"The Train Job"

Written by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear
Directed by Joss Whedon


In which the crew of the Serenity takes on a train heist for a man with questionable anger management issues...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the series begins, the year is 2517. It is six years after the end of a civil war that matched an oppressive centralized federal government called the Alliance against those seeking independence for each world settled by humans. Having lost to the Alliance, the former Independents have been forced to the fringe worlds, where lack of modern resources has resulted in a return to “simpler living”. In this part of space, a man can find his own fortune with a ship, a crew, and a dream.

Malcolm Reynolds is one such man, and six years after “Unification Day”, he’s still a bit bitter about how the whole thing turned out. As with every such anniversary, he finds his way to a bar with a few supporters of the Alliance, as well as a convenient contact or two. After being passed information about a potential employment opportunity, while being routed at Chinese Checkers by his right-hand-woman Zoe, he gets his wish.

A drunken man stands at the bar and quiets everyone so he can make a toast to U-Day. Completely aware of what he’s doing, Mal (as he’s called by his crew) steps up to the bar and orders a drink. He quickly gets the attention of Mr. Happy Oppression, who notices that Mal is wearing the brown coat of a former Independent soldier. The toaster goes on to insult the Independents, to which Mal takes instant offense. Zoe promptly knocks the man to the ground, beginning the requisite barfight.

It’s not long before Mal is tossed out of the bar, followed by Zoe as she continues the melee outside. Their fellow heavy Jayne, a tough mercenary, drags just about everyone else outside to make the party special. Unfortunately, they are soon outnumbered and pressed to the edge of a nearby cliff, and the drunken toaster is ready to start shooting. Fortunately, Mal’s already thought of that, because seconds later his ship, the Serenity, rises from under the edge of the cliff.

The crowd disperses as the three malcontents jump into the Serenity. As the ship leaves the planet for their next destination, Malcolm and the others stop by the bridge to thank the pilot, Wash, for the good timing. Wash is particularly pleased to see that Zoe is safe, since they are married. The engineer of the crew, a young woman named Kaylee, is excited about the prospect of a new job.

Down in the medical bay, a young woman named River is having flashbacks to some kind of terrible experiments being conducted on her. As she comes out of the visions, her brother Simon tries to comfort her. At the same time, he tries to find out what happened to her while she was being held at “The Academy”. She can’t tell him anything, but it’s clear that they took up with Mal and the Serenity to escape re-capture. When Mal arrives to treat his sore knuckles, Simon expresses his worry that the fight might get the attention of Alliance authorities. Mal reminds him that avoiding attention is everyone’s priority.

As he leaves the medical bay on his way to the engine room, Mal runs into Book, another of the assorted passengers on the Serenity. Book comments on his admiration for Simon, since the young man gave up his entire future as an Alliance doctor to free his sister from the Academy. He also wonders why Mal would risk his own future by having them on board. Mal doesn’t quite answer the question, but instead asks Book why he’s decided to travel with the crew. When Book doesn’t quite answer his questions, they leave the conversation at that.

Mal, having found the engine room in shambles, tracks down Kaylee in Inara’s shuttle. Inara is a registered Companion, a latter-day courtesan, and she resides on her own shuttle when the Serenity is in transit. Kaylee has been asking Inara about her clientele, and Inara comments that it has been difficult to find quality clients in recent months.

Mal walks in at this opportune moment, and orders Kaylee to stop playing and get working on the engine room. When she’s out of earshot, he also warns Inara to stay out of sight and on the ship during the next job. Their new employer, it seems, has a nasty reputation, and he doesn’t want her to make a mistake by taking him on as a client.

Upon arrival at a small space station, Mal, Zoe, and Jayne go to see Adelei Niska. They are initially greeted by the Russian’s tattooed enforcer Crawl, who gives them that special “killer glare” look. Before explaining the details of the “train job” he wants Mal to take on, he demonstrates that his casually violent reputation is more than a matter of rumor. The train job, Niska explains, is Mal’s opportunity to prove that his reputation is well deserved.

The job is simple. Mal is to use his resources to retrieve two boxes of Alliance goods from a train on a nearby planet travelling from the town of Hancock to Paradiso. After retrieving the boxes, they are to meet Crawl at a nearby location to deliver the goods. The terms are equally simple: half the money now, the balance on delivery. If they succeed, there could be much more work in the future. If they fail, well, then Niska would have to respond in kind.

