History Recap / FireflyE10WarStories

** The whole reason Wash ended up captured with Mal in the first place was his discontentment at being this trope, and wanting to prove he could be as badass as Zoe. He proves his mettle later on when they recapture Mal.

* DeadpanSnarker: Mal weaponizes this to try to keep himself from breaking under torture.

* {{Kneecapping}}: Book's quite good at this [[TechnicalPacifist despite refusing to kill]].

* ShootEverythingThatMoves: [[CaptainObvious Unless it's the captain!]]

-->'''Mal:''' Looks like business ain't so much walking as ''crawling'' away. '''You ready to meet the real me, now?'''

The crew stages an attack on the space station, led by Zoe and Jayne and held up in the rear by Book, who shoots out soldiers' kneecaps to disable them non-fatally. Wash plays a role by flying ''Serenity'' into the station airlock with the engines off, avoiding sensor detection. Simon and Kaylee also attempt to help in the firefight but are rather useless with firearms. Kaylee is pinned down by three soldiers, only to be saved by River, who glances briefly at them, closes her eyes, and fires three times, killing them all. The attack is sufficient to draw out Niska's assistants, giving Mal the opportunity to escape. Niska gets away, but so does the crew, and Simon is able to reattach Mal's ear without lasting harm.

** Wash's "Bastard isn't gonna get days!" in response to Zoe telling him that Niska plans on torturing Mal for at least a couple of days before killing him. Not bad for a NonActionGuy.

-->'''Zoe:''' [[DangerDeadpan I'm sorry. You were gonna ask me to choose, right? Did you wanna finish?]]

* ShutUpHannibal: Zoe deprives Niska of his speech when she chooses [[spoiler: to save Wash instead of Mal]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Essentially Shan Yu's philosophy: The only way to truly know a man is to torture him and threaten him with a painful death. Simon dismisses it as the justification of a sadist who just wanted to hurt people, but interestingly enough both [[CardCarryingVillain Niska]] and [[BadassPreacher Book]] seem to subscribe to the idea to varying degrees. When Niska has finally put Mal through enough, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he's terrified]] to meet [[GoodIsNotNice the real Mal.]]

* FriendVersusLover: Mal and Wash's subplot in a nutshell. While present-day Mal thinks Wash is being ridiculous, he does admit the idea of his old war buddy getting married took some getting used to.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Essentially Shan Yu's philosophy: The only way to truly know a man is to torture him and threaten him with a painful death. Simon dismisses it as the justification of a sadist who just wanted to hurt people, but interestingly enough both [[CardCaryingVillain Niska]] and [[BadassPreacher Book]] seem to subscribe to the idea to varying degrees. When Niska has finally put Mal through enough, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he's terrified]] to meet [[GoodIsNotNice the real Mal.]]

* ShootEverythingThatMoves: [[CaptainObvious Unless it's the captain!]]

--->'''Mal:''' There's plenty orders of mine she didn't obey.\\

* BadassBoast: River: "No power in the 'verse can stop me." Also an IronicEcho.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Wash believes this happens between Mal and his wife.

->''Now we get to meet the ''real'' you.''
-->-'''Mr. Niska'''

Wash is a little irked by the bond Mal and Zoe share. She has known Mal for longer than she's known Wash; she trusts him implicitly, she follows his orders almost without question, and they are often recounting [[TitleDrop war stories]] from their time spent working together. This twinge of jealousy comes to a head just as the crew is almost finished fencing the medical supplies from the Ariel job. Mal and Zoe intend to make the rendezvous together, but Wash intervenes and forces Mal to take him along instead.

On the other side of the planet in an orbiting space station, Adelai Niska finds out from a source that Malcolm Reynolds is nearby. He dispatches a team, who kill Mal's buyers and take him and Wash hostage. When the pair don't return to ''Serenity'' on time, Zoe, Jayne and Book check the scene and are able to discern exactly who took them. Zoe decides to pool together everyone's extra money in an attempt to buy back their men from Niska, and flies to the station to conduct the deal personally.

* ApologyGift: The crew of Serenity are surprised when Jayne buys them an [[OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap expensive bushel of apples]]. Only Mal is aware it's a belated apology for betraying them in the previous episode.

* BadAssBoast: River: "No power in the 'verse can stop me." Also an IronicEcho.

* [[FingerInTheMail Ear In A Napkin]]: Wash and Zoe watch Mal's ear get cut off but when the rest of the crew opens the napkin up they understandably freak the hell out.

* IllBeInMyBunk: The TropeNamer.

* SadisticChoice: {{Subverted}}: It seems that Niska wanted to drag this out. Zoe choses Wash before Niska can even finish the question.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Both Shepherd and Niska mention the writings of Shan Yu (even the same context) independent of each other.

* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: "[[SubvertedTrope NO!]] NO IT'S NOT!" "Oh" ''[cue hilariously overkill hail of bullets]''
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Wash believed this happens between Mal and his wife.
* YankTheDogsChain: In the last episode, the crew pulled off a huge heist and made a substantial pile of money. In this one, most of it goes toward paying Niska's ransom.