Firefly - Episode 11: 'Trash'
Recap: Mal encounters Saffron, married to one of his war buddies, and hears of a job from her. He brings her into the crew this one time, and they infiltrate yet another one of her 'husbands.' The mission goes off correctly, and Saffron double-crosses Mal - but Inara is there to clean up the mess. A hilarious, thoroughly enjoyable episode. Christina Hendricks's 'Saffron' - aka Bridget, aka Yolanda - is as delightful as she was in her first appearance here. She's very clearly been assigned the role of punching bag rival - competent enough to get the drop on Mal, but not enough to avoid getting immediately outed (by herself!), punched in the face by Zoe, and even punked by Inara ('You can't do this! I have a condition!! ') And her heist gives us the chance to make a super-fun mission, complete with a description of 'The Plan' and accompanying montage of execution. There's a nice backdrop with Mal and Inara's conflict, too. Mal as ...