the real shepard book
POSTED BY: tudyksgagreel
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 16:11
VIEWED: 24687
PAGE 5 of 9
Another of the great mysteries the undoubtedly would have been given to us half-way through season 2. Sigh.
Book is such a beautifully written character. He so much reminds me of the priest from the first chapter of Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLE or even possibly Prince Siddhartha/Guatama Buddha. That's how I like to imagine his background: Born to wealth, saw too much unethical behavior by his social class and then turned to a spiritual life. The details are irrelevant to me, but the archetype is a particular favorite of mine.
--Kala
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Kala is dead-on. Shepherd Book has reminded me of someone for quite a while, and I now realize it's the kind Bishop from early on in Les Miserables: Valjean names him "Monsieur le Cure." Good call.
That being said, I do agree that the thought we see revealed when he's under River's scrutiny argues in favor of a more "complicated" background, and that the military command at Serenity does seem more likely than the other theories I've heard.
What a great character (the actor, Ron Glass, is fantastic, as well!).
Quote:
Originally posted by LadyJayne:
Another of the great mysteries the undoubtedly would have been given to us half-way through season 2. Sigh.
Book is such a beautifully written character. He so much reminds me of the priest from the first chapter of Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLE or even possibly Prince Siddhartha/Guatama Buddha. That's how I like to imagine his background: Born to wealth, saw too much unethical behavior by his social class and then turned to a spiritual life. The details are irrelevant to me, but the archetype is a particular favorite of mine.
--Kala
"Always have enjoyed guessing games." --Shepherd Book, Dead or Alive
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Now, I know that there have been some wild and somewhat valid conjectures regarding the past and future of our beloved Sheppard.
I propose that he was in some way in command of Aliance troops during the battle of Serenity Valey, a dark day for all of us loyal to the independants.
As support for my hypothesis I offer a only incedental evidence.
1. Mal has owned Serenity for 5 years(commentary - "Out of Gas")a year or two after the war
2. Book is proficient in the use of weaponry and usually has the reflexes of a cat (just watch him in action in "War Stories")
3. It was common after a safe return from the Crusades, to join a monastic order once the horror of war, and the guilt associated with not only your own actions but also the guilt of surviving when others you knew had died, finally caught up with the well to do
4. Book has not yet been ordained(I believe that I remember him saying as much)
5. Even if he had been ordained, the seminary would take @ 6 years for most faiths.
6. Book is given top notch medical care on the Aliance cruiser in "Bushwacked". The kind of care that an enlisted man would not recieve, and not the fawning and bowing that a highly placed government official would recieve, more like a respected officer or hero might expect.
7. Durring a conversation with Inarra over a crisis of faith (said conversation rife with supporting lines for fans of Joss's thinking) book says that he thinks he got on the wrong ship, and is told that he is right where he needs to be(Serenity)
He is hiding, in my opinion, from his own guilt.
He is not "on the lam" or desperatly trying to stay under the radar as the use of his ident card would have popped up a red flag to detain him( a warant gets you arrested if the cops stop you for speeding in Va. and we don't have the cortex)
Yes he was looking for a ship as a passenger, but what made him choose Serenity for, 1st transit, then a home is his personal growth and atonement.
If he were an officer in the aliance military, his perspective durring the war as to what kind of person would fight for the independants would have to be skewed in order to allow him to order them slain. He now sees that they were human and is coping with his guilt issues.
Joss drops hints in BTVS season 3 that the bed in Buffy's dreams is for "Little Sister"
In BTVS season 4 "spirit guide" Tara tells Buffy to be home before "DAWN"
The clues have been there for us, but the aura of mystery has been focused on, and I too Hate this phrase, "the girl in the box".
It's like Moe(3 Stooges) moving his hand and twiddling his fingers to get your attention before hi hits you with the hammer you've known was in his other hand the whole time.
Then we have the deleted scenes.
In the original opening Zoe keeps asking Mal what colors(flag) the med ships are flying with the response "Does it matter?".
Once she proposes that there may be a god after all Mal's response is to the efect of "God? Wonder what color he flies."
Could be a back-handed clue or illustration with Book as a sheapherd, or at least posing as one.
Next we have the first of the two scene clip wherein Book asks Simon whether he caught the name of the ship he has boarded.
When Simon assumes the mundane definition of Serenety to be the case Book directs him to brush up on his history if he wants to bond with the crew.
Book, I take it, knew the meaning if not on sight then certainly by the time he set foot on the ship.
The second of the two scene clip, while cool with the name of the general, was most striking in Zoe's recounting of the true horror of the wounded being left for dead for a whole week.
I also dug the line regading making Serenity your home. Talk about classic double entandre(sp?).
There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.
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I agree with your assesment of Shepherd Book.
I wonder why River doesn't 'read' him more often. If he has secrets to hide and is loaded with guilt, shouldn't River have picked up on it?
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Quite clearly, Book is Zoe and Mal's lovechild, sent back through time to 'set things right' and avenge the awful death of the entire Serenity crew at the hands of River The World Destroyer.
