Inconsistent Jayne in 'Safe'?
POSTED BY: IndigoStarblaster
UPDATED: Sunday, October 22, 2006 11:58
VIEWED: 9294
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I saw "Safe" again last night. I've been reading about attachment theory in the parent-child context, so I noticed as though for the first time that both Simon and River have "attached" to Mal. For example, River registered Book's gunshot wound not when he was shot, but when Mal realized he'd been shot. And then, of course, there's River's line about "Daddy will come and get us soon". And Simon's reassurance that "once the Captain realizes what's happened, he'll come for us", as opposed to "once the others have realized..."
I also mused about how Mal collects and attaches to people, even if they aren't useful to him, and how they attach to him in return (e.g., Book: "It's good to be home").
And I also noticed as though for the first time how Zoe is both reassuring and... well, sort of devil's advocate, only in a gentle way, as when she says to Kaylee both "Captain's got a plan" and "Possibly you aren't recalling some of his other plans". And when Jayne says how life will be easier without the fugitives, she says, "He's right, you know," even though we know she doesn't approve of the abandonment.
But what I really noticed for the first time on this viewing was how inconsistent Jayne was in this episode. When Book gets shot, Jayne is focussed first on the fact that the lawmen are leaving and second on whether Mal had retrieved the money. He doesn't seem to care that Book is hurt. But when they're treating Book (both onboard Serenity and later in the Alliance medical facilities) Jayne seems just as worried about Book as the others.
Then there's when Jayne goes through and steals some of River and Simon's stuff when he thinks they're gone for good. That's certainly in character, given what we know of him to this point. But then, when they come back, Jayne hurriedly returns their stuff and does an awkward, "Glad you're back, doctor", as though he were ashamed of his stealing. It seemed to me it would be much more in character for him to return the stuff grudgingly and not caring if River and Simon knew he'd taken it, along the lines of, "Yeah, here's your stuff, since you're back."
Anyway, if anyone's got any insights into Jayne's character in this episode, I'd be curious to hear them.
P.S. So far, on repeated viewing, some of the episodes I was originally so taken by seem rather ordinary (though still likeable, of course), and some that I had not liked so much at first sight seem much more complex and interesting. The pilot's held up really well, though, on each viewing. I'm on to "Jaynestown" sometime in the next few days, and looking forward particularly to "Out of Gas" at some point.
Indigo S.
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Quote:
Then there's when Jayne goes through and steals some of River and Simon's stuff when he thinks they're gone for good. That's certainly in character, given what we know of him to this point. But then, when they come back, Jayne hurriedly returns their stuff and does an awkward, "Glad you're back, doctor", as though he were ashamed of his stealing.
I think, that's the whole point of Jayne. In a way, he only cares about himself, because he has learned, that this is, what you do and have to do in this world, to survive. In his eyes, it's not bad, it's just the thing to do. Remember the Train Job, where he sais, that he believes, Mal will turn the Tams in somewhere down the road? He doesn't think this to be a bad thing - it would just be the "normal" thing to do in his view of the world.
But he is not so un-caring as he would like to see himself. Remember Artiel, where Mal almost killed him? What made Mal stop? Realizing, that Jayne in fact HAD a conscience, that he new very well, what was right, and what he sould be ashamed of - that in fact he COULD still be ashamed.
But there is another (small) Inconsistency. When Mal implies in OIS, that River could be a reader, jayne is all upset, as if this was the first time, that this thought crossed his mind:
Quote:
JAYNE
(suddenly more uncomfy)
Back up a sec. You're saying she might really read minds?
MAL
Or near enough. Am I the only one thinking along those lines?
BOOK
No.
JAYNE
I don't like the idea of someone hearing what I'm thinking.
INARA
No one likes the idea of hearing what you're thinking.
But long before that (TM), when River struggled with her problematic food, he sais: "Girl's a mind-readin' genius, can't figure out how to eat an ice-planet."
Hmmmm!
Esther
My lessons learned from Firefly (no. 7):
Sonic rifles are just Shee-niou high tech crap, when it comes to open a door with them. (still wish I had one, though)
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Originally posted by Esther:Quote:
But long before that (TM), when River struggled with her problematic food, he sais: "Girl's a mind-readin' genius, can't figure out how to eat an ice-planet."
That's not inconsistant when you consider The Message was written and filmed after Objects in Space, in fact was the last one filmed, and they learned of the cancelation during the production of the episode. Joss chose to reorder the episodes for the dvd release though.
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First I would say Jayne evolves just like the others, but in Jayne's case he's developing a conscience. He learns through contact with Kaylee, Mal, and Zoe what is and isn't right and how to act on it. I'd say Safe showcases his developing conscience.
Second Hitler liked animals and treated them well... People are inconsistent
I choose to rise instead of fall- U2
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Originally posted by ecgordon:
That's not inconsistant when you consider The Message was written and filmed after Objects in Space, in fact was the last one filmed, and they learned of the cancelation during the production of the episode. Joss chose to reorder the episodes for the dvd release though.
