The episode opens with a teenaged boy and girl hanging clothes out to dry in front of a building that looks like it's covered in tinfoil. In the distance five horsemen and a hovercraft are riding up fast. An older woman named Nandi comes out to meet them. She tells them that they "ain't open for business" and pointedly tells the guy in the hovercraft, Rance Burgess, that he isn't welcome here. He tells her to shut up and calls her a "whore." He says he's here for "what's mine." She tells him he has nothing here and that she has a right to kill him if he doesn't leave. "The rights you got are the ones I give you," is his reply. He tells his men to find "the girl." They bring out a pregnant girl named Petaline. He takes a DNA sample and tells her that he will be back for the baby if it matches. He threatens to "cut it out" if he has to. The other believe he'll do it but Nandi is defiant and insists that she can get help.
Meanwhile, back on Serenity, Mal is organizing his guns on the dinner table. Inara startles him and suggests that "small concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting." Wash walks in and informs them that they have a distress call. Mal assumes it's for him but it is actually for Inara. Mal wonders if the "distress" is taking place in someone's pants.
"They got guns and brains at all?" "They've got guns." -- Nandi and Inara
The call is from Nandi, she is turning to Inara for help. She's not confident in the crew's ability to handle the situation well but she knows they can handle it. Mal overhears the conversation and is interested in helping. He wants to know how this house full of companions will pay for the job. Inara tells them they're not companions, they're whores. They're not registered with the Companion Guild -- they're independent [1]. Mal is now willing to do this job for free. Inara insists that they will be paid, she wants to keep this as strictly a business agreement.
"I don't know these folks, don't much care to."
"They're whores."
"I'm in." -- Jayne and Mal
When Serenity lands, Kaylee explains that the whore house uses "solar sheeting for cheap power. Inara introduces Mal and Nandi. Jayne is anxious to start "getting sexed" and immediately hooks up with a cute blonde [2] Kaylee notices several "boy whores" and wonders if they service girl folk. Simon is uncomfortable with Kaylee's conversation and is anxious to take care of the pregnant girl. Someone brings out Petaline and he goes to examine her. Two of the girls approach Book, they ask about having a prayer meeting -- the last shepherd who came here only read one passage and "took it out in trade" from the two of them [3]. Shepherd is appropriately appalled. Feeling alone, Kaylee asks Wash to tell her that she's pretty. Wash assures her that "were I unwed, I'd take you in a manly fashion....because you're pretty."
Inara and Zoe ask if Burgess could be the real father of Petaline's baby. Nandi tells them that while he mostly favored her, Petaline had other men and that in any case, "the man ain't fit to raise a cactus plant." He tells them that his wife is sterile -- this is why he wants to take the child as an heir. She also tells them that Rance Burgess can afford to build a real city on this planet but doesn't because he enjoys playing cowboy [4]. Mal wants to meet him. Inara agrees to join him.
Burgess tells a dirty story and Mal joins in on the laughter as a way of starting up a conversation. He comments that "she" is a beauty and Rance assumes that he is talking about his laser [5] gun. He gives the bulky gun to Mal to play with and Mal comments on the sophistication and legality of the weapon. Rance and his wife dismiss Alliance gun control laws as unjust. Mal agrees with him about the law but corrects him about the "she's a beauty comment -- he tells Burgess that he was actually referring to his wife and walks off with Inara on his arm. Malcolm tells Inara that they are going back to Serenity and taking off as fast as they can.
Burgess receives a message/call [6]. The baby is his.
"Rance Burgess is just a man and I won't let any man take what's mine." -- Nandi
Back at the whore house, Mal makes it clear. They don't have enough firepower to stand up to Burgess and Burgess is too convinced of his own righteousness to stop. He tells them all to run. Nandi refuses. She says this is her home and her business and she won't be run off. Jayne in his own vulgar way suggests that they might have the element of surprise in their favor. Zoe starts making defensive plans and Book volunteers to help with the building's defenses. Kaylee takes charge of upgrading the place's water supply. River announces that "it's starting" seconds before Petaline goes into labor.
While Book helps fortify the place, some girls approach him and ask about what should be said over them if they die. Book assures him that no one is going to die. Jayne assures the girl with him that people are going to die and tells her to stay calm. He gives her instructions on how he wants his guns to be handed to him. Then they have sex.
While laying booby traps Wash and Zoe talk about children. Zoe wants one and Wash is worried that their dangerous lifestyle doesn't lend itself to children.
Jayne can be heard through the walls and Mal complains that he'll use all their credit before they've earned it. Nandi suggests that he can do chores after he saves everybody and is surprised that more of Mal's people aren't taking advantage. Mal points out the diversity of the crew, a married couple, a Shepherd, and a very uptight doctor. They talk some more and Nandi wonders about him. She asks if he's gay --she does have boys. Mal says he's straight, he's just worried about the job. But Nandi also picks up on his feelings for Inara. She talks about her companion training with Inara -- she was very focused before she suddenly left her companion house.
Petaline is having contractions when Simon admits that this will be his first delivery as a primary doctor. Inara and River reassure him by telling him that this is their first baby as well.
Nandi tells Mal that she decided to leave the companion guild after destroying a dulcimer during a particularly grueling practice. At that point, she decided that the job was "too constricting." So she went out to the border and made a career and a life for herself on her own. The man who had run this whore house before her had been a pig who had half the girls strung out on "drops." She implies that she might have killed or otherwise driven him off. Mal is impressed by her. He's uncomfortable with his feelings of lust but ultimately gives in with Nandi's encouragement. They kiss and proceed to make love.
