Firefly - "The Train Job" (TV Episode Review #9)

The crew of Serenity gets hired by an underground mob boss to steal some Alliance supplies from a train on a border planet (an outer planet in the solar system).  In doing so, they learn a very valuable life lesson: be careful of who you trust.  “The Train Job”, the second episode of Firefly, is very fun and engaging while also providing a few twists and turns along the way.

The episode’s opening teaser has not much to do with its central plot, but it is worth mentioning because of how it enriches the Firefly universe.  It opens with the observance of Unification Day (or “U-Day”, as Zoe calls it), a holiday celebrating the day the solar system was unified under a single government, the Alliance, at the end of the Unification War.  This scene adds an element of authenticity to the culture of the Firefly universe, as it helps establish which sides various people hold even out in the border planets.  Plus, it also brings forth some greater insight into Mal Reynolds’ character and how he still believes in the Independents’ cause, even all these years after the Battle of Serenity Valley.

The central plot of “The Train Job” opts for clouding its morality in shades of gray, but still does not forget to clearly define its heroes and villains.  There are a couple of plot twists that cause the story to unravel from a simple train heist into a much greater conflict, one where Mal and Zoe have to make a difficult moral choice.

For example, let’s talk about the man who hires the Serenity crew, a space mob boss named Niska.  It is firmly stated that Serenity has been chest deep in smuggling goods from the Alliance on the black market for some time.  But as Zoe points out, if your client punishes the hired guns who fail him by hanging them upside-down, this should be a pretty good red flag on what kind of man you’re working for; he may be the enemy of your enemy, but he is not your friend.  After all, his true motive, while anti-Alliance, comes back to bite Serenity later on.

Keep in mind, though: this episode still makes it very clear that the Alliance is tyrannical.  The higher-up Alliance officials do not care for the needs of the village of Paradiso, a struggling impoverished town that Mal and Zoe visit in the midst of their heist, or even its planet for that matter.  Moreover, the mystery of what they did to River Tam is further explored in this one.  River is still shown to be traumatized by whatever torture she endured at the Academy—a trauma that actress Summer Glau gets across perfectly.

With an unpredictable plot that veers in unexpected directions, this is a strong sophomore episode for a show’s first (or in this case, only) season.  Even with its high stakes, this is overall a character-driven episode with moral dilemmas presented in a way that is accessible and easy to understand.  And this is what makes “The Train Job” so great—it’s a fun and fast-paced thrill ride with plenty of depth.