Last Mal/Inara quote (Serenity)

POSTED BY: veronic
UPDATED: Thursday, January 10, 2013 17:33
VIEWED: 17408
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VERONIC

Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:16 PM

The last comic, I don´t remember name.

BYTEMITE

Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
I look at Inara's line and Mal's line after that as probably the most honest lines that they've ever shared. None of us know what the future holds, hence "I don't know", and it's a "good answer".

And Inara may still be a Companion, but she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. If she chooses to continue Companioning it’s her choice that works for her, same if she chooses a different path, again her choice, which she will learn to live with and not blame anyone or live in regret. And it's Mal that affords her that choice, because he is all about freedom, and that's why she loves Serenity and her family there.

I agree, mostly, but Mal and Inara aren't Mal and Inara without that "I don't care what you say, I'm doing things my way, screw you" mentality between them. She'd be a companion because she wants to, but she'd also be watching for the moment Mal finally cracks and can't take it anymore. It's what their history is.

For their relationship to even be possible, one of them has to change. And I'm thinking it would be Mal, because there's precedence for him trying to (Heart of Gold), and because eventually for his own sake he needs to mellow out a little. Trust people more, lose some of that anger. He's on a self-destructive path for a stress induced heartattack if he doesn't get himself killed first.

Like you said, if Inara does ever decide to stop being a companion, it would have to be because she wants to. If they ever get far enough, it might even be for Mal's sake, because her going to other clients will still be tearing him up, even if he has to accept what she does.

Later on she COULD make a pretty good criminal (particularly a non-violent con-artist). I just see a lot of resistance to it initially, and it won't happen if she's still a companion. I question whether she would give up companioning in the first place, even if it was for Mal.

I'd actually enjoy seeing a criminal Inara though, she was great smack-talking Saffron in Trash, and she was so eager to help Mal find someone to fence the lassiter.

BYTEMITE

Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:28 PM

The comic was Better days.

If she's ill, I don't think it's sexually transmitted, she wouldn't go seeing clients otherwise. She's not a selfish person, she's not about to go infecting other people just so she can get money. She's all about the therapeutic helping of people. I'm thinking she's a carrier for something genetic and is just waiting for the symptoms to start.

AU, I agree completely. :)

KATESFRIEND

Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:41 PM

There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

PLATONIST

Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:55 PM

Coming together to form a strong mature supportive relationship takes sacrifice and dare I say it "putting the other person first".
Where is it that you think Mal and Inara are that selfish and uncaring to say "screw you I'm doing what I want?"

She doesn't purposely Companion to push Mal into cracking and saying that he has feelings for her. Being a Companion is her job, her line of work, what she has been trained to do, what she brought to Serenity. It doesn't have anything to do with Mal. When Mal did come close to being truthful, she left to spare him the pain of her secret and sacrificed her own happiness to teach at a second rate Training House. And Mal let her go for the same reason and we all know how painful that was for him. How does that illustrate selfishness?

BYTEMITE

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:00 PM

It doesn't, I think I've been misunderstood.

In the past, that HAS been what they have been like, on the SURFACE. Underneath, there's all the sacrifices that other other half doesn't know about and doesn't see.

I'd see Inara as waiting, with dread, for that confrontation all the time she's working as a companion. It's a ticking time bomb. Whether or not it ever comes up is up to Mal.

But if Mal ever does bring it up, she'd be furious about him asking if she'd quit, and it might even cause her to leave again.

PLATONIST

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:14 PM

I agree, there is surface Mal/Inara and underneath Mal/Inara and I've always felt that the last conversation between them deals with exactly that. Mal's line about "getting you back to your girls' isn't biting or sarcastic, its subtle affirmation that he is accepting of her choices to work for the Companion Guild.

A few little girls on a border moon aren't exactly a threat to his masculine psychic:) And it leads them to begin a more honest exchange, partly because Inara made a life change by becoming a teacher in the first place.

And you know what they say "those that can’t do, Teach".

BYTEMITE

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:21 PM

Really? You think that'd change? Neither of them are very communicative about their own feelings on the best of days; Inara's too used to focusing on other people, and sometimes I don't think Mal knows WHAT he feels, let alone how to express it.

Ooh, I do like your interpretation of that last line... Although you put a condition on it, that he'd only accept it if she's just teaching young girls.

VERONIC

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Katesfriend:
There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

I don´t know why Whedon deleted so much important Mal/Inara scenes (and Script)

PLATONIST

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:50 PM

Well, it would have to change and evolve because keeping a pairing in perpetual orbit based on not being able to be civil or honest with another gets predictable and old for viewers quickly. I'm sure there was a time line on how these two were to eventually play out, albeit a very long one:)

Since there are no plans for a sequel, what we may be seeing is the actual LAST interactions of the crew and that is all Joss was willing to give us and left it at that.

As far as Mal only accepting Inara as a teacher, again, I see things more or less as Inara finding that more complicated than he does as SHE is the one who tells Kaylee, Companions usually don't date, which I've never understood, like why the hell not?, if we are being open about sexuality and enlightened about our thinking.

Mal's initial opener while he makes his first forward advance is “I’m not looking for anything from you", which would suggest that he could become open to it quickly, if necessary, and especially if it meant him being intimate with her, he is a man after all and I’m just saying.

From Inara’s evolving behavior it could also be argued that Companioning on Serenity became stressful and not very practical for her. She obviously has a lot of inner conflict over her love for Mal and how to proceed with her life. That was what was to be explored with her character if the show hadn’t been canceled.

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