Our Mrs. Reynolds

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" is the sixth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon.

As an unexpected reward for an unpaid job, Mal finds himself married to a naïve, subservient young woman named Saffron (Christina Hendricks). Saffron is all too willing to play the role of housewife, which leads to an argument between Wash and Zoe and lectures from Shepherd Book.

Plot

A covered wagon makes its way through a shallow river. When a band of men on horseback stops it to demand its cargo, the driver Jayne and his "wife" Mal pull their weapons on the bandits and quickly defeat them with the help of Zoe. At a celebration party that night, Mal dances with a beautiful young woman, who gives him a wreath and wine, as an old man gives Jayne a rain stick made from wood.

After Serenity is underway again, Mal encounters the young woman in the cargo bay. She informs him that she is now his wife. Zoe calls the entire crew down to enjoy the moment. Shepherd Book reads up on the local customs and informs Mal that he had taken part in a marriage ritual by accepting a wreath of flowers, drinking of her wine, and dancing together. It's "the marriage ceremony of the Triumph settlers."

Mal has a heart-to-heart talk with the woman, who identifies herself as Saffron. Despite Mal's encouragement to be her own woman, Saffron cooks him a meal as Zoe looks on in mocking disbelief. After eating, Mal escapes an offer to have his feet washed and visits Inara, who also shows contempt for Mal's treatment of the situation. Jayne attempts to trade his favorite gun, named Vera, for Saffron, but Mal turns him down.

Zoe and Wash continue to argue about Saffron. When Mal enters his quarters later, he is seduced by Saffron, whose lipstick contains a narcotic. As Mal succumbs to unconsciousness, Saffron tries her wiles on Wash, who is in the cockpit. After trying unsuccessfully to seduce Wash, Saffron knocks him out with a kick to the back of his head. She subsequently takes control of the ship, setting it on a mysterious course and powering down controls, then welding the door shut behind her as she leaves. Running to a shuttle to escape, she meets Inara and tries to seduce her too. Inara plays along with her to try to get her to her shuttle, but the alarm goes off and Inara remarks how skillful Saffron is at lying. After dodging a kick from Saffron, Inara rushes to Mal after Saffron says that she is Malcolm Reynolds' widow. After Inara finds him alive, but unconscious, she kisses him, then collapses soon after calling for help, sharing Mal's moment of 'weakness.'

After breaking into the bridge, Kaylee and Wash find that the ship is headed straight for an electric 'net'. Book explains that the net will restrain the craft but kill everyone inside, once again demonstrating his mysterious criminal knowledge. Jayne shoots the structure with his favorite gun, shorting it out, and Serenity passes through the net unharmed. After disabling the net, Jayne fires at the window of the net's crew compartment, causing it to rupture and killing the net's two operators.

Later, on a snowy world, Mal bursts into Saffron's cabin and, after an unsuccessful attempt to get some answers, knocks her unconscious. Back on Serenity, Mal presses Inara for an explanation of her supposed dizziness. Inara thinks Mal knows about the kiss and agrees to "not play" with him, but Mal thinks that she's admitting to kissing Saffron.

Deleted scene

River confounds the crew with one of her seeming whimsies, this time demanding that Book marry her and Simon. When Simon tries to explain that they can't get married because they are siblings, River gets very upset and questions his love for her. Mal and Saffron then come in and River accuses Saffron of being a thief, though River says she never saw Saffron stealing food. This indicates River's knowledge of Saffron's true nature, though at this point Saffron is still playing the subservient wife. After they leave, River takes a pillow from nearby and puts it in her dress at the stomach, stating that she and Simon have to get married now: "I'm in the family way."

Joss Whedon said on the DVD commentary that this was one of his, the cast's and the crew's favorite scenes, but they had to edit it out due to time constraints. Because this scene was cut, River has no lines in this episode.

Production details

According to Jayne, "Vera" needs oxygen around her to fire; however, real-world gunpowder incorporates both fuel and oxidizer and will combust regardless of the presence or absence of atmosphere. According to the DVD commentary, the episode's producers checked this with a gun expert, but were incorrectly informed. It is possible that the limitation deals more with the action of the rifle, because some metals normally made to work in an atmosphere will vacuum weld together with no air present. It's also possible that the fictional, 26th century Vera used a propellant or particular ammunition type unlike any real-world 21st century gun, that does indeed require oxygen.

Vera herself is a rather extensively modified Saiga-12 semi-automatic shotgun.

The episode's title, "Our Mrs. Reynolds," is a play on the 1952 radio show, Our Miss Brooks.

Guest Cast

• Christina Hendricks as Saffron, the newly Mrs Reynolds.
• Benito Martinez and Erik Passoja as Boss and Bree, the operators of the "net" that Serenity is steered toward.

References

• Espenson, Jane, ed., with Glenn Yeffeth (eds.). Finding Serenity: Anti-heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's "Firefly". Dallas, Texas: Benbella Books. ISBN 1-932100-43-1.  CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
• Rhonda V. Wilcox; Tanya Cochran (20 May 2008). Investigating Firefly and Serenity: Joss Whedon's Worlds Beyond: Science Fiction on the Frontier (Investigating Cult TV Series). I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-654-5. 
• Joss Whedon (1 Sep 2005). Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. Titan Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84576-082-3. 
• Joss Whedon; et al. (25 August 2006). Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume One. Titan Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84576-314-5. 
• Joss Whedon; et al. (25 August 2006). Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume Two. Titan Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84576-372-5. 
• Joss Whedon (December 9, 2003). The Complete Series: Commentary for "Serenity" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Our Mrs. Reynolds

• "Our Mrs. Reynolds" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Our Mrs. Reynolds" at TV.com