Blog 6 - Firefly Discussion

Today's class consisted of deeper discussion about "The Train Job" episode. While ideas were being tossed around, I decided to focus on the scenes where it seems that karma plays a role in. There are two particular scenes that I concentrated on: The scene where Mal decides to take Niska's job offer and when Mal returns the medicine to the sheriff. In these two instances, Mal's actions result in relative results.


Mal decides to take Niska's job offer to steal the two crates of unknown valuables. Mal's intention to steal is not entirely out of greed, since he needs this money to help out his crew members and ship. Despite his not-so tainted intentions, his actions are still unjustified by law and to some extent, by morale. As a result, the plan steal the cargo backfires, and Mal puts him and his crew in danger of being caught up in legal trouble.


On the other hand, when Mal decides to return the medicine, his good deeds are rewarded; He is not punished for his previous crime and the sheriff indirectly thanks him. Also, Mal's decision to give back Niska's money to the henchmen that had been paid to them prior to the completion of the job, also has a consequence. The decision to rightfully return the money to honor their name and reputation resulted in Niska's henchmen (at least the 2nd one) in leaving the ship and crew alone (with the help of some persuasion by killing Crow). I predict that, as a result if taking Crow's life, Niska will be back in a future episode. Karma has come into play multiple times throughout this episode. Though it may seem silly to admit to a spiritual existence that controls what happens in the future, I think many will agree that every action has its consequence, and that good deeds will lead to good things.