Heart of Gold
POSTED BY: wytchcroft
UPDATED: Friday, December 7, 2007 01:10
VIEWED: 9175
PAGE 2 of 5
When I re-watched it with my folks, to have them follow it. My dad commented that he liked this episode the least because it felt like an A-Team episode...
I kinda know what he meant too.
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Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
Including the forementioned badness, I don't like HoG because Mal consciencely(sp?) betrays Inara. When Nandi said "I ain't her.", Mal knew exactly who she was taking about. We know Mal is stubbornly loyal to Inara, business arrangement or no. Heck, he was in a duel with frickin' swords, where he almost died (ok, that happens a lot), just so she wouldn't leave.
And from an architectual stand point, the house triggers my gag reflex.
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Find here the Serenity you seek.
If it helps, try to view the comment in the light that Mal does not know that Inara has feelings for him.
He only knows that he has them for Inara and can't figure her out, ever, and Nandi has been her friend since way back and even SHE doesn't know what makes her tick. How will he ever get closer? No way, ever.
And there is Nandi, knowing what it feels like to love Inara and be kept at arms length forever, talking of very little BUT Inara, making him both more miserable and giving him an option of distraction and commiseration - and at that last moment, when she says "I ain't her"... Know what Mal says? Not "I now, you're Nandi." Not "I wasn't thinking about Inara." Not "Why do you think you have to say this now?"
He says "No one in this room but you and me.", which is both the only true thing he could say and STILL a lie, because Inara is absolutely in that room swirling over their heads and in his. Nandi is a stand-in and the beautiful thing she does for Mal is that she knows it and still lets it happen.
Which makes things triply tragic for Inara because her bit of consolation is that Mal was a comfort to her dear friend, when really, she let him use her. Have that hanging over your head, Mal. *pets*
I love "Heart of Gold" because it is not about jealousy and betrayal and pettiness. It's about love and fear and tragedy.
And I HATE most everything about the episode's plot! Dude! Could Rance Burgess have been more of a cardboard villain?? Hardly! Ridiculously substandard for Firefly.
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NBZ I couldnt disagree with you more. You said that "Mal did not "betray" Inara in any sense, shape or form. There was no relationship to betray. There was none that was in the process of creation either. There was simply nothing to betray. What did Inara expect? Sooner or later Mal would move on, or at least try to. Can't expect him to be committed to a non-existent relationship while waiting for Inara to see the light. They are not teens."
There was a relationship to betray. Yes, it may have been unspoken and they didnt use a "term" to define it but it was there. They both love each other and he knew it would hurt her. I also dont think that Mal is waiting for Inara to "see the light". Mal is just as guilty at being stubborn and not showing his feelings. I think that they are both waiting for the other to make the first move.
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Quote:I gotta go with nbz on this. Calling Mal's hookup with Nandi a betrayal is missing the complexity of the situation, and of these characters. They aren't destined for True Love, as much as we'd all like to see it. They're complicated, imperfect people trying to get by. The fact that Mal's been loyal and defensive of Inara in the past doesn't make them wedded. He's defensive of his whole crew.
Originally posted by nbz:Quote:This is the one place I have some issues with the fans. Of course he knew, but Mal did not "betray" Inara in any sense, shape or form. There was no relationship to betray. There was none that was in the process of creation either. There was simply nothing to betray.
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
ncluding the forementioned badness, I don't like HoG because Mal consciously [corrected] betrays Inara. When Nandi said "I ain't her.", Mal knew exactly who she was taking about.
I think that if Mal does betray anything in HoG, it's himself. He's a man living in denial of himself, hiding away on a little spaceship and doing his best to stay out of life in general. In fact, it may be that he's subconsciously trying to avoid his feelings for Inara. When Nandi says: I ain't her, Mal probably just dismisses that, thinking: yeah, whatever, what's she got to do with any of this?
Keep in mind, Mal tries to come clean with Inara at the end of the episode. Why didn't he do it at the beginning? Because he needed the hook-up with and loss of Nandi to give him a kick in the butt. As he says, it makes him take a longer look at what's valuable to him. Light bulb goes on.
I say, for all this information, I do love the episode. If it weren't for the shoot out... and the ugly building LOL! ...
Edit to add: Mycrew, you really think they both loved each other and both knew it? Really? I feel like it's central to the whole series that they don't know.
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What a great thread. I do agree with almost everything that's written here. and I do find it interesting that this episode actually has an Asian in it, reminding me of the beginning.
I think the main reason why I personally don't see it more than once a month, is because the ending never lives up to the everything that's happening in the episode. When I saw this episode, I had already seen all the other episodes, and maybe I was somehow thinking this was going to be the best damn ending ever. The different sequences leading up to Mal's sex scene without Inara (I really thought they'd hook up), and Jayne being so Jaynesque... Maybe I was expecting so much in the end, that I was disappointed. its hard to be disappointed when Mal gets the girl.
