Heart of Gold

_***

Mal and the crew are called to help a friend of Inara's whose brothel is under attack by a man trying to claim the baby from a woman he had impregnated. Some of the brothel-bound crew take advantage of their situation, delighting in the pleasures at hand, while others argue that they shouldn't even get involved.

The review for "the Message" can be read here.

There has been a long-standing argument between Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Inara (Morena Baccarin) in regards to her work, with Mal seeing it as deceptive and conniving. The difference here is that Nandi's (Melinda Clarke) employees don't make their work about anything other than sex, while Inara and other companions make an effort to play the role of someone that cares. It's the emotion involved in companionship that Mal takes offense to, feeling that the lies involved are far greater than the straightforwardness involved in working at a simple whorehouse.

Inara states that it's important that Mal get paid for his work, in part because he and the crew desperately need the money, but also because she needs to keep a very clear divide between their personal relationship and their business arrangement. Nandi later elaborates that Inara does, and always has, dislike unnecessary complications in her business dealings wanting everything to be kept clean and separated in order to maintain her control over all aspects of her life, but it's her division of lives that is her undoing here. After learning that Mal had spent the night with Nandi, Inara retires to her room and starts sobbing, composing herself and returning to her work. Nandi, who had proven very instinctive when it comes to interpersonal relations realizes, all too late, that Inara has feelings for Mal, having been deceived by Inara's insistence that theirs was strictly a business relationship, and while it's been plainly obvious to the audience that the two had something working between them, it's nice to have it so plainly acknowledged in the script.

After meeting with Burgess (Fredric Lehne), Mal is quick to note that they have no chance against him and his people, insisting that they load Nandi's people onto Serenity and run, one of the first instances of Mal turning away from a fight. Nandi immediately refuses, arguing that it took her years to get her small piece of land from men's hands, to build her business up from nothing, it's all that she has and she won't leave it, proving herself as a woman of action and earning every ounce of respect that Mal is never quick to give. Often when a character such as Nandi is introduced into a series it's in order to create romantic tension and nothing more, becoming a beacon of everything the protagonist is attracted to in an effort to devalue the leading lady, and while that's partially true here, there's no point during their interaction where Nandi doesn't make clear that Mal means nothing to her on a romantic level. Mal and Nandi discuss Inara on a number of occasions, with Nandi reminding him several times that she, herself, is not Inara and won't fall in love with him, with Mal understanding that there is nothing between the two of them, and somehow the use of this trope works very well on this series.

There is never a motive given for Chari's (Kimberly McCullough) betrayal of Nandi and the other girls at the Heart of Gold, instead she just works for Burgess behind the scenes despite how poorly he treats her. Burgess offers her no reward beyond getting the baby out of the brothel, and, in the end, when Chari is thrown out of the brothel she seems very dejected, clearly having nowhere to go. This wouldn't be such a distraction if there had been at least a single line explaining Chari's reasoning, but instead she just appears very short-sighted and ignorant.

Nandi's death seems included only to facilitate an ending between Mal and Inara, giving Mal the push he needs to make his emotional speech to Inara, and acting to convince Inara that she needs to leave the ship in order to separate herself from Mal. This could have been accomplished with nothing more than a wound on Nandi, or if she had revealed to Mal Inara's feelings, and it just doesn't sit right as it feels very forced.

Baccarin is quite good in this episode, portraying very subtle emotions as well as her devastating breakdown, and she brings a lot of life to her character here as well as salvaging much of the episode. Clarke is also very well cast in her role, providing an excellent foil to both Inara and Mal while working as a character in her own right.

Thomas J. Wright directs this episode with a very keen eye to detail, creating a very tense mood as the shootout at the Heart of Gold takes place, and also providing a very sensual love scene between Mal and Nandi. The framing of Mal's tryst with Nandi is in no way exploitative nor graphic, but instead done very beautifully as these people take comfort in one another on what might be their last night alive, and while it's clear that there's nothing more between them than a deep respect and a mild attraction, it's still a very nicely filmed scene.

Writer Brett Matthews spends more time focusing on the relationships between his characters than on the episode's plot itself, which works out just fine as he provides an opportunity to really delve into Inara's character in a way that hasn't been fully explored yet. While some of the characters are included in the story only through minor jokes and comments, such as Jayne's (Adam Baldwin) refusal to work the mission until learning prostitutes are involved, there are some nice touches, including a group of girls coming to Book (Ron Glass) asking for a prayer, as the only holy man available to them takes his payment through sex. Before having sex with Mal, Nandi makes sure to mention that she's not Inara, ensuring that he's clear about the relationship between them going in, and while Nandi had been clearly aware of Mal's feelings for Inara before they had gotten together, she was not aware of Inara's feelings for Mal, apologizing to her and stating that she thought it was just he that had felt that way about her. The episode ends on a beautiful and somber moment as Mal thinks that he and Inara are finally revealing their feelings for one another, only for her instead to reveal that she's leaving the ship with no intention of returning.

With Inara leaving Serenity behind, there is the question of how long it will take for her to return; naturally, my assumption is that she will take her leave long enough for Mal to muster the nerve to track her down and reveal his intentions, though with cancellation looming, it's either likely to happen very quickly, or be left hanging.

The review for "Objects in Space" can be read here.