Rewriting Shindig
POSTED BY: DMI
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:25
VIEWED: 21001
PAGE 9 of 11
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Originally posted by Bytemite:
Well, if Nandi had lived, she might have been able to do some damage control and helped them bridge that gap; could be the way she left it hadn't been her intention.
But then why do the damage in the first place? It would have been more productive JUST talking to Mal, or even better, talking to Inara. Sleeping with Mal is about 100% counter-productive.
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Just seems strange to me that she'd spend the night with Mal, and not chatting up her dear old friend who has about zero experience aiding in childbirth. Makes me think maybe there was some ulterior motive there, that she's trying to help the both of them.
Would you seduce your friend's crush to help them open up their feelings? But how would sleeping with Mal help them? It's not the kind of thing you do to a person you like. You don't strengthen the chances of a couple by making yourself a third party to their relationship. It'd be a completely backward plan. It's cruelty, even. And a completely unjustified outside interference.
It'd make Nandi a pretty villainous character.
I agree that Nandi spending time with Mal instead of Inara is sort of a huge plot hole that is glossed over. It's not really logical and Joss gets away with it because of the monumental fall-out. But I just cannot for the life of me consider that she knew Inara had feelings for Mal and then slept with him anyway. It'd assassinate everything I like about Nandi.
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But your way is interesting too. You think she's attracted to Inara?
I personally think so, yes, but to keep it more neutral, it can easily be toned down to them having obviously shared a close friendship at some point, and the way Nandi emphasises that SHE doesn't know Inara's reason for leaving Sihnon, either, just jumps out at me that this disconnect, keeping her emotions very close, is a pattern with Inara that Nandi has struggled with the same way Mal does, only Mal is probably more to blame himself - which Nandi doesn't know.
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In my opinion, Shindig is very very enjoyable.
You know, I'm a big fan of Mal And Inara (I love the sexual tension).
Mal loves Inara, but he doesn´t like her job. And Inara loves Mal, but she doesn´t like his job.
Almost, Companion can´t felt love.
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Rouka:
*Cough* Um, well, no, I wouldn't do that, but that's more a case of "not-applicable."
I do see what you're saying. I don't know, it still feels to me like Nandi could see Inara and Mal's feelings right away. The way the two snark at each other is so blatantly obvious, and they're even at it when Inara is trying to introduce Mal. And then Nandi seems to smirk knowingly.
Hmm, Nandi does seem curious. Or is that intended to get Mal curious and she already knows why Inara left? Bah, if only she hadn't died, then we might know this stuff.
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Quote:
Originally posted by veronic:
In my opinion, Shindig is very very enjoyable.
You know, I'm a big fan of Mal And Inara (I love the sexual tension).
Mal loves Inara, but he doesn´t like her job. And Inara loves Mal, but she doesn´t like his job.
Almost, Companion can´t felt love.
She doesn't want to, at least.
Yeah, they're pretty much my favourite potential couple. Definitely the most intense, and really interesting their respective issues.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Rouka:
*Cough* Um, well, no, I wouldn't do that, but that's more a case of "not-applicable."
I do see what you're saying. I don't know, it still feels to me like Nandi could see Inara and Mal's feelings right away. The way the two snark at each other is so blatantly obvious, and they're even at it when Inara is trying to introduce Mal. And then Nandi seems to smirk knowingly.
Hmm, Nandi does seem curious. Or is that intended to get Mal curious and she already knows why Inara left? Bah, if only she hadn't died, then we might know this stuff.
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. :)
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I had thought Nandi had clearly said after the night with Mal that she had not known INARA had the same feelings towards Mal, or else Nandi would not have intervened. If this is true, Nandi would have seen Mal pining for Inara, and Inara wanting to keep things purely businesslike, and Nandi would have been providing a diversion for Mal, taking the pressure off of Inara, in addition to whatever Nandi wanted from or for Mal. Inara was a player, and purportedly a better trained Companion than Nandi, so Nandi could have missed the signs if Inara wanted her to miss them, at least until the morning after.
