What Is Inara Running From?
POSTED BY: ManiacNumberOne
UPDATED: Sunday, August 6, 2006 04:35
VIEWED: 19510
PAGE 4 of 6
Just because her papers were cleared in TTJ, doesn't mean that she doesn't have something to hide. It may in fact being the reason she's being secretive: to keep those papers clean. Whatever she's running from (her Self: IMO), or maybe this is even a separate issue from that. Certainly a person doesn't have just one aspect to their past. Maybe hers is a bit more . . . complicated than that.
Maybe she ran because she knew something was wrong with the direction her life was taking, and then became off-and-on involved with a friend who had some sort of trouble, or maybe she has a secret beau who sends her little presents. That would most certainly be something she's like to keep hidden: a sweetheart (one-sided? Complicated?). Or something else that she doesn't want known by the crew or by the law, but that is not known by the law, and so it wouldn't have shown up when her papers were checked.
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Or maybe it's her latest purchase from the 'verse's version of Victoria's Secret and she doesn't want Mal to get any ideas (well she does but she doesn't).
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In Out of Gas, Mal said straight out to Inara, that he thought she was running from something, or else why choose to be on his little boat? I believe she is ducking the major areas where she would be thought to be seen. Doesn't it almost sound like she is avoiding a very pesterous suitor?
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That's a good possibility.
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I think she's running from complications . . .
the details are at the moment unknowable to me but it seems that it's an entirely personal choice.
Book is an ex-alliance intelligence guy.
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I think you're right about Book. Some sort of intelligence or law enforcement official.
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Quote:
Originally posted by TimMinear:
I know what Inara's problem is. And I ain't tellin'.
So there is a problem! ;)
~AFf
-edit: just noticed that this is a year old. Sorry. It was linked to on the OB! Don't blame me!!
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I'll jump in with my speculations. I remember watching a movie about Venetian courteseans and one of the courtesans was exiled because of a relationship with a lover that went sour. The lover was powerful and used his power to ruin the courtesean's career. Obviously, Inara's career wasn't ruined, the Venetian courtesean became a common street whore, but Inara has been knocked down a few pegs, if she has gone from working in a house in the core to renting a shuttle on an antiquated smuggling ship on the rim. Even if it doesn't turn out to be what the writers create, this idea should make for saucy fan fiction.
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(Originally posted at the NOB, on 21 SEP 04, by yours truly)
Speculation (maybe spoiler) space:
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Like I said before, Inara's actually 52 (or more) years old. That's what her hypodermic is for. Mal was gonna profess his love for Inara in the HoG ep; but, she cut him off, saying she was leaving. According to the Serenity production notes (available online), she carried through on that intent, leaving Mal to carry a torch for her. At some point in the early moments of the BDM, an event occurs that necessitates Mal and Inara rejoining forces, otherwise they would remain parted, because that was Inara's decision. (NB: Otherwise, Inara wouldn't even be in the BDM)
Why would she have made the choice to leave (sometime after OiS and before the opening of the BDM)? Because she's dying? Who isn't? Because it interferes with her business? She doesn't strike me as someone who subsumes her own welfare and desires for that of others.
The answer is simple and it hit me like a bolt from the blue: Inara's at least 52 years old. My evidence? Go to IMDB. On Serenity's 'Full Details' entry ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0379786/fullcredits ), look under 'Stunts' and you'll find the name, "Shohreh Aghdashloo". Who's that? She's a 52 year old Iranian actress, nominated for last year's Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in "The House of Sand and Fog" (nominated and won 5 less prestigious awards for the role). Now, look back at the character listing at the top of the webpage. No listing for Ms. Aghdashloo. An Oscar nominee with no listed credit? They have listings for such obscure personages as 'Lab Tech #2', 'Lilac Mom' and 'Newsperson'; but an esteemed actress doesn't get a proper credit for even a cameo role as 'High Priestess' or 'Gabriel Tam's mistress' or whatever? Nothing?!
Now go back to the stunt section and note the name of her stuntperson: Karin Silvestri. Karin's a young woman in her mid-to-late 20's and a member of UCLA's 1997 gymnastics team.
Karin is also Morena Baccarin's stunt double! Interesting, is it not?
If I'm right -- and I'd put good money on it -- IMDB couldn't possibly list "Shohreh Aghdashloo - Inara without rejuvenation drug", or something similar, because it's a spoiler. And that's the only entry that would be a spoiler. Even "Inara's Mother" wouldn't be. Now look at the picture link I posted above (or look up Shohreh yourself). Morena and Shohreh bear a striking resemblance to one another, don't they? Only a couple of decades difference in ages.
In conclusion, everyone's been waiting for the other shoe to drop since the show started. You know what I'm talking about: Joss. He likes to get his audience pulling for a couple and then break them up, or kill one of them. Tell me this is not totally his style. Mal and Inara belong together, but will anyone object to them going bust when it turns out she's old enough to be his mother? It's cruel, but it makes sense and in the end the fans see that the breakup was justifiable, even if they hate how it crushes their hero's heart. Again, tell me that isn't Whedonesque...
I now believe Nandi was going to tell Mal about Inara's age in HoG, before she got herself offed by Burgess. I believe Inara loves Mal, but she finds their love impossible to reconcile against the fact of their age difference.
If I had my druthers, Mal would accept her for who she is inside, not what her chronological age is, and convince her to marry/be with him. Surely, Joss' feminist streak would allow for a man who can see beyond appearances to the beauty and wisdom beneath.
Respectfully,
zoid
P.S.
On the other hand, I could be totally wrong! See ya' at the theatre... (How'my doin', Tim?)
zed
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"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me." The Ballad of Serenity
Only 211 days, 19 hours, 15 minutes, and 11 seconds left until The BDM!
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