#1.04 Shindig

[Gin]

From fireflywiki.org and imdb.com

#1.04 Shindig

Original air date: 11/1/02
Written by: Jane Espenson
Directed by: Vern Gillum
Episode Cast
Nathan Fillion ... Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds
Gina Torres ... Zoë Washburne
Alan Tudyk ... Hoban 'Wash' Washburne
Morena Baccarin ... Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin ... Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite ... Kaylee Frye
Sean Maher ... Dr. Simon Tam
Summer Glau ... River Tam
Ron Glass ... Shepherd Book
Mark Sheppard ... Badger (as Mark A. Sheppard)
Edward Atterton ... Atherton Wing
Larry Drake ... Sir Warwick Harrow
Carl Bresk ... Wright
Larry Pennell ... Murphy
Michael McMillian ... Younger Hopeful
Joshua Grenrock ... Porter
Kim Onasch ... Banning Miller
Janora McDuffie ... Cabott
Casey Piotrowski ... Older Farmer
Hunter Cochran ... Younger Farmer
Roy Werner ... Gentleman

Summary
Serenity lands on Persephone -- not quite a core world, but not one of the poor colonies, either. We meet one of Inara’s regular clients (Atherton Wing). We are lead to believe he is rather possessive. Badger (an old business acquaintence from the episode "Serenity") has a new smuggling job for Mal, but Mal has to make contact with the client first (fellah doesn't think much of Badger... go figure). Mal and Kaylee go to a ball to make contact with a rich local named Warrick... the same ball Inara and Atherton are attending. Mal gets into a scuffle with Atherton and in this locale, by law, Mal and Atherton have to duel with swords.
It all becomes about honor... or... well, proving a point... or something. Definitely not about running away.

[Gin]

From wikipedia.org

Synopsis
The crew lands on Persephone and in her shuttle quarters, Inara scans potential clients and chooses local aristocrat Atherton Wing, a regular customer. Meanwhile, the crew enjoys the sights of the marketplace. Kaylee admires a ruffled dress in a store window, and Mal foolishly criticizes her practicality by comparing her to an upright sheep. As a crushed Kaylee, an irritated Zoe, and Wash leave, Mal and Jayne are accosted by Badger, the Persephone fence who caused them difficulty on an earlier visit. This time, Badger needs Mal's help to move an illegal cargo for high-society local Warrick Harrow, who will not talk to the likes of Badger. He provides Mal with tickets to the very ball that Inara will be attending. Mal winds up having to go to a still-upset Kaylee for assistance.

At the ball, Inara delights in circulating among the glittering crowd, many of them old friends. Atherton asks her to be his personal Companion, but she diplomatically defers a decision. Atherton pushes his case by insulting Serenity as a "flying piece of gou-si" and Inara chides his language. Suddenly, the arrival of "Miss Kaywinnit Lee Frye and escort" is announced. Inara sees her friend Kaylee, in the coveted ruffled dress, arrive on Mal's arm.

Kaylee is enchanted by the glamorous setting. She wants to find Inara, but Mal is focused on finding his own potential client Harrow. Back on Serenity, Simon, Book, and Jayne play a card game, using ship chores as currency. River, experiencing another of her manic outbursts, frantically shreds the Blue Sun labels of their canned food supplies. Meanwhile, Wash and Zoe have their own private party in bed. Zoe finds herself sleepy after sex, so Wash mockingly regales her with poetry about her predicted death at the hands of "power-hungry maniac" Jayne.

At the ball, Kaylee's friendly attempt to mix with the debutantes crashes when they insult her naïveté and taste in clothing. She is rescued by an older gentleman who deftly puts down the rude women, then draws to a group of several mechanically-minded men, where she enjoys a stimulating conversation about the virtues and flaws of various machines. Meanwhile, Mal finds Sir Warrick, who is cool to any proposal that Badger is behind, despite Mal's professionalism. Just then, Atherton Wing, with Inara in tow, interrupts their conversation. After deliberately annoying Wing, Mal escorts Inara onto the dance floor. Mal expresses concern about Atherton's insincerity, to which Inara responds with the possibility of her staying on Persephone with him. When Atherton cuts in and insists on his right to take Inara away because "money changed hands", Mal punches him in the face. But he is astonished to find out that his action was an implicit challenge in this social circle, and that he is now committed to a duel by sword. The trouble is, Mal is no swordsman, and his opponent is an expert. Even as he faces this disaster, he uses Sir Warrick's amused respect to try to swing the cargo job. Sir Warrick does agree to be his second.

