Cheryl Cain wrote War Stories, which debuted on 6 December, 2002 (Fox was screwing up everything with this show). There is some tension arising between Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Wash (Alan Tudyk) over Wash’s wife, and Mal’s most trusted ally on Serenity, Zoe (Gina Torres).

Wash is tired of hearing about Zoe and Mal’s war stories. He’s a little jealous of their history. And the fact that she shares almost everything with Mal, he’s her commanding officer after all.

And add to that, Niska (Michael Fairman), last seen in The Trainjob, is determined to exact his revenge for being double-crossed on the job the crew of Serenity took for him. Things take a particularly brutal turn when Wash and Mal are caught by Niska’s people and tortured. Can Wash take it, and will Mal help him through it, and what will he say to keep Wash going? And how will all this affect the relationships on our beloved firefly class transport?

Simon (Sean Maher) is working on figuring out what is wrong with River (Summer Glau) following their escapade on Ariel. Inara (Morena Baccarin) welcomes a client abroad, and the crew are a little dumbstruck, which leads to that classic Jayne (Adam Baldwin) line – ‘I’ll be in my bunk.’ And speaking of Jayne, he’s trying to get back in the good graces of the crew following his betrayal, which Mal has kept secret.

And while Niska tortures Mal and Wash, Jayne, Zoe and Book (Ron Glass) try to hunt them down.

A great episode, incredibly entertaining, and builds narratives, relationships and characters. We see problems between the crew, strains on relations, and the advancement of character mythologies. We see how important Zoe is to both Mal and Wash, but in different ways. All the characters get their moments, and they show the crew as family, even when strained. The Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and River moment during the firefight is powerful for both characters and shifts their dynamic. Something that happens to a lot of characters in this episode.

Man, I love this series.

Trash is another example of Fox screwing over the series. It was finally broadcast (so out of order, and after the show had been cancelled and scrubbed from the schedule) on 21 July, 2003. It was written by Ben Edlund and Jose Molina.

The episode opens with a great scene. Mal, sitting naked on a rock in the middle of the desert.

YoSaffBridge (Christina Hendricks) is back. She’s working a con and has married one of Mal’s old pals, Monty (Franc Ross).

She offers Mal and the crew a job, but how much can they trust her? None of them do, but there may be a chance to make some coin. She has a plan to steal a famous weapon, a Lassiter. The groundwork for all the laser weapons that came after it. It’s in the collection of Durran Haymer (Dwier Brown) on the core world, and very well off Belerophon.

So she wants the crew’s help to pull off this heist. But knowing they can’t trust her, are there plans within plans? It’s a heist episode with lots of fun bits; once again, everyone gets to shine. There are twists, reveals, betrayals and lots of great dialogue.

The strain on relationships continues, as Mal and Inara clash. We don’t know the exact reasons that Book and Inara will leave the Serenity, but there is definitely groundwork being laid. And secrts are beginning to come out.

More next time!