The Train Job • S01E02 • TPN's Firefly Guide

[@MrGeekFreek]

Cute Kaylee moment. Simon: So what are we doing? Kaylee: Oh! Crime. I love her enthusiasm.

[@urdaanglospey6666]

"I don't believe there's a power in the 'Verse can stop Kaylee from being cheerful"

[@legzfalloffgirl5148]

Hurray, crime!!!!! Clapclapclapclapclap ❤🧡💛💞💙💜🖤

[@danielbloomquist9810]

Purplebelly out of his depth: "It's odd that you would name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of." The Cap'n: "May have been the losing side...Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

[@MrGeekFreek]

Mal: Whatever happens, remember I love you. Zoe: Sir? Mal: Because you're my wife Zoe: Right. Sir. Honey.

[@ECNewman]

I know you don't get into the actors themselves as much, but I really love Nathan Fillion in this role. In Castle and other things, he's so over the top (and that's fine) and a goof, but this sharp, sometimes reserved, soldier...I just love. I think it's brilliant acting.

[@jandcstopmotion7774]

Too bad he didn’t get cast in the Uncharted movie, he would be a perfect Nathan Drake (even if he is a bit too old)

[@sara_sah-raezzat5086]

Good video as always. I enjoy the classics footnotes, good job Jess. Maybe it's simplistic, but I have always read the "I don't believe he does" as Mal believing he couldn't make the other choice and still see himself as a "man". Not in a gender sense, but as a human worthy of the word.

[@PassionoftheNerd]

I actually meant to include a bit saying that I believe the line works in a few ways. Including the Old West, Gary Cooper in 'High Noon,' style of duty and honor, which I think gets at what you're describing. For a line that used to bug me, I think it's pretty great now.

[@sara_sah-raezzat5086]

@@PassionoftheNerd I was sort of thinking that if our choices make us who we are, then to continue to be who we are (or see ourselves) there are choices we "can't" make. I guess that's bound up in the duty/honour thing. Gotta love writing that has so many levels to it.

[@PassionoftheNerd]

They wrote this in. a. weekend.

[@Beacuzz]

@@PassionoftheNerd that fact continues to amaze me! That they can write so much subtlety in such a small time, and make me feel all of it!

[@TheFranchiseCA]

This has been my take on the line as well. Keeping the medicine would mean Reynolds is not a Man.

[@ThexImperfectionist]

"He's going to be the bad that rebels..." makes me think of "I aim to misbehave."

[@Trekkie46]

The line that I love to quote from time to time.

[@GUV85]

Great line but a bad tagline for the film. In the context of the speech it's powerful - I misbehave, I rebel because I can...because I choose to. Good and bad are a choice...they have to be because otherwise they are meaningless concepts. Without that context though...it sounds so immature.

[@Tari004]

@@GUV85 I aim to be immature AND then misbehave! Thank you for putting words to the mixed feelings I've had with that line. Make no mistake, I LOVE the line but have found it hard to properly explain exactly why to people who hadn't yet seen the movie.

[@Stuart267]

Don't think I have been more depressed from a show being cancelled than I was with this one. Even now 20 years later its still bittersweet to watch knowing this is all we have

[@salyx]

"Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?" I'm glad The Train Job exists. And while I realize it's going to be a rather long wait, I am SO EXCITED that Bushwhacked is next. That episode is bone-chilling.

[@AMoniqueOcampo]

Just in time for Firefly's 17th anniversary. Shiny! I love how this episode starts!

[@MrLecti]

Wait...what...how long...damn, where does the time go...

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

@@MrLecti ikr, I'm shaking my head. Edit: Stupid time, always slipping irrevocably into the past. Typical!

[@sw0745]

Me coming home from work: I'm so tired I can barely breathe.... I need that bed stuff stat. Sees notification: Yes.

[@miriam8376]

Just imagine what we’d have if this show had been picked up by literally any other network than Fox.

[@TomOReganYT]

Please do one of these for every episode. I just started my annual re watching of the series and these are the best videos about firefly. Stay shiny, dude. Happy Unification Day

[@slewone4905]

I can't watch Mrs Malcom. Saffron is he perfect woman to me, I am so broken.

