe sneak into the car that houses their target. They find the loot and open the top of the car. Kaylee lowers Jayne into the car. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne make so much noise that one of the soldiers goes to investigate. He trips a smoke alarm that Zoe set and starts shooting blindly. Jayne gets shot in the leg, but he still gets himself and the stolen goods back into the ship. Mal and Zoe stay on the train.

The train stops in a small town. While standing at the train station, Mal and Zoe over hear the town sheriff say that all the town’s medicine was stolen from the train. The camera zooms into Mal’s face as he realizes what they have done. He looks at Zoe and says, "son of a bitch."

The third act opens on an Alliance ship where the stolen medicine has just been reported. The officer on the ship dismisses the robbery as something the locals can deal with. The officer does not even want the Alliance soldiers who occupied the train to help out, saying, "They’re federal marshals, not local narcotics hounds. They’ve got better things to do, and so do we."

The next shot is of the crew on Serenity gathered in the infirmary minus Mal and Zoe. While Simon fixes Jayne’s leg, the group discusses whether they should deliver the stolen goods to Niska or wait on Mal and Zoe. Jayne insists they leave because he understands what will happen if Niska thinks they have double-crossed him. Everyone else feels that leaving Mal and Zoe would endanger the two of them further as well as jeopardize a possible escape. Shepherd ends the debate by pointing out that if the deal was made with Mal and he is captured, then Niska may interpret that as an opportunity for Mal to reveal his employer, which would endanger Niska. If that is the case, Shepherd says, then they are better off being late with Mal than on time without him.

Because of the theft, the sheriff has detained everyone on the train. Mal and Zoe pretend to be newlyweds who have come to the town for work. The sheriff questions them. While speaking with him, Mal and Zoe find that the town is infected with bones malady, a degenerative bone and muscle condition and that the medicine they stole was to help treat the illness.

In the ship’s cockpit, Jayne is still trying to convince the crew to leave. Jayne passes out while making his speech. Simon admits to doping Jayne while he operated on his leg. No one in the crew objects to this. Shepherd then suggests a plan for recovering Mal and Zoe. The scene ends with him saying, "Someone respectable enough might be able to [enter the town and retrieve them]."

The next scene is of Inara walking into the area where the passengers are being held. She slaps Mal and tells the sheriff that Mal is her runaway-indentured man and that Zoe has tried to leave with him. She makes it clear that the two are not newlyweds but servants who need to leave with her immediately. The sheriff, slightly confused but convinced, allows them to leave.

After their return, Mal explains to the crew that they have to take the cargo back, that they stole medicine and that the people of the town need it more than them. He says they will return the goods as well as Niska’s money and tell him that the job went south. As he says this, Niska’s henchmen walk onto the ship.

Niska’s head thug accuses Mal of trying to run off with the money and the loot. Mal explains that they "changed their minds." He says that he is returning the cargo as well as Niska’s money so that they can "call it even." The thug says that there is no even. He then throws a knife that hits Mal in the shoulder. A fight ensues between the crew and Niska’s men. Zoe shoots a few of the henchmen. Mal fights the leader. And Wash runs over one of the other men with a four-wheeler. The scuffle ends with Jayne, still groggy from the dope, shooting the lead henchman in his leg.

Mal and Zoe take the medicine back to the planet. They plan on leaving the cargo and notifying the sheriff once they have left, but the sheriff and his men are waiting for them. They surprise Mal and Zoe by jumping out of some bushes. The sheriff explains that he got word of a ship in the area. He also recognizes that Mal and Zoe did not have to bring the materials back. He tells his men to get the supplies. The sheriff offers his thanks by not arresting Mal and Zoe. He and Mal exchange glances of respect and gratitude.

On the ship, right as the engine is starting up for take off, Mal tries to give the money Niska gave them back to the head henchman: "Now this is all the money Niska gave us in advance. You bring it back to him and tell him the job didn’t work out. We’re not thieves. Well, we are thieves, but that’s not the point. The point is we’re not taking what’s his. We’ll stay out of his way best we can from here on in. You explain that’s best for everyone. Okay?" With his hands tied behind his back, the head henchman refuses the money and tells Mal that he will hunt him down and kill him. Mal then kicks him into one of the ships valves used for blasting off, killing him instantly. Zoe grabs another thug. Mal begins his speech about the money, but after seeing what happened to his leader, the thug interrupts Mal and immediately agrees to take it: "Best thing for everyone. I’m right there with ya."

The next scene takes place on the ship’s infirmary. Simon is fixing Mal’s knife wound. Mal compliments him for doping Jayne. He then asks about River’s mental condition. Simon says that she’s cogent one minute and then incomprehensible the next. While he talks, the camera pans to the next room where River is sitting in a corner listening to their conversation about her. She is spaced out and muttering to herself: "Two-by-two, hands of blue. Two-by-two, hands of blue."

The episode ends with a scene on an Alliance ship. Two men wearing suits and blue gloves question the ship’s officer who had heard about the medicine. The officer thinks they are asking about the stolen cargo. He tells them that it was returned. One of the men austerely says, "We didn’t fly 86 million miles to track down a box of band-aids." The other one says that they are looking for a girl. They slide a picture across the table to the officer. The picture is of River. The last shot is of the two pairs of blue hands in the background with River’s picture in the foreground.

--Nicholas Bush