#1.03 Bushwacked

[Gin]

From fireflywiki.org

#1.03 Bushwacked

Original air date: 09/27/02
Written by: Tim Minear
Directed by: Tim Minear
Episode Cast
Nathan Fillion ... Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds
Gina Torres ... Zoë Washburne
Alan Tudyk ... Hoban 'Wash' Washburne
Morena Baccarin ... Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin ... Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite ... Kaylee Frye
Sean Maher ... Dr. Simon Tam
Summer Glau ... River Tam
Ron Glass ... Shepherd Book
Doug Savant ... Commander Harken
Branden R. Morgan ... The Survivor (as Branden Morgan)
Jared Poe ... Alliance Soldier
Lancer Dean Shull ... Radio Operator

Summary
A dead guy on the windshield interrupts a little game of calvinball. The crew boards a derelict ship from whence the dead guy came, looking for salvage first and survivors second, only to discover that the crew of the derelict was killed by Reavers. Just when they think a ship full of crazed cannibals intent on chewing their innards out is the worst thing that could happen, up pulls an Alliance Cruiser.
No problem, right? There's just that small matter of a couple of Alliance fugitives on-board, not to mention the cargo they just lifted off the derelict without a salvage license, and the sole survivor of the attack they've got sedated in the Med Bay...

[Gin]

From wikapedia.com

Synopsis
As most of Serenity's crew play a chaotic kind of basketball in the cargo hold, a promixity alarm sounds. Wash heads to the bridge to find a tumbling spacecraft, and is startled by a body colliding with his viewport. The rest of the crew arrive to see what's up.

The spaceship turns out to be a short-range scow (scout) converted to a one-shot settler transport to the "Outer Planets". Book encourages the crew to lend assistance, while Jayne wants to depart, imagining that the dead spacewalker killed everyone else and went for a joywalk. Mal decides to check out the derelict; if there's no one to help, Serenity may still benefit from any abandoned supplies. No one expects the Alliance to help even if called.

When Jayne tricks Simon into donning a spacesuit and joining the crew on the transport — which, to Simon's embarrassment, turns out to be pressurized — Mal takes advantage of his and the others' presence to send them off in teams to explore the ship, while he and Zoe head to a section that he suspects holds the real valuables. They find some valuable supplies, when River comes and shows them mutilated passengers hanging in the darkness below the ceiling. As Mal sees them, he orders everyone to get to the engine room, but Jayne is hit from behind by an unseen attacker, whom Jayne shoots blindly. Mal finds the wounded man hiding behind an air grate, and they bring him back to the ship.

As Simon treats the wild man, Mal announces that he must be the lone survivor of a "Reaver" attack. Book tries to offer some hope for the man's recovery, but Mal and Jayne suggest he has no understanding of the nature of Reavers. Mal says, "Reavers ain't men — or they forgot how to be", and goes on to explain how facing the nothing at the "edge of the galaxy" dehumanized them. But he allows Book and Simon to return to the transport to cut the victims down and give them a modest ceremony. Mal's beneficence is actually a means to keep them out of the way while Kaylee tackles the removal of a Reaver booby trap that attached itself to Serenity when they docked earlier.

Once the derelict's cargo is aboard, Serenity moves to leave, only to be stopped by an Alliance cruiser. When the Feds board the Firefly-class ship, they find Mal and his six crew and passengers innocently awaiting them, the retrieved cargo plainly in sight to avoid accusations of theft. Alliance Commander Harken pointedly accuses them of harboring two fugitives, who are nowhere in sight, but Mal denies this, feigning complete unawareness of the fugitives. The commander orders their detainment for questioning.

As the Feds search Serenity for the Tams and smuggled cargo, and tend to the survivor, Commander Harken interviews each member of the crew individually. While the interviews proceed, the Feds are shown ransacking the Firefly's dining room, while just outside its window, the spacesuited Tams cling to Serenity's hull.