Having accepted the job, Mal and Zoe board the train and shortly make their move on the cargo. Along the way to the storage compartment, they encounter an entire train car full of Alliance troopers. This makes them less than pleased. Zoe admits her second thoughts, but Mal convinces her that continuing the job is the best alternative.

Back on the Serenity, Kaylee prepares the necessary harness for the boxes in the cargo bay. Simon stops by to see if there’s anything he can do. Kaylee, who is obviously attracted to him, tries to be nice about it, but Jayne arrives and tells Simon to stay out of the damn way. After all, so far as Jayne is concerned, Simon’s just a passenger, and thanks to his sister, only worth as much as the bounty on their heads. River, hiding on a nearby catwalk, overhears.

Mal and Zoe find the targeted containers, and Mal opens the top of the train car while Zoe rigs the door so they will be alerted if they are discovered. As Wash positions the Serenity above the train, Kaylee opens the cargo bay door, lowering Jayne down into the top of the speeding train with the harness. One of the Alliance troopers hears some of the noise, and as Jayne begins lifting out of the car with the boxes in tow, the trooper walks in. Mal and Zoe are alerted in enough time for them to take cover, but Jayne gets shot in the leg as he gets pulled out. As the Serenity flies off to find refuge, Mal and Zoe hide among some of the locals in the adjoining car.

Upon the train’s arrival in Paradiso, Mal and Zoe pose as normal travelers, and overhear that the Alliance troops have been recalled. The regional Alliance commander has determined that the Georgia system is required to deal with such a minor theft. However, the theft is not so minor to the people of Paradiso. As the two thieves soon discover, the boxes contained a medicine meant for the local population. They are all suffering from Bowden’s Disease, which gradually causes tissue and muscles to degrade.

Back on the Serenity, Wash insists that they hide in their current location, despite Jayne’s insistence that they move on to the designated rendezvous point. As Simon administers pain-killers to Jayne, River begins flipping out, murmuring that the Alliance will never stop until they get back what was taken from them. It’s obvious the current situation is causing her to dwell on her own fate. When Jayne continues to insist that they leave Mal and Zoe behind, Book points out that Niska might not be inclined to allow them to survive if Mal is captured and forced to talk.

In Paradiso, Mal and Zoe are questioned, and pose as newlyweds looking for work. Their answers make the local sheriff more than a little suspicious, because Mal and Zoe don’t know anything about Bowden’s Disease, and he would expect anyone suggesting that work was available in the area would have mentioned it.

Having lost his patience, Jayne goes to the bridge to force Wash to move on to the rendezvous, figuring Mal and Zoe will simply have to last long enough to get rescued after the transfer. Thankfully, Simon added something extra to the pain medication, and Jayne passes out. With Book’s help, the crew realizes that Inara has the necessary respect and prestige based on her profession to retrieve Mal and Zoe without resorting to violence.

Inara shows up in Paradiso, and easily charms her way into the sheriff’s confidence, claiming that Mal and Zoe stole money from her accounts while working as her indentured servants. When they get back to the ship, and while in the cargo bay, Mal informs the crew that they need to give Niska back his money, because they need to give the boxes to the people of Paradiso. Jayne, now resting on the open stairwell, objects, but before the issue can be resolved, Crawl and his friends arrive…and they are not pleased.

Mal tries to convince Crawl to just take the money, but he winds up with a nasty blade lodged in his shoulder for the trouble. Changing their minds, it seems, is not an option. A fight ensues, with Zoe, Mal, and Wash taking on the toughs while Inara and Kaylee run for cover. As the rest of the gang is taken down, Crawl gets a momentary edge on Mal…until Jayne shoots him in the leg.

Shortly, Zoe and Mal use their ATVs to attempt a covert drop of the medicine to Paradiso. They get waylaid by the sheriff and several townsfolk, but when it’s clear that Mal never intended to do any real harm, the sheriff lets them go. After all, on the frontier, one can’t blame a man for seeking work, even if it’s questionable.

Before they leave the planet, Mal gives Crawl the option of taking the money back to Niska. Crawl prefers to continue threatening Mal, so Mal promptly kicks him into the engine turbine. The second tough guy is more amenable to making a deal. As they move on, Simon sews up Mal’s wound, musing over whether they will ever find out about what happened to his sister at the Academy.

