Firefly Reflection: Episode Thirteen

"Can people ever really change?"

This episode dealt with another deep and universal theme: trust. Throughout "Trash" the viewer is convinced that Mal and his crew are bumbling idiots, buying into the wily Saffron's schemes and getting played by her. That's right: Mal's ex-"wife" is back, and she's tricked him again--or has she? Mal, Inara, and the rest of the crew are one step ahead of her the whole way, and in playing them, Saffron herself gets played (and stuck in a dumpster).

"Trash" was a fun episode to watch, but it did not deal with its theme quite as well as it could have. There were poignant moments, to be sure, but I felt that the discussion was a bit repetitive. One of Saffron's ex-husbands, Duran, also seems to be naïve enough to fall for her scheming, but he also plays her in pretending to accept her selfish plot. The only person who trusts Saffron is one of her new husbands, another smuggler named Monty. This trust is only due to the fact that Saffron has not shown him her true colors just yet.

Although the interactions that Saffron has with both Duran and Mal are very similar, they do speak to very genuine themes of trust. As Saffron asked Mal, do people ever change? Is it naïve to hope for renewal in relationships, or is trust once broken never the same? Both Duran and Mal seem to agree that Saffron needed a watchful eye. As soon as he saw her, Duran called the feds; before Mal accepted her plan, he had backup.

What should our response to this theme be as Christians? To be honest, though I cannot claim that this is the most Christlike response possible, I side with Mal. We must be gentle as doves, yes, but we must also be wise as serpents. Saffron has viciously attacked Mal, his crew, and his ship. To trust her would be to err in a very foolish manner. I was wary this whole episode, on pins and needles waiting for her to slip up in her plan or to somehow wound one of the crew. Of course things ended well--it is a TV show, after all--but I believe that Mal and Duran were justified in their watchfulness.