Serenity brings Inara back to Ariel, a planet in the Core Systems, so she can complete some necessary paperwork to maintain her license as a Companion. Mal’s instinct is to stay quiet and stay in orbit until Inara’s ready to be picked up. Things change when River suddenly slashes Jayne with a kitchen knife. Mal confines her to quarters and tells Simon that unless he can keep her in check, Mal will have to rethink their arrangement. So Simon decides to hire the crew for a job – he’ll provide them with the know-how to break into the hospital stores and swipe medicine with considerable value on the frontier, and in exchange the crew will get him and River into a neural diagnostic lab to give Simon a chance to figure out what’s really wrong with his sister. It’s a very clever plan, and the only thing that might screw it up is one of the crew deciding to go freelance. And that might turn out disastrous for everyone. Just because River’s not quite sane doesn’t mean she doesn’t have good reason to fear the Alliance and their men in blue.
written by Jose Molina
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Greg EdmonsonGuest Cast: Blake Robbins (Agent McGinnis), Jeff Ricketts (Man of Blue #1), Dennis Cockrum (Man of Blue #2), Tom Virtue (Doctor)
Notes: This episode features Mal’s introductory narration.
LogBook entry by Dave Thomer