Views from a non-Browncoat...
POSTED BY: SpaceAnJL
UPDATED: Thursday, February 21, 2008 19:22
VIEWED: 9378
PAGE 3 of 4
The thing about Mal is, we don't really know his likes and preferences in women. He might not even know, but the point being, he's definatly not Jayne. Jayne would hit anything that moves. Goes along w/ his 'won't be around here long anyways, might as well get what I can ' attitude.
Mal ? He remains a mystery . 'Saffron' opened a door into Mal's personality that even Inara hadn't , in getting him to talk about his past, his home. There's plenty there that Mal keeps stored away. There's something there, whether the war took him away from his life, or his farm and family was wiped out....hard to say.
We know how Inara feels about Mal ( Our Mrs Reynolds - the kiss ) and ( Heart of Gold - her crying ), but is Mal's view of Inara really love, or something else. He clearly respects her, but in Shindig, is he fighting for her affections, or simply playing out his view of how things should be. He doens't get/ like her job, and I'm not convinced he'd ever come to grips w/ it. He jokes about her 'whoring' and all, maybe his ex became a companion? Or possibly someone close? Lots there that's to be resolved.
It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
I'm one of them rare folks who think Mal and Inara DO work. :)
I don’t disagree that Mal and Inara could work – or that it should work… I just find it so touching that there’s so little chance it WOULD work.
(Woodwork? – hmm maybe they share a passion – cue dreadful Ghost type slow mo love action over a hot lathe, it was good enough for Witness! And hey, firefly? We’ve seen the future and it’s kind’ve - Amish)
The very comfortableness they share – and oh, there are so many lovely instances (mainly in the shuttle) where they almost seem to forget they’re not together – is what they seem so afraid of – and what would need to be surmounted. Sure the BDM proposes a vague shift in that direction – but it aint that much (“I don’t know” “Good Answer”) and, hell most of it’s on the cutting room floor.
Considering that season 1 disposed of Inara as a minor cliffhanger towards the end of the series I have no doubt that a return was intended. The question being – did the writers themselves have any idea as to where the two characters were going? Had any storylines for Season II been worked out before cancellation? I can imagine Inara returning as a key guest star (ala Saffron in Season 1) not necessarily as a regular – this might have actually allowed real exploration of her character.
But then Firefly morphs into Serenity a whole more complex series. The gulf between Inara and Mal seems wide in Those Left Behind and any re-connection in the movie is (as above) tenuous especially given the events of the film itself. The question becomes ‘where next?’ for all the characters.
Nandi attracted Mal because of her desire to be ‘Independent’. (The idea that she was just some sort of substitute Inara doesn’t hold up for me – especially since Mal is thinking of Saffron just as much as Inara when the two make out).
Inara’s “I supported Unification” clearly stung the Captain.
I agree with what I’ve read elsewhere – that Inara’s ultimate existential choice (coz Joss y’know) must be about freedom and power. Does the Guild licensed role of Companion really provide this?
Saffron represents the ‘bad’ use of both her freedom and her power over men.
Nandi something ‘better’ especially since she is attempting to build and create… but this still results in her death (as with Book and Haven)– and which is anyway a tough road.
Come the BDM and everyone is clearly running against the Alliance – Inara forced for the first time to see the nastiness the Alliance actually represents (beyond the ill treatment of River).
So – was the Training house in the BDM a reaction to what Inara witnessed around Nandi? An attempt to provide something more secure and Guild oriented. If so, the Operative’s invasion of that space shows the futility of such a scheme. Inara might therefore decide 1) to actively resist the Alliance and join with the crew of Serenity in so doing. 2) To go back into the guild and attempt to wield political power as a result. 3) Give up and just return to the life of a shuttle based Companion.
Her relationship with Mal would therefore be different depending on her choice of action.
Mal himself would be facing similar choices. Post-BDM would he develop a more active anti-Alliance role – or go back to a reassuring semblance of what used to be? (Ignoring his personal arc, such a retrogressive step would be difficult anyway considering how many safe havens are gone and how many people might be after his blood as a result).
I can imagine a plausible enough TV scenario where Mal and Inara are together as the crew rescue others like River from the nasty Academies… The Serenity crew providing the muscle and Inara providing ‘Academies’ of her own where refugees could be hidden and where some might actually become Companions – leading to an eventual situation where the Weapons are able to turn on their creators. But… this would mean a definite atmospheric shift for the show… ‘Firefly’ becoming ever more distant – and I agree completely with Platonist abo
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Quote:
especially since Mal is thinking of Saffron just as much as Inara when the two make out)
I don't think Mal "thinks" of YoSaffBridge at ALL. After that first "almost" seduction because she was all "Naked and articulate", once Mal saw YoSaffBridge as the low down lieing dirty deciever.. any "romantic" or "I'll be in my bunk" thoughts about her are pretty much non-existant. She's now more of an arch-enemy than ANY type of romantic rival for Mal's effection.
