Trash (Firefly)
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| Firefly episode | |
|---|---|
| “Trash” | |
 The return of the character "Mrs. Reynolds" |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 11 |
| Guest star(s) | Christina Hendricks Franc Ross Dwier Brown |
| Writer(s) | Ben Edlund, José Molina |
| Director | Vern Gillum |
| Production no. | 1AGE12 |
| Original airdate | 28 June 2003 (MundoFOX) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "War Stories" | "The Message" |
"Trash" is the eleventh episode of science-fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It is the first of three episodes that were not broadcast in the original 2002 Fox run.
Saffron returns to plague Serenity with a scheme to steal a rare antique weapon from a wealthy landowner. Unfortunately for Mal, she neglects to mention just how she came across the information needed to break into the landowner's home.
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[edit] Synopsis
The show opens in a desert, where a naked Mal sits on a rock, staring into the distance, and says to himself, "Yeah… That went well." Flashback to 72 hours earlier, where Mal meets fellow Independence soldier-turned-smuggler Monty. Monty's crew is engaged in unloading his own ship as the two captains chat. Monty announces that he's gotten married, and introduces his lovely new bride Bridget. As soon as they spot each other, Mal and "Bridget" pull guns on each other. "Bridget" turns out to be none other than Mal's nemesis Saffron. The two adversaries disarm each other and struggle until a bewildered Monty separates them. Mal tells Monty that "Saffron" is his wife, and Monty reluctantly believes him, leaving her stranded when he departs. When Mal orders Saffron to start walking away from his "scrap o' nowhere", Saffron unsuccessfully works her wiles on him, then switches to teasing him with a profitable planned theft in order to avoid being stranded on "this lifeless piece-of-crap moon".
Later, Serenity arrives to pick up Mal and the unloaded cargo. The crew is puzzled over Mal's injuries, which he refuses to discuss. When Inara invites him into her shuttle for tea, he rants about her use of "feminine wiles" to manipulate him. Inara gets to her point — she wants to be able to conduct her business, and implies he is deliberately making it hard for her to find clients. As their argument devolves into personal attacks, Inara calls him a "petty thief" and suggests that he hasn't been serious about his own work lately. The scene cuts to Mal in the cargo bay, opening one of the loaded crates, getting Saffron out for more details on her "million-square job".
In the common room, Saffron stands before the crew describing her plan to rob an antique laser pistol, the "Lassiter", from Durran Haymer, a wealthy collector of Earth-That-Was artifacts. She claims a remarkable awareness of Haymer's security arrangements, but insists that she needs help to get the weapon off the estate. However, the crew expresses outrage that they're even considering working with her, given her previous attempt to get them all killed and steal their ship. Mal discusses his reasons for his leniency, pointedly quoting some of Inara's words in their earlier argument to imply that she's partly responsible for his "descent into lunacy". Zoe is skeptical, but decides to go with the plan — immediately after delivering a flooring punch to the con artist's chin.
While Jayne watches over Simon and River, keeping them out of Saffron's sight, River delivers warnings about not trusting Saffron. She tells Simon in private that Jayne has been afraid since their visit to Ariel, "afraid we'll know". Meanwhile, Wash and Kaylee describe their detailed plans of how to get Mal and Saffron in and the antique weapon out, interspersed with a montage of scenes of the activities as they take place. The key to the plan is to dump the collectible pistol into an automated trash disposal unit, which Kaylee will reprogram to take the trash to a remote location where they can pick it up.
Mal and Saffron enter the estate without difficulty, proving correct Saffron's claims about her inside knowledge. They quickly find the room that features the well-protected collectible, but are surprised when Durran himself enters. Mal is further surprised when Durran rushes to Saffron and embraces her, thanking him for bringing back his wife Yolanda. Apparently, Yolanda/Saffron disappeared six years earlier, at the same time an estate worker was killed. Mal comically tries to disappear into the background, but Saffron insists that Durran provide some compensation for Mal's "rescue". As Durran leaves to get the money, the uneasy partners finish retrieving the pistol while Mal wonders aloud about whether Saffron is actually in love with Durran, and if he might be her real husband. She responds by pulling her weapon on him and insulting him. When Durran arrives to observe this disconnnect with her story, she tries to backpedal, but Mal tells him the truth about their robbery attempt. While Saffron expresses contempt for Durran, Mal surreptitiously drops the antique in the trash chute. Durran, however, informs his beloved "wife" that he had notified the authorities the moment he found them in his trophy room. Saffron again demonstrates her erratic nature by switching back to her feminine wiles, but finally ends up knocking this husband unconscious. As the Feds descend on the estate, the two thieves barrel through them and leave in Serenity's shuttle.
Meanwhile, Wash has been holding Serenity directly under Haymer's estate's trash unit while Jayne retrieved the control unit and Kaylee reprogrammed it, clinging to the ship's hull. During the windy EVA, Jayne is shocked unconscious. Book drags the mercenary back into Serenity to be treated by Simon. Zoe goes outside to help Kaylee, who barely manages to get the control board plugged in before the automated pickup vehicle comes up behind them and attaches itself to the trash unit. Off it goes with the priceless weapon.
As Mal's shuttle flies toward the rendezvous in Isis Canyon, he continues to explore his theory that Durran was Saffron's true love and original husband, and the con artist seems to break down in contemplation of what she's lost. As Mal regretfully expresses his belief that she'll just go back to being her conniving self, she proves him correct by pulling his own gun on him. She forces him to disrobe and strands him in the desert, where he utters his observation seen at the show's beginning.