One of Nandi's girls warns Burgess about Mal and their plans to defend themselves. Burgess is not impressed. He gives a big speech to his men about the sanctity of fatherhood and family -- and male domination. It concludes with him being serviced by the whore who betrayed Nandi to him in front of all his men.
Inara sees Mal leaving Nandi's room. While he is embarrassed, Inara tells him he doesn't need to feel guilty. She's well worth taking "advantage" of. But privately Inara breaks down in tears[7].
Part of Mal's plan includes having Wash fly Serenity over Burgess's men with its engines pointed downward. Back at the house, Mal gives the whores their final instructions and yells at Jayne who is distracted by his cute blonde.
Meanwhile Petaline is still in labor. She'll give birth soon. Nandi is surprised when she picks up on Inara's feelings for Mal. Burgess and his men are riding out to attack the house. Jayne spots them first and warns Mal -- he has thirty men and a mounted gun on his hovercraft.
When Wash and Kaylee reach Serenity, they find that it is full of Burgess's men who promptly open fire on them.
A few of Burgess's men are taken out by booby traps when he orders them to open fire. The gunner on his hovercraft does a lot of damage until he's taken out by Jayne. Mal and his people return fire while Zoe and Book come out from a hiding place to attack them from a different angle. Burgess's whore sneaks off. Some of his men are hit and some of a Nandi's are hit.
One Serenity, Kaylee and Wash are still pinned down.
Burgess uses his laser to slice through the house walls and sets them on fire. Book takes fire hose and tries to fight the fire and knock Burgess's men off their feet. Things are going well but they've lost Burgess.
Wash and Kaylee manage to trap Burgess's men between two bulkheads but can no longer reach the bridge or take off.
It's a boy. And Burgess is there to steal it.
Nandi hears Petaline's screams and runs to her aid. She tells Burgess that she won't let him leave. Inara puts a knife to his throat long enough for a girl to take the baby from him. But after the baby is safe, he strikes Inara and shoots Nandi with his laser. She never had a chance. Mal runs back and sees her body. He takes off after Burgess.
By now Burgess's forces are in disarray. Most of them are dead and Mal takes out one of the survivors and steals his horse. He uses it to pursue Burgess who fires at him until his laser's battery dies. Mal knocks him off the hovercraft and puts a gun to his head. He takes him back to the house. He screams for Petaline to bring out his son. Petaline obliges. She introduces him to his son and then she kills him. They send the surviving men home along with the treasonous whore.
They give Nandi a proper funeral and Serenity leaves. Mal thinks the girls will do alright. Inara is glad he was with Nandi on her last night. Mal still wishes he hadn't failed to save her. Mal tries to tell her his feelings for her but Inara tells Mal that she's leaving -- it's something she should have done long ago for both their sakes [8].
[1] We learn a bit more about the Companions in this one. They appear to be tightly regulated and mostly run by women. They train in a very wide array of fields, including music. The contrast between Companion's and normal prostitutes presented here is interesting. The Companion's are respected members of their communities who wield a great deal of power but in places where the Companion Guild is not in control, prostitutes are just as badly treated as ever -- Nandi's house appears to be an exception rather than the rule.
[2] Jayne spends the entire episode with this girl and doesn't lay an eye on anyone else. He can even be seen snuggling with her and a gun -- definitely a strong sign of affection in the Jayneverse.
[3] This joke reminds me one made on DS9 where Quark claimed that he would have to double up on Dabo girls because a group of Bajoran clerics were visiting the space station.
[4] Serenity's western theme has been the subject of much discussion and debate. This episode appears to confirm at least two arguments. That the conditions we see are the result of poverty where communities have little or nothing in the way of technology was largely confirmed in the series' pilot, "Serenity," which thanks to Fox's scheduling brilliance aired as the *eleventh* overall episode. But "Heart of Gold," is the first episode to suggest that some people actually like the rustic conditions because they allow them to live out their fantasies of playing cowboy.
[5] This is the first time we see anyone with a laser. The episode confirms two things, that lasers are outrageously expensive and that they're illegal for private owners. The show also casts aspersions upon the reliability of the Fireflyverse's lasers by having Burgess's gun run out of power after just a few shots.
[6] The device he uses for his call looks like a metallic version of a fancy wireless cell phone headset.
[7] One of the occupational hazards of following the work of one writer/producer like Joss Whedon is the inevitable comparisons that creep up between series. Inara's crying scene when she finds out about Mal and Nandi can be regarded as roughly analogous to Willow's crying scene on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer when she finds out that Xander had sex with Faith. The scene suffers somewhat in comparison -- Alyson Hannigan can really lay on the water works and make you feel her pain.
[8] This scene looks very similar to the scene in "Objects in Space" where River is reading the crew's minds and she can sense Inara saying, "I'm a big little girl, just tell me." to Mal. I don't think this is a coincidence.
I had actually read a script of this episode on fireflyfans.net before watching "Heart of Gold." They cut out some neat stuff. In the scene where Mal meets Burgess a man can be seen speaking in Mandarin in front of a shadow play showing ships leaving Earth. The script has a very detailed description of that show. Besides reminding me of a similar on Buffy (the shadowmen spell in "Get it Done"), it was an interesting look at the mythology of the Fireflyverse.
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