Firefly 1x11 Review: Gullibility

“Trash”
Written by Ben Edlund and Jose Molina
Directed by Vern Gillum
 
The Story
Mal runs into Saffron again while doing business with an old war buddy, who, it turns out, also married her. The truth comes out and her new husband leaves, angry and heartbroken (particularly because he shaved his beard for her). She offers Mal and his crew in on a job she has lined up. On the ship, Inara confronts Mal about how she thinks he’s been sabotaging her ability to work by only taking jobs on backwaters. Rather than losing the argument, Mal takes Saffron’s job, which is on a rather ritzy planet of floating estates. They’re stealing one of the first blaster guns ever made, which is a priceless historical artifact. The job almost goes well until it turns out the estate’s owner is another of Saffron’s husbands. Possibly her actual husband. Mal and Saffron still manage to get away with the gun, but then she, shocker, double-crosses him, leaving him stark naked in the middle of the desert. However, he was only pretending to be gullible this time. The entire crew has been playing her for the whole heist. They had time to plan while she was still in the cargo crate before Mal and Inara’s argument. They take the blaster and leave her inside a dumpster, covered in refuse.
 
Things I Liked

• That opening scene, with Mal just sitting there naked on a rock in the middle of the desert. Best use of the last-scene-first construction ever.
• Monty’s reaction to Mal and “Bridgette” drawing pistols on each other the second they see each other.
• “I SHAVED OFF MY BEARD FOR YOU!”
• Saffron sticking her tongue out at Mal for shooting at her feet.
• Mal with the tissues up his bloody nose, sticking them right in Wash’s face, and Wash’s reaction
  

•  Inara and Mal arguing nuances of “petty” in Chinese. Bahahahaha.
  
• Jayne completely missing Saffron’s sarcasm when she compliments him for asking the same question she just asked herself
• Zoë punching Saffron. That’s some cold revenge for the kick to Wash’s head. Awesome.
• “Jayne is a girl’s name.”
• “They killed Heinrich?”
• Massive double-cross! Well played, entire crew.
• “I’ve seen you without your clothes on. Never thought I’d see you naked.”
• Mal’s hilarious tan line.
• “You can’t do this! I have a condition!” Yeah, you and Andrew Wells.’
• “Also? I can kill you with my brain.”
• Mal having no shame at all about being naked, and Inara, Zoë, and Kaylee all taking it perfectly in stride (while Wash fails to). *snort*

 
Things I Didn’t

• Wait a second, did Simon not know Jayne tried to sell him and River to the Alliance? Pfft, screw that. Him knowing is the only explanation for the tone of voice he used with Jayne at the end of that episode. My headcanon is that he’s been pretending it was fine because Mal assured him nothing else would happen and he didn’t want to make a big deal and upset River.

 
The Characters
Mal luuuuuuurves Inara. *snicker* Which is why he’s willing to hear Saffron’s heist, just so he can prove her wrong (and maybe make her jealous). And also why he can pull off such a flawless performance with her to trick Saffron. I kind of suspect that Mal/Saffron might’ve eventually happened for real on the show if it hadn’t been cancelled. Inara would’ve died of her terminal illness, Saffron would’ve become part of the crew, and she and Mal would’ve had a very silly love/hate thing for a while until finally getting together. Oh well.
 
Zoë does not forget any injuries done to Wash. It’s adorable.
 
I could seriously watch a whole show of just Wash reacting to unexpected weirdness. His expressions and body language are fantastic. Also, he and Kaylee are at it again with the genius mechanical trickery. Go team mechanics!
 
Mal is the only one who can ruffle Inara. It’s rather amusing to watch a courtesan get flustered over unresolved sexual tension. I bet she never thought that would be a problem for her.
 
Jayne is not very good at pretending to be innocent, but he’s doing pretty well at not relapsing to a position of wanting to sell Simon and River out. He might be trailing behind everyone else on the crew when it comes to IQ points (and morality), but he can still learn his lessons, after which he’s unlikely to forget them any time soon.
 
Kaylee, you should know by now that you need to explain technical stuff to Jayne very carefully, before the job actually begins. The moment he’s reaching up to stick the cartridge in the slot is not the right time to sling expressions like “the dyna-ram’s live” at him.
 
Simon takes his Hippocratic oath very seriously, but I love the way he deliberately phrases the “can you move your arms or legs” stuff so that Jayne will have a few seconds to believe he’s paralyzed and freak out. And the same goes for his speech about how even after betraying them, Jayne is safe in Simon’s infirmary. Starts out very creepy, then turns surprisingly magnanimous.
 
It’s a very good thing River isn’t one for revenge. Actually, I think that means I need to switch her to Ravenclaw after all. She knows that Jayne is no longer a threat, so all she needs to do to feel good about the situation is slightly intimidate him.
 
Wow, the only thing Book does in the whole episode is help get Jayne to the infirmary after his accident, and stand around not talking in one other scene. Lame. Admittedly, I’m not sure it would have been a better episode if he’d, like, lectured Saffron on her tricksy ways or something. It’s just lame in general that he keeps getting shoved to the background when he clearly has the most exciting backstory of the whole crew.
 
Overall Rating
5/5