On Serenity, the crew finds that Saffron again sabotaged their ship, forcing them down before reaching the rendezvous. In the infirmary, Jayne awakens to find himself medically paralyzed to rest a spinal injury. When Jayne asks if he's going to be okay, the doctor calmly asks him how much he was offered to hand over the Tams to the Alliance. Jayne calls, "Anybody there?", but only River appears. Jayne then says, "Anybody else?" With Jayne paralyzed and in the company of the people he sold out, Simon ominously points out that in Jayne's "dangerous line of work", he will require the services of ship's doctor again. But he surprises the mercenary by promising, "I want you to understand one thing very clearly. No matter what you do or say or plot... no matter how you come down on us... I will never, ever harm you" because he's a doctor and Jayne is part of the ship's crew. After the good-hearted doctor leaves, River peeks in to tell the wounded man, "Also... I can kill you with my brain."
At the trashyard, Saffron searches through the garbage for the antique laser pistol. To her surprise, Inara emerges above her to taunt her with the weapon. The Companion claims to have been part of the plan all along, knowing that Saffron would get the drop on them somehow and arranging to beat the clever thief at her own game of deception. She remotely closes the garbage container to trap Saffron for the authorities to pick up later.
Later, Serenity makes it to Mal's location, where Inara and Mal trade some quips about Mal's "plan". Wash and Zoe look on, stunned, as Mal cheerfully reenters Serenity, still sans clothing, and muses unselfconsciously about the success of their heist.
[edit] Allusions to earlier episodes
- Saffron is a returning character who first appeared in "Our Mrs. Reynolds", an episode that apparently occurred "about a half a year back" from this one.
- After Jayne stocks up Simon and River's cabin and leaves, River, in another paranormal instance, implies to Simon that Jayne is afraid they'll know what he was attempting to do in "Ariel", two episodes past. Both confront Jayne on the subject towards the end of the episode.
- When fighting with Mal early in the episode, Inara says "The best job you ever pulled was on a central planet." This is a reference to the episode "Ariel", where the crew successfully stole large quantities of medicine from St. Lucy's Medical Center.
[edit] Foreshadowing
- At 22:46 Saffron looks through the window of Durran Haymer's parlor to see what appears to be Jubal Early's ship from the episode "Objects in Space". This would fit with Jubal's statement that he had been tailing Serenity since the Feds were notified in "Ariel".
[edit] Reception
- Won the SyFy Genre Awards: Best Special Guest/Television Christina Hendricks for "Trash", 2006[1]
- Won the SyFy Genre Awards: Best Episode/Television "Trash", 2006
[edit] Trivia
- The heist takes place on Bellerophon. Mal's encounter with Monty takes place on a moon unnamed in the episode.
- Mal's last contraband cargo (unseen in the show) was apparently "wobbly-headed" geisha dolls.
- In the Firefly universe, the Lassiter is the original laser pistol, upon which all "modern" laser weapons are based.
- As Mal and Saffron are landing at Haymer's estate, the silhouette of an SR-71 Blackbird flies by in the background.
- River implies that she has yet another psychic talent by telling Jayne, "I can kill you with my brain."
- While Jayne is trying to reprogram the trash collector, you can see the Windows OS being displayed on the screen. It appears several times with both Jayne and Kaylee doing the reprogramming.
- Saffron's stealing Mal's gun prior to stranding him takes place on camera, right after Mal sits next to her. However, no attention is given to this event by the camerawork and it happens at the very bottom of the frame, so it is easy to miss except by those looking for it.
- The t-shirt that Jayne wears during this episode contains the Chinese words/characters; dairuomuji which means 'dumb as a wooden chicken', or 'paralyzed by fear'. Kevin M. Sullivan notes that this writing was most visible when he was paralyzed by the drugs that Simon gave him to knock out his motor functions.
- Mal's naked right side is visible in the opening and ending scene of the Episode, however, there is no scar from when Atherton Wing stabbed him during their duel in the Episode "Shindig", although there is a tattoo present. However, the scar can be seen in the film Serenity.
- In the scene revealing Inara's 'role' in the job, there is a slight fluctuation in terms of Inara's actions in sequence. When Inara closes the bin on Saffron, she immediately starts waving goodbye; the angle then changes to showing Saffron's POV, looking to Inara who now seems to have both her hands clasped in her lap; this angle is maintained until the lid is closed and it changes back to Inara, still waving to Saffron. (reference frames: 38:22-38:26)
[edit] Notes
- ^ SyfyPortal Awards. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
[edit] References and external links
- Firefly — The Complete Series DVD set (ISBN 6308024716)
- "Firefly" Trash at the Internet Movie Database
- TV.com: "Trash"
- Firefly Wiki - "Trash" script
| The Firefly series | ||
| Episodes | Serenity | The Train Job | Bushwhacked | Shindig | Safe | Our Mrs. Reynolds | Jaynestown Out of Gas | Ariel | War Stories | Trash | The Message | Heart of Gold | Objects in Space |
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| Spin-offs | R. Tam sessions | Serenity: Those Left Behind | Serenity | |
| Characters | Derrial Book | Jayne Cobb | Kaylee Frye | Malcolm Reynolds | Inara Serra River Tam | Simon Tam | Hoban Washburne | Zoe Washburne | Minor characters |
|
| Terminology | Moons and planets | The Alliance | Blue Sun | Unification War | Serenity Reaver | Browncoat | Firefly slang | Companion |
|
