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Nathan Fillion

Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds

Gina Torres

Zoë Washburne

Alan Tudyk

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

Morena Baccarin

Inara Serra

Adam Baldwin

Jayne Cobb

Jewel Staite

Kaylee Frye

Sean Maher

Dr. Simon Tam

Summer Glau

River Tam

Ron Glass

Shepherd Derrial Book

Jonathan M. Woodward

Tracey Smith

Richard Burgi

Lieutenant Womack

Al Pugliese

Amnon

Tod Nakamura

Fendris

Craig Vincent

Skunk

Morgan Rusler

Barker

Danny Nero

Browncoat Soldier
(uncredited)

Gerard J. Reyes

Bodyguard
(uncredited)
…

Joss Whedon

Man at Funeral
(uncredited)

Mal and his crew are having entertainment in a space station and Mal goes to the post office to check and he receives a big trunk addressed to Zoe and him. When he opens the box, he finds the corpse of their army pal Private Tracey. They also find a message from Tracey asking Mal and Zoe to deliver his boy to his parents in a planet. The Serenity heads to the planet and out of the blue, she is attacked by another spaceship. Ml asks Simon to make an autopsy in Tracey and they discover that the man is alive. What has happened to Tracey?

"The Message" is a strange episode with a weird story. The idea of smuggling human organs using the body is creepy and is not reasonable. But the episode works. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "The Message"

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Trivia
The hat Jayne's mother made for her son became a fan favorite, with people creating their own knit and crochet versions and one fan even writing a song about it ("Jayne's Hat" by Stan Peal).

Goofs
When Tracey is threatening Mal on the bridge a hand with a scraper can be seen behind Mal's head, clearing snow from the ship's window. Visible ~0:35:00.

Quotes
Tracey: When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't crawl - when you can't do that...
Zoë: You find someone to carry you.

Alternate versions
The intended order differs from the released order with the 2-hour pilot 'Serenity' and the season finale 'Objects in Space' being released in the middle of the show run. The true order appears on all modern media releases and is as follows - Serenity, The Train Job, Bushwacked, Shindig, Safe, Our Mrs. Reynolds, Jaynestown, Out of Gas, Ariel, War Stories, Trash, The Message, Heart of Gold, and Objects in Space.