Scenes with Mal Reynolds 133
[Jayne, dressed in a bulky hooded coat and goggles, keeps his head down as they walk past the workers.]
You haven't been here in years, Jayne. You really think you need that getup? No one's gonna remember you.
MalI think it's possible they might.
[They all look up to see an elevated, life-sized mud statue of Jayne.]
. . .
Mal
You wanna tell me how come there's a statue here, lookin' at me like I owe him something?
Mal
No, seriously, Jayne, you want to tell me...?
Look, Mal, I got no ruttin' idea! I was here a few years back, like I said. Pulled a second-story, stole a lotta scratch from the magistrate up on the hill. But things went way south. I had to hightail it. They don't... put you on a pedestal in town square for that.
Mal
Yeah, 'cept I'm looking at some fair compellin' evidence says they do.
[Simon is just staring at the statue]
This must be what going mad feels like.
Hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging around playing art critic till I get pinched by the Man, how's about we move away from this eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our 'creasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?
Mal
I don't know. This here's a spectacle that might warrant a moment's consideration.
[shifting back and forth] Wherever I move to, his eyes keep... followin' me.
[Sitting in a bar, listening to "The Ballad of Jayne Cobb" being sung]
Mal
Uh, Jayne?
Mal
You got any light you'd like to shed on this particular development?
. . .
No. This must be what going mad feels like.
. . .
We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm a hero!
Mal
So, that's where the little "Jayne Day Celebration" we got planned comes in. Should give us enough time to get the goods back onto Serenity.
I don't know. You think we should be using my fame to hoodwink folks?
Mal
You better laugh when you say that.
No, really, Mal, I mean, maybe there's something to this. The Mudders? I think I really made a difference in their lives. You know, me, Jayne Cobb.
Mal
I know your name, jackass!
Hell, there weren't a-one of them understood what happened out there; they're... probably stickin' that statue right back up.
Mal
Most like.
I don't know why that eats at me so.
Mal
It's my estimation that... every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.
[Flashback to Mal trying to sell Zoe on the worthiness of his new ship.]
You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?
Mal
Whoa! Come on, seriously, Zoe. What d' you think?
Honestly, sir, I think you got robbed
Mal
Robbed? What? What d' you mean?
Mal
Fay-yoo? Ah... ah... OK, she won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but she is solid. Ship like this, be with you till the day you die.
Because it's a death trap.
Mal
That's not- You are very much lacking in imagination!
I imagine that's so, sir.
. . .
Mal
Try to see past what she is, and on to what she can be.
Mal
Freedom, is what.
[pointing] I meant, what's that?
Mal
Oh. Yeah, just step around that. I think somethin' must've been livin' in here.
Mal
Tell you, Zoe, we get a mechanic, get her up and runnin' again, hire a good pilot, maybe a cook. Live like real people. Small crew, them as feel the need to be free, take jobs as they come. Ain't never have to be under the heel of nobody ever again. No matter how long the arm of the Alliance might get, we'll just get ourselves a little further.
Mal
Yeah.
Mal
Not so much.
[After the fire is contained, Kaylee reports on the accident.]
Catalyzer on the port compression coil blew. It's where the trouble started.
Mal
'Kay, I need that in captain dummy-talk, Kaylee.
. . .
[Kaylee discusses the loss of life support, especially oxygen.]
Mal
How long?
Couple of hours, maybe. We'll start to feel it… then we won't feel nothin' at all.
Mal
I'm gettin' a little weary of this attitude, Wash.
[chuckling] Are you? Well, I'm so very sorry, sir. I guess the news that we're all gonna be purple and bloated and fetal in a few hours has made me a little snippy.
. . .
[The conversation escalates to a shouting match.]
What do you expect me to do, Mal?
Mal
Whatever you have to! And if you can't do it from here, then get a suit on and go outside on the side of the boat—
And what?! Wave my arms around?
Mal
Wave your arms around, jump up and down, divert the navsats to the transmitter - whatever.
Divert the— Right! Because teenage pranks are fun when you're about to die!
Mal
Give the beacon a boost, wouldn't it?
Yes, Mal! It would boost the signal. But even if some passerby did happen to receive, all it would do is muck up their navigation!
Mal
Could be that's true.
Damn right, it's true! They'd be forced to stop and dig out our signal before they could even go anyplace.
[Mal stares at Wash. Wash stares back, realization dawning.]
Well, maybe I should do that then!
Mal
Maybe you should!
Mal
Good!
[Jayne walks in on Mal and Wash arguing.]
Hey! [they both turn] [What the] guay you two think you're doin'? Fightin' at a time like this. [pause] [You'll] use up all the air.
