The Message

"The Message" is the twelfth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It was the fourteenth and final episode produced during the show's production, but was placed before "Heart of Gold" and "Objects in Space" on the home video releases. "The Message" was the second of three episodes along with "Trash" and "Heart of Gold", that were not broadcast in the original 2002 Fox run and later aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 15, 2003. A former Independent soldier, who had served with Mal and Zoe in the Unification War, returns in a dramatic manner, with a vicious Alliance officer chasing after him for some unusual smuggled goods. Synopsis The show opens on a space station, and a barker extolling an exhibit featuring "proof of alien life". Inside the exhibit, Simon and Kaylee stare at a tall, illuminated cylinder that holds a strange and apparently dead creature. The doctor declares that it is a mutated cow fetus, not an alien. Simon uses this moment alone with the engineer to attempt to get closer to her, but when he mentions that the other women he knows are either married (Zoe), professional (Inara), or related to him (River), Kaylee leaves in a huff. As Kaylee departs, Zoe and Wash console Simon.