Firefly (TV Series)

Bushwhacked (2002)

Nathan Fillion: Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds

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Quotes 

• Commander Harken : I notice your ship's called "Serenity". You were stationed on Hera at the end of the war. Battle of Serenity Valley took place there, if I recall.

  Captain Reynolds : [slightly sarcastic]  You know, I believe you might be right.

  Commander Harken : Independents suffered a pretty crushing defeat there. Some say that after Serenity, the Browncoats were through. That the war ended in that valley.

  Captain Reynolds : Hmm.

  Commander Harken : Seems odd you'd name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of.

  Captain Reynolds : May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

• Jayne : We're sittin' put for a funeral?

  Mal : Yes, Jayne. That's exactly what we're gonna do. Not gonna have these people lookin' over my shoulder once we're gone. I ain't sayin' there's any peace to be had, but on the off chance there is, those folks deserve a little of it.

  Inara Serra : Just when I think I've got you figured out.

• Mal : You tell me right now, little Kaylee. You really think you can do this?

  Kaylee : Sure. Yeah. I think so. Besides, if I mess up, it's not like you'll be able to yell at me.

• Commander Harken : [has ordered the crew to be taken into custody]  I want every inch of this junker tossed.

  Kaylee : [offended]  "Junker"?

  Mal : Settle down, Kaylee.

  Kaylee : But Captain, did you hear what that purple-belly called Serenity?

  Mal : Shut up!

• Jayne : You save his gorram life. He still takes the cargo.

  [mutters Chinese] 

  Mal : He had to. Couldn't let us profit. Wouldn't be 'civilized'.

• The Survivor : [in the infirmiry; grunting, panting]  Cattle, cattle for the slaughter.

  [Mal follows his line of sight - towards Kaylee and Inara] 

  Mal : Dope him.

  Dr. Simon Tam : [having missed what Mal saw]  I don't think that...

  Mal : Just do it!

  The Survivor : No mercy. No resistance.

  The Survivor : Open up. See... what's inside.

• Mal : Well, quite a lot of fuss. If I didn't know better, I'd think we were dangerous.

• Commander Harken : Looks to me like an illegal salvage operation.

  Mal : It does? That's discouraging.

• Mal : It's a real burden being right so often.

• Captain Reynolds : So we attacked that ship, then brought the only living survivor to our infirmiry. Is that what we did?

  Commander Harken : I'd ask him.....only I'm not sure he'll be able to speak with his tounge split down the middle.

  Captain Reynolds : [Mal's eyes widen slightly with shock; mutters to himself in Chinese] 

  Commander Harken : I haven't seen that kind of torture since...well since the war.

  Captain Reynolds : [sighs, almost a whisper]  I should have known.

  Commander Harken : You and you crew are bound by law. Formal charges will be transmitted to the central authority.

  Captain Reynolds : Commander, I'm not what you need to be concerned about right now. Things go the way they are, there's gonna be blood.

• Jayne : How about you just say a prayer when we slide on by?

  Book : Shall I remind you of the story of the Good Samaritan?

  Mal : I'd rather you didn't, but we'll check it out - see if there are survivors. If not, then, well no one's going to mind if we take a look around, see if there's not something of value they might have left behind.

  Jayne : Yeah, no, uh, someone could be hurt.

• Book : Whatever horror he witnessed, whatever acts of barberism it was done by men, nothing more.

  Jayne : Reaver's ain't men.

  Book : Of course they are. Too long removed from civilization perhaps, but men. And, I believe there's a power greater than men. A power that heals.

  Mal : Reavers might take issue with that philosophy...if they *had* a philosophy...and they weren't too busy gnawing on your insides. Jayne's right. Reavers ain't men. Or they forgot how to be. Come to just nothin'. They got out to the edge of the galaxy, to that place of nothin', and that's what they became.

• Captain Reynolds : I'm gonna...make a leap here and figure this is your first tour out here on the border.

  Commander Harken : [audibly drops the file he was sifting through on the table; sniffs]  It's a very loyal crew you have there.

  Commander Harken : [Mal smiles briefly with pride]  But then, I can tell by your record you have a-a tendency to inspire that quality in people...Sergeant.

  Captain Reynolds : It's not Sergeant. Not anymore. War's over.

  Commander Harken : For some the war'll never be over.

• Mal : [about a ship they found drifting]  Anybody home?

  Hoban 'Wash' Washburne : Been hailing her, but if whoever's there is as healthy as the guy we just ran over, can't imagine anyone's going to be picking up.

• Mal : Stack everything here, in plain sight. Wouldn't want it to seem like we got anything to hide. It might give them Alliance boys the wrong impression.

  Hoban 'Wash' Washburne : Or the right one.

• Mal : All right, no one goes in here. Nothing more we can do for him now, not after what he's seen.

  Dr. Simon Tam : What do you mean?

  Mal : That ship was hit by Reavers.

• Commander Harken : [Alliance message to Serenity]  Firefly class transport, you are ordered to release control of your helm.

  Mal : Looks like civilization finally caught up with us.

• Commander Harken : Reavers?

  Mal : That is what I said.

  Commander Harken : You can't imagine how many times men in my position hear that excuse. "Reavers did it."

  Mal : It's the truth.

  Commander Harken : You saw them, did you?

  Mal : Wouldn't be sitting here talking to you if I had.

• Book : Shouldn't we report this?

  Mal : To who? Alliance? Right. They're gonna run right out here lickety-split, make sure these taxpayers are okay.

• Mal : Okay. Wash, ask Serenity to knock for us?

• Zoë : Sir, even on a lifeboat, you think those who escaped would find room for some of this.

  [Mal sees River looking up with fear and sadness] 

  Mal : Nobody escaped.

  Zoë : Sir?

  [they point their flashlights up] 

  Mal : Nobody.

  [a string of naked mutilated bodies is hanging by a chain from the ceiling] 

• Jayne : If there's folks on board in need of help, why ain't they beaming no distress call?

  Zoë Washburne : It's true, there's no beacon.

  Mal : Which means it's likely no one's looking to find her.

  Book : All the more reason for us to do the right thing.

  Jayne : How about you just say a prayer when we slide on by.

• Mal : [on the bridge; all looking at the ship that set off the proximity alarm] 

  Mal : Bring us in a little closer.

  Wash : Get you close enough to ring the doorbell.

  Dr. Simon Tam : What is it?

  [standing in the doorway, completely out of sight; softly, as if talking to herself] 

  River Tam : It's a ghost.

  [half smiles briefly] 

• Mal : I ain't sayin' there's any peace to be had, but on the off chance there is, those folks deserve a little of it.

  Inara Serra : Just when I think I've got you figured out.

• Mal : If I didn't know better, I'd think we were dangerous.

• Mal : I'm gonna make a leap here... and figure this is your first tour out here on the border.

• Mal : Commander, I'm not what you need to be concerned about right now. Things go the way they are, there's gonna be blood.