Interviewing Mal, the young and ambitious Commander Harken accuses Mal of attacking the settler ship, which Mal points out is foolish considering that they rescued and treated the only survivor. But the commander reveals that the man's tongue has been split, implying that Mal had tortured him. Mal, however, sees a different meaning in this action — that the hapless survivor is becoming a Reaver himself, having been so traumatised by his confrontation with such incredible evil that he sees no other way out but to become what tormented him. Harken treats Mal's tale of "darkness you can't even imagine" as poetic nonsense designed to help Mal elude prison.

As Harken prepares to confine Mal for future prosecution, his lieutenant informs him that the survivor has killed the Alliance medical personnel attending to him and is loose on the ship. Mal convinces Harken that he knows where the madman will go — back into Serenity — and that Mal is his best chance of avoiding more bloodshed. Mal leads the commander and his Feds into the ship's dining area. Suddenly, the survivor attacks the soldiers. As he claws at a blood-spattered Harken, Mal uses his still-cuffed hands to break the neck of the Reaver.

[Gin]

From wikipedia.org and imdb.com

Foreshadowing
* River continues to utter mysterious statements that turn out to have meaning in subsequent events, and seems to react to emotional outbursts of people not in her vicinity. This suggests that she has some kind of unexplained awareness of events going on outside the range of ordinary human senses.

Trivia
* The episode "Bushwhacked", a passenger log on a computer screen is seen briefly. The entry on the screen reads as: "Passenger 4352 - Schultz, Sharon I received a communication regarding the shipment and have been apprised of the situation awaiting us upon arrival at the docking bay as well. I have been assured that every precaution has been taken to insure the safe arrival and expedient dispersion of said materials. All is under control. Will contact representative upon arrival. Passenger 4399 - Robinson, Johann Today, my darling, for the first time I regret embarking on this journey"
* In "Bushwhacked," the Serenity crew happens upon a derelict spaceship, the set of which was actually recycled from an old ‘Power Rangers’ series.

Goofs
* Crew or equipment visible: After Wash manages to save the day and get rid of the reavers, everybody congratulates him, and you can see him standing at his console looking like he's holding the helm, but when the camera moves you can see he's empty handed, he doesn't hold anything, although him holding his hands high suggest just that, he's driving, or holding the helm.

[Gin]

From fireflywiki.org

Quotes
{Proximity alarm goes off.}
WASH: Oh, god! What could it be? We're doomed! Who's flyin' this thing? Oh. Right. That'd be me. Back to work.

MAL: Wash, you have a stroke or something?

JAYNE: I think that fellow we ran into did everyone on board, killed them all, then decided to take a swim through space, see how fast his blood would boil out of his ears.
WASH: You're a very "up" person.

JAYNE: He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.

BOOK: So he'll live then.
MAL: Which to my mind is unfortunate.

MAL: Reavers ain't men. Or they forgot how to be. Now they're just nothing. They got out to the edge of the galaxy, to that place of nothing, and that's what they became.

ZOE: Jayne, you'll scare the women.

MAL: It's a real burden being right so often.

MAL: Looks like civilization finally caught up with us.

MAL: If I didn't know better, I'd think we were dangerous.

ZOE: Captain was looking for a pilot. I found a husband. Seemed to work out.

HARKEN: You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?
ZOE: Fought with a lot of people in the war.
HARKEN: And your husband?
ZOE: Fight with him sometimes, too.

WASH: The legs. Oh yeah, definitely have to say it was her legs. You can put that down. Her legs, and where her legs meet her back. Actually, that whole area. That, and above it.

WASH: Have you ever been with a warrior woman?



Chinese Phrases
* Wuh de ma.
"Mother of god." (Jayne, on seeing derelict ship.)

* Jen dao mei!
"Just our luck!" (Mal, on realizing it was a Reaver attack.)

* tyen shiao duh
"name of all that's sacred" (Wash, invoked on overhearing shots on derelict ship.) See also: Safe, The Message

* Tzao gao.
"Crap." (Wash, on learning it was a Reaver attack.)

* "Loopy in the head. Fong luh. All of you."
"Loopy in the head." (Jayne, about waiting around for Reaver victims' funeral.)

* Wuh de tyen, ah.
"Dear god in heaven." (Mal, on learning of Reaver survivor's mutilation.)

* Hwoon dahn.
"Jerk." (Jayne, referring to Alliance's Harken.)