We’re doing the impossible, and that makes us mighty. IGN wasn’t covering TV back when Joss Whedon’s beloved space western Firefly was airing on FOX (infamously out of order, incomplete, and with little fanfare/support), so we’re spending this summer taking a loving look back at the 14 shiny episodes. We’ll be reviewing Firefly episodes on Thursdays; follow along with us by watching the episodes on Netflix, Amazon, Blu-ray, DVD or on iTunes.
For more on IGN TV’s summer flashback reviews, click here.
“I can kill you with my brain.”
We’re now entering into the episodes that never aired during Firefly’s 2002 run on FOX.
Now, I don’t know what the “writing on the wall” situation was like behind the scenes by the time they went into production for “Trash,” but the way Christina Hendricks’ Saffron returned so quickly — given that her debut was only in the season’s third episode, when the ensemble series hadn’t even started providing solid stories for characters like Book and Kaylee — seemed to suggest that they really wanted to bring her back in for an encore before the lights went out permanently.
I could be very wrong, of course. It could have been the plan all along to have her appear twice in Season 1. It’s just that when she does show up, the episode very much becomes about her. She’s fun, hot, interesting, and she takes up a lot of room. The Mal/Saffron dynamic can easily dominate an entire chapter. Basically, she’s the sort of character who’d have likely been made a series regular come Season 2. Had that happened.
So the good here was Saffron, naturally. Particularly the way that she really seemed to open up to Mal in the end, after the two of them had to hightail it out of Durran Haymer’s (Dwier Brown) estate. This moment directly followed the two of them gelling very well as a duo and, even though she wound up swiping Mal’s gun in the “diversion,” I choose to believe she was being rather forthright with him. I see it as being both an honest and deceptive move. Granted, Mal was playing her the whole time so who even knows whether or not he bought her sob act.
Which brings me to the fact that “Trash” was sort of like an early predicator to Ocean’s Twelve. The type of con job story where the heroes, off-screen, had made a separate “Plan B” in order to stay a step ahead of the villain’s “sudden but inevitable betrayal.” I’m not sure when this scheme was hatched because the first act quarrel between Mal and Inara seemed rather genuine. Mal was taking out his frustrations with Saffron (who he’d already smuggled onto Serenity) on Inara and the two were butting heads in a big way
That fight seemed to lead into Mal taking Saffron up on her offer to steal the antique weapon from (unbeknownst to him) her old husband. So when was everyone else brought in on the “Plan B?” When did Mal make amends with Inara, who was very vocal the entire time about what a mistake it was to trust Saffron? I can only guess that it happened during the commercial break, right before the sit-down they all had to run through the heist. Either/or, the story doesn’t leave much room for it to occur.
Still, having Inara be the one to catch Saffron in the end was a nice touch. Because we all know, deep down, she’s upset about the fact that Mal’s technically married to this woman. And that someday, because she and Mal never make any headway romantically, he may wind up sleeping with her. So to have her be the one to trap Saffron was a cool swerve. Even though it suggested that Mal was somehow now big enough, off camera, to ask Inara to wait at the trash site in case everything went sideways.
Another fun part of “Trash” involved Simon discovering that Jayne had actually sold him and River out back in “Ariel.” No super-detective work here though. River just basically let him know because – well – she knows things. But the confrontation between Simon and Jayne, when Jayne was doped up on his medic table, was great. Simon made Jayne believe, for a split second, that he was paralyzed. Then he let him know that he’d always be safe with Simon as his doctor. It was nice because it wasn’t played severely. Simon could be pissed, but not too pissed. Because we already knew that Jayne felt bad about what he did.
It all ended with a very pleased, very naked Mal, basking in a big win for his team – and it was fun to see him be so happy about beating Saffron that he didn’t care about walking around nude in front of his crew.
Also, they got the gun now, so… They’re all rich, right?