[@JustinKirkwood]

Always loved the delivery of "I don't believe he does." He conspicuously doesn't blink.

[@DeadEndScreamer]

I like this episode, it's reputation is solid.

[@spookymia8135]

"He's Mal and Malcolm" is such a nice way of putting it. I used to be friends with one of those guys who likes to play Devil's Advocate for the oppressive power structures in film/debate the moral righteousness of the heroes. You know, for the sake of being Edgy(tm). One of his favorite conversation topics was "But the crew of the Serenity are actually the Bad Guys!!!!!!!" and then he'd act like A) this was a good take and B) it was an original take. Completely ignoring that, in a realistic society, there's really no good or bad guy in a war (this is television so the lines are drawn perhaps a little more clearly, but they also didn't have much time to get into things). There are, however, good men, and those good men aren't necessarily going to give up their side of things or change their perspective just because they lost. Also, anyone who tries to imply that rebelling against an oppressive power structure makes someone The Bad Guy is... not great. I would've loved to have him watch your videos on the series. I can't, because we're not friends anymore, but I hope someone still putting up with his ass has discovered this channel. He'd hate it.

[@ComandoPadentro]

Amazing video my man!! This is my favourite Whedon Show... It's kinda perfect. Short and robbed of it's potential, yes... but the characters, the universe, the tone... this show does not have, in my eyes, a single flaw nor a "weak" episode. This was going to be Joss's masterpiece (damn you, Fox) but they screw the pooch and we were left wanting more. I don't believe there is a single show where the characters were so clearly defined, perfectly casted and wonderfully written since DAY ONE, their voices were so distinct and unique and I miss them every single day. Thank you for doing these videos.

[@VegetaLF7]

Absolutely. Firefly burned brighter right out of the gate than Buffy or Angel ever got to in their first seasons, but where those shows had seven and five seasons respectively, Firefly was robbed of even making it through one. Even still, Firefly was incredible and developed so much of a following off of the dvd sales alone that they were able to make Serenity *without* Fox as a more proper sendoff to the show. As they say in the dvd special features: "Cancelled tv shows don't get made into movies", but for some miraculous reason, Firefly did.

[@charleshamilton9274]

“...they feast upon the dead equally.” That, my friends, would be lawyers. This is my first taste of the Firefly deep dives and I cannot wait to enjoy the rest. Superb analysis.

[@phil56892]

I don’t see how Mal’s line “I don’t believe he does” confused you? Simply a man isn’t a man if he made the other choice

[@orangelion03]

This show...as much as I wish it would have lasted longer, we still have thirteen episodes and a movie that will forever be what it was.

[@razycrandomgirl]

I am beyond annoyed that I am falling back in love with this freaking show again!

[@michaelcain9324]

I watched the series on DVD, so The Train Job will always be Ep 2 for me. Thanks for the brief Much Ado about Nothing snippet. Loved it just because I got to see Fred and Wesley have a Happily Ever After.

[@PassionoftheNerd]

#ALWAYSTOOSOON

[@slewone4905]

The pilot has more heart. When it first aired, I watch it in piece work, because fox screwed with it, and I didn't want to invest time in figuring how to watch it because I felt it was too weird to survive. I do tell me that it is my philosophy in life.

[@Anjalena]

Ian, I love you man. You have a manner of speaking, of placing your words, that is poetry. It affects me at the surface and plays my heart like a grandmaster cellist. You leave me in tears almost always while also leaving me feeling inspired. What you do couldn't be described as anything other than art. Thank you so much for these last years and all the hard work. You're awesome.

[@madcommune]

Ian posted this on Unification Day even!!

[@LucyLynette]

Day is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It isn't applicable. (I didn't get Ian anything.)

[@kampfkeks6619]

Hahahaha me neither

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

What month is it?

[@aarongallaway7005]

One good thing about Firefly only lasting one season is that it never had a chance to go stale. One bad thing about Firefly only lasting one season is that it never had the chance to go stale.