[Flashback to Serenity's early days, with a mechanic named Bester, whom Mal catches in flagrante delicto.]
Mal
Bester - get your prairie harpy off my boat, and put us back in the air.
BBester
Okay-y, but... can't.
Mal
What do you mean, "can't"?
BBester
No can do, Cap. Secondary grav boot's shot.
[Bester's local girlfriend calls out from behind the engine, where she's getting dressed again.]
No, it ain't! Ain't nothing wrong with your grav boot. Grav boot's just fine. [waves to Mal] Hello!
BBester
She doesn't... eh, that's not what... [to Kaylee] No it ain't!
Sure it is! Grav boot ain't your trouble. I seen the trouble plain as day when I was down there on my back before. Your reg couple's bad.
. . .
Mal
You got much experience with a vessel like this?
I never even been up in one before.
Mal
Wanna?
Mal
Sure.
Mal
Long as you like. Long as you can keep her in the sky.
Mal
Believe I just did.
[grins] I just gotta ask my folks. [starts to leave, turns back] Don't leave without me! [runs off]
BBester
Mal! What do you need two mechanics for?
Mal
[Turning and leaving the engine bay] I really don't.
[Flashback to Inara leasing the shuttle. Mal wonders why a registered Companion would associate with smugglers.]
Mal
If it's Alliance trouble you got, you might want to consider another ship. Some on board here fought for the Independents.
The Alliance has no quarrel with me. I supported unification.
Mal
Did ya? Well, I don't suppose you're the only whore that did.
[smiling] Oh, one further addendum. That's the last time you get to call me "whore".
Mal
Absolutely. Never again.
[Back in near-present day, Mal "prepares" Inara's shuttle.]
Mal
I'm not leaving Serenity.
Mal, you don't have to die alone.
Mal
Everybody dies alone.
[Flashback to Mal's years-earlier encounter with three bandits, one of whom is Jayne.]
MMarco
Reason? He's gonna talk to us about reason now.
Mal
Which one you figure tracked us?
Mal
[nods, pauses] Could you be more specific?
MMarco
Do we look reasonable to you?
Mal
Well, looks can be deceiving.
Not as deceiving as a low-down... dirty... deceiver.
[Marco laughs]
Mal
Well said. Wasn't that well said, Zoe?
Had a kind o' poetry to it, sir.
. . .
[Figuring out it was Jayne who tracked them, Mal offers him a better cut of the goods]
Mal
Look, forget anything I said. I'm sure you're treated very well. You get the perks, got your own room.
[Jayne looks dejected]
Mal
No? You share a bunk?
[indicates third bandit] With that one.
Mal
[smirks] Really.
MMarco
Jayne, this ain't funny!
Huh, yeah, I ain't laughing.
Mal
You move on over to this side, we'll not only show you where the stuff's at, we'll see to [it] you get your fair share. Not no sad seven [percent].
[interest piqued] Private room?
Mal
Your own room. Full run of the kitchen. Whole shot.
MMarco
Jayne, I ain't asking-
[shoots Marco in the leg] Shut up. [aims at the other bandit without looking] How big a room?
[Back in the near-present day, Mal gets the drop on the treacherous captain trying to take his ship after being shot.]
CCaptain
You woulda done the same.
Mal
We can already see I haven't. Now get the hell off my ship.
[Back in the present day, with Serenity fixed, Mal finds himself dazed in the company of his crew and passengers.]
Mal
I go someplace?
SBShepherd Book
Very nearly.
Mal
No, I've been right here.
Mal
Wash, you okay?
[a little buzzed from giving blood] Yeah, Mal, I'm fine.
Mal
You got a thing in your arm.
Try not to speak. You're heavily medicated and you lost a lot of blood.
[Mal groans]
. . .
All right, I have to insist the Captain needs to rest.
Mal
Yeah. Think the doc might not be wrong about that one. Just gonna need a few.... [trails off as he closes his eyes]
[Mal then jerks himself awake.]
Mal
Y'all gonna be here when I wake up?
Mal
Good. That's good.
[As Mal falls asleep, he experiences another flashback to a used spaceship yard.]
SSalesman
Yep. Real beauty, ain't she? Yes, sir. Right smart purchase, this vessel.
[The rocket-shaped vessel that the salesman is trying to sell Mal comes into view.]
SSalesman
I tell you what. You buy this ship, treat her proper - she'll be with you for the rest of your life.
[But Mal has his attention caught by something else.]
[As we follow Mal's point of view, we see a battered old Firefly, soon to become "Serenity", sitting on the other side of the lot.]
SSalesman
You hear a word I been sayin'?
Firefly · 283 quotes
