The Train Job

Season 1, Episode 3
Written by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear
Directed by Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 20 September 2002

“Are there aliens or monkeys in the engines? Flying space monkeys?”
Malcolm Reynolds

REGULAR CAST

Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds
Gina Torres as Zoë Alleyne-Washburne
Alan Tudyk as Hoban “Wash” Washburne
Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite as Kaywinnit Lee “Kaylee” Frye
Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam
Summer Glau as River Tam
Ron Glass as Shepherd Derrial Book

GUEST CAST

Tom Towles as Sheriff
Andrew Bryniarski as Crow
Michael Fairman as Adelai Niska
Greg Henry as Bourne

CO-STARRING

Valerie Red-Horse as Deputy
Kevin Will as Officer
Lina Patel as Ensign
David Reynolds as Henchman
Jeff Ricketts as Blue-Hand Man #1
Dennis Cockrum as Blue-Hand Man #2
Eric Lange as Fed
Tawny René Hamilton as Immigrant Woman #1
Michelle Ferrara as Immigrant Woman #2

SYNOPSIS

Captain Reynolds (along with Zoë and Jayne) gets into a bar brawl over the celebration of Unification Day in a bar, but is rescued by Wash with some exaggerations on the weaponry of Serenity. Safe back on the ship, the crew find that he managed to pick up some info on a possible job.

River awakens from nightmares about the experiments being done to her when she was being held captive. Simon is still trying to determine what was done to her.

Mal is searching for Kaylee and finds her in Inara’s shuttle, having her hair brushed. After Kaylee is ordered to clean up the disaster area in the engine room, Mal warns Inara not to become involved with the man they’re meeting with about a job, as he is extremely dangerous.

Mal, Zoë, and Jayne meet up with this man, Adelai Niska, who is exactly as Mal described. He wants them to lift two boxes from a train, and Mal accepts the job, agreeing not to ask what’s in the boxes. Niska warns them not to attempt to double cross him or screw up the job in any way. He means business.

Zoë and Mal are on the train, preparing to pull the job off. There is a car full of Alliance soldiers, but they aren’t protecting the cargo Niska wants, so Mal and Zoë go ahead with the plan. Wash is flying Serenity directly above the train and Jayne drops down on rope from Serenity to the train and into the car with Zoë and Mal. As they hook the rope to the cargo, an Alliance soldier enters and fires at them as he is blinded by their smoke bomb. Jayne is shot in the leg, but manages to get on top of the cargo and is lifted back to Serenity with it. Mal and Zoë are stuck on the train, but have not been caught as the thieves.

The train is stopped and all passengers are pulled off for questioning by the local sheriff. Mal and Zoë are questioned, but come up with a fairly weak cover story about being newlyweds looking for work in this area, despite the disease everyone there catches, Bowden’s Malady. They also discover that the stolen cargo was medicine destined for the town in order to treat the disease. Neither Mal nor Zoë seems very happy that this is what they stole. The sheriff buys their story – for now. But they’re still stuck.

On Serenity, Jayne is attempting to assert his “authority”, and convince the others to ditch Mal and Zoë, and make the exchange with Niska on their own, but Simon manages to dope Jayne and he passes out to the relief of everyone on board. The crew devises a plan to rescue Mal and Zoë, and Inara heads to the town in full Companion garb, and reclaims Mal as her “indentured servant”. Since she is a fully registered Companion, the sheriff has no choice but to let Mal and Zoë go with Inara.

Back on Serenity, Mal informs the crew that they’re not going to make the exchange with Niska. They’ll give him his money back, but return the medicine to the town. However, Niska’s henchman, Crow, manages to arrive just at that point and a huge fight ensues. Of course, our heroes win, and Mal and Zoë return the cargo to the sheriff. Mal tells Niska’s man that they’re returning all his money, so everything should be squared away. However, Niska doesn’t seem like the type to forgive and forget, even if his money is returned.

River is still having visions and chants to herself “Two by two… hands of blue.” Onboard an Alliance ship, two men are speaking to an officer about a theft. He informs them that the medicine was returned, but that’s not the theft they’re referring to. They produce a photo of River – and they have blue hands.

TRIVIA

Apparently, the logo for the show was originally green.

We first hear the opening narration in this episode. It’s voiced by Ron Glass: “After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic technologies. A ship would bring you work, a gun would help you keep it. A captain’s goal was simple: find a crew, find a job, keep flying.”

Jeff Ricketts has appeared in all three Whedon series: He played Weatherby in Buffy‘s This Year’s Girl and Who Are You, and the same character again in Angel‘s Sanctuary. He also played a demon in the Angel episode Sacrifice.

Drew Goddard, a writer on Buffy, Angel and Alias appears as a man on the train.

CONTINUITY

Kaylee makes another reference to ‘that crappy compression coil,’ which will cause great problems in Out of Gas.

Mal pulls out of his deal with Niska and returns the cargo that they stole. Niska swears revenge, which will come in War Stories.

Book knows of Niska’s reputation, a reference to the fact that there is more to Book than meets the eye.

The Blue-Handed Men make their first appearance at the end of this episode, and quite clearly want River returned to the Academy. They return in Ariel.

Inara mentions that she’s been leasing her shuttle for eight months, the introduction of which we see in Out of Gas.

River removes the labels from cans at one point, to remove the Blue Sun logo. In Ariel, she takes a knife to Jayne when he wears the logo on his shirt.

GOOFS

The lady in a burkha on the train is shown carrying a baby in the background when everyone has to get off the train. Watch her, a jeep passes by her quite slowly and she doesn’t notice and walks right into it, baby’s head first!

On the sheriff’s “police” patch, the Chinese character is written backwards, noticeable in the interrogation scene.