In a bazaar at a remote space station, a guy who looks like a refugee from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome presents onlookers with proof of alien life. Simon easily recognizes the alien corpse as mutated cow fetus. But he and Kaylee are having a good time -- until Simon starts talking. While trying to praise Kaylee, Simon comments that every other woman he knows is either married, a professional or a family member. Kaylee takes this as proof that he misses having "nurses and debutantes crawling all over you" on Osirus and that she's the bottom of the barrel for him and storms off. Simon is left to wonder what he did wrong.
Meanwhile, on the continuity front, Mal is unable to fence The Lassiter, the famous laser pistol that he and Saffron stole in "Trash." The gun is so famous that none of his fences wants to touch it. Inara offers to help with her high class contacts but Mal doesn't want her to jeopardize her career -- which he abhors and looks down upon. Like the vampire Spike on that other ME series, Mal is a study in contrasts when it comes to the woman he sorta loves.
Mal arrives at the space station's post office to pick up the crew's mail. Meanwhile, Jayne notes that River, the "mind reading genius, can't even figure out how to eat an ice planet." He receives a package from his mother, a silly looking little knit cap which he dons proudly [1]. Wash notes that "a man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." Jayne agrees. Mal and Zoe also receive something, a huge crate with rather unique contents. Jayne sums it up succinctly, "what y'all order a dead guy for?"
"The first rule of battle, Littleman, never let them know where you are." -- Zoe Wash
Flashback to the Battle of Du-Khang seven years earlier. The corpse which Mal and Zoe just received in the mail is very much alive and fighting the Alliance at this point. He ducks into an abandoned building to eat some beans as an Alliance trooper sneaks up on him. Luckily for him, Zoe is sneaking up on the Alliance trooper. She kills the trooper and gives the young man -- whom we learn is named Tracey Littleman -- a lecture on stealth. Naturally Mal bursts in screaming, firing, and taunting the Alliance troops that are pursuing him. Mal asks about the lieutenant who is now catatonic. They all decide that he has ordered them to withdraw from the area and to hook up with another unit. This turns out to be a good idea as Alliance mortars are caving in the building. [2] Tracey is injured by fallen debris and Mal drags him to safety.
Back in the present, Amnon the postmaster, is panicking. It's very illegal to transport a corpse by mail. He tells Mal to take the corpse away and he and Zoe oblige. Simon catches up and wonders if he missed anything fun.
Jayne and Wash wonder if the body might be plague ridden. Simon offers to perform a proper autopsy. Mal and Zoe aren't pleased by the suggestion -- and in keeping with the tone of the episode, neither is Kaylee. Zoe discovers a small recording device in the body's hand. It's a message from Littleman. He wants them to take him back to his family for a proper burial. Wash notes that his home planet is nearby and immediately sets off to plot a course.
As Serenity leaves its docking port, another ship that looks like a 21st century fighter plane takes its place. This will become important later on. In the meantime, a man whom genre fans will recognize as The Sentinel and 24 fans will recognize as one of the thugs who kidnapped Jack Bauer's wife last year strides menacing through the space station wearing with two more men wearing official looking uniforms. He walks straight to the post office and gives Amnon a graphic depiction of prison life. He's a cop and he knows about the corpse that passed through his post office. Amnon denies having seen a body but gives up Mal anyway. He orders one of his men to light Amnon on fire. After dousing Amnon in gasoline and holding a match inches from his face, the Alliance cop tells him that if he tells anyone about their conversation he'll wish they had set him on fire.
Kaylee is listening to Littleman's recording in the engine room. Simon wants to talk to her but backs off without saying a word. In the cargo bay, Book ponders saying last rites over Littleman's body -- he doesn't know his denomination -- while Jayne works out. Jayne explains that when he sees a corpse, one he didn't have to kill himself, he gets the urge to do things, run around, work out, have sex -- not that corpses turn him on, that would be sick. River lies down on the coffin and ponders its comfort [3].
In the dining hall, Zoe and Mal laugh as they recall a practical joke that Littleman played on a colonel [4] once. He actually stole his mustache and wore it in front of him during an inspection. At this point, an explosion rocks the ship. Somebody has fired a shot across their bough. It's Lt. Womack, the same guy who threatened to set Amnon on fire earlier. Mal assumes he wants The Lassiter. Womack mentions a crate, causing some confusion. He's either after Littleman or something in the box he came in. The crew dutifully desecrates the body and its coffin looking for whatever Womack wants. Mal informs Simon that he'll be performing an autopsy after all.
In the infirmary Mal notes that "using corpses for smuggling is a time honored and disgusting tradition." Jayne hopes that the corpse was being used to smuggle gold. Simon notes that he's been opened before, the scar is nearly invisible but it's there. Simon cuts into the corpse and it begins screaming in pain. Looking very much alive, Tracey attacks Simon. Mal subdues him and calms him down. Simon nonchalantly asks Tracey which drug was used to simulate his death --he doesn't know. Mal cuts right to the point, "you want to explain to me exactly why you got yourself all corpsified and mailed to me? What are you runnin' from." Tracey explains that he just wants to go home but he's in possession of stolen property. Simon interrupts, Tracey is having a heart attack. Tracey just laughs it off, his hear is just fine, it just "runs hot." Simon sees that all of his organs are similarly "enhanced." Tracey explains that they are the stolen property. He had his internal organs removed and replaced with enhanced ones. The people who did it are paying him a large sum of money to transport them -- he's not sure why. Simon explains that the technology isn't ready yet and is not approved. So they have to smuggle the organs inside people.
Tracey was supposed to reach the drop spot a few weeks ago where they would "open me up, takes out the good, and put my old organs back." Someone offered Tracey more money for the organs and he took it. But his original employers found out about the deal and killed his buyer. So he faked his death to escape them.
Serenity is fired upon again. The fighter plane spaceship is back and is firing missiles which detonate near Serenity, creating an impressive display. Everyone runs to the bridge where Tracey's presence spooks Wash. Womack is out of patience and wants Tracey's body. Mal claims Serenity has been damaged by their missiles and must land. Serenity ploughs into the planet's atmosphere with Womack's ship hot on its heels. Kaylee and Tracey bond as they're jostled by g-forces. Tracey's planet is very cold which leads to pretty scenes of both ships buzzing around mountain glaciers. Book notes that Womack hasn't made contact with the local Alliance defense station. The highly maneuverable Serenity is matched move for move by the Alliance fighter. Wash flies lower and lower trying to shake it. The fighter eventually flies up and starts lobbing missiles at the mountaintops triggering avalanches that nearly drop right on top of Serenity. Serenity takes refuge in a cave hoping to hide from the other ships sensors. The other ship starts dropping bombs indiscriminately hoping to hit something.
"You murdered yourself. I just carried the bullet a while." -- Malcolm Reynolds
Tracey runs up to the bridge where Book is suggesting that they surrender. Tracey decides he doesn't like this plan and pulls a gun. He shoots at Wash and gets shot in the chest by Zoe. He takes Kaylee hostage. Mal tries to talk him down but he's not too receptive. He tells him that he and Zoe are saps. Mal notes the deafening silence --Womack has already been called and is on his way. Behind him, Jayne cocks his gun. Tracey turns around to shoot him only to be shot by Mal.
Womack and his men walk in, he's not intimidated by Jayne and his guns. And Book is not intimidated by Womack, "Why is it you didn't call in for backup? There's a Fed station eighty miles from where you're standing. You got your command stripes from the Silverhold Colonies which puts you about eight sectors away from your jurisdiction. Since you're running this job on the side, you took pains to keep your presence here a secret. I don't imagine it would bother anyone if we laid your bodies to rest at the bottom of one of these canyons." [5] Womack walks out without firing a shot and tells Jayne his cap makes him look like an idiot.
Tracey is dying and apologetic. He hopes that Zoe and Mal take him home before he dies. Zoe and Mal do so. They take Tracey's body to his family. Kaylee and Simon hold hands as Tracey's family takes possession of the body.
[1] Jayne appears to be very close to his mother. Spike when he was a human, was also very close to his mother. Maybe I'm just nostalgic about the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer but all roads in the ME universe seem to lead to Spike lately.
[2] At this point, an incoming missile can be heard and Mal tosses what appears to be an anit-missile weapon into the air to intercept it. I wonder about how realistic this scene is; an incoming missile would probably be moving at supersonic speeds, making it almost impossible for a human to react in time. Having said that, I suspect that a smart bomb or missile might slow down to make course corrections during its flight, giving its targets an opportunity to intercept it.
[3] In retrospect, this seems like foreshadowing. Since Tracey Littleman later turns up alive, River appears to be sensing that he is alive and sleeping comfortably in this scene.
[4] Officers take a lot of abuse in this series. Since Mal and Zoe were enlisted men during the war, it seems that every officer that they encountered was either cowardly or completely incompetent.
[5] Once again, Book's knowledge of law and order comes in very handy.
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