Firefly: Ranking Episodes From Worst To Best
6. Episode 2: The Train Job
Jayne: "You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who's in ruttin' command here!"
After failing in his dealings with Badger and a bit of a rocky exchange with Patience in "Serenity," Mal agrees to complete a job for Niska, one of the show's most formidable villains. Unlike the antagonists Mal and the crew have faced up to this point, Niska is a truly menacing and despicable individual who is not above torturing or killing those who don't complete the work to his satisfaction. Nevertheless, the crew needs the money, so they take the job, even as Mal acknowledges Niska as a "psycho." The episode that starts with a comedic tone in a bar fight, and then becomes more serious with the appearance of Niska, sobers completely when Mal and Zoe discover that the medicine they stole was needed for a town whose residents are dying from disease.
"The Train Job" is a good example of the wide range the show has, from comedy to drama, and the moral dilemma also furthers the character development of Mal. What's so ingenious about this character is that Joss Whedon refuses to make him a cliche. He is likable, yet he has incredibly dark moments, which is a very difficult combination to pull off; it's a testament to the writers' skill that they can.
One of Mal's darkest moments occurs near the very end of the episode, when Niska's henchman, Crow, continuously threatens the lives of the whole crew for not completing the job even with Mal's multiple attempts to return Niska's money and make peace. Finally, at his wit's end, Mal kills Crow by kicking him into the engine valve. We've seen Mal kill before, when he shoots Dobson, the Alliance "mole," in "Serenity," but this moment is even more shocking for its suddenness and the brutality of the death.
Mal may try to follow his own code of morals, but the fact that he isn't above murder makes him much darker and more complex. He's just a man who does what it takes to survive; being a hero or a villain has nothing to do with it, as long as Serenity is still flying.