The discovery of a stowaway leads to an even more shocking find - she's actually Mal's payment for a past job.

Meanwhile, the Alliance has its eye on Serenity. Or at least someone aboard it.

original airdate--October 4,2002

music-- Theme song "The Ballad of Serenity" by: Joss Whedon Performed by: Sonny Rhodes

Goofs

• Kaylee has just put Simon's birthday cake down on the table when the explosion happens, but in many subsequent shots of both the table and the floor in the dining room, the cake is nowhere to be seen.
• When Mal and Zoe first walk onto Serenity, a cable on the floor behind them slides across the floor in one of the shots, then appears in a different position in a later shot.
• When Shepherd Book tells everyone about the electrical nets, Jayne says, "One day you're gonna tell us all how a preacher knows so damn much about crime." Shepherd then turns to leave. But in the immediate close up of him and Mal, he turns to leave again.
• When Saffron first hits Wash, he falls with his head in the centre of the doorway (from our point of view), but a second later, when she goes to lift his legs through the door so she can shut it, his head is noticeably more to the left (again, from the viewer's point of view).