“Out of Gas”

1AGE07
Writer: Tim Minear
Director: David Solomon
Airdate: 10/25/02

We see Serenity floating idly in space. The ship is empty, no sign of life anywhere. Until Mal drops to the floor. He doesn't look so healthy. Then we hear somebody talking about buying the ship. Mal flashes back to the first time he showed Zoe the ship. She's unimpressed.

In another flashback, the rest of the crew is laughing and enjoying a great dinner. Talking about good times and planning their next trip. Going to fly under the radar and get far away from everything. Then we hear a rumbling and the lights flicker.

Kaylee goes to check it out. Suddenly, a fireball races down the hallway. Zoe pushes Kaylee aside and the explosion blasts her across the room. The crew scrambles to fix the problem. The fire is contained and blown out the cargo door. The group then rushes Zoe to the infirmary. Kaylee informs Mal that the ship isn't moving. He needs her to figure out what happened.

Mal orders Wash to the bridge, but he refuses to leave his wife's side. Mal grabs him and tells him he's going to get the ship going, and that's not a request.

Flashing back farther, we see the day Mal and Zoe interviewed pilots. Wash, sporting a mustache, takes the job. Zoe says something about Wash bothers her, but she's not sure what. Moving forward in time, Zoe's heart has stopped. Simon jams her with some adrenaline.

Back in the present, Mal is alone in the infirmary bandaging up his belly and shooting himself with some adrenaline. He's not in great shape right now. Flashing back again, Kaylee tells Mal the catalyzer on the port compression coil blew. The ship is dead in the water and she doesn't think she can fix it. What's worse, the main life support is down because the engine is dead. There's no auxiliary life support either. The crew only has a few hours of oxygen left.

Mal asks Wash if he's sent out a beacon yet. Wash doesn't think it'll make a difference They're too far out of range. Mal and Wash have an angry showdown about their options. Wash eventually realizes that Mal's idea will muck up a passerby's navigation system, and they'd be forced to stop and dig out Serenity's signal before they could move on.

In the present, Mal is still staggering around the ship. Nobody else has been seen to this point. Flashing back further again, we find Mal interrupting his mechanic, Bester, and a young lady “in the act.” Mal wonders why Bester hasn't fixed the engine. Bester complains that the grav boot is shot, but the young lady says the right couple is bad. She fixes it by removing the couple and plugging the g-line straight into the port pinlock. The engine starts humming again. The young lady, by the way, turns out to be Kaylee, Serenity's new mechanic.

Moving to the recent past, Kaylee apologizes to Mal for not taking better care of the ship. She says they need a new catalyst. Mal says they have to make due. In the present, Mal stumbles around as the alarms sound about the life support failure. He tries to work the catalyst back into the engine when he drops it down a hole. Gone.

Past again, and Mal has gathered the troops to give them a straight overview of their problems. He says the crew will split up into two shuttles and they'll launch them in opposite directions to see if they can find help. Mal is staying with the ship.

After final preparations, the two shuttles depart, leaving Mal behind. He bundles up in a blanket and falls asleep, missing another ship's radio call about receiving Serenity's beacon.

Later, Mal wakes up and Serenity is nose to nose with the S.S. Walden. The captain is quite skeptical about Mal's intentions, thinking an ambush might be waiting for him. He finally agrees to come onboard and deliver a catalyst.

The Walden crew comes aboards, guns drawn. They're going to check the ship to make sure Mal isn't lying. Finding the ship empty, the Walden captain shoots Mal in the gut and says they're taking Serenity. Mal comes to his feet, gun drawn. He orders the Walden crew off his ship, minus the catalyst they brought over. They leave and Mal drops to the ground, just like we saw at the start.

Mal fixes the engine and attempts to call back the shuttles, but passes out. When he comes to, he's lying in the infirmary with the crew. He's confused as to why everybody is back. Zoe ordered the shuttles back and they found Mal in time. They also found a fixed ship.

One last flashback shows Mal with a ship dealer. The dealer is extolling the virtues of one particular craft. But Mal looks across the lot and sees Serenity. He's sold on it.

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