Firefly Season 1 Episode 2: The Train Job

​Take my love, take my land, take me where I can not stand. I don't care I'm still free you can't take the sky from me. But you can take my Firefly away. Which is what Fox did in the middle of its first season. Something that myself and many other fans have never gotten over. And how could we? It is one of the best shows ever made bar none.

The show opens in the middle of an epic battle in Serenity Valley where Sargent Malcolm Reynolds is holding down what remains of the Independence forces as the Alliance swarms in. Zoe and Bendis are the only two members of his squad who hold out through the battle while they wait for air support. One of Mal's strongest character traits is his faith. He routinely relies on his faith to keep him going, believing that God will get him through everything, after all he is just too damn pretty for God to let him die. He even kisses his cross neckless for good luck. He is a man of unshakable faith.

Until it gets shaken. The Independence have surrendered and orders Mal and co to do the same. It is a moment that will change the course of Mal's life forever. Bendis and Mal's faith both die in this moment of defeat. Mal will never be the same again. 

6 years later Mal and Zoe have a ship, named Serenity in honor of the battle they lost. They have a crew of misfits, Zoe's husband Wash, the kid who never grew up but boy could he fly. Kaylee, the mechanic who is far too sweet and innocent to fit in with this crew, only she's not. And Jayne the hired muscle. Oh and uh, Jayne is a guy, don't let the girl name fool you. He is a man.

Also on the ship is Inara, the ships Companion or what we would call a prostitute. A career in the future that is not only legal but highly respected. It's a sign of class to be allowed to train as one. Mal is the only one who doesn't see it that way.

Our unlikely heroes steal goods off of a broken down wreck as the Alliance shows up and tries to stop them, Wash uses a trick called the cry baby, a device that I personally think is just genius. It sends out a distress signal so that the Alliance will go and check it out rather than chase after them. Wash is G like that, even with his toy dinosaurs.

Can we take a minute to just talk about how amazing the title song is? It's so catchy you just can't help but sing along with it.