War Stories - Firefly

The episode I watched today was titled “War Stories” and was the tenth episode in the Firefly series. The episode begins with Wash and Zoe arguing about Zoe’s relationship with Mal. Wash is jealous because of all of the memories Mal has with his wife and he sometimes feels as if Zoe is closer to Mal than she is with him. This causes Wash to request that he accompany Mal on a mission rather than Zoe. After arguing for a short period of time Mal finally allows Wash to accompany him on the mission. During this mission Mal and Wash are kidnapped and tortured by Niska as retribution for the events that took place during the episode titled “Train Job”. After learning of Mal and Wash’s kidnapping Zoe pools all of the crews money together and attempts to buy them from Niska. Niska says that he will only let one go and Zoe chooses Wash because she knows that Mal stands a better chance at surviving longer. After Wash and Zoe return to Serenity they come up with a plan to get Mal back and all aboard Serenity arm themselves and prepare to storm Niska’s ship. The underlying theme in this episode is trust, and loyalty. Wash is questioning Zoe’s loyalty to him because of how he perceives that Zoe blindly follows Mal’s commands. Also, the people aboard Serenity show their loyalty to Mal by attempting to recapture him from Niska even though they now that it is dangerous and Niska’s ship is full of well armed men.