Malcolm Reynolds Part 13: “Heart of Gold” – Firefly, Episode 1:13 (Never Aired)

Mal makes a new acquaintance, and loses much more.

I have this episode in the Firefly 4-Disc DVD set.

 

Mal’s cleaning his guns in the mess hall when Inara comes in and surprises him. They share some petty yet meaningful banter until Wash interrupts them with news of an incomming wave for her from someone asking for help. Mal admits to eavesdropping and learns that her friend Nandi, a former Companion now running a whorehouse, is in some trouble with a local man. When asked about payment, Inara tells him Nandi’s people have no money and offers to pay him herself. He tells her to keep her money, but she insists…preferring to keep their relationship strictly professional. Mal lets the crew in on what’s going on, and they meet with Nandi.

She tells Mal, Zoe and Inara about the cause of the fuss: Rance Burgess, a man who insists that Petaline (one of Nadine’s girls) is carrying his child. He wants the child badly enough to burn Nadine’s place to the ground along with anyone sitting inside it. Mal tells her he wants to meet the man so he can size Burgess up before taking the job. Nadine tells him the where and when, and Inara agrees to go with him. They arrive at the event, and after a five minute conversation with Burgess, Mal leaves. Inara chases after him asking what he thought, and Mal tells her they should leave as soon as possible.

Back at Nadine’s, Mal lays it out to everyone - Burgess is too powerful a man to be reasoned with. Nadine assumes Mal’s turning down the job, but he’s actually inviting Nadine and her people to load up Serenity and start over somewhere else. She refuses to leave, and after some convincing by Book, Zoe, Wash and Jayne, Mal agrees to take the job. He stays with Nandi to get acquainted with the layout and they get…friendly.

The next morning, Mal wakes up in Nandi’s bed, and as he leaves her room (half-dressed) Inara appears. She tells him she’s glad Mal was with her the night before the fight of her life, but he’s worried about Inara thinking he took advantage of her friend.

Mal and Nandi prepare for the upcoming battle, and she hints that there’s more going on between him and Inara than he let on. Mal starts to respond, but is cut off by Burgess’ posse heading their way. During the gunfight, Mal hears laser fire inside the Heart of Gold. He bursts into a hallway to find Nandi dead and Inara kneeling over her body. Guessing what happened, Mal mourns, locks eyes with Inara for a moment and then charges after Burgess.

He catches up with the man responsible for Nandi’s death and they fight. Mal gets the upper hand and beings Burgess back to the house to get tied up with the others, all the while calling out to Petaline to bring him his son. Mal watches as Petaline comes out carrying her son in one arm and a gun in the other. She shoots her baby’s father dead, and tells Burgess’ men to leave and never come back. She also has another of the girls go with them, presumably a spy that helped Burgess get into the building.

Mal attends Nandi’s funeral, and as Serenity heads back into the black he has a conversation with Inara. He tells her he feels guilty for failing Nandi, and tries to open up about his feelings for Inara when she tells him she’s leaving Serenity.

Notes of Interest:

1) Who knew Mal startles so easily?

2) He does a good job keeping focused on the task at hand despite being surrounded by attractive women, and is clearly embarrassed at Jayne’s behavior.

3) Mal admires Nadine for her willingness to fight and possibly die for what’s hers.

4) He learns that Nandi left the companion house on Sihnon before Inara did, and for a while Inara had her eye on becoming house priestess.

5) Mal’s emotions towards Inara are becoming clearer. He looks hurt when she mentions keeping their relationship professional – to the point of making a jab about it when introduced to Nandi – and again when she tells him she’s leaving the ship.

6) Anyone else catch the reference to “Serenity” when Mal mentions not shooting horses?

7) How about Mal’s comment about passing out? That’s damn funny.

WTF? Moment: Why would Mal overreact when Petaline goes into labor? If he was raised on a ranch, wouldn’t he have been exposed to horses and cattle having babies?

WTF? Moment #2: Without looking too much into it, could it be that Nandi…in some way…reminds him of his mother? A frontierswoman holding her own against impossible odds without backing down and building a family out of strangers? Then again, could Nandi remind him of himself as well? “My kind of stupid”, indeed…