Regaqrding Mal jabbing Inara, I normally conjure Mal is irked by Inara supporting Unification, which Mal likely considers redundant for a whore. Mal and Zoe are fairly anti-Unification, Jayne is anti-Alliance (at least lawforce), Wash is acceptable through marriage, Kaylee was on a world near Paquin (according to the Map of the Verse, a border world near Silverhold, Truimph) and not obviously pro-Unification. Inara is the exception, the lone anti-freedom advocate aboard, and a constantly available target for scorn. The profession of whore only allows veiled analogies, being a whore for Unification. If this seems unlikely, consider that many who identify themselves as conservatives or liberals often continue to jab each other, even when not an eliction year (beware RWED). Similar thing.
Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Hey, Rouka, I think the word you're trying to think of to describe Mal is "infantile." :)
Although. I don't recall him ever deliberately trying to publicly humiliate her...
Oh wait, the scene in the pilot, with Book. But I'm not sure that's cut-and-dry. He was in a mean mood on account of Badger, wanted to make the preacher uncomfortable and rile Inara by the usual means, but didn't take into account that Book wasn't already familiar with their game. It was poorly handled by Mal all around, and Inara's words to him telling him that he stepped over a line apparently made him feel guilty enough that he sent Book with some food for her as an apology.
My impression is that he normally doesn't behave that way when introducing Inara to strangers. The other times I remember that he embarrasses her are inadvertent (getting into a duel because he doesn't know the customs of the upper class) or he does so privately, as in Our Mrs. Reynolds.
I don't really classify the sniping they do to each other as that either.
I figured the Pilot scene was, like Inara said, more to discomfit Book than Inara. When Book was revealed as one of religiosity, it was Kaylee who tried to sooth any Mal conflict, because, "it's just not" a problem. Mal still had to get in his jab, asking if this was a problem.
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Well, that's if Nandi is being truthful.
I like Nandi, and I don't think she's some evil person. I even enjoy her story about the dulcimer in the spirit she tells it, imagine her roll her eyes and just smash it to pieces on the ground instead of the possibly more likely scenario of a young companion under a lot of stress throwing a temper tantrum.
And whoever is in charge of house Madrassa really SHOULD go gen hou-zi bi diu-shi for telling all the other companions to shun Nandi for leaving.
I'll admit if it were her plan to play matchmaker, it wouldn't be a good one, especially because she should have been trained to recognize whether she was becoming an interloper and the negative affect that would have on a relationship. Companions seem to function as therapists quite often, and I don't think their intent is for their client to leave an appointment worse off.
But doing what she does, Nandi quickly and efficiently finds out what their feelings are, and equally quickly reveals them. She makes a big old mess of it, but I think ( and I think Nandi thought) the two of them would have been able to work things out once they knew... if not for Inara's secrets that cause her to leave. I don't know. Just how it happens, seems a bit too unbelievable for coincidence.
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Quote:
Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
Wash is acceptable through marriage
What makes you think he supported unification and is only 'acceptable' because Zoe married him? I never saw any evidence of his support for the Alliance, and behind the scene conjecture is that he was flying in some function for the Independents and was taken prisoner, spending most of the war in a low-security cell entertaining other minor war criminals with shadow puppets.
C'mon, that's so Wash.
[/sig]
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No one's sure exactly what planet Wash came from. The amount of pollution he talks about could be indicative of an over-developed core world. Or it could be crappy terraforming or some other polluting operation on a border/rim world/moon.
I think he was probably Independent too, it brings another angle to the jealousy he feels over Mal and Zoe, in that he never got to experience any of the War (makes it harder from him to relate to her, and maybe he was also very passionate about fighting the War).
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I doubt he ever saw much combat, or wanted to. My thought is he was probably running supplies and got intercepted. Not to say he wasn't passionate about it, I think he was, but he's not inclined to be a warrior the same way Zoe is. I think that still adds to the jealousy issue, though. Maybe he feels like he's not strong enough for her sometimes. [/sig]
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