River's mental status

Friday, August 12, 2011 5:20 AM

Warning: possible spoilers ahead!

An interesting fan question that I have continued to come across in fan circles is regarding River's mental status, post-BDM. This is a very interesting thing, for both obvious and not so obvious reasons. The beauty of Joss' finest work (in my opinion), is that it draws so many fans to it for many different and varying reasons. I think doing a mentally traumatized character was a brilliant and original move to make. And as we have seen, River's mental instabilities weren't caused by natural phenomena but rather through insidious artificial means. What then evolves from that is an interesting chain of events, including River's mental progressiveness to being much more coherent than she was before; which is clearly evidenced and supported by Joss' own words. Mental health professionals and experts might take some issue with this, and for understandable reasons, but it is also safe to suppose that the only motives behind River's mental instabilities weren't solely realistic ones, but symbolic ones as well. Sci-fi often mixes symbol with the real. It is strongly implied by the ending that River may become the next pilot of the ship post-Wash. If River were truly still as unstable as she was before, why would Mal ever consider entrusting his life and the lives of his crew to a mentally unstable pilot? In a critical moment, which they have plenty of, a serious mental lapse could be the difference between life and death. Mal would never let that happen. I've also heard Joss plans to resume graphic novel writing at the end of the year, possibly beyond the movie. I guess that will say for sure what he ultimately plans for River. Another good thing to keep in mind is that Joss planned the show to have a seven year run. That would have been a ton of character/plot development. I'm sure River would have had a bunch. My personal conclusion is that River will never be totally coherent ever again: "Ariel" definitely says as much. By the same token, she should theoretically improve greatly beyond the show, so long as she remains on a mentally progressive path. In a symbolic sense, she's also a butterfly emerging gradually from a cocoon. In addition, fans should contextually specify what they consider to be "acceptable coherence" for River, why or why not? Notably in fanfic circles. What do you think?

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