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If Mal betrayed Inara in this episode, then in Serenity when he walked into a trap to rescue her, would that sort of be like an atonement?
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Quote:
Originally posted by mycrew:
NBZ I couldnt disagree with you more...
The bane of my life. Why can't everyone always agree with me? I will make a good world dictator!
Quote:
There was a relationship to betray. Yes, it may have been unspoken and they didnt use a "term" to define it but it was there. They both love each other and he knew it would hurt her. I also dont think that Mal is waiting for Inara to "see the light". Mal is just as guilty at being stubborn and not showing his feelings. I think that they are both waiting for the other to make the first move.
Perfect place for a quote:
Quote:
INARA: I'm not sleeping with you, Mal.
MAL: Uh, no, I think I would have noticed if you were. My keenly trained... senses would have...
INARA: You're not my lover. Neither are you my other, My House Mistress or anyone who has the slightest say in how I conduct my affairs.
MAL: Well enough. So?
INARA: So let me conduct my affairs!
Apart from being hilarious, it does have a point or two. One of their strictly business relationship, the second a hint at Inara's job (I will also say that I don't think her job is as much of an issue to Mal as is made out to others...). The job she has been doing for years before travelling on Serenity, and for atleast a year on the ship too, is that a betrayal to Mal?
They are not beholden to each other, nor do they have the illusion that they are. Inara crying was (to me) a symbol that it meant something to her when Mal decided to look elsewhere (and a moving scene - so totally unexpected to see the porcelain mask drop). It finally meant something.
The only other time where they could have connected was at the end of Our Mrs Reynolds, but there Mal read it wrong. Unlike in the Pilot - Serenity - where he sort of faked affection to get her to agree with his plans to abandon ship.
And now a point to the opposite. Notice how Mal is totally at ease walking in on Inara? where did that comfort come from? maybe something happened and then unhappened before the series started? cliched, but IMO a distinct possibility.
@Mal4Prez: +1.
@Rallem: Did he? go in to rescue her? or to see what was happening? This intrigues me. I would say both, but cannot be certain of the former.
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Excellent dialogue quote nbz! That does get the point across. And I agree about Inara's job - I think that's the convenient thing Mal's grabbed hold of to keep her at a distance. I don't think it's the heart of the matter.
Quote:Hunh. Now see, I don't take that as fake at all. Not even a little! Reavers on the horizon - kinda makes one be truthful. I'm not saying it was a declaration of unending love or anything, but just a sign that underneath the butting of heads there's something a bit warm and fuzzy between these two.
Originally posted by nbz:
Unlike in the Pilot - Serenity - where he sort of faked affection to get her to agree with his plans to abandon ship.
Quote:I take it the opposite way. If they'd hooked up at any time, there'd be a whole lotta discomfort. Big elephant in the room. The fact that Mal is so comfortable and unself-conscious tells me that sure as hell nothing ever happened.
And now a point to the opposite. Notice how Mal is totally at ease walking in on Inara? where did that comfort come from? maybe something happened and then unhappened before the series started? cliched, but IMO a distinct possibility.
I think it comes from the fact that Inara laid down the law right off, and Mal set up his own defenses, so in any everyday non-Reaver threatened situation they manage to look at each other in a completely non-sexual way. Walking into her shuttle is like walking into a sister's room for Mal. There's just nothing there.
OK, you and I know that there's sure as hell something there, but these two characters live in constant conflict with themselves and are very good at denial. They've got their mutual attraction sorted out and locked away where they won't have to look at it. Not unless Reavers attack, or Inara thinks Mal's dead or about to get skewered, or Mal gets rattled by the death of his one night stand.
Um. What was this thread supposed to be about again?
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The sexxing parts with Mal made me think of stereotypical Star Trek format.
I din't think River coming was a problem - Simon has been moderating her drugs and she's been improving.
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So, did Mal betray Inara? There's all these dualities going on: Inara professes to have just a business relationship with Mal, but is found weeping nonetheless when he sleeps with Nandi; Mal tells Nandi, "Any friend of Inara's is a strictly businesslike relationship of mine," but only says it outloud in the first place because Inara wounded him in that whole "But you will get paid." speech; Nandi accepts the "Only people in this room is you and me." reply, full-well knowing Inara's still in the room, but the day after goes to, "You didn't give me the whole truth, Mal," after all; and Mal tries to pull off an innocent "'bout what?" routine, but his face shows him feeling guilt all the same.
Inara and Mal were so in denial about their true feelings (or in denial about their denial, however you wanna put it). And I wish they hadn't been. You know, peeps toss the phrase "Getting in touch with your feelings" around as if doing so is as easy as lyin'. It ain't. What was that saying again? "It's very hard to say the exact truth about your own feelings -- much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth." Or some such.
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"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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