Blog #3 - Episode 2 of Firefly

      In this episode, the crew was hired by a slightly shady businessman to perform a train heist. The group managed to pull it off more or less successfully, but ended up in a serious moral dilemma as they discover that the stolen goods are actually medicine for the sick townspeople. The medicine was being delivered by the Alliance, which is the government in control of the worlds in Firefly. Once the goods were stolen, the Alliance abandoned the townspeople, and cared incredibly little about their stolen cargo.

      The perception we get of the Alliance is what truly interests me in this episode. In both this episode and episode 1, we are given the strong impression that the Alliance is not a benign government. Although this is mostly done through the bitter comments of the captain claiming that they “interfere” almost nonstop, a truly darker side is hinted by the supposed torture of the young River girl. In this episode, the Alliance plays the bad guys by ignoring the stolen cargo and leaving the townspeople without medicine. Or that is how we were supposed to interpret the situation, in my opinion.

      What is not focused upon is how the Alliance were the original ones who sent the medicine. Without the goodwill of the Alliance, the townspeople would not have had any chance in the first place. This could be contradicted if the townspeople had purchased the medicine already and it was simply being delivered, but due to the poverty-stricken looks of the people, I can't imagine that to be the case. It seemed to be the goodwill of the government, and while they did wrong by abandoning the people, I believe that the show is trying to focus too hard on making the government a malicious entity.