Companions 'Gilded Cage'
POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 08:47
VIEWED: 36140
PAGE 7 of 11
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Originally posted by Bytemite:
Nandi is...not nearly as independent as her tough act would have you believe: the most rebellious thing she's ever done is destroy a dulcimer...
Well, at least according to her, her whorehouse was once in the control of a man who had the girls strung out. She makes it sound like she killed him ie. he no longer plays the dulcimer? And she seemed pretty handy with a rifle. If she was really a wimp she would have taken Mal's offer and skeedattled.
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Mal is saving her whorehouse from a bunch of thugs. Nandi kind of owes Mal for this. Nandi doesn't know Inara is compensating Mal for his effort. Nandi has sex with Mal.
...Seems pretty clear cut to me.
Sorry sister, I don't buy it. The look on her face in the morning as she looks at Mal sleeping indicates a lot more than satisfaction at paying a debt!
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...if Nandi lived, I actually think there would have been predominantly Nandi/Inara, and that there would have been some Mal/Inara on the side.
OK..."I'm goin' to my bunk." hahaha
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About the only person Inara seems to bond with is Kaylee.
OK. Perhaps I was unfair to Inara here. Didn't mean to hit a nerve.
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Mal and Nandi, were the most contrived romantic pairing evar.
They were stupid together, letting their bravado for a fight and their self-serving egos get in the way of sound decision making, leaving Nandi dead and Mal without the woman he truly loves who is Inara. Nandi bragged too much about herself and her guns, Mal drank too much and pretended to care too much, their scenes together are almost purposely poorly written and clichéd ridden. I didn’t find their sex very erotic, it was almost painful, was Mal crying? And in the morning, I found their connection to be dropped and unfounded, the sex was done and over with, they really don’t have any true love for each other, complicated by Nandi realizing she spent the night with her good friend’s love, cause she wanted to, completing her pattern of acting impulsively, without thinking of the consequences. I think Mal and Nandi were both walking the line of feeling shame there, and that’s no way to start a healthy relationship.
And, to top it off, Inara looks more torn up at the funeral than Mal does. He looks like he can’t wait until it’s over with so he can talk to Inara about their feelings, and possibly get to finally boink the one he’s been waiting for.
How DOES someone go from a funeral for a woman he had sex with the night before to, so…I knew it…you were jealous before, weren't you? Nice one, Mal.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
Mal and Nandi, were the most contrived romantic pairing evar....
How DOES someone go from a funeral for a woman he had sex with the night before to, so…I knew it…you were jealous before, weren't you? Nice one, Mal.
Mal and Nandi are only slightly more contrived than Mal and Inara. That a romantic pairing is contrived is part of its charm.
Mal and Nandi are, in many respects, a more logical match than Mal and Inara, or at least as logical. They're alike in decent ways (leadership, responsibility for others, refusal to follow others rules) and awful ways (selfish, impulsive, and the swaggering bravado you identified). Howevever, considering how horrible HoG was it is virtually impossible to give a shit about them.
Also, in response to your closing point, you are clearly not male, and also assuming that Mal thought that his "ifs and maybes" could possibly lead to boning down. While the image of Mal, with Nandi's dna drying on his tool, courting Inara is totally repugnant, give our captain the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just trying to make sense of recent events, and the painful tension between the two of them. Recall that he wasn't "asking her for anything."
Granted that this is exactly the kind of shit you say to someone when you are asking for something.
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Granted that this is exactly the kind of shit you say to someone when you are asking for something.
LOL, I knew I could depend on you to provide me with a little amusement today.
Yeah, Mal's untimely ill-fated proposition of "now that we’ve clarified that you were jealous, let’s say we move out of the friend’s zone, but only if YOU really want to" smells like a load of crap.
And, of course I'm not male, and that's why when I heard it, I knew right away it was a load of crap.
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XD
MB, you always come through with the slightly horrifying shock humour. Also, ew. Also, XD
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Toadsmoothy: eek, sorry, wasn't trying to scare you off. Yeah, Mal/Inara shipper, like I said. I do try to take it easier on people, platonist will be a little bit tougher. :)
It's really okay if you like Mal/Nandi. Not everyone DOES see it as companionizing, it's just how I see it as.
Nandi was pushing and prompting even when Mal almost cuts and runs at one point, she struck me as pretty persistent, and hey, I'm a girl, but I don't think Mal is an example of "everyone wants to jump him," you know? If he was, he wouldn't always be talking about how long it's been. So I guess I just assumed Nandi had an ulterior motive because she has nothing to gain sleeping with Mal and a lot to lose.
But, about the guy who was running the whorehouse before, maybe. I've never quite bought it was Nandi who killed him, He probably would've been the first guy Nandi EVER killed, and it's weird that she would be so cavalier about it in that case. Really, I think the guy ended up dying of a heartattack or something, and Nandi just decided to take credit for it. but that's spec and I can't prove it. :) Your interpretation there is probably more canon.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
Mal and Nandi, were the most contrived romantic pairing evar.
