Line #6 Recap/FireflyE13HeartOfGold


1	!!![[AC:Recaps]]: [[{{Recap/Firefly}} Index]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE01Serenity}} 1]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob}} 2]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE03Bushwhacked}} 3]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE04Shindig}} 4]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE05Safe}} 5]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE06OurMrsReynolds}} 6]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE07Jaynestown}} 7]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE08OutOfGas}} 8]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE09Ariel}} 9]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE10WarStories}} 10]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE11Trash}} 11]] \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE12TheMessage}} 12]] \| '''13''' \| [[{{Recap/FireflyE14ObjectsInSpace}} 14]]
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3	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heart_of_gold.png]]
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5	'''Original air date:''' 12/9/2003 (DVD) ''(produced in 2002)''
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7	The episode opens outside the Heart of Gold bordello, a solar foil-covered building in the middle of barren desert. A hovercraft and party of horses ride up to the bordello, led by Rance Burgess. Burgess is a local rancher, the richest man on the planet, who likes to play kingpin with his wealth rather than use it to improve the community. While Nandi, the madame of the house, tries to kick him out, he instead forcefully takes DNA from the unborn child of Petaline (one of the prostitutes) in the hopes of proving that the baby is his. As Burgess and his men leave, the women agree that they need to try and find someone to get rid of him.
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9	Aboard ''Serenity'', Malcolm is cleaning and playing with his guns at the kitchen table when Inara surprises him. As she questions the wisdom of taking over the whole table for his armory, Wash arrives and tells Mal that a distress call came in--for Inara. Aboard her shuttle, she takes the call from Nandi and it's revealed that the madame of the bordello is a former Companion who was a friend of Inara's years ago; upon leaving the order, Inara was meant to shun her. After Inara hangs up, Mal comes out from where he was obviously eavesdropping and agrees immediately to help the Heart of Gold out with no payment necessary (though Inara still insists on making sure he's paid). Jayne entirely dismisses the idea doing a job as a favour, but then immediately agrees to the job upon finding out that they're helping a whorehouse.
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11	At the Heart of Gold, the group divides up to interact with the women: Jayne grabs one to bed, Book gives religious services, and Simon goes to examine Petaline. Mal, Inara, and Nandi discuss Rance Burgess and the way he controls the planet; Mal decides that he wants to meet Rance and talk to him before fighting him, and he convinces Inara to pose as his lady as they go to the theater Burgess is attending. As they pose as a wealthy couple, Burgess and Mal size each other up during conversation and Burgess shows off his customized laser pistol. After leaving, Burgess takes a call and discovers to his excitement that Petaline's child is indeed his.
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13	At the Heart of Gold, Mal describes his plan: leave. He realizes that Burgess is too zealous to be scared off or reasoned with (calling him "a monster who thinks he's right with God"), and too powerful to easily fight. He would much rather pack up all of the members of the Heart of Gold and transport them to a safer planet. Nandi refuses to abandon the land, as she spent years building her business and is willing to die to protect it. Unable to convince her otherwise, Mal agrees to get the crew to train the hookers and prepare for a siege.
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15	The crew of ''Serenity'' begins their preparations: Book builds fortifications, Zoe and Wash construct traps in the desert sand, Jayne prepares the weapons, and both Jayne and Zoe teach the whores how to shoot. Petaline goes into labor, forcing Simon to care for her despite having never been the primary deliverer before. While Mal admires Nandi's engraved handguns, they discuss why she left Sihnon and the Companions. As they drink, Mal eventually goes in to kiss Nandi and it evolves until they have sex. Back in town, Burgess gathers up a mob; he's received information from Chari, a turncoat Heart of Gold girl, whom he forces to service him in front of the men.
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17	As dawn comes, Mal leaves Nandi's room while still half-dressed and bumps into Inara in the hallway. While she doesn't betray her emotions to Mal, she later collapses and sobs in the corner alone.
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19	The whole group gets into their defensive positions and waits for the attack, and Nandi speaks to Inara and realizes that she was in love with Mal and is feeling betrayed. While she tries to confront Mal about Inara, Burgess appears on the horizon in his hovercraft (now with a mounted machine gun), with a group of horsemen. The attack begins, with both sides exchanging heavy fire and taking casualties. Wash and Kaylee return to ''Serenity'', planning to fly low over Burgess's mob to burn them with the engines, but several of the townsmen have already boarded the ship, and they find themselves in a gun battle. Burgess sets part of the building on fire with his laser, but Book uses a water cannon to put it out and later as a weapon against the horsemen.
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21	Burgess uses the confusion to dismount his hovercraft, with Chari leading him into the building. Just as Petaline gives birth, Burgess bursts into the room and takes the baby boy. While Inara takes Burgess captive with a knife and forces him to hand the infant over, he frees himself and kills Nandi before fleeing. While Burgess attempts to escape on his hovercraft, Mal steals a horse and gives pursuit. Burgess runs out of power for his laser, giving Mal an opportunity to knock him off the hovercraft. They tussle briefly before Mal gets Burgess at gunpoint; Mal is sorely tempted to kill Burgess when he insults Nandi, but {{Pistol Whip\|ping}}s him instead.
