“Bushwhacked”

1AGE02
Writer: Tim Minear
Director: Tim Minear
Airdate: 9/27/02

The crew of Serenity is playing a basketball-type game in the main cargo area. Everyone comes to watch as they let off steam from their long days in space.

Inara joins Simon on the catwalk and asks him about River. He says that she still won’t talk about what happened to her at the academy. Suddenly a siren goes off and Wash has to attend to the emergency. The game is one man short, and Kaylee asks Simon to join them.

When Wash reaches the cockpit he sees an abandoned ship in front of them as a dead body crashes into Serenity. The rest of the crew comes up to the cockpit and they can’t seem to identify if anyone is still alive.

They analyze the ship and notice that it’s a transport ship for settlers. Shepherd tells Mal that what distinguishes humans from other life forms is how they treat their dead. Mal decides to hook up with the ship and look for survivors, as well as any cargo he may be able to take for himself.

Mal and Zoe put on their space suits and head over to the ship to check it out. They quickly realize that whatever killed the passengers of this ship did it quickly, because there is still food sitting out.

Zoe happens upon a personal log that was stopped mid-entry. At the same time, back on Serenity, River seems to be convulsing with each new find on the transport ship.

Jayne tells Simon that they need him over on the transport. Meanwhile, Inara goes to check in on River but she’s suddenly missing.

Back on the transport, Kaylee and Simon venture off together and Simon wonders why anyone would abandon the ship. Kaylee remarks that there’s nothing wrong with it mechanically, leaving them searching for clues.

Zoe and Mal keep searching, while Jayne goes off on his own to scour for goods. Mal comes across farm supplies, which confirms their initial suspicion that the ship was transporting settlers. They look up and finally find all the people, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Mal says he knows what did it, and tells everyone to get off the ship. Suddenly, Jayne is attacked and random shots are heard firing. The rest of the crew meets up and finds Jayne. He says he was attacked by something big and strong. They finally find the thing that attacked him, and it’s just a small man. Mal finds him and knocks him out with one punch.

They bring the man back onto Serenity and Simon begins analyzing him. Jayne guesses that the man killed all the other passengers, but none of the other crew believes it. Mal tells Simon to dope the man, somehow seeing something no one else does.

Mal talks to the crew and tells them that the ship was hit by Reavers. The crew becomes frantic and doesn’t realize what Mal is getting at. Mal tells them the man saw Reavers and that he’s never coming back to normal.

Mal tells the Shepherd he can go say a prayer for the dead while they pick up the rest of the cargo from the transport ship. The other obstacle is that the Reavers have rigged the ship so that when Serenity detaches, it will blow up. Kaylee tells Mal she can bypass it, and gets to work.

Meanwhile, Inara watches over River, who begins convulsing again as the rest of the crew hauls the cargo onto Serenity. Kaylee is able to get Serenity free from the transport, but just as they detach, they are met by an Alliance Cruiser.

On board the Alliance Ship, they begin suspecting that Serenity may be holding River and Simon. Simon begins to worry, not realizing what Mal has in store for him. The Alliance men attach and board the ship.

The Alliance men begin searching the ship and interrogating the crew. Mostly looking for Simon and River, the Alliance Captain brings the whole crew on board the Alliance Ship. The Alliance Captain gets nowhere, however, as the Serenity crew leads them astray with varying tales and personal anecdotes.

The Alliance men continue to search but come up with nothing as we see where Simon and River have been stashed – outside the ship, wearing space suits.

Meanwhile, the man that Mal took from the transport ship is brought into the Alliance Infirmary. The Alliance Captain accuses Mal of killing the people on the Transport and torturing the man, but while he’s being interrogated, the man in the infirmary goes on a killing spree, wiping out the medical team that was examining him.

The Alliance Captain finally gets wind of the killing and forces Mal to walk in front of his Alliance crew in an attempt to find the killer. Mal brings the Alliance men back onto Serenity where the man attacks the convoy, nearly killing the Alliance Captain. Mal jumps the man, breaking his neck and saving the Alliance crew.

After saving his life, the Alliance Captain decides to let Mal and his crew go free, but not before confiscating all of the stolen goods from the transport ship.

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