Inara's syringe: What's the big mystery?

POSTED BY: DigificWriter
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 6, 2004 19:13
VIEWED: 14739
PAGE 2 of 5

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 3:31 AM

Welcome aboard!

Well, if Inara were sick, but it was nothing that could be caught by her customers, then I don't see why it would matter to the House. Especially since the House would not receive Inara's dues if she were shut down.

And when asked how it went, Inara did say, "Same as last year," not, "fine".

I agree with the "Inara is dying" theory.

The Real Me

ADAMSTERLING

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:09 AM

Plus, she might have really been leaving Serenity, in HOG and TM, because

a) She has fallen for Mal. She knows that she doesn't have much time left, and doesn't want to go through the pain, of becoming lovers, then dying.

b) She has fallen for Mal. She knows that she doesn't have much time left, and she doesn't want to put Mal through the pain of becoming her lover, only to have her torn away from him. A bit egotistical, but oh well... ;)

-Adam

ROCKETSURGEON

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:22 AM

[caution mild spoilers]

I have to admit that I once thought that it was some sort of nano-tech enhanced thing that turns a companion into the last thing you'd want to run into in a dark alley. Envision scales or something transforming the skin into a regenerative armour, enhanced strenght and, well, everything else she already has: combat/martial arts training, tactical know-how, historic combat engagement information, etc... If the change is somehow permanent, you could see the reluctance. Consider the evidence: sword training, evading YoSafBridge on a narrow catwalk in a long baggy skirt without so much as a scratch (she didn't fight because Mal was a higher priority), overall companion know how. There is also something poetic about how her mind and body become the best weapons to get out of the worst possible situation in light of how they are very much integral to her profession.

Occam's Razor (sp?) would argue the disease thing, except that she should have no reason to leave if it were a terminal disease. Perhaps everyone dies alone, but there's no reason to run away from the few you care about during the dying part. It should be all the more reason to enjoy what she has. Yeh the others will be upset, but they'd be upset about her death wherever she was when it happened.

---
"Here's something you can't do ... [insert cool manoever here]"

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:28 AM

While it would be sorta cool to see Inara morph into something like Mystique from the X-men movies and kick butt, I don't see that happening.

Besides, how would Mal react?

Zoe, of course, would want to try a dose herself.

The Real Me

PAHNOO

Thursday, July 1, 2004 6:20 AM

I see the terminal illness thing as a large possibility. The syringe may well hold some form of pain killer or something of the same ilk that would dampen the pain. BUT also thought this one out. I also watched the commentary by Joss and it sounded to be something more than just poison or a pain killer. I was thinking maybe a dose of some form of STD. She's going out, may as well take some of them with her. After all the Reavers rape, kill, eat and sew the flesh to their clothes. Not necessarily in that order. She'd get post mortem revenge on them.

THUNDAR

Thursday, July 1, 2004 6:21 AM

I think the syringe from Serenity is a life lengthening drug that she takes. Several remarks throughout the series let us know how she feels about death. Once again, she takes it out to look at it in regret.

I'm not sure how to tie that in with her little "out of time" moments. Only during Inara's time on-screen are there those little moments where the scene goes on but Inara seems to stop and look off wistfully. Then in Heart of Gold, she tells Petaline "This is just a moment in time, step aside and let it happen".

OR, the syringe could have contained the antidote to the Companion birth control. She was regretting not having Mal's little browncoat..

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:00 AM

The anti-aging drug idea has merit. Nandi and Inara seemed to treat each other as contemporaries, but Nandi seems to look maybe a decade or more older. Also, Nandi remarked directly on how young Inara still seemed.

The Real Me

SNEAKER98

Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by THEREALME:
The anti-aging drug idea has merit. Nandi and Inara seemed to treat each other as contemporaries, but Nandi seems to look maybe a decade or more older. Also, Nandi remarked directly on how young Inara still seemed.

If so, why would she need to take it right before the reaver attack?

My person opinion is that she's a drug addict. It's tough to get drugs out in the black, so thats where she went to try to quit. The syringe could be her "emergency dose", kind've like emergency cigarettes that someone who's trying to quit always has around.

"I do the job... and then I get paid. Go run your little world."
-Malcolm Reynolds

STEALTH

Thursday, July 1, 2004 8:46 AM

Just my thoughts but I think Inara is on some exploring/mission and has a royal heritage having been born on a planet “that’s like an ocean of light” and the scene where she comforts Book at the end of Serenity suggests something more of her. What sort of person is born on a planet that’s an “ocean of light” and it wasn’t known to someone in the alliance brass (I thought they knew everything..) seems like a light and dark thing ( the Reavers being the dark bit) and maybe the syringe had some essence of the planet to combat the dark Reavers.??

JK

Thursday, July 1, 2004 10:08 AM

The concept of it turning Inara into a big bad ugly (or giving her the essence of her planet or similar) is just too fantastical. It's an idea that might have worked on Buffy and Angel, but the whole point of Firefly is that it was about real people and real events. Those people and events are just something out of science fiction, is all ;)

The idea of it being some kind of eternal youth drug is intriguing, though. It's scientifically viable, and it ties in with all the HoG stuff, as well as her "don't want to die at all" "guess we're all running from something" bits of dialogue. My preliminary guess is that the Guild don't take kindly to the eternal youth drug, or that it's outlawed on the core worlds completely. But she just doesn't want to die. So she shipped out.

The looking at it would be some kind of "I went through all this trouble so I could continue to inject myself with this stuff and now I'm going to be killed by Reavers. Great."

JK

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE