So, with the number of times Book mentions in the pilot that he's never married, think confirmed bachelor is a safe assumption? (We know that Companions are thought of highly, but what's the thought on homosexuality in the Fireflyverse?)

Given the Old West themes, probably not very highly. dammit.

On the other hand we have a badass woman fiighter? And they don't seem to be seen as Calamity Jane type exceptions. And woman engineers. In general , not nearly the gender inequality of the old west. Generally gender equality tends to go hand in hand with less repression against homosexualty. So we can assume great openess to HoYay, and to GayAndLesMarYay than the real old West -- until proven otherwise.

Well, this is a ME production, so I'd assume the writers would be reasonably gay-friendly.

What I'd love to see is for one of the characters to meet an old flame or hook up with someone of the same gender and have no one on the show even comment on the person's gender.

That "She hit on me too." line of Inara's from the preview might be an indicator that it's still seen as an eyebrow-raising thing. (Too soon to tell out of context...) But yeah, the lesser enforcing of gender-stereotyped roles seems to indicate less uptightness over sexuality in general.

If I were a professional carpenter, and had some numbnut weirdo walk up to me and start telling me how to plane a board, I'd be a bit annoyed too.

And you people will never know how I self-edited and saved you all from the mixed metaphor of teaching a carpenter's grandmother to suck eggs.

That "She hit on me too." line of Inara's from the preview might be an indicator that it's still seen as an eyebrow-raising thing.

But there was no gender-based awkwardness around the idea that Inara might be servicing Kaylee. So I think the eyebrow raising might be from something else, like "how terribly inappropriate to hit on crew/a companion/whatever", other than a fear of lezzie-cooties.

Or possibly the eyebrow raising was related to the fact that the stowaway seems to have hit on everyone on the ship. (Based on the preview). Is it just me, or did the preview make next week's episode look like Goldilocks in space? "She hit on me too, and I took her up on it!"

See, the description of the episode is making me think of Teorama, this totally crazy, pretentious Italian film where a stranger arrives at a family's home, seduces everyone, and shatters their lives. So I'm picturing something obtuse, with weird sub-titles, and featuring a very hairy back.

Needless to say, it gives me the giggles.

Well, we've been told that there's going to be some shocking twist. Maybe River will stumble across the waifish stowaway waxing her shoulderblades at some point in the episode?