I had no idea! That implies such interesting things about where Inara's plot was going, as she obviously stuck around a wee bit longer after "Objects in Space"...
Hmm, I wonder if some kind of tamed-down variation of her Reaver plot would have taken place...
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My impression of Jayne is he became the man in his family at an early age. His father may have died or left. Jayne learned where he could. That was on the street. You take care of yourself first and foremost. His mother may be the only person who he would put above that. Since he had to find a way of living to support himself, his mother, and siblings he had no time for schooling. In Ariel it may have been the discovery of his lack of education, remember his comment about schooling, more than a knife across the chest that hurt Jayne more.
Jayne is immature. But being influenced by the crew of Serenity has given him the chance to grow up. He must of aged ten years when Mal had him trapped in the air lock. And here you see Jayne actually cares what others think of him. He tells Mal to lie about his death. He stops pleading for his life and starts pleading for his selfrespect. Maturity. Got to love it.
But just because a person is greedy one moment and selfless the next doesn't mean they are inconsistant. It means their human. Jaynestown was another opportunity for Jayne. He was sucking up all the glory people were throwing at him and then the young man dies saving his life. Jayne can't understand this. Why would anybody throw their life away? Jayne may not of understood at that point in time what it all meant but you can see he put this episode of his life in a very special place to be brought out again when the right circumstances required it.
Sometimes Jayne doesn't even realize he's doing a good thing. In Heart of Gold I could not help but notice the special attention he gave the one prostitute. I would have thought you would see him running from one bedroom to the next. Instead he stayed with one woman. He talked to her about killing and staying calm through it. Now I realize this not much of a conversation, but for Jayne this was deep. Pointing to his precious gun collection and telling her how to hand them to him was a serious conversation to Jayne.
So as each member of the cast has a part to play I see Jayne as the child who requires time and opportuinties to grow up. He still has a long way to go. After all if the show had lasted several seasons we may have seen a lot of changes in him. Yet there was some growth. In Safe when he quickly threw Simon's and River's belonging back he actually was ashamed of himself. Who hasn't done something like that. If the show had continued maybe Jayne may have actually said,"I'm sorry." But not for a long time. We may actually see this happen when the show starts up again on a decent network.
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Ok, I can buy that. So at first, Jayne is just concerned about the money, because with most of the crews he's shipped out on, that's what they cared about. But then, when he saw how all the others were worried about Book, he saw a model for that kind of caring behaviour, even with someone you don't know that well, and maybe started to find it in himself, too.
When he stole Simon and River's things, he was acting as one would with the kind of people you abandon -- people who are not part of your crew. But when they actually went and retrieved them, it clued Jayne into the thought that maybe they were crew, after all, which meant he started to feel a little bit ashamed of stealing from them.
You guys are the shiniest. Getting to think aloud with all of you always makes things clearer for me. Thanks :)
Indigo S.
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Or, he was afraid of what Mal might do if'n he found out Jayne stole from his crew.
Just thought I'd add that bit to the mix, as it's always been my impression.
*************************************************
I mean to confound these bungers!
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He's the big dumb kid who pushes the limits. I mean, Simon is going to know that Jayne has been in his stuff. (The doctor does not hang his clothes on the floor, the way Mal does.)
I don't think Jayne would steal from 'crew'. Though I might reconsider that stance if there was alcohol involved.
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Quote:
Originally posted by IndigoStarblaster:
But what I really noticed for the first time on this viewing was how inconsistent Jayne was in this episode. When Book gets shot, Jayne is focussed first on the fact that the lawmen are leaving and second on whether Mal had retrieved the money. He doesn't seem to care that Book is hurt. But when they're treating Book (both onboard Serenity and later in the Alliance medical facilities) Jayne seems just as worried about Book as the others.
The priorities of Jayne:
1) Me ie am I gonna go to jail
2) Money ie Mal did you get the money
3) Others ie since no other threat exists, Jayne can focus on other things.
But, one must not forget that getting Book fixed up, could alert the authorities to something that Jayne did. Thus, he stands a possibility of going to jail; see 1.
It might not be all that selfless. Plus Jayne isn't exactly a multi-tasking type person.
Quote:
Originally posted by IndigoStarblaster:
Then there's when Jayne goes through and steals some of River and Simon's stuff when he thinks they're gone for good. That's certainly in character, given what we know of him to this point. But then, when they come back, Jayne hurriedly returns their stuff and does an awkward, "Glad you're back, doctor", as though he were ashamed of his stealing. It seemed to me it would be much more in character for him to return the stuff grudgingly and not caring if River and Simon knew he'd taken it, along the lines of, "Yeah, here's your stuff, since you're back."
I don't think this is Jayne being ashamed. More along the lines of not wanting to get caught ie He knows Mal wouldn't exactly like that (negative reprocusions). So, in Jayne's mind, giving it back lessens the possibility that Simon would say something to Mal. Similar to 1 above.
----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"
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