Synopsis

Serenity cruises in towards the planet Persephone, a common destination; the crew is looking forward to some shore leave, and Inara has a long-standing client, Atherton, with whom she has an affectionate relationship, waiting to escort her to a ball, among other things. She and Mal exchange the usual sniping barbs about her 'client'. That leaves him in enough of a bad mood that, planet-side, he manages to snap at Kaylee, mooning over a ruffly and truly ugly dress in a window, and significantly dent her feelings. Zoe and Wash head off with Kaylee, leaving Mal and Jayne alone -- when the guys with the guns show up. They're working for an old 'associate' -- a slimy little flash named Badger -- who has something of a job offer. Mal isn't jumping since the last 'association' ended badly, but Badger is brokering for a rich man, Harrow, looking to discreetly move some cargo, with a carrier who's up to his standards of respectability. Badger has some invites to a ritzy affair that Harrow will be attending, so Mal can make contact. The security is very high, with high-tech gun scans, but Inara and her date -- who is charming enough, but keeps slipping with a distinct lack of respect for Inara -- have no problems getting in. He asks Inara to live on Persephone, as his personal companion, but Inara demurs. , Meanwhile, Mal's only problem is getting Kaylee to forgive him by buying her the fluffy dress so she can act as his escort at the ball.

Kaylee's outfit is horrific, but she's so happy and excited that she's adorable. Mal cleans up quite well, although he's as out of place as Inara is firmly in her element. Kaylee makes a beeline for the buffet, leaving him standing alone as, aboard Serenity, Book, Jayne and Simon play cards for with chores as the ante. The game is interrupted when River, for some reason, goes nuts ripping labels off ration cans, babbling about hands coming for her, and Simon has to calm his hysterical sister. And Zoe and Wash are, um, taking their shore leave, um, in their quarters. At the ball, Kaylee ties to make some friends, but gets roundly snubbed, particularly by a group of young society cats. They get put in their place by an older gentlemen (in every sense of the word), who carries Kaylee off. Mal tracks down Sir Harrow, who initially denies having any need for a smuggler, as Mal keeps getting distracted by Inara's presence. Atherton and Inara interrupt the deal, and Atherton is none too happy to meet Mal. For himself, Mal is as charmingly obnoxious as possible before stealing Inara for a dance. They talk when their paths cross during the dance figures -- or, rather, they snipe about their respective jobs, again, and she tells him about Atherton's offer. Mal subsides into discussing Kaylee, who has managed to assemble a crowd of fellow motor-heads, and is firmly in her element. A pissed-off Atherton comes to reclaim his 'date', but makes the mistake of doing so in less-than-respectful terms. When he tells Mal he bought her, Mal hauls off an punches him just before the word whore can cross his lips. Atherton, being the weasel that he is, jumps back to his feet and demands satisfaction. A duel, seconds, swords at dawn -- and did we mention he's an expert swordsman?

Mal is noble (read: stupid) enough to not cry off of the fight, even though it means staying overnight (read: being held under guard); Howell even volunteers to be his second. Badger shows up on Serenity with the news, and the crew immediately begins assembling a break-out plan -- which Badger scotches with large number of armed men, and a hostage Kaylee. He's got to do business with these people, after all. Inara makes her way to Mal's 'quarters' that night; they fall into their usual fighting, but Inara also offers Mal a way to escape, which he refuses. So Inara takes a sword of her own to try and teach him some rudiments of fighting. On Serenity, the crew resumes the card game why trying to hatch a plan, something involving a diversion. As they plan, River, wandering on her own, appears in the hatchway, drawing Badger's attention. She proceeds to demolish Badger, passing herself off as a native of his world, Cockney-esque accent and all, pinning his past for what it is, rather than what he tells. She wafts back out as easily as she came in, as crew and guards watch, open-mouthed. Inara and Mal continue their lessons, Inara trying to get Mal to stop swinging from the shoulder all the time. She also nails him on his own hypocrisy of calling her a whore, and punching Atherton for doing the same. Mal defends himself that he doesn't respect her job, but Atherton doesn't respect her. It degenerates into a fight about following the rules and breaking them, and Mal asking Inara not to take Atherton's offer, even though he doesn't have the right. Dawn comes extremely early, and a group gathers for the duel. The two men square off, and the first blows are exchanged. Mal think she's holding his own, but Harrow and Inara know he's being toyed with. Sure enough, Atherton presses his attack; Mal is baited into a lunge, and Atherton's sword finds his stomach.

Mal staggers back, his hands red with blood, and Atherton attacks again, smiling. He lures Mal closer, then breaks Mal's sword against the ground. He's ready for the coup de grace, but Inara lunges forward, promising to stay as Atherton's personal companion if he'll let Mal live. Mal seizes the distraction, swipes the sword out of Atherton's hand, and punches him backwards, before throwing his broken sword blade into Atherton's shoulder. Atherton falls backwards, and finds his own sword at his throat. But Mal refuses to kill him, leaving him to live with his own humiliation (and a couple of bloody pokes in his gut). He can't go down gracefully, though, and yells insults after Inara. She calmly informs him no Companion will ever contract with him again, as Harrow offers Mal the contract. Serenity's crew is all set for their big escape attempt, but Inara and Mal appear onboard in time to make it all moot. They leave Persephone, as Kaylee nestles happily in her quarters with her fluffy dress, classical music, and the snacks she scammed from the party, and Inara and Mal sit in the cargo bay together, having reached a certain level of understanding.