His skill with arms and knowledge of torture techniques and criminal activities is obviously due to his childhood tutor, Nishka's head-in-a-jar.
With Joss's well-documented aim being to destroy any notion of causality and predicability amongst his public, this seems as likely a scenario as any to me :)
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Why "Mal and Zoe's lovechild?" Why doesn't Wash get any respect?? After all, he and Zoe (1) are married; (2) discussed having children in "Heart of Gold"; and (3) were seen makin' sweet, sweet love (um, on the bridge) in "Objects in Space."
Then again, perhaps all of this is misdirection, and Book is actually Jubal Earley's father, riddled by guild for failing to protect Earley's mother (and the lovable golden retreiver) from his adolescent predations. That would explain Earley's comment that Book is "no shepherd."
Okay, enough of that. I'm sticking with Book as General Whatshisname, commander of alliance forces at the Battle of Serenity Valley on Hera. I think PaleHorse's points on that are pretty compelling.
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Quote:
Originally posted by PhotinusPyralis:
Why "Mal and Zoe's lovechild?" Why doesn't Wash get any respect?? After all, he and Zoe (1) are married; (2) discussed having children in "Heart of Gold"; and (3) were seen makin' sweet, sweet love (um, on the bridge) in "Objects in Space."
Ah. You see, Wash is disembowled by one of his own dinosaur toys when our Valiant Crew visit the Planet Of The Growth Slime and all the toys on board becomes sentient. Alien headcrabs then trick Mal into thinking Zoe is Inara, and Zoe into thinking Mal is Wash, and we are treated to a slow motion, 12 minute long love-making scene, with the sad music from the end of 'The Message' overlaid.
(in my defense, it is 2:10am here, and I've been translating Virgil all bloody day)...
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Quote:
Originally posted by MojaveRattler:
Book's Actual quote was "I don't give half-a-hump whether you're innocent or not. So where does that put you?" while he was speaking with Jayne.
-mojave
Rewatching this episode the other day, I realized something: Every verbal/mental pickup River gets from someone is a regret. Simon regrets the good life he gave up to save his sister; Jayne regrets his stupidity in betraying his shipmates (and definately regrets getting caught at it.) Inara regrets pressuring someone (A doctor? Her priestess? Her lover?) to tell her the truth about her condition/situation; and Mal regrets losing his faith.
{Keep in mind, these people might or might not make the same choices again. It's entirely possible to regret a necessity.}
The only ones who show no regrets are Kaylee, who is such a pure soul/creature of innocent impulse that she probably doesn't have any, and Zoe/Wash, who are too deeply into the pleasure of the moment to regret anything.
And in this context, Book's regret is that, at some point in his past, he did not care about justice, either in general, or against someone in particular. Not a bad thing to regret, actually.
No conclusions. Just an observation.
"You can't enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him." -- Robert A. Heinlein
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Rocketjock,
The last time I watched OIS, I noticed that most (if not all) of the lines River "heard" were said elsewhere in the episode, in different contexts than what she heard them.
When she first saw and heard Simon and Kaylee talking, the line "I would be there right now..." was very cold and made River feel guilty for causing Simon's life to go off course. When Simon actually did say the line in the true context, it was said more with wonder and a touch of melancholy, not remorse, regret or anger.
But that's just my take...
Mal-licious
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My bad. I just watched OIS again and the only line repeated in the episode appears to be the "I would be there right now..." one by Simon. However, knowing Joss (not really KNOWING, but you know), there may have been future episodes with them inserted in them, like easter eggs, to go back and find like treasure. When I watch the entire series again (next week?), I will look for the others in previous episodes.
1st: Simon "I would be there right now..."
2nd: Jayne: "I got stupid. The money was too good." (Does this sound familiar? Did Jayne say this to Mal when Mal put him in the airlock? Or maybe when Simon finally realizes it was Jayne who turned them in and threatens him?)
3rd: Book: "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not. Where does that put you?" (I don't recall Book saying anything near that rude, but maybe Joss would have clarified in a future ep?)
4th: Inara: "I'm a big girl. Just tell me." (Another one intended to be clarified in a future episode? Or perhaps Inara wants Mal to just tell her that he does not care for her? That he wants her to leave? That she can handle it?---Like she "handled" it in "Heart of Gold"?)
5th: Mal: "None of it means a damn thing." (Is this, or something like it, said in any of the war scenes? Maybe when Mal determines that God was not on his side? Or maybe he is trying to tell Inara that if she leaves, his lifestyle has no meaning??)
My point being that I (personally) don't believe any of the things River "heard" were addressed to her directly, just that she picked random thoughts from everyone, and heard them out of their true context. I think we the audience were intended to be let in on the true meanings slowly over the rest of the season-that-never-was.
Anyone?
Mal-licious
Simon to Jubal Early: "My sister's a ship...we had a complicated childhood."
Mal to River-as-Serenity: "How come there's a man on board and you're all of a sudden the ship?"
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