Cause and effect in Ariel

POSTED BY: niknak
UPDATED: Saturday, February 12, 2005 17:50
VIEWED: 6621
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SHEALYNN88

Tuesday, December 7, 2004 2:30 AM

My immediate assumption on rewatching it recently was that she was punishing Jayne for turning them in. I never noticed the logo. I guess the only one who knows for sure is Joss. Maybe. I like the paradox of the whole idea. :)

Shealynn

TALLCARDDEALER

Friday, January 7, 2005 10:36 PM

Here's my interpretation of River's actions against Jayne:

Simon explained at the beginning that he couldn't do much to help River, because he didn't know what was wrong with her. Serenity just didn't have the equipment to do a proper examination. The only place that had the right equipment.........was an Alliance hospital.

I figure that Simon had been entertaining the idea for some time of leading the crew in breaking into an Alliance hospital to use the 3-D imager. Eventually he figured out that he could coax them with the hospital's medicine supplies, available in surplus within and worth a fortune on the streets.

Before 'Ariel,' River had always been acting a little crazy and unpredictable. Nightmares about ghost ships, imitating Badger's accent, shredding Book's bible. But she was never dangerous. Slashing Jayne across the chest OUT OF NOWHERE changed all that. As Jayne pointed out, "Next time little sis gets in a murderin' mood, might be Kaylee she goes after, or Inara." Maybe it was the Blue Sun logo, but no one could really tell. Besides, Jayne had worn that thing before without River acting up.

If it WAS the logo, then it means that River really was getting worse. So the whole point of the incident was that her condition was deteriorating, and she was becoming violent and even more unpredictable. Simon decided that now was the time to put his daring plan into action.

It also occured to me that River might have been punishing Jayne for being rude to Simon a moment before. Again, Jayne was ALWAYS rude to Simon, but that didn't matter if River was getting worse. She could also have reacted to Jayne sharpening his knife, and decided to get one of her own.

Every well-bred petty crook knows that the small, concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting.

ALIENZOOKEEPER

Saturday, January 8, 2005 12:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tallcarddealer:
As Jayne pointed out, "Next time little sis gets in a murderin' mood, might be Kaylee she goes after, or Inara."

I think Jayne is letting on that he's not as dumb as he pretends. That's exactly the order I'd choose, to get Mal's attention, Kaylee in peril, then Inara, where, in fact, Kaylee would be the most likely to be in danger. Inara's had training, after all, and isn't mousy.

As for River's quote, about looking better in red, that always makes me think back to Dark Angel, for no good reason. There was an episode where the heroine gets ubered-up on 'Red', I believe, and makes a dramatic entrance with bleeding eyes, telling the bad guys "I look better in red." before she proceeds to beating the red stuff out of them. But I doubt that it was a nod to Firefly's predeccessor.

Wish I had both of them back on TV, along with LOST, Angel and maybe Alias. A new episode followed by sequential reruns to help new viewers catch up, five nights a week. I'd call it the Vinnie Network.

Vince the alien zookeeper

DIRTYBROWNCOAT

Thursday, January 13, 2005 3:37 AM

This came up in another thread, and one poster said something along the lines of the possibility of red representing things like malice, anger, and hatred. I forget who the poster was, though.

And it was true that Jayne had been contemplating selling River and Simon out since day one, but there was a difference between contemplating and doing. It could be that the slash was just that one last push he needed before deciding "okay, this chick is toast."

Or, who knows? Maybe he'd been in contact with the feds all along, from Serenity to Ariel.

Simon: You...you came for us.
Mal: You're on my crew.
Simon: Right. I guess I just didn't...you don't even like me.
Mal: You're on my crew. Why we still talking about this?
-Safe

DIETCOKE

Thursday, January 13, 2005 5:00 AM

For me it was the "last straw" for Jayne. It wasn't just the money, she was trouble and she need to go. AND he could make some money in the process!

YT

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 4:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by niknak:
I've been wondering this for a while: Does River stab Jayne because he's going to betray her or does Jayne betray River because she stabbed him? Or did neither event cause the other?

Yes.

Would you like me to expand on that? River (later) kills three guys with one shot each while her eyes are closed. Had she wanted to kill or even disable Jayne, she could have done that without leaving the food prep area of the galley. What she did was precisely what she wanted to accomplish -- slashing the shirt across the Blue Sun logo & cutting Jayne so he'd bleed on it.

Jayne may have felt that this justified him selling River & her bro' protector to the Feds, but I think he'd have done it even without this incident. He didn't think of either of them as fellow crew members, has openly suggested turning 'em in ever since he learned the Alliance was hunting them, and only passed up his first chance (in the pilot ep) 'cause that would have required turning on his cap'n. He took the first opportunity to sell 'em out when he thought it wouldn't involve (what he thought of as) his crew mates.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: Eric Johnson, "Trademark", from "Ah Via Musicom"

MAGICALTREVOR

Thursday, February 10, 2005 3:11 PM

There are some shots of Jayne with his knives before River gets the kitchen knife. The audience is also shown Inara and Kaylee playing Mah-Jong in the same scene so it appears that River wants to join in and play with Jayne. However with her being mentally ill at that time, what she thinks is play is actually dangerous.

Personally, I'd be annoyed if someone who was a danger to society slashed me with a knife as they should have been kept separate so as not to harm anyone. (Now I'm getting paranoid becaus I'm in Glasgow (unofficial knife crime capital of the world)) dosh would also be a welcome bonus in this case.

MT

THIEFJEHAT

Thursday, February 10, 2005 3:54 PM

We know that River's perceptions of real world events/items is abnormal. A friend observed to me that just as she was holding a gun in OIS and saw a stick, what if she was holding the knife in Ariel and saw a red paintbrush? Perhaps she was marking Jayne for what he was, a potential traitor. Surely the blue sun shirt didn't help her state of mind either. Or perhaps she slashed Jayne only because of his shirt which would be an impulsive act of agression against Blue Sun in the same vein as the canned goods. Or maybe she was, as Jayne would put it, "Just acting crazy".

The beauty of it is that it's great storytelling. We caught a glimpse of her mind in OIS. We know that her condition is degrading due to what Simon says to Mal. Because River is unable to express her perceptions in a logical fashion we are left with our conjectures, and surely Joss had golden nuggets hidden in these sequences for fans to find in later seasons. I'm just so sad that we may never know.

YT

Thursday, February 10, 2005 8:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by magicaltrevor:
(Now I'm getting paranoid becaus I'm in Glasgow (unofficial knife crime capital of the world))

Shouldn't a proper Glaswegian smile when he says that? (I thought perhaps the stacked parentheses were intended as a textual representation (they do seem to stretch out more on one side than the other (the left side, as I look @it (would that make it your right?))))

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Couldn't Stand the Weather", from "Essential SRV & Double Trouble"

MAGICALTREVOR

Saturday, February 12, 2005 11:41 AM

Well I just live here. Even if I was born there, I don't think I could take pride in the hostility and the NEDs.

MMMMM...... Burberries...... ;)

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