Review

Relationships:
Inara and Mal continue their running battle about Mal's lack of respect for her profession, but at least all Issues have been aired. Loudly. And having a guy fight a duel for your honor has got to hike him a little in your good graces....

Characters:
My, my, my. Could Atherton have been more of the cliched aristo slime if he tried? Well, towards the end -- at the beginning, he was actually charming; the slow slide towards total scumbag was nicely done written and performed. I wish Edward Atherton would play characters I like; he hasn't since "Three" (if you can name his character without hitting the IMDB, you get a cookie) and it makes me unhappy. Aside from the bitcas at the party (give me a break! I know bitcas like this show up everywhere, and I still don't get how they manage to reproduce), the rest of Persephone society came off pretty well -- loved the gentleman who rescued Kaylee, and Harrow was deeply, deeply cool. But then, with the amazing and awesome Larry Drake playing him, he'd be hard-pressed to be anything else.

Mal was so very... Mal throughout the whole episode. I love Inara for hitting him with his own habits -- breaking everyone's rules, the hypocrisy of calling her a whore -- because someone needs to. But his defense -- that he respects her, if not her job -- is nowhere near as lame as is so should have been. Because it's true. He respects the hell out of Inara (plus the whole, you know, lusting after her thing); that's why her job drives him so nuts. And he's willing to put his money where his mouth is by busting Atherton for being a total loser. And if it helps him pick up a job... well, that's all to the good, now ain't it? plus, there's the thing where he feels so bad for hurting Kaylee's feelings. Gotta give that one a great big "Awww...." Then a massive *smack* for baiting Inara and Atherton -- just because I love him and respect him doesn't mean he's not also a great big jerk sometimes.

And my respect for Inara grows and grows. Hard to blame her for being tempted to stay on Persephone, with someone who obviously wants her badly -- considering she almost died on Serenity not long ago, and the whole love/hate thing she's got going with Mal, it's entirely understandable. I'm 95% sure she was telling the truth when she said she wouldn't have stayed though; if she wanted to belong to someone, she certainly must have had offers before now. I would like to know what went into her decision to join Serenity. though; we've only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Inara. And I don't want to take her on in a sword fight. Knowing companions are trained to fight (as Saffron proved) is a far cry from seeing Inara actually use that blade. Cool.

But first things first -- Inara needs to take Kaylee shopping. I love Mal to death for buying her the dress to make the meanness up to her, but dear lord.... She truly was adorable at that party, though, once she found the food and her group-in-the-corner. Wash, for his part, got to spend the episode being very funny, which he does exceptionally well; he and Zoe are so damn cute it's unreal. Although, why is it that married sex is automatically TMI, when single sex isn't? What's up with that? Simon and Book were mostly background, although it's nice to see the guys bonding (chore poker? That's more insanely funny than kitten poker!). Jayne... well, all those muscles were nice during the pull-ups. It's such a damn shame they run so far into his head.

River... is freaky. Entertaining and way cool, but freaky. No idea on Earth how she managed the accent, and laying Badger out so neatly -- that psychic thing is getting more and more obvious (and that it was in all the press materials more and more annoying -- this would be so much more fun if we were figuring it out along with the crew). The way her madness is being drawn -- one moment assaulting rations, the next coolly facing down a gangster with a gun -- is endlessly fascinating, and Summer Glau is doing a lovely job with it.

Best Moments:
Wash wanting to buy Zoe something slinky. He's so adorable -- and Jayne offering to chip in was hilarious.

Mal getting frozen out for hurting Kaylee's feelings. He looked so chagrined, and Jayne's clueless "they mad?" was perfect. Jayne is far from my favorite character, but he adds a lot to the comedy.

Kaylee arriving at the ball. Actually, all of Kaylee at the ball. Jewel Staite was a joy to watch.

The boys playing chore poker. That is never going to stop being amusing.

The gang trying to come up with a plan. Goddess help us.

River taking down Badger. Wow. And again, Jayne's follow-up line was priceless.

Inara calling Mal on calling her a whore. Go Inara!

Mal taking Atherton down. Loved the pokey-pokey bit at the end -- Nathan Fillion gives great dead-pan.

Any time Larry Drake is onscreen. As usual.

Kaylee cuddled up with her dress and her snacks.

Questions and Comments:
The holographic pool table was cool, but I have trouble getting past the intrinsic silliness of the concept. The force-field windows were cool and practical -- much less breakage. But with pool tables? Surely making the real thing is simpler, and much less glitch-prone?

Loved the sign on Kaylee's quarters. Color and butterflies and so perfectly her.

The client registry is a nice answer to how Companions get jobs; I wonder how people get on it? Is it strictly a money thing, or what?

Rating:
4 stars out of 5. A solid ep with some unexpected twists and a wonderful turn by both the regulars and the guest cast.