432 – Firefly – Our Mrs. Reynolds

Mal experiences wedded bliss. Simon and Eugene discuss Our Mrs. Reynolds. Episode Synopsis:  On a remote planet, Mal and the gang rescue a settlement from bandits that have been praying on the town.  The townsfolk throw a big party for the crew and there is much drinking to be had. [expand title=”More…” swaptitle=”Less” tag=”strong”] Upon departure the next day, Mal discovers his wife aboard the ship.  What wife you say?  The one he got married to the prior night without realizing it.  Unable to return her to the planet due to issues with local law enforcement, they take her to the next planet, Beaumont. The young woman, Saffron, wants to do her duty as Mal’s wife.  Mal does not want this and the rest of the crew make his life a misery with their jokes and assumptions about him taking advantage of the poor girl. While Mal tries to get Saffron to stand up for herself, she continues to try to convince Mal to give it a try, eventually, when she turns up naked in Mal’s bed, all ready for him, he finally begins to succumb to her charms – only to find himself drugged and unconscious by her lipstick. Next, she plies her charms on Wash on the flight deck.  She nearly succeeds, but Wash’s fidelity to Zoe is at least unshakeable enough to delay her success long enough that she grows tired and just knocks him unconscious.  She sets the ship on a new course, sabotages the controls and communications, seals the flight deck and makes her way for the second shuttle.  There she encounters Inara, so she attempts to seduce her, but Inara sees through it, but not before Saffron gets the opportunity to escape in the shuttle. Inara rushes to Mal, whom she thinks has been killed, but when he stirs, she kisses him, succumbing to the lingering drug on his lips.  Later, Inara will claim she fell and hit her head rather than admit she was drugged kissing Mal. When everyone finally comes around, they break into the flight deck and fight a desperate battle to regain control of the ship.  They have been placed on course to a carrion house – a salvage operation that collects ships and either breaks them up for parts of sells the ships whole.  To do this, ships are hijacked and sent on a course through a device called a net: an electronic death machine that will kill all living beings onboard when it passes through. Unable to alter course in time, Mal comes up with a desperate plan.  Jayne must use his favorite gun, Vera, to shoot a critical failure point on the net just before they pass through.  He succeeds and, for good measure, puts a couple bullets through the window of the carrion house, killing the occupants when the window fails. As things return to normal, Mal realizes Inara didn’t hit her head and was instead knocked out by the poison lipstick.  He confronts her and she agrees to tell the truth… and then Mal snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by gloating that he knew Inara was seduced by Saffron and kissed her!   Fade to credits on Inara’s stunned face. [/expand]