Episode 10

Synopsis

Mal sits in a field - naked. Flashback to 72 hours earlier: Mal meets an old friend who introduces Mal to his new wife - Saffron. Mal isn’t happy to see her. The old friend questions her past history and leaves her with Mal. Not wanting to be left behind, Saffron claims to have information on a treasure.

Mal returns Serenity where Inara complains about a lack of clients, and insults the caliber of his recent jobs.

Mal opens a cargo hold to reveal Saffron within, and asks her about the treasure. She claims to know a collector in possession of a “Lasseter,” the original laser pistol, and proposes they steal it. Inara calls the scheme stupid, and Zoe doesn’t trust Saffron one bit. Mal promises to accompany Saffron during the heist to keep her in line.

The Serenity approaches a floating city. Mal and Saffron sneak onto a private estate. They plan to find the pistol, and toss it into the garbage, where a robot drone, reprogrammed by Kaylee, will take the trash to a rendezvous point.

The Serenity flies beneath a trash bin beneath the floating city. Kaylee and Jayne climb atop the Serenity to reprogram it. Jayne accidentally shocks himself.

Saffron and Mal break into a central room containing the rare pistol. A man named Durran approaches - and hugs Saffron. He thanks Mal for returning his wife, and invites them to his party. Saffron lies about her disappearance, as Mal rolls his eyes. Durran leaves to get Mal some payment. Saffron and Mal return to the pistol theft, with Mal annoyed at Saffron’s crazy love life.

As Mal lifts the gun off the pedestal, Saffron points a gun at his head. The man returns, distracting Saffron, and Mal hurriedly tosses the pistol down the trash chute. Kaylee completes the bin-reprogramming just as the drone arrives to transport it.

Mal disarms Saffron, and she knocks Durran unconscious. Mal and Saffron fight their way through the recently arrived police and escape in a shuttle.

Mal asks Saffron if Durran was her original husband before her current life of crime. She breaks down in tears to gain sympathy, but then pulls a gun on Mal - again - as they head toward the rendezvous point to pick up the pistol. She tells Mal to remove his clothes.

As the Serenity heads toward the rendezvous point, they learn Saffron sabotaged the engine, slowing them down. Meanwhile, Saffron digs through the trash bin in search of the treasure - only to find Inara already there. She locks Saffron in the garbage bin.

Jayne lies in the sickbay, his head in a brace. Simon scolds him for turning in River back on Ariel. River says she can kill him with her brain.

The Serenity crew finds Mal naked in the desert. Inara scolds him, while Mal makes light of his blatant nudity.

Thoughts

I’m not sure Saffron was worth spending another episode on. Note that Inara’s badgering of Mal drives him to take up the ridiculous job Saffron proposes. In that light, this is all Inara’s fault. So it’s appropriate that she puts a stop to this by confronting Saffron at episode’s end.

So the lesson here is for Mal - that his desire to make money can get the better of him, and he should pay more attention to Inara’s advice - if only to avoid a potential sunburn.

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TV Shows: Firefly

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