'The Message' by Tim Minear and Joss Whedon

Mal visits a postal office and receives a crate from a man named Tracey, an old war-comrade of his and Zoe’s. When he opens it, Mal is surprised to find a coffin containing his friend’s corpse, and a recorded message from the dearly departed asking to return his body to his family on St. Albans. Mal decides to carry out Tracey’s last wish, unaware that two Alliance men are on the trail of the body; as Serenity approaches St. Albans, the crew are intercepted by the authorities and ordered to land so that the ship can be searched. Suspecting that Tracey’s body contains valuables, Mal orders Simon to begin an autopsy of the cadaver – but then the corpse comes alive on the slab. Tracey explains that he took drugs to knock him out for a week, while Mal unwittingly transported him past the authorities; it seems that Tracey has been smuggling high-end internal organs inside his own body, until a recent double-cross made him a wanted man…

Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds), Gina Torres (Zoe Washburne), Alan Tudyk (Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne), Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra), Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb), Jewel Staite (Kaywinnit Lee 'Kaylee' Frye), Sean Maher (Doctor Simon Tam), Summer Glau (River Tam), Ron Glass (Shepherd Derrial Book), Craig Vincent (Skunk), Tod Nakamura (Fendris), Jonathan M. Woodward (Tracey), Richard Burgi (Lt. Womack), Al Pugliese (Amnon), Morgan Rusler (Barker), Joss Whedon (Man at Funeral)

Directed by Tim Minear
Produced by Ben Edlund and Gareth Davies
Executive Producers Joss Whedon and Tim Minear

TX (US): -

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds, Zoe Washburne, Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne, Inara Serra, Jayne Cobb, Kaywinnit Lee 'Kaylee' Frye, Doctor Simon Tam, River Tam and Shepherd Derrial Book