Kaylee's Inter-Engine Fermentation System Quiz

Answer: Matty

It's not clear who exactly Matty is, or what the "damp-lung" is, but it sounds fairly gruesome to me. With the letter, Jayne's mother enclosed a multi-colored wool cap that has become an icon of "Firefly" fans everywhere.

Answer: his pretty floral bonnet

In the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds", Mal and Jayne disguised themselves as a married couple who are transporting their belongings in a Conestoga-style wagon along a wooded trail, when they're set upon by a gang of highwaymen. Mal, dressed as the wife, pulls his gun on the lead bandit and promises him that, if he goes for his weapon, "I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you." This is the first episode to feature Christina Hendricks as Saffron/Brigid/Yolanda, the con-woman/thief with more husbands than she can count.

Answer: black-market beagles

The crew has landed on a planet called Jiangyin to sell the cattle they acquired from Sir Warrick Harrow at the end of the episode "Shindig". When Zoe suggests that they smuggle smaller stock next time, Wash suggests "black-market beagles." The other answers were just me having fun with alliteration.

Answer: Crow - Mal kicks him through one of the ship's engines

At the end of the episode, Crow - played by Andrew Bryniarski - refuses to call of the deal the crew had earlier made with Niska and would not accept the refund Mal offered. Mal then responds "Darn" and kicks Crow in the chest, pushing him backwards into the jet-style engine that was up and running at the time; the second henchman put in the same position accepts Mal's offer without even letting him finish his sentence.

By the way, Jayne does shoot Crow, but in the leg; having been sedated earlier, he was groggy when he took the shot and tells Mal afterwards that he "was aimin' at his head".

Answer: No

In the episode "Out of Gas", we learn that there was another mechanic, named Bester, on Serenity before Kaylee and that she, in fact, was Bester's "guest" in the engine room when Mal walked in on them. When Kaylee was able to fix an engine problem that Bester couldn't, Mal offered the mechanic job to her instead.

Answer: Companion

A "Companion" is a combination of a geisha, a temple prostitute and a high-priced call girl. Mal calls Inara "The Ambassador" because, as Mal explained to Shepherd Book, "She is pretty much our ambassador. There's plenty of planets won't even let you dock without a decent Companion on board."

Later in the episode, after Jayne makes a crude remark at the dinner table and Mal tells him to leave, Simon asks Mal what Jayne's job is on the ship. Mal's response is "Public Relations".

Answer: No

Banning Miller is one of the snobby girls who insult Kaylee and her dress at the ball, after which, an older, Clark Gable-esque gentleman named Murphy addresses Banning, complimenting her dress.

"It must have taken a dozen slaves a dozen days to get you into that getup," he says to her. He continues, "'Course, your daddy tells me it takes the space of a schoolboy's wink to get you out of it again."

Answer: legs

Immediately after Zoe tells the Fed officer that her marriage to Wash is none of his business, we see Wash describing what he likes best about Zoe. "Her legs. Oh yeah, definitely have to say her legs. You can put that down. Her legs... and where her legs meet her back. Actually, that whole area. That, and above it."

Answer: No, Mal's playing a joke on him

After Kaylee is shot in the first half of the original pilot episode, "Serenity," Simon operates to remove the bullet, stop the bleeding and save Kaylee's life. As we later find out, he does a very good job and Kaylee's condition is improving, but in a tense scene between Mal and Simon, Mal tells Simon "Kaylee's dead." Simon rushes immediately to the infirmary, where he discovers that Kaylee is alive and talking to Shepherd Book. We then see Mal in the bridge with Zoe, Wash and Jayne, laughing hard at the prank Mal just pulled on Simon.

Answer: Christina Hendricks

Christina Hendricks made her first appearance on a Joss Whedon TV show when she played a bar wench on "Angel" in 2000. On "Firefly" she plays Saffron/Bridgit/Yolanda - or, as Mal calls her in this episode, "YoSaffBridge" - a beautiful but diabolical woman who seduces and marries men in order to steal their valuable belongings. We first meet her in "Our Mrs. Reynolds" when she tries to steal the ship Serenity itself, a plot that involves the crew being killed in a magnetic net.

Answer: Canton

Canton is a mud/clay farm on Higgins' Moon where Jayne and his ex-partner once stole a lot of money from Magistrate Higgins; after his escape craft gets shot during the getaway, however, he's forced to dump the money over the indentured workers (known as "mudders") in order to get away. In his absence, the mudders build a statue and compose a song in his honor.

The other answers, by the way, are just names of other cities in Ohio (here on Earth-That-Is...).

Answer: Wife Soup

The epilogue has a small callback to "Our Mrs. Reynolds" when Zoe gets annoyed at Saffron for suggesting that Zoe cook for her husband (Wash). In this scene, we see Zoe in the kitchen putting soup in a bowl and delivering it to Wash, who says "Ah, wife soup; I musta done good."

Answer: A plan to steal expensive medicine from the hospital pharmacy

As he explains to the crew of Serenity, he's offering to give them all the details they'll need in order to take a small fortune in medication from the St Lucy's hospital pharmacy, in exchange for them getting him and River to the diagnostic wing so he can try to figure out what happened to her. All goes well until Jayne tries to turn the Tams in to the Feds for the substantial reward, but gets double-crossed by his contact with the Feds.

Answer: Kimberly McCullough

Kimberly McCullough has portrayed Robin Scorpio/Drake since 1985 on the ABC daytime soaps "General Hospital", "Port Charles" and "All My Children". The character contracted HIV on the show from her HIV-positive boyfriend at the time, Stone Cates, who later died of AIDS.

Answer: "Well, here I am..." - Jubal Early

Jubal Early, whose name would appear to have been taken from the Confederate General who served with Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, was a bounty hunter played by "Law and Order's" Richard Brooks. He's attempting to capture River and return her for a 200,000 Platinum reward, but ends up being launched into empty space in his space suit; at the end of the episode, as he floats aimlessly away, he delivers the final line of the series.