He even said it at the end of "Our Mrs. Reynolds". Something to the effect of "You even think of pulling that seduction stuff on me, I will riddle you will holes".
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The question being – did the writers themselves have any idea as to where the two characters were going?
Considering Joss has his hands in every episode irregardless of who was writing it, it all comes down to him. And yea.. I do believe he has at least a broad stroke of an idea of where he ultimatly wanted Mal and Inara to go and end up when the final story comes to a close. Doesn't mean he has every nut and bolt, and also doesn't mean the river wouldn't take a different turn here or there along the way. But yea.. I think he has a pretty solid idea.
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I can imagine a plausible enough TV scenario where Mal and Inara are together as the crew rescue others like River from the nasty Academies…
I don't think that's Mal's way. Or even the flavor of Firefly at all. I think Firefly is about a ragtag group of people just trying to get by and "keep flying". And staying under the radar as much as possible. It's about taking jobs and petty theiving. It's about running out of gas and the ship falling apart. It's not about the "alpha" heros.. it's about the people that any of us might be where we put into this universe, born and raised in this senerio. So I don't think Mal is going to have any part of rescuing anyone he doesn't know from any academies, unless he is getting paid of course.
I don't think, short of a full out new war between the indepentants and the alliance, that Mal is going to go looking for a higher calling. He just wants to patch up his hurts and be on his way. Mal didn't choose to go looking for what he did in the movie, he made a decision to bring River and Simon back on board after the Maidenhead fight because of he strong sence of "crew" and "family".
Once that decision was made, then he was almost forced to do everything else just to try to find a way out. Once the operative killed Book, left no ground for them to go to, and then even went to Inara, the "higher calling" was sort of forced on Mal, he didn't go looking for it.
So now that he is out of it.. I just don't see them pursuing any other kind of higher calling (of course it will again come looking for them). No.. I see him going on, just like always.. just trying to keep flying.
He will always hate the alliance, but doesn't mean he's going to continue fighting a one man war against them.
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Quote:
I can imagine a plausible enough TV scenario where Mal and Inara are together as the crew rescue others like River from the nasty Academies…
Quote:
I don't think that's Mal's way. Or even the flavor of Firefly at all. I think Firefly is about a ragtag group of people just trying to get by and "keep flying". And staying under the radar as much as possible. It's about taking jobs and petty theiving. It's about running out of gas and the ship falling apart. It's not about the "alpha" heros..
I AGREE!!!:) it's NOT Firefly
(but in that respect TTB and the BDM aren't either - they're Serenity, hello Big Damn Alpha Heroes) and it's not something that as a Fic writer i would do (or want)
- but it IS plausible for the characters i think and would be a viable show from the executives point of view. The fun and difficulty with speculation Post-BDM is that the movie is an epic - there are great issues that would have to be addressed during any following show. Gradually, i hope.
As a fic writer i have aimed for a plausible mix (of 'Firefly' and 'Serenity' of my own but i have never thought for a moment that it is definitive in any way. That's why i enjoy so many different writers' works in the BSR.
of one thing i am sure if we were lucky enough to be granted a new show in any format, at any time - it would not be the Firefly of old. it would be something new.
hope that made sense!:)
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The problem I have with Mal and Inara compatibilty issues is that Inara as we see her in the series and movie is not a fully developed character. She's got secrets. She's got some big ole story behind her: the event that sent her scurrying out of the Core and onto a dirty little Firefly. (Well, it is!) There's some reason she's uncomfortable in Persephone high society and attracted to Mal, even if she denies and runs from that attraction. I mean, some reason besides the obvious fact that he's hot LOL!
I see a human side to her personality that only comes out in a few little bitty scenes. I think the perfect, polished Companion that doesn't belong with a man like Mal would have slowly disappeared and a truer Inara would have taken over. Kind of like how Cordy became less and less the self-centered spoiled bitch after a few seasons and more of someone who could believably have a romance with Angel. (Honestly, I liked the bitch much better LOL!)
So saying that Mal/Inara would never work ignores all this potential for depth in Inara's character. It also dismisses all the work Joss put into establishing common ground and a feeling of comfort between them. The fact that they have very different and unlikely backgrounds only makes it more interesting - why do they share what they do (which is clearly more than sexual attraction) when they are so very different?
All of which is why I think that they do have a future. I don't at ALL think it's wedded bliss and a passel of little ones underfoot, (I admit - it's possible that I rule that option out because I find it boring as hell and I think Joss does too, given his track record with couples 
) but I don't think Inara's intentions to leave the ship translate to any plan for the character to leave the show. No matter if she did leave for a time - her backstory was going to be central to some future plotline, perhaps a whole season's worth of plotlines.
