A naked Mal sits in the middle of the desert. Seventy-two hours earlier, he met up with an old friend named Monte to pick up some cargo, with Serenity coming by later to retrieve him and the load in order to avoid raising suspicions. When Monte enthusiastically introduces his new wife Bridget, Mal is a bit taken aback to see that Bridget is really Saffron. When her latest husband leaves her behind, Saffron tries to convince Mal that she has the inside scoop on a big heist. Mal isn’t interested, until Inara confronts him about their recent itinerary and points out that the crew hasn’t had a substantial job in a while. Mal decides to take Saffron up on her offer and go for the big score, which isn’t quite what Inara had in mind. The plan involves going to Bellerophon in the Core Systems, to the estate of a huge collector of artifacts from Earth-that-was. Saffron has all the security codes, so they can walk right in and take one of the earliest laser pistols ever made. Getting it out will be a problem – it’s rigged with sensors, so they can’t go out the door. Kaylee figures that if they dump it in a trash bin, they can hotwire the bot that picks up the trash and get it to drop the bin in the desert. Mal and Saffron head in to do the thieving while everyone else takes care of the rewiring. When Jayne gets knocked out, it gives Simon the chance to have a heart to heart with him about events on Ariel. At the estate, Mal is surpised – albeit not terribly so – to find that he is not the only one of Saffron’s spouses on the premises. They manage to grab the gun, toss it in the bin, and make their getaway, but Mal still loses his shirt. Everything seems to be going according to plan – but whose?
written by Jose Molina and Ben Edlund
directed by Vern Gillum
music by Greg EdmonsonGuest Cast: Christina Hendricks (Saffron), Franc Ross (Monte), Dwier Brown (Durran Haymer)
Notes: Saffron married Mal under dubious circumstances in Our Mrs. Reynolds. This episode was not broadcast by Fox and first aired on Sci Fi in 2005.
LogBook entry by Dave Thomer