Trash

This episode of Firefly -- one of three that Fox never aired, but which were included in the DVD set -- opens with Mal (Nathan Fillion) sitting in the middle of a desert, very alone and very naked. Flashing back to a few days earlier, Mal is doing business with an old war buddy, Monte (Franc Ross), who tells Mal that he's recently been married, and introduces his bride, "Bridget." When his new bride and old pal immediately draw guns on each other, Monte suspects that they've met before. "She's my wife," Mal explains. "Marriage is hard work, Mal," Saffron (Christina Hendricks) responds. "That doesn't mean we should just give up." After Saffron (last seen in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds," trying to steal Serenity) screws up Mal's business dealings, she convinces him not to leave her stranded planetside, claiming to have a big easy score lined up that she's willing to cut Mal and his crew in on. When Inara (Morena Baccarin), who suspects that Mal is intentionally keeping her from getting work, calls him a "petty thief," Mal decides to give Saffron's plan a shot, much to the consternation of the crew. Saffron wants to steal a priceless early laser pistol, the Lasseter, from Durran Haymer (Dwier Brown), who lives in Bellerophon Estates, a kind of gated community of the future, where the "rich and paranoid" live in high-security castles floating in the sky. Saffron has all the access codes. She just needs a way to get the gun out of Haymer's house, and the Serenity crew comes up with a plan. Of course, Saffron being Saffron, there are a few unwelcome surprises in store. Meanwhile, Simon (Sean Maher), tipped off by River (Summer Glau), confronts Jayne (Adam Baldwin) about his betrayal back on "Ariel.".