They were stupid together, letting their bravado for a fight and their self-serving egos get in the way of sound decision making, leaving Nandi dead and Mal without the woman he truly loves who is Inara. Nandi bragged too much about herself and her guns, Mal drank too much and pretended to care too much, their scenes together are almost purposely poorly written and clichéd ridden. I didn’t find their sex very erotic, it was almost painful, was Mal crying? And in the morning, I found their connection to be dropped and unfounded, the sex was done and over with, they really don’t have any true love for each other, complicated by Nandi realizing she spent the night with her good friend’s love, cause she wanted to, completing her pattern of acting impulsively, without thinking of the consequences. I think Mal and Nandi were both walking the line of feeling shame there, and that’s no way to start a healthy relationship.
And, to top it off, Inara looks more torn up at the funeral than Mal does. He looks like he can’t wait until it’s over with so he can talk to Inara about their feelings, and possibly get to finally boink the one he’s been waiting for.
How DOES someone go from a funeral for a woman he had sex with the night before to, so…I knew it…you were jealous before, weren't you? Nice one, Mal.
Platonist, where you been all my life?
Well, I'm all outta words now. You took em out.
But I'm mouthy so I'll try anyway.
I don't toe ship lines myself, but really, I think Mal DID mean two things by "My kinda stupid", Toadsmoothy:
I always saw Mal sleeping with Nandi as both of them saying "because we can, because we're here"--because she can seduce him, because he can get fuzzy and inebriated, because both of them seemed almost defiant about it all, about their lives even. Like teenagers out past curfew. I think both of them are very tired of hearing no and other disparaging words, and, on the verge of possibly losing everything, are in a smaller version of "Hell, I'm gonna live!" (Thanks Kaylee, thanks ever so much).
Throughout his screentime Mal holds himself back in so many ways and then it's like he overcompensates every once in a while with something very dramatic, and usually stupid.
EDIT: Just read the rest. So is this going to go the full loop again into whether Mal/Inara is even feasible?
Because we know that war has already been fought. So what's life like right now on the Good Ship Canon? I try to stay out of the wars of attrition.
Two cents: Both are contrived (not necessarily equally) but you could see 'em, if there was a lot of Jossian rain-dancing. Nandi and Mal under the best of circumstances would be highly explosive though. Think Inara's patience and self-control would serve them well there.
EDIT-EDIT: So MB, what DO men say/believe in that situation?
--
Going for a ride.
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Sorry, I was trying to behave, not shock Mr. Toad, whom I would like to stick around so that we may discuss Bonazana. I've spent years speculating on what Hoss' mouth tastes like, and I would like someone to share it with. Someone anonymous.
Until Platonist, whom I despise, emphasized the uncomfortable context of Mal's notorious "ifs and maybes" speech I took it for granted he was being romantic and brave. It never really occured to me that he was open to a charge of being gross. But this is a delight, because I like Mal at his vilest.
So if the context of Mal's feeble gesture at honesty with Inara was "I fornicated with your dead friend, whom the worms have only recently begun to defile, and this hurt you. Can we fornicate now, maybe?" I am delighted. In fact, this adds new dimensions to the fact that Inara cried and left. Rad. Cry moar.
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Well, that’s one way to look at it, but their love scene is so lacking, usually I'll pause and retread over a good sexy one a few times, ponder if I could ever be so lucky to find myself in such a position, literally sometimes;) but theirs, I skip over, I guess what it lacks, is passion, something I would expect from two supposing passionate people. They just fail to impress me with their wanting.
Another thing that bothers me is Mal leaving the bedroom, it’s like he’s escaping, he’s not even completely dressed, and he shuts the door quietly so she doesn’t wake, like he’s had his quota of intimacy for the week. And then when they see each other again, they don’t embrace or kiss. After she confronts him with, “not the whole truth”, he orders her to the window next to him to shoot people, with her rifle, without a worry that she could get shot. Oh, where did their love go?
It’s a harsh assessment, and I know it’s not meant to be the love of the ages; Mal and Nandi have a momentary connection with each other. More than anything, though, I view it as Nandi was horny and hot for the Captain who comes to her aide, Mal was drunk, horny and it had been a while.
Favorite line of Mal's:
“It takes more’n than a few drinks to render my judgment blurry”
Mal, stop.talking.now.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Toadsmoothy: eek, sorry, wasn't trying to scare you off. Yeah, Mal/Inara shipper, like I said. I do try to take it easier on people, platonist will be a little bit tougher. :)...
Everyone has their opinions. Mine are probably not that well informed and have more to do with my own psychoses than any kind of objective interpretation of the material. One thing I'm not going to do is get into a spitting match over a t.v. show. Firstly, I can't compete with people on here; secondly, I have no interest in trying.
I love the Whedon/Fox version of Firefly and most aspects of the movie, as I interpreted them. I am interested in others' interpretations but I'm not going to let certain ones ruin my enjoyment of this material. Such opportunities for enjoyment come too few and far between in this life.
My thoughts on and feelings about Firefly/Serenity have become an embarrassment to me here. So, I plan to just lurk for awhile.
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