Meanwhile, on the regional Alliance control station, the commander is visited by two unidentified men wearing black suits and blue surgical gloves…asking questions about the recent abduction of a young girl…


Analysis

And so begins the latest offering from Joss Whedon, the brainchild behind the cult favorites “Buffy” and “Angel”. Unlike his other two series, which are closely inter-related in terms of characters and themes, this is a series that is clearly drawn from a more realistic point of view. As much as this series is set in space, with the main characters traveling on a spacecraft, this is essentially a Western in disguise.

The setting itself is practically lifted from the history books. In the real world, in the years following the American Civil War, there were a number of Confederate soldier who fled capture by the Union by seeking their fortunes on the frontier…the Wild West of American lore. The frontier had long been a place where federal control was weak and just about anything could happen, and freedom was effectively given to anyone with a useful set of hands.

Of course, the American Civil War had several issues at play, not the least of which was the issue of slavery. Even though slavery and the abolitionist movement is what we remember the most about the war, it was really the catalyst for a much larger debate. At the heart of the conflict was the question of federal versus regional (state) control. The Union fought to preserve federal power over all the United States, and the Confederates claimed their right to maintain a loose union of powerful member states with effective autonomy.

Because of the obvious parallels between the Alliance/Independents and the Union/Confederacy, it might be uncomfortable for some to see the former Independents being treated as the heroes. After all, the Confederates and their modern advocates would and will use the “right to maintain our way of life” argument to justify past atrocities and current ignorant, self-serving behavior. Seeing that kind of argument used in this setting can be unsettling, until one recognizes that there was no parallel racial issue in this fictional civil war (or so one would hope).

Getting past that, we can count on Whedon to explore many of the historically relevant complexities of those waning frontier years, especially in terms of the deep characterizations that he has become known for. In this case, we have a number of characters that begin as examples of standard archetypes, but are likely to grow into something very different from what we see in this first episode:

Malcolm Reynolds is the central figure, the captain of the Serenity and the leader of the gang. Perhaps already acting against type, Mal has a very educated way of speaking. One can easily imagine him to be a learned man forced into fighting for his freedom of thought, only to be resigned to a life on the run. He’s cocky, has a bit of a death wish, and no longer has patience for thoughts of God or higher meaning. Still, his basic morals are intact, and he will take a bullet when it’s the right thing to do.

Zoe, his right-hand-woman, apparently has known Mal since the war. While nothing is said about her background in this episode, we can make the assumption that she served alongside Mal in the war, and chose to continue with him when he went mercenary. She’s tough, loyal, and perhaps more sensible than Mal appears to be. She also married to Wash, the pilot.

Jayne is the other main mercenary in the crew, but he was not serving the Independents in the war. While he is willing to do what it takes to make his profit, he’s not especially loyal to Mal or anyone else. If a better offer were to come along, even from the Alliance, Jayne might take it without a second thought.

Wash is the pilot of the Serenity, and beyond his marriage to Zoe, we have yet to learn much about him. I have the feeling that he came onto the crew along the way, having met Zoe after the war. But that’s simply a matter of speculation. One thing is for certain…he and Jayne have very different opinions as to who’s in charge when Mal is out of contact.

Kaylee is the young engineer of the Serenity. Full of energy and a tendency towards openness that belies mercenary work, she is also very attractive and sexy in that innocent sort of way. She’s obviously very interested in Simon, one of the passengers, and doesn’t like Jayne’s self-centered attitude one bit.

Inara is perhaps the most high-profile passenger on the Serenity, even though she usually remains on her own shuttle. A registered Companion, Inara is a kind of courtesan, taking on only selected clientele when it suits her. Because of her status, she is afforded a great deal of respect by almost everyone the crew encounters. Why she travels with the Serenity is a mystery, though there’s reason to believe it has something to do with Mal.

Book is another odd passenger, a priest seeking to spread the word of God to the frontier. Given Mal’s lack of patience for things spiritual, it’s strange that Book would choose to be on the Serenity at all. But he seems to find some degree of solace in providing advice, and no doubt we will discover more about him in the future.