[@lyralivingstonabbott]

... Holy SHIT. I'm a long time fan, how does your content still always manage to completely blow me away?

[@boo5860]

This is one of the few channels where I sit down to a new video and fully commit my attention to it. No distractions. It just feels like it deserves nothing less than absolute respect and focus :)

[@MellowOutAbout]

I feel the same way!

[@joel0joel0]

One point i would add is mal's last line to the sheriff, could be read differently. What Mal is essentially doingthis episode is making an authentic choice, whether he gives the medicine back or sell it. An authentic choice is a choice that defines us, the option we choose in such a choice is something so important to us, that we basically would always would choose the exact same option. So an authentic choice can seem for the person who chooses not as a choice at all. You asked which bad is Mal and the answer lies in the choices Mal does in this episode, first he chooses to steal for the guy from the Alliance, out of pure self interest with no regard of the morality of such action nor that he doesn't like the guy he is stealing for, but after learning that the stolen good is badly needed medicine, he instantly choose to give it back for the people in need, showing that he has moral principles and empathy despite being living the live of a thief and smuggler. That Mal disagrees with the sheriff, is I think further evidence that his choices were authentic, which defined who he is.

[@michaeljohnson5167]

"My words don't good much normal as they do as." Great description of Inara's charm in my opinion lol. I love this series to the far reaches of the Verse and back, my mom and I have binged it a few times together, and it's awesome to see this gem getting some more attention. I'm glad my phone spied on me and made you pop up in my recommended, and I'm eager to see all the little details of the show brought into focus. Stay shiny, fellow Browncoat.

[@hardybryan]

I was about to finally, at long last, finish my Buffy and Angel rewatch and you're going to make me do a Firefly rewatch now? Really? You're lucky I like you. And thank you.

[@Philbert-s2c]

Wooh Hoo, First. I never understood why so many fans didn't seem to like this one. It's got some truly great moments, particularly when Mal kicks a defiant Crowe into the engines. That pretty much tells you what kind of show you're going to be watching. The pity of cancelling the show as early as it was (well one of many) was that we only got a couple of glimpses of everybody's favorite space crime boss, Niska.

[@Buffy8Fan]

I have never really understood the concepts behind why _The Train Job_ could be just as good as _Serenity._ It is interesting to think about even if I prefer the slow burn with pilots. Mal saying he doesn't think people have a choice to the sheriff. It is him saying that his choice already made is that he does what he thinks is right, which in this case is right after unintentionally doing the wrong thing.

[@Cinephileofmany]

Hearing the beautiful music makes me want to watch the show from the beginning again.

[@valkyr8]

Train job was the first episode that I ever watched, since I watched Firefly in real time. I loved this episode. When I purchased the DVD box set I watched it in the way it was intended. I'm with you, I am also torn. I was fully dipped in the Whedonverse so I would have taken the journey regardless of which episode was shown first on prime time, but I'm wondering if the casual viewer would have done the same. Train Job is a quick paced fun episode and the kick into the engine was the cherry on an awesome cake. Still, Fox is run by incompetents.

[@Tari004]

This is one of those rare times when one 'Thumbs Up' simply isn't enough to express the quality of a video. So here are a few more👍👍👍👍👍.

[@amberrosefaye7016]

“Hands if blue” is one of my favorite lines I don’t know why but it always sticks with me. Amazing video!! Can’t wait I for the rest of the season because Firefly is amazing!!

[@emmsnake]

This is amazing you are doing this series episode by episode. Congrats, you got a subscriber. Keep 'em coming.

[@barbarabaker1457]

I love Much Ado About Nothing, no wonder Mal and Anara felt so familiar. A bit frustrating without merry Cupid's tho. That ending in particular was beautiful btw.

[@shannonclarke6892]

Your editing is amazing! You have a keen eye Ian. Keep up the good work 😉

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

Beautifully considered and presented.

[@FromMyBrain]

Never was a huge fan of the movie but if you know it or not your breakdown at the end made the movie look like poetry.

[@GrayNeko]

I love how he keeps talking about the 'creepy male gaze' and keeps showing Inara bathing in the first episode. Make up your mind!

