"Firefly (2002) - # 2 The Train Job"

Jayne didn't fight no war...

Episode:	# 2 The Train Job
Writers:	Joss Whedon & Tim Minear
Director:	Joss Whedon

I like the extremely Whedon-esque intro pre-opening credits sequence, taking our heroes into a Alliance-friendly bar come U-day. It has all the flair of his writing, placing our friends in a slightly uncommon situation, barely helping with their needed info being delivered, and helping making new points about the characters. I've always enjoyed those from Whedon. It doesn't exactly hurt having Wash making a giant threat with his non-weaponized transport spaceship.

We get to know Niska in this episode. A villain that makes crooks like Badger and Patience from the opening episode seem like model citizens. The one thing annoying me a little about this Niska is his accent. We're five hundred years into a future supported by the Earth-That-Was dual-superpowers of Americans and Chinese, and Niska sounds like semi-Eastern European... Anyway. Niska hires our crew to do a train heist, and the train heist is a nice episodic touch for our outlaws. Simple enough plan, but not especially easy to perform. You'll need a pilot with steady hands (like a leaf on the wind), a nut to jump from spaceship to train, and a couple of crew-members making an entrance for him at the trains roof. There's of course more trouble rising as well, but I like the crew's attitude towards the caper.

"I aimed for the head."

Jayne's got a lot to offer in this episode. Besides the opening refusal of fighting as he didn't fight no war, he also get to teach us about the chain of command and have a hilarious drugged incident after Simon takes action to secure other chains securing command of the captain-less Serenity. He also aimed for the head...

♪♬♫ You can't take the sky from me ♫♬♪

Whedon also uses this episode to help show Mal's ethics, companion's status in society, the poverty and struggles of outer planets and moons, and the Alliance's disinterest in helping their struggling citizens despite having a large number of peacekeepers passing by. It all helps build on the mythologies and legacies, and we even get to witness the first encounters of two by two, hands of blue; essential to the River-arch, but one Whedon never get to play out fully as the show got cut and the movie couldn't last three-four hours.

Finally I also like to mention the negotiation and understanding made with Niska's minions at the end. Taking out his lead man as he refuses to take the money back and explain their stand, and the subsequent second minion eagerly accepting. I still find that scene funny the third time around.


★★★★☆ # 2 "The Train Job"

"Firefly (2002) - # 1 Serenity"

A few days ago I read the three hard cover editions of the Serenity comics, combined including every piece of Serenity stories released in comic form. I'll get back to those comics in later posts, but as usual just a tiny piece of Serenity is enough to get my Firefly-lust going again. I watched it last march, I revisited it in October after watching a few Youtube-videos from the show, and now I've just finished watching the entire show as a result of those comics.

This time around I'll give each episode a little post on its own, and as such there will be the kind of spoilers I usually try so hard to avoid. These posts are as such meant for seasoned Browncoats, and is also my little take and evaluation of each episode and the feature film. I did of course watch it in the intended order, Fox be damned for screwing it up in the first place, and so should you if you get hold of it on DVD or blu-ray. I suggest the finest blu-ray edition you can get your hands on, for this is truly TV-history worth owning your own little piece of.

Wash and the sudden but inevitable betrayal

Episode:	# 1 Serenity  (double opener)
Writer:	Joss Whedon
Director:	Joss Whedon

How Fox could skip this double opening episode for, in their opinion, a more action packed The Train Job, is far beyond me. As openers go, this is a gorram good one. It sets the 'verse, it gives us some insight into the characters and it tells the story of why River, Simon and Book find them self among our raggedy crew of Serenity.


We're also introduced to a few other raggedy characters like Persephone's Badger and Whitefall's Patience, giving us a little insight into the world of crime and shady ways of the outer worlds.

Kaylee and the strawberry

It also manage to nail one of my all-time favorite simple characters, Kaylee. From the way she describes Serenity to Book and the way she speaks to her ship after the Crazy Ivan-maneuver, to the way she enjoys her strawberry, her shiny way of seeing potential passengers and her ways around her captain. Kaylee isn't nearly as complicated as the rest of the crew and Serenity's passengers, but she's still a great character in my book. A pure and cheerful soul who always look for the best in people, and who loves her ship in a very proud way.

Kaylee has more of a part to play in the double opener, than she ever get to have again before Fox pulled the plug. I guess it makes me even more inclined to rate it highly.

Creator, and this episodes writer and director, Joss Whedon nails his crew from the opening. His witty writing and the crews ways around each other takes us into their world from the get go. There's a lot of great one liners in typical Whedon-fashion, but he also finds time to really capture the core of captain Mal Reynolds. Especially so in the final scene between Mal and Simon.

There's a lot more to the episode, but I'm not writing a review here. I'm not gonna go looking into all the smaller or bigger positives and negatives from each episode. I'll try to stick with the bigger issues. I do still laugh and giggle over a lot of the things not mentioned, even if I've seen it several times before.

"Your mouth is talking, you might wanna look to that"

"I was just wondering what his job is... on this ship?"
"Public relations"

"If they take the ship they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and saw our skin into their clothing. And if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

To take note on that last part. Introducing the reavers is also an important part of the shows mythology, and finding it from the beginning is as interesting as it is well done. Other noteworthy parts of this major opener includes River's introduction from the cryo-box naked, the double-crossing deal with Patience, Mal's practical joke on Simon about Kaylee died and the crew's reaction when he retells the story, and the simple and very efficient way of ending Agent Dobson's journey at Serenity.

As opening episodes goes, there's not a whole lot to put your finger on about this one. Gorram Fox who screwed up from the beginning by airing The Train Job as opener instead.


★★★★★ # 1 "Serenity"