The Train Job

_****

Mal and his crew are hired to rob a train of some valuable cargo; meanwhile, River's nightmares regarding her institutionalization cause worry for Simon.



The review for "Serenity (Part 2)" can be read here.

Originally aired out of order, this episode was tasked with introducing the world and characters that had already been introduced in the previous episode, thus repeating much of the same information that had been given to those who watched the episodes as intended. Fortunately, this second installment had the added benefit of establishing the characters personalities in ways that couldn't be explored previously, fleshing out their interactions with one another and solidifying the bond between them all.

Left behind while Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Zoë (Gina Torres) are on mission, Book (Ron Glass) feels mildly useless as he waits for their return, and in the interim he is granted a time of introspection. While he considers the ramifications of the life he has stumbled into, the people with whom he has become associated, he looks inward and begins to pray, allowing a moment between himself and Inara (Morena Baccarin) wherein they showcase their differing relationships with God. This down-time provides an insight into who these characters are outside of this life, as well as who they choose to be in relation to those who harbor them, and it's these quiet moments that tell us more about them than the information they easily give to one another.

Mal's crisis of conscience in regards to the theft of the medicine does well to humanize his character; despite being so focused on his job, and having already completed his assignment, he allows himself to return the goods knowing full-well that he will suffer Niska's (Michael Fairman) ire and lose out on the payment he and his crew so desperately need. Where Jayne (Adam Baldwin) likely would have kept the stolen goods in order to receive his money, Mal opts instead to sympathize with the sick townsfolk, once again putting the needs of other people before his own.

While he runs a tight ship while aboard the Serenity, Mal needs to make clear to his crew the chain of command in his absence, if only to avoid the arguments that they have here. It would make sense for Jayne, the man of action, to be the next in line after Zoë, since he so often is in the thick of things and is willing and able to get down and dirty, but it would also make sense for Wash (Alan Tudyk) to take control, as he is the ship's pilot and has a greater spatial awareness than the others. It certainly wouldn't resolve any conflict that might arise on the ship, but it would do these characters good to know who to defer to in a difficult situation, as the lack of distinction in this respect invites a certain amount of mutiny in divisive moments.

The sequence where Simon (Sean Maher) drugs Jayne is played for laughs despite how dangerous it could have been, and really should have carried more weight in the episode. During the final gunfight, Mal likely would have been killed without Jayne's intervention, and had he fallen unconscious, allowing Mal to get shot, this episode would have had a much different tone to it. There's also the chance that Jayne's poorly aimed fire could have killed one of the crew members, and while this thought never crosses anyone's mind, there seems to be no consequence for Simon's actions.

Summer Glau's performance as River here is quite good, displaying the intense fear and paranoia about the world that she feels, and the deep sorrow she experiences when she learns that she can't go back home; Maher plays off of her very well, reacting to her actions in a very natural way both as a sibling and a doctor. Baldwin is given an opportunity to showcase his comedic performance during Jayne's debilitation, and does so without resorting to exaggerated ridiculousness.

Directed by Joss Whedon, this episode does a good job of building anticipation, but the excitement quickly comes to a stop when the heist has been pulled off and the action sequence is immediately followed by Mal and Zoë's detainment. By comparison the scene is somewhat dull, and the tone of the episode doesn't quite recover afterwards.

Whedon and Tim Minear infuse a lot of humor into their script, undercutting a lot of the tension and allowing a great transition between the lighter character moments and the action-oriented sequences. The script wastes a bit of time reintroducing the characters and concepts, and while the foreword by Book acts as a good recap of what had happened previously, it seems somewhat out of place without a cutting to him speaking to River or someone else as if to inform them, instead just hanging in the air as the episode opens. Mal's tendency to rush head first into situations, deliberately causing a ruckus in town despite knowing the immense troubles that would follow, display a good sense of his leftover memories of the war and his misguided sense of justice. Whedon and Minear explore the negative consequences of terraforming a planet, which is not always an angle taken in this genre, and it's refreshing that it is here spoken of as a common incidence that colonists must simply learn to deal with.

There are a bunch of clues dropped in this episode as to what might be coming next, most notably the two men with 'hands of blue' on River's trail. There are also hints that Niska might return in the future for revenge against Mal's failure, and also that there might be something more to Book's past that w haven't been privy to yet.

The review for "Bushwhacked" can be read here.