Which is, of course, nothing but my measly .02.
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I recently started re-watching all the first Buffy and Angel episodes.
And what struck me most is the way the character relationships changed.
Who watched the second season of Buffy and thought Buffy and Spike would end up together? There was no indication whatsoever of what was in store for them. They hated each other and fought to the death on more than one occasion.
And what about the Angel and Cordelia relationship? When you watch the first three seasons of Buffy, there's no way you'd think Cordie and Angel would end up falling for each other....and yet when it happened, it almost felt natural.
That's the beauty of Joss Whedon. He takes his characters on this wonderful, lifelike ride, but to places we, the viewers, would almost never predict.
What would he have done with the Firefly crew? It's impossible to speculate, since we can't begin to know what sort of rigours he would have put them through to change their outlooks or perceptions of themselves and one another.
The one thing I do know, is that anything is possible, and it would have been wonderful to watch.
Big Damn Browncoat Vote http://richlabonte.net/tvvote/index.html
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I think both of you make valid points.
Of course, I'm going to add a few of my own.
I do think Joss had a clear idea of where he wanted these two characters to end up, and I say it most likely would have been toward the end of the show or trilogy, because there is much story telling potential in the mean time. They have a lot of obstacles to overcome, enough material for the run of the show.
And, the movie only showed us, that they have feelings for each other and that they are both aware of those feelings.
Sorry to disappoint you guys, but Inara will never be President or House Priestess. She is just NOT that ambitious, anymore. Watch the series and movie. The girl doesn't leave her room or shuttle. When she is not crying over Mal, she spends most of her time in front of the Buddha, like a chaste nun at a girl's prep school. Her political life isn't going to happen.
Serenity’s Ambassador is all she'll claim on that front. She'll have her day with the Guild and it won't be pretty.
Nandi and Saffron (former Companions) are incarnations of different versions of Inara. They are essentially Inara's foils, not Mal's. We watch Inara's reactions and character development in both those scenarios. The last scene in OMR is Mal and Inara, the last scene with Saffron, in Trash, is with Inara, not Mal. The last words spoken to each other by Mal and Nandi are about Inara's feelings. The funeral scene in HoG is Inara grieving for her friend, the last scene in HoG is Mal and Inara on the catwalk, when she speaks those words that send Mal into an emotional spin.
IMHO, Mal's and Inara's story is a simple love story complicated by the two of them believing in all the trappings of things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Inara's profession, Mal still fighting a war, Serenity's facade of
symbolic freedom, all the walls and emotional barriers created by foolish pride and societal rules ... yabba, dabba the list goes on. And when all that is gone (let's start with the missing Guild in the BDM) what is left? Two people needing to be on a broken down cargo transport ship, at the corner of no and where.
If I were a fanfic writer or interviewing for a writing job for Firefly, that's where I would have started, exploring those issues.
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Oh, also, I don't adhere to comparisons between Whedon's shows. Different verse, different life views from both writer and characters.
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Quote:I think it's valid to point out that Joss wasn't likely planning some kind of Firefly Partridge Family. It's just not his style.
Originally posted by Platonist:
Oh, also, I don't adhere to comparisons between Whedon's shows. Different verse, different life views from both writer and characters.
At the least, can you agree that Joss changes his characters over long, careful arcs? That's the point I was making with the Cordy/Angel comparison. Details of character and the basic nature of relationships change in Whedon shows. The Inara/Mal we saw in the first 14 episodes is not the full story of either of them, especially not Inara, imho.
I maybe wasn't clear that I agree with you and other posters that I think Joss had a solid idea of where he wanted to go with these two. I'm not saying I know what he was planning - I surely don't! But I think Inara's secret would have been similar to River's Miranda secret (in the sense of storyline formation only!) They're both plots he imbedded from the get-go, to be pulled out in later seasons. After all, the man went into this show with plans for making seven seasons. So, my point is that what we've seen between Mal and Inara was merely groundwork.
Seven seasons.
Trying not to be bitter...Edit: forgot to say - Platonist, I love your interpretation of Nandi and Saffron as regards to Inara. Good stuff!
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"The Partridge Family" LOL...mal4prez, I can always count on you to remind us of inane pop cultural references that epitomize some of our Browncoat sisters and brothers take on the Firefly verse, especially those writing fanfic that have Mal married in a loving, giving, wonderful, open relationship with perfect kids and a beautiful self sacrificing wife, but tragically flawed, of course. It always leaves me asking what freaking show they are watching, because it sure isn’t Firefly. And, then, all the wonderful comments? Huh?
And yes, I agree on long careful arcs, and Inara's hasn't been developed, yet.
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