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23	Back at the Heart of Gold, the survivors of the mob (including the ones Wash and Kaylee trapped aboard ''Serenity'') have been tied up, and Burgess is dropped with them. Petaline comes out of the building holding her baby (which she's named Jonah), and coldly shoots Burgess in the head with Nandi's favorite pistol before sending Chari and the captured townsmen back to the town. The girls give a funeral for their dead, and ''Serenity'' takes off.
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25	Aboard the ship, Mal and Inara meet in the cargo bay. Mal appears ready to talk to Inara seriously about their relationship, only for her to reveal that she's leaving ''Serenity'' and walk away.
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27	----
28	!!Tropes used in this episode include:
29	* AccidentalPun: Sneaking up on a man handling his weapon.
30	* AllMenArePerverts: Jayne doesn't want to do the job at first:
31	-->'''Mal:''' They're whores.\
32	'''Jayne:''' I'm in.
33	* AmazingFreakingGrace: Sung at Nandi's funeral.
34	* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: ''Literally''.
35	* AssholeVictim: Shooting a kneeling unarmed men in cold blood isn't exactly a moral action, even if he was a murderer and a rapist. Then again it's not like they could have sent him to jail.
36	* AwesomeButImpractical: Burgess's laser pistol is a devastating weapon, actually cutting slices out of the brothel. Unfortunately for him, doing so quickly uses up the battery and leaves him defenseless.
37	* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Mal comes out of Nandi's room half-dressed, the sex-positive Inara reassures him that she's happy they were able to give each other comfort before the battle. Mal seeks to confirm that Inara is not upset:
38	--> '''Inara:''' I wouldn't say I'm entirely okay. I'm a little appalled at her taste.
39	* BirdsOfAFeather: Nandi seems to think Mal and Inara are this.
40	--> '''Nandi:''' She's like you, more than a little.\
41	'''Mal:''' And how exactly is that?\
42	'''Nandi:''' She hates complications.
43	* BlatantLies:
44	** Mal insisting that he wasn't startled.
45	** Inara telling Mal she isn't angry with the captain for sleeping with Inara's best friend. The next scene is of Inara crying her eyes out.
46	* BondOneLiner: "Say goodbye to your daddy, Jonah."
47	* BoomHeadshot: Petaline, to Rance, summarily ending the discussion about what to do with him.
48	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: The shooting script features this little gem:
49	--> '''Mal:''' I'll never understand rich folk. All that money, this is what they do with it.\
50	'''Inara:''' It's art.\
51	'''Mal:''' It's puppets.\
52	'''Inara:''' It's puppet art.
53	* BrutalHonesty:
54	--> '''Jayne:''' Can I start getting sexed already!
55	* ChasteHero: Subverted. Nandi comments that, despite being in a brothel, only Jayne shows any interest in the girls who work there. But the real reason is that Wash and Zoe are [[HappilyMarried happily]] and ''[[SeductionProofMarriage exclusively]]'' married, Simon is busy assisting with Petaline's delivery (as well as being in his complicated relationship with Kaylee, who might have availed herself of the brothel's services herself if not for said relationship), and Mal is too focused on... [[AllLoveIsUnrequited the job.]] Only Book really counts as chaste, and even he seems to be trying ''really'' hard to distract himself with work when the girls are around.
56	** [[CallBack Well, he wasn't always a Shepherd, after all.]]
57	* ChivalrousPervert: "Chivalrous" might be the wrong word, but Jayne dresses in his Sunday best to visit the brothel, and is cheerful and friendly (if a bit boisterous) while dealing with the girls. Clearly a good customer. This is a stark contrast to the abusive behavior of Rance Burgess and his men.
58	* ClosestThingWeGot: Simon examines Petaline and acts as the primary doctor for her delivery, but privately admits to Inara that this is his first time dealing with a birth solo, and since he was a trauma surgeon before giving it up to rescue River this is certainly outside his area of expertise.
59	* CombatPragmatist: When laying out his battle plan, Mal cautions everyone to avoid shooting enemy horses, but not out of kindness: a live, panicking horse on the battlefield is a useful distraction. A dead horse is nothing but cover for an enemy shooter.
60	* ContinuityNod: Mal starts kissing a woman then stops for a moment, [[{{Recap/FireflyE06OurMrsReynolds}} waiting to see if he passes out or not.]]
61	* CurbStompBattle: Inara tries to hold Burgress at knife point, but once the element of surprise is gone he very easily breaks out of her hold and puts her on the floor with a good elbow to the gut.
62	* DaddyDNATest: A pivotal part of the plot. Burgess doesn't even wait for the kid to be born, instead forcibly taking a sample of amniotic fluid. If the baby turns out to be Burgess's then he'll take it from its mother, killing everyone in his way to get to it. And, of course, it is.
