420 – Firefly – The Train Job

Firefly can be said to have two introductory episodes:  the first and the second.  This, then, is the second – the one where the gang undertake some good old-fashioned train robbing. Simon and Eugene discuss the Train Job Episode synopsis: It’s Unification Day – the happy celebration of the victory of the Alliance over the Brown-coated rebels, and Mal and Zoe, two former Brown Coats spend their time in a pro-unification bar.  Mal is clearly itching for fight, and he gets one.  A fight he would have foolishly lost his life over if Wash didn’t fly into the rescue with the ship.  [expand title=”Click to see the rest of post”] They leave for their next job that they have lined up. The Serenity and her crew arrive at a skyplex to take on a job from a highly unsavory character, Niska.   Times are tough and you have to take jobs where you can find them.  Niska tells them about the job:  it’s a train robbery of supplies to be stolen from the Alliance.  He also demonstrates just how nasty he will be to them if they fail him by showing them the trussed up corpse of the last person who didn’t do what he wanted. No problem, Mal is a professional and a man of his word and he has no compunctions about stealing from the Alliance – they’re the enemy. The heist goes mostly to plan, with Mal and Zoe, on the training, managing to get Jain board and hoist the stolen goods onboard the Serenity overhead, but there’s a squad of Alliance troopers on the train.  Mal and Zoe aren’t caught, but they can’t get off the train, either, and must ride it to the next stop where everyone is detained for questioning.  They also learn that the materials they stole were essential medical supply for the folks living in the town of Paradiso As the deadline to make the swap with Niska approaches, a wounded Jain wants to abandon Mal and Zoe and make the appointment.  The others, with Simon’s help, eventually convince him to wait. Inara comes into town and using her high-class position as a Companion, convinces the sheriff that Mal is her runaway indentured man, and they are released into her custody. Now free to make the appointment, albeit a little late, Mal announces they’re not going to make the swap.  He won’t take medicine from the settlers – probably because the locals don’t care for the Alliance. Niska’s men didn’t take the late appointment well and came looking for the stolen goods.  A fight breaks out with the crew of the Serenity eventually winning.  After some gentle persuasion, Niska’s men take the downpayment money back to Niska with a message from Mal, “We’ll try to stay out of your way from now on.” Mal returns the medicine but is caught by the sheriff.  Having overheard that Mal was returning the medicine, he lets him go because he knows times are tough and you have to take jobs where you find them, just sometimes a man can’t stomach the job when he knows it’s wrong. Meanwhile, men in blue gloves are searching for River. [/expand]