History Recap / FireflyE02TheTrainJob

* ShoutOut: Jayne's line after shooting Crow in the leg, "I was aiming for his head", later used by Creator/NathanFillion in ''Series/{{Castle}}'', is lifted from the ''Series/BlakesSeven'' episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E13Orac Orac]]", which was on while Creator/JossWhedon was living in the UK. That line itself is a mis-quote from ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960'', where the original line was "I was aiming for his horse".

* TheMafiya: Niska group is meant to evoke them. Things such as the accents of Niska and Crow, Crow's large and very visible tattoos, the reputation for brutality and torture, all play into stereotypes about Russian and other Eastern European organized crime.

%% * TheMafiya: Niska

--->'''[[TheDragon Crow]]:''' Keep the money. Use it to buy a funeral. It doesn't matter where you go or how far you fly. I will hunt you down, and the last thing you see will be my blade!
--->'''Mal:''' Darn. *kicks him into an engine*

-->'''Mal:''' Whoa! There's just an acre of you fellas, ain't there? [to Zoe] This is why we lost, you know. Superior numbers.
-->'''Zoe:''' [[SnarkingThanks Thanks for the reenactment, sir.]]

--> '''Mal:''' I don't believe he does.

--> '''Niska:''' Now you know my reputation is fact. Is '''solid'''.

** Next is Book, gently attempting to convince Mal that he's more moral than he claims.

* CuttingTheKnot: Crow refuses to take back money from Mal for a job they couldn't complete, instead telling them how he'll come after them until he kills them all. Rather than create a RecurringBoss, Mal [[TurbineBlender kicks the guy into the turbines of his spaceship]]. When they bring the next mook over to the same spot and restart the process, the mook [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRlHwwVIug immediately agrees to do whatever Mal says]].

'''Originally aired:''' 9/20/2002

'''Originally aired:''' September 20, 2002

* RealityEnsues: After aborting a hired theft, Mal offers [[YouHaveFailedMe the employer]] his down payment back, no harm no foul.

** He then proceeds to get another mook, who is... much more reasonable. But the crime boss hunts him down anyway.

* NotWhatISignedOnFor: When Mal and Zoe discover that the supplies Niska hired them to steal are badly needed medicine for a degenerative disease, they back out of it, return Niska's money to his henchmen, and deliver the medicine to the town where its needed.

* ShoutOut: Jayne's line after shooting Crow in the leg, "I was aiming for his head", later used by Creator/NathanFillion in ''Series/{{Castle}}'', is lifted from the ''SeriesBlakesSeven'' episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E13Orac Orac]]", which was on while Creator/JossWhedon was living in the UK. That line itself is a mis-quote from ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960'', where the original line was "I was aiming for his horse".

* {{Infodump}}: A fair amount of the dialogue qualifies, as the episode had to introduce all the regular characters and provide an action-packed story all in the space of 45 minutes.

On December 20, 2002, Fox premiered "Serenity," the pilot episode of Joss Whedon's sci-fi western series ''Firefly''. No, wait...that's not right.

On ''September'' 20, 2002, Fox premiered "The Train Job," the ''second'' episode of Joss Whedon's sci-fi western series ''Firefly'', using ''that'' episode as the "pilot," because they didn't like "Serenity." "Serenity" wasn't aired until three months later, after Firefly had already been canceled.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: As in [[Recap/FireflyE01Serenity the other pilot]], Kaylee chides Mal about replacing the faulty compression coil which will cause trouble in "[[Recap/FireflyE08OutOfGas Out of Gas]]." Meanwhile, another early hint that Book is more than he seems comes when he recognizes Niska's name and reputation.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Averted when Mal very carefully asks the sheriff "Why are we being held up? Was someone murdered on the train?", while knowing full well that the real reason was because people had just noticed that the cargo ''he'' had stolen was missing.

* InstantSedation: Averted, although we aren't told it was even used until after the fact.

* TheMafiya: Niska

-->'''Zoe:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Thanks for the reenactment, sir.]]

-->'''Mal:''' Whoa! There's just an acre of you fellas, ain't there? [to Zoe] This is why we lost, you know. Superior numbers.\\

--> Sheriff Bourne: You were truthful back in town. These are tough times. A man can get a job. He might not look too close at what that job is. But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours... well... then he has a choice.
--> Mal: I don't believe he does.
* VillainExitStageLeft: Subverted when Crow mistakenly thinks he's going to get this treatment. Instead, he gets to know one of Serenity's engines in a very personal and intimate manner.

** Mal and Zoe get theirs first, starting a fight in an Alliance-friendly bar just for the hell of it.