Firefly S1-01: The Short Review

'The Train Job'

Written by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear

Directed by Joss Whedon

What should a series premiere do? And does 'The Train Job' succeed?

Those are always important questions when considering a new TV show, but in the case of Firefly, where the true, two-hour pilot ('Serenity') was shelved in favour of a 'more humour, more action' one-hour pilot they become particularly relevant. Sure, we can cut Minear and Whedon some slack, since they wrote this episode in about sixty hours flat; but the bottom line is, does it work as an introduction to the show?

It's hard for me to judge, since I saw 'Serenity' before 'The Train Job', but I have a feeling that the answer has to be 'yes and no'.

On the upside, the show has an instantly distinctive visual and narrative style, thanks largely to the 'western in space' setting. The opening infodump is perhaps a little gratuitous, but forgiveable. With that exception, backstory about the characters and the universe is, on the whole, woven smoothly into the episode, with very few 'as you know, Jim' moments.

The plot is no great shakes, and there are no shock twists, but things never feel pedestrian; when events turn out the way you expect, it's more fulfilling than disappointing, because you're involved with the story. And there are plenty of Whedonian (and Minearian) moments to hold the interest, with some lovely moments of humour.

But, there are downsides. The killer, for me, has to be that there is a great, gaping hole where the show's heart should be. A series premiere should set out the stall, should let us know what the show is about. 'Welcome To The Hellmouth', for all its faults, did that. 'City Of...' did it better. 'The Train Job' doesn't do it at all. At the end of the episode, I came away entertained and intrigued, with a clear idea of what the show is...but not why it is those things. At this point, it's barely even science fiction; the outer space setting doesn't add anything that couldn't have been done as a regular western. No examination of future culture, no metaphors, nothing. The potential is certainly there, but right now it's untapped - and that has to be a disappointment.

The show is also a little too neat in its morality. Take the engine intake scene near the episode's end, for instance. I get the strong impression that we're supposed to think Mal is pragmatic and edgy because he killed a man. Unfortunately, the man in question was such as one-dimensional non-entity - hulking, violent, utterly Bad - that I can't see it as anything other than trivial. In effect, the writing led me to pigeonhole the Goon in the same place as Buffyverse Evil Evil-Things.

Still, when all is said and done I think 'The Train Job' shakes down as 'decent'. There are plenty worse ways to spend forty-five minutes, and given that this is a Joss Whedon show, I have high hopes that the strange purposelessness afflicting this episode won't be around for long. Whether the show can survive the friday-night timeslot o' death, of course, is another matter...