<SPOILER> Questions about the BDM <SPOILER>

POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 7, 2005 16:35
VIEWED: 4058
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ANTHONYT

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 2:49 AM

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"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

ANTHONYT

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 2:53 AM

Hi all,

I created this thread to ask questions about the BDM.

My question is: At the end of the movie, I seem to recall that Mal was getting on some kind of gangway, and the Operative shoots him in the back.

I seem to recall Mal complaining about being shot in the back.

What I do not recall, is why Mal doesn't die when shot in the back.

(Or at least exhibit extreme injury.)

I have felt, ever since I watched the screening, that I missed something important in this scene.

Any help?

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

ANTHONYT

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 4:34 AM

Perhaps I am mis-remembering the scene?

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

GTMAN8503

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 4:57 AM

In hidden text, just in case:

Select to view spoiler:

Mal gets hit by a laser blast, or something, in that scene. You can actually see it in the second U.S. trailer if you pause around the 1:45 mark. It seems as if The Operative is using a weapon that is just designed to stun instead of kill. That would be my explanation.

EMBERS

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 5:13 AM

yeah:

Select to view spoiler:

remember at the beginning of the movie when the operative forces that Alliance doctor to 'fall on his sword' by stunning him with some kind of shot to the back?
He does the same thing to Mal, but it doesn't stun Mal because of some shrapnel or shell fragment or something, some old wound, he explains which protected that nerve center...
of course I"ll need to see the movie several more times to remember exactly what was said...

I hope that helps

ANTHONYT

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:00 AM

Select to view spoiler:

Thanks for the input, all. I'm not sure I can groove with those explanations, though.

If it's a stun gun, and Mal doesn't get stunned, that ought to strike the Operative as wicked odd. Thus, it makes no sense for it to be a surprise later when the Operative does his pressure point doo-hicky and it doesn't work.

I don't see Joss writing to such contrary purposes, so that explanation doesn't make sense.

And if I recall, the guy at the beginning of the movie was 'stunned' with a pressure point thing, too.

So anyhow, if it's a stun gun, and it doesn't stun Mal, the Operative has advanced warning about his pressure point technique.

If it's a laser gun, and it doesn't hurt Mal, we need some kind of explanation.

This scene continues to bug me, because I can't reconcile it.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

2BY2

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:33 AM

I think we're far enough down that I can forego the spoiler tags.

Basically, it goes like this. Mal is shot in the back with a stun laser, shocking him for a moment, mostly just to get his attention, like a tazer. A dialogue commences, giving Mal some time to regroup. Then they fight, after which, The Operative does his pressure point ninja technique that we are to expect is going to do the same thing as what happened to the hapless Dr. Mathias in the beginning. But Mal surprises The Operative because, as Mal explains after all the cards are in his favor, that the particular nerve cluster The Op was going for had been damaged by shrapnel in the war. So, it wasn't a stun laser meant to hold Mal in place like his ninja technique was. They're two separate things. Hopefully I made sense, because it works just fine in my mind. What hasn't quite gelled with me is what it is exactly that Mal does to The Operative after jabbing him in the throat... it's a kind of half nelson thing where, I thought initially, it seemed like he broke The Op's back. Apparently not...

Anyway... not to hijack the thread or anything. Stun gun, ninja nerve cluster punch... two different things. :)

ANTHONYT

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:40 AM

Well,

I guess I have no choice but to believe the stun gun thing.

My problems with it are three-fold.

1) In no other scene in the movie is it explained that the weapon the Operative has is a stun gun.

2) In no other scene in the movie does the Operative take pains to use less-than-lethal force. Quite the opposite.

3) The stun gun is remarkably ineffective if it is a stun gun. In fact, the gun is remarkably ineffective regardless of what sort of gun it is. The only thing it succeeds in doing is getting Mal to stop and turn around.

I guess there's bound to be a scene in every movie that breaks realism and suspension of disbelief. I'm just sorry that unlike Jayne's flippy head bash move, this scene-breaker is at the film's climax.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

MRFLUFFY

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 9:15 AM

Hi Ant,

Thought I'd chip in with my remarkable ability to suspend disbelief and come up with an explaination. As mentioned, you can see the finished special effect in US Trailer 2 where it does indeed look like some sort of stun gun. We do however know already that the Alliance does use non-lethal weaponry ('Ariel' springs to mind).

Having said that, it is a pretty sodding poor weapon. Looks like it can be overpowered by determination.

Now, The Operative and his motivations. You're right, at no other point does he attempt to use non-lethal weaponry. This leads me to suggest that perhaps The Operative himself has been fundamentaly changed by the events already. By this point, he has seen the lengths that Mal will go to - almost equaling his own ruthlessness (bringing the Reavers to rip apart the Alliance for one).

He perhaps knows that Mal's motivation equals his own, some part of him *wants* to know what it is that drives Mal. Shooting Mal in the back wouldn't have given him closure.

There's a lot about honour to be addressed here. He admired the work of Dr. Mathias and so felt it important to give him what he considered to be an honourable death. If he now considers Mal a worthy opponent, he must now give Mal the same respect that he gave Dr. Mathias.

Honour among mass murderers, or some such.

Ta-ta for now,

EMBERS

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:46 PM

McFluffy, that is an excellent explanation,
and I think future (multiple) viewings of 'Serenity' will make it all clear in our minds.

But I would say, not 'honor' among murders
but among true believers.
The Operatives motivations were that of a religious fanatic,
and he never expected to find anything approaching his willingness to die for the cause in Mal.

The fact that Mal knew something worth dying for would make him curious,
because he thought only HE had the cause worth dying for.

Oh, and that was Dr. Mathias who was allowed to 'fall on his sword' at the beginning?
because did you notice?
Dr. Mathia gave River her 'Mission' in session 416 excerpt 1

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