History Recap / FireflyE01Serenity

* GirlInABox: The TropeNamer, which is actually a quote from promos shown before the episode aired.

---> You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.

* NiceHat: Badger. And one of Patience's men; Mal even compliments him on it by saying the trope name--right before Jayne shoots the guy in the head, knocking it off.

'''Original airdate:''' December 20, 2002

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Of a sort. The only person who seems not to care too much about the fact that the [[NoodleIncident the last time Mal met with Patience, she shot him]] is Mal himself.
** Absolutely subverted when Kaylee is shot in the stomach. The seriousness of the wound, as well as how critical the timetable for treatment is, are a major factor in Mal's decision to obey Simon's order to run from the Alliance ship approaching them.

* PlatoIsAMoron: Inverted. Simon takes a moment to list his own accomplishments (top 3% of his class at medical school, internship finished in eight months) just to emphasise that he's ''still'' not even in River's league.

* WalkingTheEarth: It is Book's intention at the start of the episode to go wandering, having spent some time cooped up in an abbey.

** When Jayne humiliates Kaylee at dinner over her obvious crush on Simon, Mal displays how protective he is of his crew (and Kaylee in particular) by calling him out on it then ordering him to leave the table.

** Once you know about Inara's AbortedArc of [[spoiler: suffering from a terminal illness]], her client's line of "Your clock's probably rigged to speed up and cheat us out of our fun" in her introductory scene has a much darker double meaning.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Dobson takes River hostage and starts making demands. Malcolm just shoots him.
** In a follow-up comic, he turns out to be alive but blinded in the eye where the bullet hit. He concocts a plan to capture and kill the crew of ''Serenity''. This time, Mal finishes the job.
** Despite Mal and Zoe's desperate attempts to hold their position at all costs, they're undone by the simple strategic fact that The Alliance has air superiority and their own air force isn't coming to bail them out. Like the Confederates in the American Civil War, the Independents are greatly handicapped by their enemy's greater manpower pool and blatant logistical superiority.

* RealityEnsues:
** Dobson takes River hostage and starts making demands. Malcolm just shoots him.
** In a follow-up comic, he turns out to be alive but blinded in the eye where the bullet hit. He concocts a plan to capture and kill the crew of ''Serenity''. This time, Mal finishes the job.
** Despite Mal and Zoe's desperate attempts to hold their position at all costs, they're undone by the simple strategic fact that The Alliance has air superiority and their own air force isn't coming to bail them out. Like the Confederates in the American Civil War, the Independents are greatly handicapped by their enemy's greater manpower pool and blatant logistical superiority.

The intended pilot for the series, it would not be aired until three months after [[Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob "The Train Job"]], when the series had already been cancelled.

* BaitAndSwitch: The episode's first half does all it can to play up the idea that Simon is the mole (which actually works even better if you've seen the actor as Don John in Whedon's ''Film/{{Much Ado About Nothing|2012}}'' first). Of course, it's all for naught if you were paying close enough attention to the credits.

* RedHerring: Simon is introduced with the strong hint that he's working with the Alliance. He's reserved, a bit standoffish, he asks lots of prying questions, he's occasionally spotted wandering around restricted areas of the ''Serenity'', and he comes aboard the ship with a mysterious, ominous-looking metal crate. So when it turns out that there's a mole on the ship, all eyes naturally turn to him. The Alliance mole is actually another passenger, a bumbling young man named "Dobson"--Simon is a ''fugitive'' from the Alliance trying to smuggle his captive sister to freedom.

* {{Adorkable}}: Wash. What else would you call an AcePilot who plays with toy dinosaurs?
-->'''Wash:''' We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... [[ShapedLikeItself this land]]. ''[as ''T. rex'']'' I think we should call it your grave! ''[as ''Stegosaurus'']'' Oh, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!]] ''[as ''T. rex'']'' Ha ha ha! Mine is an EvilLaugh!

* YouRebelScum: The Alliance captain is contemptuous of ''Serenity'' 's illegal salvage ops. To be fair, technically speaking they are [[{{EvenEvilHasStandards}} stealing from the dead]]. (Mal's morality, which he'll explain more in a future episode, is rather more pragmatic; if the dead have something that they don't need and the living do, [in this case ''food''] why shouldn't it got to those who need it? With some much needed profit for the crew of ''Serenity'' along the way.)

The intended pilot for the series, it would not be aired until three months after "[[Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob The Train Job", when the series had already been cancelled.

'''Original airdate:''' December 20, 2002

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.