[@TYFTM718]

The leaf in the wind is killing me

[@futurecaredesign]

Holy crap man. You analyze the shit out of this episode. I LOVE IT! Especially the bit about how Mal has already chosen he's going to give a damn, whether the universe is meaningless or not.

[@xtxond]

I feel like since this episode was requested by the studio ppl just automatically hate it and want nothing to do with it and it's a shame it has some brilliant moment and kicking a man through the engine is just funny

[@Cat-ne5mt]

I totally understand your point about the two pilots. The first time I watched any Firefly was when I walked in on my dad watching the pilot. He was right at the beginning, but the slow pace of it really didn’t draw me in and I left after a bit.

[@melodyclark1944]

I was so confused it was frustrating.

[@slewone4905]

That was why Firefly failed. Fox didn't give it enough time, and people wanted action in their Scifi. The problem is, it isn't Sci Fi.

[@daniel_wilkinson]

Over-examine it as much as you want. It's still an incredibly beautiful series that Fox managed to completely f*ck up.

[@mr.2cents.846]

This episode has one of my favourite scenes of film history. When inbthe end the sheriff says once one learns about the whole situation he has a choice. Than Mel says: "I don't think he has".

[@hellojari07]

wow, didn't know all that background. can't wait for the next one

[@Elen8878]

This is the perfect reason to rewatch firefly. Thank you!

[@JoshuaR7594]

I cry every year after watching Firefly and Serenity back to back. I hope to turn more friends on to one of my favorite universes with some of the best characters.

[@slewone4905]

You know what the first rule of flyin' is? Love.

[@aravisthetarkheena]

I never realized that this was supposed to be a pilot - and I LOVE serenity, don't get me wrong, but I would consider this a really good pilot, too!

[@wyprman]

It was the first episode broadcast by FOX. I really enjoyed, but was quite confused because the promos that FOX used leading up to it showed scenes from the actual pilot episode, “Serenity”.

[@slewone4905]

THe pilot was better. Fox wanted more action, but the pilot draws you into another world. You really feel who Malcolm was.

[@hnek]

1) I haven't ever been able to hear or say the word "auspicious" correctly since I first saw this episode. 2) 7:39 thank you for perfectly articulating how I often feel about Inara and her opulent luminescence (sounds like I'm addressing Glory lol)

[@PierzStyx]

Great evaluation of The Train Job as an introduction to the show.

[@TheDetailsMatter]

12:50 Mal also makes the mistake of stealing all 6 boxes of medicine. Niska only wanted 2, the idea being that the town still gets the medicine, but there's not enough to go around, so they then have to buy the other 2 from Niska at black market prices. With all 6 boxes gone, anyone who shows up looking to sell black market Pascaline-D will just get themselves lynched. Niska would have hung Mal from a meat hook when they got back even if Mal's conscience had taken its meds and stayed asleep.

[@TheDetailsMatter]

In the Niska meeting scene, where he lays out the objective to Mal, Zoey, and Jayne. "Two boxes, Alliance goods. You have no problem stealing from Alliance, I take it, from your reputation?"

[@diffbeat979]

I am so happy this series is a thing.

[@jareth45373]

Wow, how did you make your second video on Firefly even better than your first? Thank you, again! I'll be rewatching this and the show many times.

[@Matrim42]

Being the outlier episode of Firefly is like being the last picked Avenger Hawkeye: Why did you cut to me?

[@remingtonlewis2000]

I've been waiting so long for this video

[@Solnai42]

I think this is one of my favorites of your guides! On first watch, I had to rewind about a dozen times to better appreciate what was said or shown by watching again

[@martonjuhasz1544]

wow thank you, i can't wait for the next one to come

[@Textile_Courtesan]

Thank you for doing this. I remember watching this as it premiered and was so enchanted. It still is magical to me.

[@charlesedwardandrewlincoln8181]

The wordplay from auspicious to suspicious and vice versa is found at the beginning of the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. The character dogberry plays this exact word play joke from auspicious to suspicious.

