Episode 9: Ariel

   In Episode 9: Ariel of Firefly, Jayne turns on the crew and tries to trade Simon and Rivers over to the Feds for the bounty being offered for them. His plans go askew and the Feds capture Jayne, Simon and Rivers. Fortunately, they are able to break out and Mal and Zoe get them all safely back to the ship. Mal already knows what Jayne had done because the plan was suppose to go very smoothly, but Jayne, Simon and Rivers were 10 minutes late. Mal knocks Jayne out with a wrench because no one else knows what Jayne has done and puts him in the hatch area that leads outside. When Jayne wakes up he finds himself in the hatch with a two way radio with Mal on the other one. He opens the hatch and force Jayne to confess to his crime against the crew and Mal says this line: "You turn on anyone in my crew, you turn on me" and "Next time you decide to stab me in my back, have the guts to do it to my face."
  These two quotes really hit home for me. The fact that Mal considers everyone on the ship his crew and that betraying or hurting any one of them is that same as betraying him. This pack mentality is what makes the strongest bond between people and the most effective team. Mal is protective of his crew as if they are his family and he will not all any harm to fall upon them especially from a betrayal in the group. This answers a few questions as to how far Mal is willing to go to protect his crew, he is willing to kill anyone who would cause them harm even if the betrayal is from someone within the crew. Mal requires that everyone in his crew to be loyal to him and to one another regardless of personal differences. If someone betrays anyone on his crew, Mal takes it personally as if it was done directly to him. When Mal tells Jayne that the next time he thinks about betray him to do it to his face, he is showing that he is disgusted and will not tolerate any sort of crime against anyone on the ship. This will probably be the episode I choose to do my paper on. I am highly interested in how groups function through pack mentality.