On Serenity, Badger arrives uninvited to explain to the remaining crew that Mal will be participating in a duel. As the crew openly discusses how to rescue him, Badger disabuses them of this idea — he is here with his men to sit on them until the duel is finished.

Mal passes away the hours in a locked room by ineptly practicing with a sword. Inara manages to sneak into his room to talk. She is confused by Mal's decision to punch Atherton because he insulted her, when Mal often does this himself. Mal replies that he merely insults her profession, whereas Wing insulted her, and has no true respect for her. When she tries to convince him to escape with her assistance, he refuses. He counters by asking her to help him practice, but her efforts seem to meet with little success.

In the meantime, the crew of Serenity sits in the cargo hold, attempting to plot an escape from the watchful eyes of Badger and his cronies. Jayne comes up with the idea that they need a diversion; immediately thereafter, River Tam appears and, in an apparent display of her as-yet unknown talents, converses with Badger in his own accent. River departs, leaving a confounded but amused Badger. Jayne realizes that River's distraction of Badger is exactly what the crew could've used.

In the misty dawn, a confident Atherton Wing faces an absurdly cocky Mal, while Sir Warrick, Inara, and a crowd of spectators watch. Atherton toys with Mal, and after wounding Mal in the arm, Atherton invites an unsuspecting Mal to attack him, but tricks him with a backhanded thrust, stabbing Mal deeply in the stomach. Mal uneasily but energetically pushes back, only to have his sword broken. Standing over the kneeling captain, Atherton turns at a plea from Inara, who offers to stay with him if he will only spare Mal's life. Mal uses his distraction to disarm the swordsman, deliver a punch to the face, and throw his own broken sword blade at him, stabbing him in the shoulder.

Mal stands over the wounded Wing, wielding Wing's own sword, and Sir Warrick demands that he deliver the final blow, lest Atherton be humiliated. Mal, however, shows mercy — after getting in two more pokes. As Inara helps Mal off the field, Atherton calls out viciously to Inara and threatens to ruin her. Inara responds by informing him that he is now persona non grata in the Companion registry, implicitly ruining him. Entertained by Mal's trouncing of the conceited Wing, and impressed by his tenacity, Sir Warrick agrees to send his cargo with Mal. "Mighty fine shindig!" says Mal to Inara.

The as-yet-unbegun escape plan plotted by the Serenity crew is aborted by the return of Inara and Mal, who chases a pleased Badger off his ship. Inara and Mal share a moment on the cargo bay landing, watching over their cargo from Harrow — a bay full of cattle.

[Gin]

From wikipedia.org and imdb.com

Trivia
* In the episode "Shindig", as the crew begin to wander through the streets of Persephone, a ship with an oval front section followed by two square sections lands in the background. This ship is the Starlight Intruder from the Star Wars graphic novel series "Dark Empire".
* In the episode "Shindig" the cows in the cargo hold are actually computer generated because, among other reasons, cows would not walk on the grating on the floor of the cargo bay.
* The part of recurring character Badger, who appeared in several episodes of _"Firefly" (2002/I)_ including "Serenity" and "Shindig", was originally intended to be played by creator and executive producer Joss Whedon himself (according to Joss's DVD commentary for the episode "Serenity.") In the end, actor Mark Sheppard was cast in the part instead.

Goofs
* Crew or equipment visible: There is a wide shot of the ballroom dancers and in the archway in the back of the room you see the director walk into view wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and a baseball cap with headphones down around his neck. Just as he raises his hands to speak to the dancers, they cut away.
* Continuity: When the man gets stopped by the gun detector, it shows the gun in his breast pocket, but when he hands it over, it's on his belt.
* Continuity: While playing pool in the bar, the balls make a futuristic electronic sound when hit. However, later in the brawl when someone gets thrown onto a pool table, they make the traditional sound.
* Revealing mistakes: At a number of points during the duel, the 'mist' in the field can be seen being pumped out from behind the tree, not drifting as it should.
* Crew or equipment visible: When Serenity approaches Persephone (in the "dirt kissing" scene), you can see a reflection of a person in a white T-shirt in Serenity's windshield! He/she is not part of the regular crew, Likely a boom mike operator.
* Revealing mistakes: Mal, Jayne and the slavers play holographic snooker, however, when they fight the balls roll normally.