[@bobriemersma]

I appreciate any discussion of Firefly and we all have our opinions of how things might be improved but after this long a time I settle in and enjoy what is, warts or not. You can't take the sky from me.

[@GatorSixCharlie]

I really enjoyed these Firefly videos, I hope you make more. Well written/edit.

[@aducharme01]

I wish I had more to say, except that things make a lot more sense now. I watched this show only once, in preparation for my gaming group setting up an adventure with the Firefly TTRPG. The details of my reaction have largely faded, the show having left me underwhelmed enough that I never revisited it, but two specific responses have stuck with me: Out of Gas is one of the finest episodes of television I've ever had the pleasure to watch, and that the second episode felt like a better first episode than the first episode. Hearing the backstory behind this one really helped me contextualize the second reaction there. I genuinely wish I could remember more of why I liked this one more. Part of me wants to think that it's the snappier pace and the way it reveals the background, but that's just as likely a retroactive explanation from where I sit now as it is how I felt at the time. Either way, thank you very much for helping me figure this out. it's much appreciated.

[@PassionoftheNerd]

Sounds like it's time for a rewatch. :-)

[@aducharme01]

@@PassionoftheNerd Perhaps. I'll need to get my hands on the show again (I had borrowed it from my friends), but we'll see. My unwatched backlog is long enough as it is. :-)

[@ladybirdg5658]

I never realized how static the episode was before. When I first watched Firefly, it was pretty much the only thing I watched that wasn't anime. And anime has that "three-episode rule" wherein the first three episodes of a series are kind of repetitive and static in the way you described because a lot of anime (especially in the 2009-2015 range) tended to use two or three episodes to set up a series instead of just one. Looking back on it now, it's interesting hearing the backstory of this episode and why it turned out that way!

[@johnbevino8687]

Awesome job! You and Jess did great ... always surprised at how you see things

[@fawli86]

Knowing this has happened to Joss twice now with Firefly and Dollhouse where Fox intervened with how his shows should start, I would never ever work for that network again.

[@jamesderosa2041]

What a fun series. Got my subscription.

[@Gnomey97]

Great analysis as usual. Cannot wait to finally get my fiance to watch the rest of this show. He's only seen the pilot.

[@OutsideTheTargetDemographic]

If he doesn't become a Browncoat...you know what must be done...

[@mgc0392]

Great analysis, I've learnt so much! Best, Giovanna

[@rebelndirt8830]

I like this episode as it shows that while Mal and the crew of Serenity are outlaws they are not without conscience and they also do the right thing. They are kinda like a Robin Hood type, steal from those who are with to give to those who are without. I like this better as a second episode, and the way they play it with the characters you still believe that Book and the Tams are new to the crew still.

[@jediavatar]

Ah, an interesting analysis of an interesting episode. I am so grateful for what you are doing here.

[@berlinperez9433]

Keep them coming preacher man !

[@Vahktang]

Yes! The comics, too.

[@whisperienced]

Happy U Day

[@robslack5468]

So great! Your content is sublime!

[@EumenesOCardia]

Ugh, I hate that I'm not discovering these videos when they are all published. I just want the next one.

[@moonlogic1986]

I think this episode explores the problem of having to fight the government. Even if a government is tyrannical, it is a huge part of what makes the machinery of society function. If you sabotage the government, you end up hurting the people who depend on it, rather than government itself. This colony probably earns a marginal profit for the Alliance, just enough to motivate the Alliance to keep them healthy and fed, but if Mal starts sabotaging the supply lines, the Alliance could quickly decide to simply abandon the colonists, leaving them to starve and die of disease.

[@jbcatz5]

Moon Logic This dilemma gets brought in in Blake’s 7 when Blake wants to destroy the computer that allows the Federation to operate. It’s pointed out that it’s not just the tyrannical system of government represented by the likes of Servalan that would be affected but the trade routes, the weather control etc that ships and colonies rely on and who are just as much victims of the Federation. When Star One goes down there are worlds that fall into anarchy because they aren’t getting supplies and in the absence of another power the Federation refills the power vacuum. Back to Firefly, Mal and the crew of Serenity are caught between two forces who won’t thank them or be utterly indifferent to their efforts. The people of Paradiso are just statistics to the Alliance. All Mal and co can do is make their conditions within their confined lives a bit better even though the Alliance probably don’t care and it paints a target on their backs for Niska.

