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Season 1, Episode 4
Written by Tim Minear
Directed by Tim Minear
Original Airdate: 27 September 2002
Simon "It's a wonder you're still
alive."
Jayne "He looked bigger when I couldn't see him."
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
-
Most of the crew is playing a basketball-like game
when an alarm goes off. Wash heads out to find out what it's all about
and literally runs the ship into a dead man in space. Beyond him is a
ship drifting without control. There's no distress signal and no one
seems to be answering his hails. Mal decides to head over there and find
out if anything aboard can be salvaged.
Mal and Zoë suit up in space gear and enter the deserted ship. They find
no one onboard, but it seems like whoever was there left in a hurry. The
ship appears to have been a transport vessel for several families of
settlers looking to make a new life for themselves.
As Simon is checking on River, who is still having nightmares and that
wacky tendency to babble, Jayne arrives to tell him that Mal wants him
on the deserted ship and to suit up and meet them there. Simon suits up
and heads over there - only to find everyone else out of their suits
(apparently the air was breathable) and no one expecting him, except
Jayne who is laughing at his own sense of humour. Since Simon is there,
Mal sends him off with Kaylee to look for materials to salvage from the
ship.
Jayne patrols on his own as Zoë and Mal search for more valuable items.
They discover a locked area, which, lo and behold, contains some
Alliance containers - provisions for the families to start their new
lives with on a new world. They also discover that the families did not
abandon ship as previously assumed - they hang dead from the ceiling,
all of them tied together. Mal knows what did this.
River is found aboard the ship (she was drawn there by "voices", she
tells Simon) as Mal attempts to contact Jayne to tell him to get the
others and get off the ship, but Jayne is attacked from behind. The
others find him unharmed, but the trail of blood on the floor suggests
his attacker did not fare so well. Mal pulls a frail and somewhat
psychotic looking fellow out from behind a grate and knocks him out.
He's a lot smaller than Jayne thought he was.
Back on Serenity, the crew speculates as to what happened to the
man and how he survived aboard the ship while the others were all
killed. Inside the infirmary, Simon treats the man and Mal, looking
disturbed, has Simon dope the survivor. Mal orders the others to stay
out of the infirmary and tells them Reavers are responsible for the
deaths on the deserted ship.
Gathered in the mess area, Mal says that the Reavers made the sole
survivor watch as they murdered the others and now he's become like them
- nothing. Reavers seem to be somewhat of a legend... men who drifted to
the edge of the system - to nothingness and became just that. Mal still
wants to go back aboard the ship and salvage what they can. Jayne is not
so thrilled to go back, in fear that Reavers will be returning. Book
wants to go there to help put the murdered people to rest. Simon
volunteers to help. Mal gives them permission, then takes Kaylee, Wash,
and Zoë with him to the cockpit.
There they discover Mal's suspicions (which he did not voice to the
others) were correct. The Reavers left a booby trap that has attached
Serenity to the other ship and pulling away would cause the hull to
burst. Kaylee, being the smart thinker she is, has a solution, and pulls
it off beautifully, freeing the ship.
Just as the crew seems to be scott free and ready to go, they run into
another problem - a huge Alliance ship, which orders them to release
control of their helm as they are about to be docked and boarded.
The commander of the Alliance ship says they are searching for two
fugitives - a brother and sister (Simon and River) and prepares to head
onto Serenity. Mal has all of the salvaged materials pulled out
of hiding, and orders a very reluctant Simon to get River. Book
reassures Simon to trust Mal. As the Alliance commander and soldiers
come onto Serenity, there appears to be no sign of Simon and
River. Mal deftly answers the commander's questions, but the entire crew
is taken onto the Alliance ship for questioning as Serenity is to
be searched - top to bottom.
The commander is not successful in his interrogations of the crew, but
decides to assume they are responsible for the murders on the transport
ship. Just as he is ready to take Mal to the brig, it is discovered that
the ship's survivor, who has gone completely mad and severed his own
tongue, as well as harmed some Alliance doctors, is on the loose. Mal
tells the commander he knows where the man will go and the commander
allows Mal to take him.
They head back to Serenity and arrive just after Simon and River
have come back onboard. They were hiding on the hull of Serenity
is space suits. River warns Simon not to go back, but he ignores her
somewhat incoherent mumblings, and is about to run into the Alliance
(and the psycho man), when he hears them coming and smartly hides with
River. Mal enters the mess area first, and sees where River and Simon
are hiding. There's no time for anyone else to spot them though, as the
crazy survivor attacks the Alliance soldiers, and is about to kill the
commander, when Mal manages to save him and kill the crazy guy.
Serenity and her crew are all together and ready to head off -
though without their salvaged materials as the Alliance soldiers blow up
the deserted ship, presumably in fear of the Reavers returning. Simon
and River managed to remain undiscovered... for now.
CONTINUITY
-
The
handiwork of the Reavers is first witnessed in this episode, and is
expanded upon in
Serenity.
-
The
Alliance commander observes that the unnamed fugitive siblings were last
seen leaving Persephone aboard an unidentified Firefly-class
transport around the same time Serenity left the same planet,
events which occurred in
Serenity
(Part 1).
-
River
continues to speak of upcoming events, which hit at her psychic
abilities, discovered by the crew in
Objects in Space.
GOOFS
-
When Zoë says "Ship powered down on its own"
there's no static clicking sound of the suit communicators turning on
and off before and after she speaks, although the sound is present in
all of her other lines while suited.
-
So what happened to the ship's log they found?
First Mal and Zoë find it, start examining it, and talk like it's going
to have some kind of big revelation, but then they forget about it
entirely.
-
So why doesn't Jayne give up Simon and River to
the Alliance? He sure talks about them being unwanted and
pain-in-the-necks enough times, but he has the chance here to secretly
give them up to the Alliance by giving away their hiding place and he
doesn't take it. Presumably he's just loyal to Mal or just really likes
them and it's all talk, but this isn't really clear.
-
Where is the survivor hiding in the common room?
He gets the drop on the Alliance guys and Mal despite the fact they're
facing in all directions and there really isn't anywhere to hide.
-
Where do the Alliance soldiers disappear to when
the survivor attacks? There are several soldiers, plus Mal and the
Alliance captain, who go into the room. Then the survivor attacks, kills
one or maybe two soldiers tops, and it's just him, the captain, and Mal
- where'd the rest go? And why aren't they helping their commanding
officer?
Serenity
(Part 1) | Serenity (Part 2) |
The Train Job | Bushwhacked |
Shindig
Safe |
Our Mrs. Reynolds |
Jaynestown |
Out of Gas |
Ariel |
War Stories
Trash |
The Message |
Heart of Gold |
Objects in Space
|