Foreshadowing
* This episode explores the strong but unadmitted affection that Mal and Inara share for each other, which will reach a painful crisis in "Heart of Gold".
* River's shredding of the labels hints at her continued revulsion of the Blue Sun Corporation.

Production
* The writer of this episode, Jane Espenson, revealed how she enjoyed writing this episode, as it gave her a chance to invent a card game, as well as write dialog in "Jane Austen style".[1] The sword fight took place near a Disney-owned production facility and so the shots had to be framed to exclude the "Country Bear Jamboree" barn located in the background [1]

Wardrobe
* The ballgown that Inara wears at the ball was actually made out of costume designer Shawna Trpcic's wedding dress. The t-shirt that Jayne wears during the episode contains the Chinese word yong, which means "soldier" or more commonly "brave". This shirt also appears in the episodes "The Train Job", "Ariel", and "War Stories".

* Props
The Star Wars Expanded Universe ship known as the Starlight Intruder (from the Dark Empire comics) appears in the background in this episode [1]. As a way of returning the favour, a Firefly-class transport made a cameo appearance in a 2006 Star Wars webcomic.

[Gin]

From fireflywiki..org

Quotes
INARA (regarding the game of pool): As with other situations, the key seems to be giving Jayne a heavy stick and standing back.

MAL (on making planetfall on Persephone): Resupply, look for work, move along. We sniff the air, we don't kiss the dirt.
ZOE: Wasn't planning on the dirt-kissin', sir.
WASH: I wouldn't stand for it anyway, Cap'n, jealous man like me.

ZOE: Planet's coming up a mite fast.
WASH: That's just cause I'm going down too quick. (panicky voice, trying to be jovial) Likely crash and kill us all.
MAL: Well, that happens, let me know.

ZOE: If I'm gonna wear a dress, I'd want something with some slink.
WASH: You want a slinky dress? I can buy you a slinky dress. Captain, can I have money for a slinky dress?

JAYNE: I'll chip in (for a slinky dress).
ZOE: I can hurt you.

BADGER: You think you're better than other people.
MAL: Just the ones I'm better than.

BADGER: 'Course you couldn't buy an invite with a diamond the size of a testicle, but I got my hands on a couple.
JAYNE AND MAL: (chuckling)
BADGER: ...Of invites!

KAYLEE: Yes, sir, Captain Tightpants.

MAL: He's supposed to be old, kinda stocky, wears a red sash crossways.
KAYLEE: Why does he do that?
MAL: Maybe he won the Miss Persephone Pageant.

KAYLEE: Is that him?
MAL: That's the buffet table.
KAYLEE: Well... how do we know unless we... question it?

WASH: Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower, somewhat less attractive now she's all corpsified and gross...

KAYLEE: Up until the punching, it was a real nice party.

MAL: I never back down from a fight.
INARA: Yes, you do! You do all the time!

RIVER: Sure, I got a secret. More than one. Don't seem likely I'd tell 'em to you now, do it? Anyone off Dyton Colony knows better than to talk to strangers. You're talking loud enough for the both of us though, ain'tcha? I've known a dozen like you. Skipped off home early, running graft jobs here and there. Spent some time in the lockdown, but less than you claim. And you're what? Petty thief with delusions of standing? Sad little king of a sad little hill.

(Inara blocks Mal's sword attack and smacks him on his... pants.)
INARA: How did I avoid that?
MAL: By being fast like a freak?

MAL: Sure, it's humiliating. Having to lie there while the better man refuses to spill your blood. Mercy is the mark of a great man. (Stabs Atherton in the side.) Guess I'm just a good man. (Stabs him again.) Well, I'm all right.

MAL: See how I'm not punching him? I think I've grown.

INARA: It wasn't entirely a disaster.
MAL: I got stabbed! Right here!