Mal-adapted Plans

POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Thursday, April 14, 2011 13:32
VIEWED: 4821
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BYTEMITE

Monday, April 11, 2011 2:24 PM

So, just for fun, and all due respect to the captain here...

Do you think Mal is a strategic genius, is he making it up as he goes, do his plans work through sheer force of will, or is it only through the intervention of more level heads that Mal pulls off whatever he's attempting?

All of the above is possibly a viable answer, but for the sake of discussion, pick the one you think best describes what we're looking at most of the time.

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Monday, April 11, 2011 4:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
So, just for fun, and all due respect to the captain here...

Do you think Mal is a strategic genius, is he making it up as he goes, do his plans work through sheer force of will, or is it only through the intervention of more level heads that Mal pulls off whatever he's attempting?

All of the above is possibly a viable answer, but for the sake of discussion, pick the one you think best describes what we're looking at most of the time.

Hmm...rather tough question, I think. His plans don't go smoothly at all from what we get to see in the series, comics and film...but I think Mal is a decent strategist. Let's go to the highlights:

1) He knows to have Inara as a back-up for the Lassiter Job in "Trash" because Saffron is gonna find a way to screw them out of the take;

2) He knows how to scare Jayne straight in "Ariel" via the airlock session;

3) He kept Wash occupied via sexual innuendo while they're being tortured in "War Stories" due to Wash having a different level of experience with such things

4) He outfoxes The Operative 2-3 times in the BDM (the pulse beacon in his pocket, the Reaver armada as "back-up" and being basically immune to the nerve strike (though that one is sheer luck mostly).

"The revenge of the beaten comes in refusing to fall." -- Mal, in "The Losing Side - Chapter 45" by jetflair

MYOWNKNIGHT

Monday, April 11, 2011 4:28 PM

I think that while he can plan ahead, he knows that they never go as planned, so for the most part he has a loose plan of how things should happen (get in, grab it, get out.) and only through sheer force of will and badassness do they get from point A to point B.

"I don't wanna rain on your crazy parade, buddy. But I don't think we can fix this thing."

BYTEMITE

Monday, April 11, 2011 4:37 PM

Fun one though!

I think that Mal is smarter than some might give him credit for, barring a few things that he seems to be selectively oblivious about. He appears to be a master of the unexpected and unpredictable, which itself IS a viable strategy.

He's also very genre savvy. Part of the reason I like Mal is that he's often saying what I'm thinking. One of the best early examples I can point out is Mal's reaction in the pilot, just after they finish talking to Patience.

But! I also think Mal has some of the worst plans I've ever seen, and this is often highlighted by his crew. Not just that they seem to go wrong with alarmingly clockwork regularity, but that the plans THEMSELVES sometimes are questionable, if not outright insane.

Quote:
Zoe: Captain'll come up with a plan.
Kaylee: That's good, right?
Zoe: It's possible you're not remembering some of his previous plans.

In a future episode, I fully imagine Mal coming up with one where the entire crew jaw drops on hearing it, and Simon asks, "Do you listen to yourself, when you come up with these ideas, or is it an unconscious game of mad libs?"

Playing devils advocate here:

1) He knows to have Inara as a back-up for the Lassiter Job in "Trash" because Saffron is gonna find a way to screw them out of the take;

--Do we know that HE'S the one who came up with that? Obviously he didn't expect to be ditched naked in a desert, it seems more like his "all according to plan" and bravado is just him trying to save face.

2) He knows how to scare Jayne straight in "Ariel" via the airlock session;

--Not sure that's a "plan" per se, or that he didn't know he was going to spare Jayne until Jayne gave him a reason.

3) He kept Wash occupied via sexual innuendo while they're being tortured in "War Stories" due to Wash having a different level of experience with such things

--Also not sure that's a plan more than the only option he had at the time.

4) He outfoxes The Operative 2-3 times in the BDM (the pulse beacon in his pocket, the Reaver armada as "back-up" and being basically immune to the nerve strike

--THOSE are plans. But even the Pulse Beacon wasn't a GOOD plan, as his plan pretty much ended at "keep the Operative from finding Serenity" and didn't include "how do I get myself and Inara out of this, so that they don't take us captive, torture us to try to get me to reveal the whereabouts of the ship, and force the crew to come after me and give up River after all we went through anyway."

The Reaver Armada was a better plan... Though horrific, and also not fully thought out. But it's hard not to give a guy credit for finding an entire other armed fleet to pit against the one ambushing him.

RIONAEIRE

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 12:22 AM

I like MyOwnKnight's answer, all of the above in certain combinations, get an outline but shove through and think on your feet if ... who am I kidding ... when it doesn't work.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 2:15 AM

Yeah, I think it's mostly improv. Doesn't make it any less impressive to see, though. :)

Quote:
Mal: This is all part of our new plan.
Kaylee: How exactly is—
Mal: Still workin' the details.

FREMDFIRMA

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 10:19 AM

"Every plan gets fouled up as soon as the enemy arrives - that's why he's called the enemy!"
-Maurice, from the Belisarius series by David Drake.

I think Mal is, in part by virtue of military command, a zen master of the Indy Ploy.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IndyPloy
Jack Sparrow and Mr Jones do it with more flair, but Mal gets it done, indeed.

You couldn't call it Xanatos Speed Chess, since Mal is a bit (ok, more than a bit) on the dense/stubborn side, and tends to push through on an existing plan when maybe that's not such a good idea any longer - he's got a history of that sorta thing, don't ya know.

Zoe on the other hand, can and has pulled off that gambit, particularly in the ep: War Stories.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosSpeedChess
(her initial entry/recon survey is exactly this)

-Frem

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 2:18 PM

Interesting thoughts about Zoe, I could see that.

Maybe the success of the crew is dependent on a number of different planning styles that come together.

THEHAPPYTRADER

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 2:43 AM

I like this thread, wish I noticed it earlier but am a mite short on time so my short answer is Mal is a terrible strategist but a brilliant improviser.

BYTEMITE

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 2:59 AM

Hee!

We need more people voting for the other side of the equation now, though.

I want to see discussions, enlightenment on plot points I missed illustrating how Mal had something more planned out than I gave him credit for.

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