Simon Tam was once a privileged man in the Alliance, rising steadily in the medical field. However, he recently exhausted all of those resources to rescue his sister River from a secret Alliance experiment, and now he’s on the run. River doesn’t seem to be any more aware of who she might be than we are. It’s clear that her memory has been scrambled, and she’s not entirely coherent for any stretch of time.

While the various mercenary jobs appear to be the basis of the initial episodes, allowing us to see different characters in situations that might reveal their inner secrets, it’s the mystery surrounding River that has the most potential as the main plot arc for the season. I expect that the attraction between Inara and Mal will also play a part in the evolution of the series, given Mal’s central role and Inara’s obvious allure.

My only concern is that the premise of the series will alienate too many potential fans. It’s certainly a challenging concept, taking the already limited appeal of science fiction and dovetailing it with the rather dated niche of the Western. But even so, this initial offering gives us a glimpse of how it could work. Instead of going from town to town, it’s a matter of planet to planet, which immediately opens the door to any number of twists on conventional plot elements.

If anything is going to give this series life, it will be the magic of Whedon’s usual formula of melding the usual serious and dark intrigues with a healthy dash of irreverent humor and a hint of sex appeal. If Inara and Kaylee are perfectly crafted to appeal to the male demographic (and let’s face it, Zoe and River fall into the category as well), then much of the male cast is equally well suited to the female audience.

That additional sense of humor and sensuality balanced out the requisite slow patches of exposition. That’s still an area where Whedon could use a little work, because he struggles with exposition (something he is more than willing to admit) and, as a director, really has no idea what to do when shooting those scenes. Frankly, he does exactly as much as can be done, which is plow right through it. There are likely to be some similar moments in the early episodes, but hopefully that will pass in time.

In the end, short of convincing FOX to allow him to do things his way and begin with the original pilot (which we will eventually see later this season), Joss and the others at Mutant Enemy deliver a competent introduction to the characters and the premise of the series. Only time will tell if the series will be given time to build on this potential.


Memorable Quotes

TOASTER: “You know, I’m thinkin’ you’re one of them Independents…”
MALCOLM: “And I’m thinking that you weren’t burdened with an overabundance of schooling, so why don’t we just ignore each other until we go away?”

JAYNE: “Hey, I didn’t fight in no war. Best o’ luck, though.”

MALCOLM: “See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia…”

MALCOLM: “I know they tell ya to never hit a man with a closed fist, but it is, on occasion, hilarious…”

MALCOLM: “Well, what about you, shepherd? Why are you out here flying about with us brigands? Shouldn’t you be off bringing religiosity to the fuzzy-wuzzies or something?”
BOOK: “Oh, I got heathens a’plenty right here…”

MALCOLM: “And Kaylee…what the hell is going on in that engine room? Were there monkeys? Did some terrifying space monkeys get loose?”

MALCOLM: “Have you got time to do my hair?”

ZOE: “Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing…”

JAYNE: “Time for some thrilling heroics…”

RIVER: “Two by two…hands of blue…two by two…hands of blue…”
JAYNE: “How’s about you shut that crazy mouth…is that a fun game?”

MALCOLM: “No matter what happens, remember I love you.”
ZOE: “What?”
MALCOLM: “Because we’re married.”
ZOE: “Oh…right, sir…uh…honey…”

MALCOLM: “That sounds like the Alliance…unite everyone under one rule so they can all be annoyed or ignored equally…”

JAYNE: “You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin’ command here!”

WASH: “Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?”

MALCOLM: “Nice shot!”
JAYNE: (slurring) I was aiming for his head!”

MALCOLM: “We’re not thieves! Well, we *are* thieves…the point is…”


Observations

- The nice thing about the first episode of a series is that you get to spend most of your time on juicy character items or early plot arc musings. This episode, while not the pilot, still provides that flavor.

- Nice to have a “prostitute” character without the stigma usually associated with that role…

- One has to love the instant tension between Malcolm and Inara…great stuff!

- So, I guess the Alliance was short on cash after the war, since they raided the storage warehouse for “Starship Troopers” for their military gear…

- I think they should dope up Jayne every episode!

- Inara in that red dress…oh, my stars and garters! (Even better, *her* stars and garters!)

Overall, this was a nice introduction to the series as a whole, as well as the main characters and their initial relationships among the crew. If the series can manage to generate the kind of audience needed to stay afloat, there is more than enough potential to make this one of the more memorable series in recent memory.

I give it a 7/10.


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