Oh no. The pre-episode flashback is a collection of Kaylee/Simon awkward moments. I thought we were past this. Kaylee and Simon aren’t the only ones getting a relationship flashback, we’re seeing a lot of Inara/Mal weirdness as well. I guess it’s clear what direction this episode is going.
After the flashbacks the episode itself starts with some jerk in a landspeeder named Burgess showing up to a brothel to claim that a baby is his. He seems mean. Oh, he just stabbed a pregnant woman in the belly with some kind of DNA-extractor thing, so yeah. Not a nice dude. He claims he’s the father of the baby. The prostitutes decide to turn to Mal and his crew for help.
Inara and Mal get a moment in the kitchen and discuss Mal’s “gun.” It turns out the brothel is turning to Inara, not Mal, for help. It appears the madame of the brothel is a former Companion and friend of Inara’s named Nandi. Mal agrees to help, but since there’s not a guaranteed price he leaves it up to the rest of the crew to decide if they want to join him. Jayne’s the only holdout because he’s worried he won’t get paid. When he finds out he’ll be helping whores he changes his mind immediately. Jayne’s heart probably isn’t the “Heart of Gold” from the title.
Simon and Kaylee subtly reiterate their non-relation as Kaylee ogles some “boy whores.” Book seems as uncomfortable as a priest in a whorehouse… oh, right. Kaylee’s sulking a bit, so she asks Wash to tell her she’s pretty.
“Were I unwed I would take you a manly fashion… because you’re pretty.”
Inara’s friend isn’t convinced Burgess is actually the father, given the nature of the pregnant woman’s work. Mal and Inara go undercover to find Burgess and assess the situation. Burgess shows off his ridiculous-looking, dangerous, and highly illegal gun. Mal doesn’t like what he sees and wants to bolt. He thinks they’re outgunned, and they are.
Burgess gets a call on this weird-looking cellphone to tell him that the DNA is a match and the baby is his. He seems pretty pumped about it.
Cool phone, you jerk.
Back at the brothel, Mal is suggesting a full-scale retreat. He wants to take everyone and get off the moon and as far away from Burgess as quickly as possible. Nandi’s having none of it, but thankfully she’s Mal’s “kind of stupid.” They decide to pull an A-Team/Seven Samurai and fortify their position and hold off the enemy.
Then that lady goes into labor.
Speaking of labor, apparently Wash and Zoe have been talking about/arguing about having a baby themselves.Wash, reasonably, doesn’t think bringing a baby into their heist-of-the-week lifestyle.
Mal and Nandi are drinking together and sharing stories. Then they start sharing some… other stuff.
(They’re sharing some sex.)
One of Nandi’s employees is a snitch and she rats them out to Burgess. Then he delivers one of the most misogynistic speeches I’ve heard outside of /r/mensrights and orders the snitch to “get on her knees” in front of a cheering crowd. Gross.
Inara catches Mal coming out of Nandi’s room in the morning. There’s an awkward exchange, but they both seem to be handling it pretty well.
:.(
Nandi talks to Inara, and then to Mal. They’re about to open up about their feelings and have a moment, but uh oh — imminent violence.
Burgess and crew begin riding in on the brothel. His men ambush Wash and Kaylee back at Serenity, which instantly knocks out their planned air support. It’s not going well. It’d be pretty easy to assume everything will be fine, but considering this is the penultimate episode, I’m not so sure everyone’s going to walk away from this fight.
The traitor lets Burgess sneak in around back, so that’s probably not great.
Back on Serenity, Wash and Kaylee manage to trap their ambushers in a hallway. The baby’s been born just fine, until Burgess walks in gun drawn to claim him. Inara holds a knife to his throat, and they get the baby back. Burgess gets free and kills Nandi sending Mal into a berserker rage after Burgess.
Mal gets Burgess and the crew rounds up the rest of his men. We find out the baby’s name is Jonah.
“Say goodbye to daddy, Jonah.”
Mal and Inara have a nice moment, and it seems like they’re finally going to get together and then NOPE SHE LEAVES SERENITY.
Hard to believe there’s only one more episode of this to go.
(Images via Firefly)
- A bunch of people told me why they love Firefly
- I started recapping these four months ago, wow
- So far I think “Out of Gas” has been my favorite
