The "Real" Malcolm Reynolds
POSTED BY: DarkLady
UPDATED: Thursday, December 12, 2002 17:30
VIEWED: 6024
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OK now that I'm done getting over the "ew!" factor of the episode (the ear thing...gah) I'm having all kinds of deep thoughts. Dammit.
Who *is* the real Mal, after all's said and done?
If the theory is true, the real Mal is much how Mal always is, a stubborn, tougher-than-titanium sonofabitch (as my Dad would say). In the midst of immense pain and fear, he didn't break.
Maybe the reality of Malcolm Reynolds is that he is the guy who doesn't break?
Or, did he just not break at all? Is physical torture not enough to get through the outside?
DL
"I'm lost. And I'm angry. And I'm armed."
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Quote:
Originally posted by DarkLady:
If the theory is true, the real Mal is much how Mal always is, a stubborn, tougher-than-titanium sonofabitch (as my Dad would say). In the midst of immense pain and fear, he didn't break.
Well, there are people like that. Some people are just tough enough or pigheaded enough not to bend under whatever load life hands them. I've known a few.
In Mal's case, I'd lean toward pigheaded.
I'd also suggest that one reason Mal doesn't break is that he's seen far worse.
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Many poeple who have lived through war are virtually impervious to physical pain. Seems to me maybe our beloved captain is one of them. Good for him, it makes a life like his easier.
_____________
Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.
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These last two episodes demonstrate something that Joss Whedon seems to like to do - create great characters with real depth, and likability, and then, at some point, putting each of these people into a situation where their "character" is tested to the breaking point . . . and they FAIL. In Ariel, Jayne failed. In War Stories, Kaylee failed. Mal and Wash on the other hand passed. But I'm sure eventually we'll be seeing Wash put into a very different kind of situation where he does fail. All of them will, at some point, I suspect. Even . . . *gasp* . . . Mal.
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OK, let's see...
I did not get to see the full ep (damn cats knocked over my antenna), but let's see...
I drafted up a thread earlier about "what are these characters scared of?" Well, some characters are tough (It's hard to find Inara's weaknesses at the moment), but Mal is a no-brainer. Screw "issues" - dude's got subscriptions.
He's lost it all - the war, his faith, trust in humanity, everything he owned, everyone he knew (save a few like Zoe).
He's blown it all on a second chance. A ship, a crew he will walk into hell for, a hand-to-mouth existance trying to stay one step ahead of the Feds, and survive another day, another job. Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, Simon, Jayne, River, Book, Inara, and Serenity herself - this is all he has, and he is going to hold onto it with all he has.
The worst part is...he knows he'll lose it all again. It's just a matter of time. If he is very lucky, he will not live to see the end of Serenity and her crew. Sooner or later, the Alliance will bring their armies, their civilization, and their facist control over their citizens. There will be nowhere to run in a decade or two.
Malcolm knows he is doomed. The more pleasant option is physical death - bullet, ship accident, sour deal...painful, but that will at least be the end of it. The only other option is to die inwardly - slowly - at seeing his freedom gradually erode and force him into the life of an Alliance slave.
Physical torture? Go for it. It's only pain. It's only one level of it. And death doesn't seem so bad. Hell, he's on borrowed time, anyway...should have been among the dead in the Valley. Doesn't know why he survived, doesn't think he should have.
Maybe this is why he thinks Book's nuts - any God that would have let the facist Alliance win the war, and let someone like him live after seeing hell while so many "good" others perished...Any God that allows must be insane at best, downright cruel at the most likely.
Rip all of it away, and there's a darkness there that is pure, cold, and damn frightening. He is not quite sane, and there's a death wish there - the "I'm going to hell and you're coming with me!" type of death wish.
There is no hell for him worse than that which is within him.
You can't break what has already been broken.
(Mal reminds me a lot of a character I've been writing fanfic about for over a decade, so my understanding begins from that, just an FYI...)
Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
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Quote:Guess we found out what Kaylee's scared of. I haven't seen the pilot ep "Serenity" yet, but I think I read somewhere that she was shot. So maybe that had something to do with it?
Originally posted by Allronix:
I drafted up a thread earlier about "what are these characters scared of?"
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Quote:
Originally posted by Allronix:
Rip all of it away, and there's a darkness there that is pure, cold, and damn frightening. He is not quite sane, and there's a death wish there - the "I'm going to hell and you're coming with me!" type of death wish.
I think you may have somehthing with the rest of your post, but this part is way off base. Typically a person with a death wish does not fight very hard to live, but Mal does. He could have stayed on that table and waited to be rescued. But instead he stood up and overpowered a goon that--by the way--hadn't been tortured for hours like Mal had. That is a will to live. In fact Zoe even commented on it after she rescued Wash. Mal was keeping Wash alive, because Wash wouldn't have made it. If Mal had some secret desire to die and take other people down with him, he would have just let both of them die. Furthermore, even after Wash was rescued, Mal hung in there, knowing that there very well might not be a point to it.
So what is Mal afraid of? Losing his freedom. Which basically boils down to losing Serenity. As for the Alliance taking over everything--well technically, they already have. It's just that away from the core, their control is looser. And that's where Serenity stays. And if the Alliance ever tightens its grip, Mal'll just move farther out. It's a big 'verse.
________________
MAL: Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?
ZOE: Big damn heroes, sir.
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Ah, yes...and he still had something to fight for at that point. He was fighting for Wash's life. His ship and crew were ok, and that still gave him a reason to hold on, at least until they were safely out of range.
Take Serenity and it's crew away - once he loses that, the death wish asserts itself. ("Out of Gas")
Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Allronix:
Ah, yes...and he still had something to fight for at that point. He was fighting for Wash's life. His ship and crew were ok, and that still gave him a reason to hold on, at least until they were safely out of range.
Take Serenity and it's crew away - once he loses that, the death wish asserts itself. ("Out of Gas")
Where exactly does Mal exert a death wish in OOG? He went to extreme measures to cling to life in that episode, so that he could repair Serenity. I really do not understand where you are getting this death wish thing. If you could back up your points with examples, that would be great.
________________
I mean, let's say you did kill us. Or didn't. There could be torture. Whatever.
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Staying put on the ship when the chance of rescue was slim to none. He seemed prepared to go down with it, IMO. **shrug**
And fighting the baddie last night. He starts staggering up to the guy, knowing that the other fellow is stronger and has the means to kill him. Still, it appeared to be "I'm taking you with me." Maybe it was just the gut reaction of "oh shit, he went nuts instead of breaking" (Fillion was creepy and brilliant, BTW).
So long as he has his ship and crew, he's ok. Take those away, and a real creepy streak starts showing.
Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
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