[@TakodaChris]

The wait was worth it, I was not disappointed. I’m looking forward to the next one! How long do you think it will be until you put the next one out?

[@nathanarcher8719]

Really interesting episode, thank you so much for all this amazing content :)

[@fangsabre]

I always saw Mal as a man of strong convictions. When he says there isnt a choice, it's because HE doesnt see it as a decision to deliberate. Its already been made. It's how he can kill a bad guy without flinching. Because in his morality and his convictions, the choice is clear. Almost in the same way a paladin might not hesitate to give his own food to a beggar or smite a murderer. Why deliberate when you know what you're going to do. And why deliberate a choice when you know what you WONT do. If you cant live with the alternative, in this case condemning a struggling people to death, then why even consider it

[@Wednesdaywoe1975]

Thank you! This is exactly right. Mal is the opposite to those people who claim it's impossible to know what you would do in the case of a moral quandary. Mal has a moral compass like an anvil. There is no equivicating.

[@MellowOutAbout]

Great analysis!

[@StarlasAiko]

"...almost as if she was a part of the ship." "My sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood."

[@virginiamooney4105]

I wish I could find this cover of Angeline the Baker on Spotify. It would be perfect for my "songs that could have been part of the firefly soundtrack but aren't" playlist.

[@sebastiaanheide8796]

Dammit. where's the rest of it? i wanted to binge watch

[@TALON-7]

Damn! That was good.

[@carilabok6319]

Hey I just started watching your channel because I am currently watching Buffy for the first time and I really like the way you unpack the episodes. I have been a long time Firefly fan, and I am hoping for the same type of video series with this show. Are you planning on covering Firefly's other episodes?

[@RagnarOdinson]

God damn! I Love Frefly!!

[@whedonobsessed]

I can never not laugh at the "sir. I think you've got a problem with your brain being missing"

[@neondeadlights5014]

"Mal" isn't short for "malice", per se. It's a prefix which means bad or badly, i.e. malformed, malfunction, malpractice.

[@grahamgibbons5722]

Well put sir. You earned another subscriber :) Australia says Hello

[@georgerrorwell2993]

Great work, thank you all! Curious now, has anyone else spent time considering how the story plays out if Mal and Zoe aren't stuck on the train? Everything goes exactly as planned, they never open the boxes, do the job, get paid... Does it change how we view them? Should it? They agreed to do something horrifying, and justified it with some willful ignorance. The sheriff of Paradiso doesn't condemn them for that original act, but judges them only by their change of heart. I'm not sure I agree with him, and welcome thoughts on the subject.

[@Alex-RNG]

Aaaaaaaaaaand time to rewatch firefly

[@kayr6813]

I just watched firefly a few months ago and now you are making me want to inflict that pain on me again! Oh when it ends!D,:

[@MrMinuteman5]

This was nice!

[@glygriffe]

The Train Job sure works as a pilot/intro to the series. I saw the show starting with two-parter Serenity and I loved it: you could understand the 'Verse, the crew, even the Chinese... But when we wanted to share Firefly with our 8-year-old, my husband chose to introduce him to the show with The Train Job, because there is more action in it. So I guess that Fox had a different target audience then Whedon. Or they thought of the future fans of this show as childish...

[@slewone4905]

I started in the middle, but it didn't matter, because it was out of order anyways. I knew it was doomed, but I liked it, but I couldn't figure when it was on. They keep moving it.

[@MelissaTreglia]

Okay, now those comments about the Avengers just make me wonder what your guides/reviews for the MCU would be like.

[@RagnarOdinson]

At around 0:46 , I can no longer remember how many times I've delivered a very similar, minute'ish long, monolog to someone whenever I was introducing Firefly to a new person. 😂😜, Lol Cheers🍻!!