"Out of Gas" - Firefly

For the episode of my choice, I watched “Out of Gas” which is the 8^th episode. This episode flashes back to when Mal was just starting his career as a thief. So basically, it was when he was purchasing Serenity and putting together his crew. Zoe was already by his side. He finds a mechanic who wasn’t Kaylee. Next, he finds his pilot, Wash. It’s funny because Zoe did not like him when they first met.

While Mal was fixing up the ship, he went to check on his mechanic to see if he made any progress to get the ship running, meaning it still wasn’t able to fly. When Mal did this, that’s how we meet Kaylee. The mechanic took Kaylee on the ship to have a little sexy time. When Mal confronted him, the mechanic said why he wasn’t able to fix the ship. Kaylee makes the mechanic look like a complete idiot by actually telling Mal what was wrong with the ship and then fixes it. Mal immediately offers her the job.

Next that comes in the picture was Jayne. After doing some work, a team that Jayne was on was holding Mal and Zoe at gun point to steal what they had. Mal questions how much Jayne is making and makes a deal with Jayne to give him a job on Serenity with his own room and more pay. Jayne immediately turns on his old team and joins Mal.

I find it funny that Jayne turned on his old team. I don’t think he would ever turn on Mal or the crew now even if at times it seems like he would. I can’t remember which episode it was, but Jayne was offered more money than he was getting, enough to buy himself his own ship, if he turned on Mal. Saying that, I think Mal put together a great crew.

I want to give a little more background about the episode so I can hit on my last point. So, Serenity has a problem and catches on fire. The crew ends up getting the fire out but now the ship needs a part that they don’t have. Without the part, the ship will not run and they will run out of oxygen and die. Mal tells the crew to take the shuttles and he will stay behind to see if he can pick up signal with other ships for help. Mal gets a signal from another ship. When the captain of the ship boards to give Mal the part he needs, they shoot Mal and try to take Serenity. Mal is able to get a gun and threaten to shoot their Captain if they don’t get off Serenity and leave the part.

In the end of the episode, the crew ends up saving Mal. They come back for him even though Mal gave them orders to fly off in the shuttles and not come back.  This reminds me of what a family would be like. It’s nice to see that strangers can be so loyal to each other and are willing to protect each other. I guess another example would be making friends. The more we’re around someone and actually like them, the more loyal and trust there will be. It was a great episode.