63	* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Wash and Kaylee conspire to trap two invaders in a corridor. It's only after the door are locked that he realizes he's locked himself in the engine room, unable to get out and fly the ship!
64	* DoubleStandard: Averted. Inara is obviously hurt by Mal sleeping with Nandi, but sticks by her principles regarding sex (plus the fact that she's never confessed her feelings for him) and doesn't make an issue of it.
65	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Rance Burgess, who couldn't get why ''anyone'' would defend a house full of sex workers, nor why Mal would come after him after he had killed Nandi.
66	--> '''Rance:''' "She was just a whore!"
67	* GeekyTurnOn: Mal fanboys out a bit over Nandi's collection of antique weaponry. Then, several drinks later ...
68	-->'''Nandi:''' Oh, Mal, I've been waiting for you to kiss me ever since I showed you my guns.
69	* HeirClubForMen: Rance Burgess's driving motivation. One assumes that if Petaline were having a daughter, he wouldn't have been interested.
70	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Nandi mentions how her bordello used to belong to a man who treated the girls poorly and had half of them "strung out on drops." She killed him, and their living conditions are far better under her.
71	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: A whole brothel of them, both male and female, with one exception.
72	* ImpromptuFortress: The episode sees Mal and his crew persuaded to turn the brothel they've been hired to protect into a fortress against local aristocrat Rance Burgess, who has deliberately impregnated one of the girls and is coming to retrieve "his" child by force. They distribute what spare weapons they have, Wash and Zoe bury a cable under the entrance that can be raised to knock attackers off their steeds, Shepherd Book nails boards across the upper floor windows to create concealed firing positions, and Kaylee upgrades the well pump for use in fighting fires.
73	* InformedFlaw: Nandi refers to Rance Burgess's wife as a "dried-up prairie shrew". We have to take her word for it, since the only time we even see Mrs. Burgess, she's standing silently at his side as he mistakes a compliment to her as a compliment to one of his ''other'' possessions (specifically, his gun).
74	* ItCantBeHelped: Mal and Nandi agree that complications are undesirable, but often unavoidable. "Such is life."
75	* LawOfInverseFertility: We don't know how much Rance Burgess's wife might have wanted a child personally, but there's little doubt that her husband is making her life miserable over her "failure" to give him an heir, and the whole situation with Petaline only adds to the humiliation. Meanwhile, Petaline is a poor prostitute who probably didn't want to bring a child into her already-difficult life.
76	* MistakenForGay: When Mal doesn't show any particular interest in the house's girls, Nandi mentions that they have boys as well. Mal just chuckles and says "No, I like the womenfolk."
77	* TheMole: Chari, one of Nandi's whores.
78	* NonviolentInitialConfrontation: Mal attends a theater to meet Rance and size him up as an adversary. Mal is so shaken up by Rance's convictions that he decides to run instead of fight, although he changes his mind later.
79	* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Jayne doesn't give a crap about the whores and their problems, but he'll help defend them for in exchange for their services.
80	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Burgess is a real nasty piece of work, to put it mildly. And among other moral failings, he doesn't acknowledge his wife's presence when Mal offers her a compliment, instead thinking Mal's talking about his fancy gun.
81	* PreMortemOneLiner: "Rance, this is Jonah. Jonah, say hi to your daddy."
82	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Non-lethal, but Chari gets sexually abused in public by Burgess after she tells him about the siege preparation. Later on when Petaline kills Burgess, she banishes Chari along with the rest of Burgess' mooks, with the implication that Chari can expect a great deal more of such abuse without the brothel's protection.
83	* TheSiege: Burgess wants his kid pretty bad, and is willing to lay siege to a brothel to get it.
84	* SmartGun: Rance Burgess brags to Mal about his custom and apparently highly illegal laser pistol, which among other things features an automatic target adjust (something not even Alliance-issue guns have). Unfortunately for Burgess, the gun runs out of power after only a few shots.
85	* ThreeMonthOldNewborn: Yeah, either Jonah was one ''heck'' of a big baby, or that was a five-month-old at least.
86	* UnproblematicProstitution: Averted. Nandi runs a decrepit brothel where the girls are explicitly ''not'' Companions. Their harsh lives make a big contrast against the good Companion life. Nandi also remarks that it used to be ''much worse'', with many of the girls being abused drug addicts, until she killed the brothel's previous owner and seized control.
87	* UnusualEuphemism: As is not uncommon in this series. Apparently "sly" is the slang for "homosexual" in the 'Verse, as opposed to "gay" here on Earth-That-Was. To be fair, it makes just as much sense.
88	* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Inverted. The heroes straight-up execute Burgress while he's bound and helpless, but choose to let his {{mooks}} in the same situation live.
89	* WholePlotReference: A group of people harassed by the bad guys hire mercenaries to protect them. Wait, is this ''Firefly'' or ''[[TheMagnificentSevenSamurai Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven?]]''

Context Recap / FireflyE13HeartOfGold