Blog 2 - The Train Job

After watching this episode, each character’s significance became a little bit clearer. At the same time, I feel that “The Train Job” revealed some hints about what will happen in future episodes, particularly to the doctor’s sister. At the beginning of the episode, when the doctor and his sister are on the ship, you see a few scenes of needles blood and other flashes of memories that come from River’s memory. Her mental instability, causing her to constantly switch back and forth from sanity to insanity is very peculiar. I imagine that her mumbling and nonsensical comments are not just nonsense. Throughout the plot, there are many short scenes of River huddled on the ground mumbling something about something coming after them two by two. I believe her mental instability is not insanity, but rather a warning. These short yet significant scenes will, I think, play a big role in the future episodes for Firefly. These scenes, I believe, will later reveal that her insane nonsense mumbles are actually warnings of events to come. Also, in the very last scene where there are two men looking for someone and then revealing a picture of River, is very telling. This last scene justifies the thoughts I had in the early stages of the episode; that River’s mental instability was not purely insanity. If these important people have such an interest in her, despite the fact that she is not in a mentally healthy state, must imply that there is more to her than what the others on the ship see: that she is only insane.