I have this episode in the Firefly 4-Disc DVD set.
Serenity comes upon a ship (and a dead body) adrift in space and Mal decides to investigate. The ship was a converted cargo vessel, and according to the logs was transporting 16 families of settlers to a new world, but when Mal and the others board it, there’s no one there.The crew split up looking for various things they could salvage, and Mal takes Zoe to the cargo hold where they find settlers supplies, which are worth a fortune. As he prepares the goods for transport to Serenity, he finds River standing in the doorway…looking up. He follows her eyes and finds the people, suspended from the ceiling, dead. He calls for everyone to meet back on Serenity but Jayne (who was sent to the derelict’s mess hall for food) doesn’t answer, and all Mal hears is a gunshot. Mal rushes there to find a spooked Jayne as well as a scared survivor. Mal knocks the stranger out and drags him back to Serenity.
Mal’s in sickbay with Simon as he treats the survivor, who goes on about how the “others were weak”. Clearly spooked, Mal has Simon dope his patient, gets the crew together and tells them the ship was hit by Reavers. He’s convinced it would have been better to kill their guest than bring him aboard, but locks the sickbay door and tells everyone to stay out.
Mal left the cargo behind at first but plans to return to the ship to get it, and against his better judgement decides to let Simon and Book go there in order to take care of the dead and hold a service. Mal confesses he doesn’t personally believe it would do any good, but accepts that it might mean something to the settlers. Jayne, meanwhile, will go over to get the goods. As they get ready to head over, Mal admits to Zoe that this is to keep them distracted while he looks into something else – a booby trap hooked into Serenity that Mal felt was there, knowing Reavers sometimes leave them for rescue ships.
Mal shares this info with Wash, Kaylee and Zoe (of course).Kaylee surprises him with her knowledge of how it probably works and how it may be disabled. Mal asks her directly if she thinks she can do it, and to his (pleasant) surprise, she says yes. Mal helps prep Kaylee to do her thing, and decides to keep Jayne and the others in the dark even after Kaylee succeeds in disabling the trap. With the cargo aboard, Serenity leaves and the proximity alarm goes off again. Mal orders Jayne, Simon and Book to hide the goods while he heads to the bridge to see what’s up, and it turns out to be an Alliance ship sitting right in their path telling them to prepare to be boarded.
Because of the incoming Alliance troops, Mal orders for the goods to be taken out again because he doesn’t want to look like he’s keeping secrets. He then tells Simon to get River. Simon refuses, believing Mal will turn them over, and Book intervenes before it gets physical. Mal’s front and center when the Alliance troops arrive, with the goods they’ve just salvaged in plain sight. He’s told that the goods appear to be illegally gotten Alliance goods, and Mal shrugs it off. Then he’s asked about two known fugitives last seen leaving Persephone in a Firefly-class ship and Mal calmly replies he has no passengers aboard. Mal then lets him know about the survivor they have in the infirmary. Everyone is taken into custody for questioning while the Alliance checks every nook and cranny of Serenity for the fugitives. Mal knows the Alliance well enough to expect that, so he has Simon and River hide outside the ship.
During his interrogation, Mal warns the officer not to tow the wreckage but is ignored. The officer brings up the war, Mal’s war record, and mentions that for some the war will never be over. Mal tries to convince him that Reavers attacked the ship, and things are going to get worse before it’s over. The officer doesn’t believe him and is convinced that Mal attacked the ship in revenge for losing to the Alliance. He tells Mal that he’s under arrest and that Serenity will be auctioned off when news comes in that the survivor has escaped from the Alliance sickbay. Mal knows where he’s going and convinces the officer to take him back to Serenity.
Mal leads them into the kitchen area when the survivor attacks, killing one trooper and pinning the officer on the floor. Mal gets behind the newly born Reaver and manages to snap his neck, saving the officer’s life. As a thank you, the officer releases Mal, his crew and Serenity, but keeps the cargo.
Notes of Interest:
1) Apparently, Mal plays basketball.
2) The Alliance must really leave a bad taste in his mouth. When Book suggests Mal contact the Alliance when they first find the derelict, he chooses not to, thinking they’re too busy doing Alliance stuff to check on some lowly ship adrift in space.
3) While Mal’s main purpose for boarding the vessel is for salvage, he obviously has enough heart to also look for survivors.
4) Mal’s not the kind of captain to stay behind while others explore new places. He’s right there getting suited up as part of the “away team”.
5) While he doesn’t believe in God or Heaven, Mal does believe in ghosts enough not to cross them.
6) Kaylee impresses the hell out of him, disengaging the Reaver trap like that.
7) Mal has no issue pushing Alliance officer’s buttons, another example of having fun at Alliance expense we first saw in “The Train Job”. And again, Mal has an opportunity to turn Simon and River over to the feds, but doesn’t do it. Is it out of concern, or is it another childish plan to keep something they want?
8) The interrogation scene reveals quite a bit: the Battle of Serenity Valley where we first see Mal took place on the planet Hara; according to his military record, Mal has a “tendency to inspire loyalty”; and while he admits to being on the losing side of the war…Mal’s still not convinced it was the wrong side.
9) Mal describes the affects of surviving a Reaver attack as if he’s seen it before.
WTF? Moment: I would have loved to have seen the conversation where the officer lets Mal go. Can you imagine the look on Mal’s face when he learns they’re keeping the cargo?
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