FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Companions 'Gilded Cage'

POSTED BY: BYTEMITE
UPDATED: Monday, December 20, 2010 22:47
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Monday, December 20, 2010 10:31 AM

GREENKA61


Quote:

Originally posted by Platonist:
We know Inara has her reasons for not TAKING what she wants, she's dying, by keeping Mal at arm's length, she's thinking of him and not herself.

It's called self sacrifice, there’s no emotional cowardness in that.




Juxtaposed to Zoe’s statement:

I ain’t so afraid of losing something that I ain’t gonna to try to have it.

Respectfully, I disagree. I think Mal and Inara are both so afraid of losing their emotional independence (and their precious “freedom”) that admiting their feelings for each other they don’t try very hard to have it. The two of them have built up such impressive fortresses around their hearts that they throw away the very thing they most want with both hands. If I were dying, then I sure as heck would begin to think it was time to tear down some of those walls. What is the point in keeping them up? There is nothing left to lose and everything to gain. Be truthsome! Tell Mal she is dying. He’s a grown man. He’ll either deal with it or he won’t, but either way, they'll both have an answer that doesn't end with "I shoulda, woulda, coulda". If she is dying, then who cares what the rules of the Guild are against forming personal relationships? If the worst they can do to her is to kick her out, then at this point, so what? She’s dying. The Guild can shove their rules up their collective assets at this point.

I’m fairly certain Mal would be thinking something similar (with a much more colorful use of metaphors) if he knew the truth. By not telling him the real reason she’s leaving, she robs him of his freedom to choose for himself, and in the process, the means to grow up emotionally. Does he want to come in from his nice, safe cocoon of isolation? I’m sensing he does. Would it be scary for him (and her, for that matter)? Yep. Would it be worth it? Yes. I don’t think Mal would turn her away with the knowledge that she’s dying, either. He lives to take care of those he calls family, and he’s in love with her, and he doesn’t leave people that cares about behind.

Heck. They have a world class doctor right there on the ship, a girl who is smarter than all of them put together, and that crew would do just about anything to find a cure.

Once again, everyone's mileage may vary.








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Monday, December 20, 2010 10:36 AM

GREENKA61


BTW, did anyone else notice Jayne playing with his girl's hair in the scene set in the HoG common room? Huh. Not sure what to make of that. He never struck me as the type who would play with a woman's hair, especially in front of everyone.

I wonder if he paints toenails?

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Monday, December 20, 2010 11:15 AM

PLATONIST


Oh very much agree about Inara's need for honesty, that's a given, but let's not forget these are flawed characters and the story is not over. The end of Serenity gives us hope as well as pain that she will tell him and Simon can help.

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Monday, December 20, 2010 1:17 PM

TOADSMOOTHY


Quote:

Originally posted by greenka61:


Again, I'm in full agreement, as you might guess, but you present the case much nicer than I did. Rather than getting involved myself I should have bit my tongue and let you make the case.

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Monday, December 20, 2010 1:30 PM

TOADSMOOTHY


Quote:

Originally posted by greenka61:
BTW, did anyone else notice Jayne playing with his girl's hair in the scene set in the HoG common room? Huh. Not sure what to make of that. He never struck me as the type who would play with a woman's hair, especially in front of everyone.

I wonder if he paints toenails?



Although I have no solid proof, I think there is much more to Jayne than meets the eye. For one thing, I think he cares a lot for Kaylee. I mentioned the scene before where he is kneeling outside the surgery while she is being operated on and is keen to kill the agent who shot her. In the script of the unmade episode Dead or Alive, again he is ready to deal with a man he suspects might have mistreated her. Also, and more significantly, he wins a plush turtle at the fair. He senses that Kaylee is blue and despite the fact that he loves his new toy he seriously considers giving it to Kaylee to cheer her up. It's not spelled out why he doesn't but the fact that he has this impulse towards her is interesting. I harbor the suspicion, OK delight in the pet theory, that he is secretly sweet on Kaylee. And there are certain slight incidents across various episodes that indicate to me that she doesn't loath him. But, a lot of people reject my pet theory.

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Monday, December 20, 2010 2:11 PM

GREENKA61


Quote:

Originally posted by Toadsmoothy:
Although I have no solid proof, I think there is much more to Jayne than meets the eye.]



I agree with you on that, and not only for the scene where he's watching Kaylee through the window to the surgery. For one thing, he was a more serious, smarter character in the BDM. I think that that is along the developmental lines that Joss wanted to take him. Clearly there was a whole lot of character development that could have taken place with Jayne.

Quote:



I harbor the suspicion, OK delight in the pet theory, that he is secretly sweet on Kaylee.



I think harbour that same suspicion, and if Simon hadn't come along, I think he would have made a big, clumsy, play for her - not unlike the boy who set off a stink bomb in the trash can of my Dad's middle school English class in an attempt to impress a girl. (She was not amused.)

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Monday, December 20, 2010 2:23 PM

GREENKA61


Quote:

Originally posted by Toadsmoothy:
Quote:

Originally posted by greenka61:



Again, I'm in full agreement, as you might guess, but you present the case much nicer than I did. Rather than getting involved myself I should have bit my tongue and let you make the case.



Well, thank you kindly, Toady, but please don't bite your tongue and keep quiet. You've gotten some bona fide discussions going here, and I rather enjoy it. I'm rather thrilled to be able to talk Firefly somewhere where people aren't rolling their eyes at me.

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Monday, December 20, 2010 9:57 PM

TOADSMOOTHY


Quote:

Originally posted by greenka61:
Quote:


Well, thank you kindly, Toady, but please don't bite your tongue and keep quiet. You've gotten some bona fide discussions going here, and I rather enjoy it. I'm rather thrilled to be able to talk Firefly somewhere where people aren't rolling their eyes at me.



Well, I started out on this thread "why can't we all just get along" and then something turned. I got frustrated, then combative and then insulting, and that is no way to "win friends and influence people." But, I think I'm one of a few males on here, and I'm a crotchety old fart to begin with, so no doubt I approach things differently and I don't have an over abundance of either patience or tact. None of this helps my arguments.

Yeah, the rolling of the eyes thing, that would be my wife hahaha, or rather she just gives me a blank stare whenever I mention anything Sci-fi or Fantasy. This is the first time I've ever sought out a place like this so, either Firefly is just that good or I'm slipping into early senility.

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Monday, December 20, 2010 10:47 PM

TOADSMOOTHY


Quote:

Originally posted by greenka61:
Quote:

...I think harbour that same suspicion, and if Simon hadn't come along, I think he would have made a big, clumsy, play for her - not unlike the boy who set off a stink bomb in the trash can of my Dad's middle school English class in an attempt to impress a girl. (She was not amused.)



OK. Obviously Kaylee is sexually attracted to Simon. We get that clearly from her conversation with Inara in Safe. But I doubt that her goal is sparkling conversation. Kaylee isn't a complicated girl, and thank God for that. Remember, she was sexually attracted to the doofus mechanic Mal hired before her and she boinked him in the engine room because "engines make her hot." hahaha Kaylee is a sexual girl and would mount Trigger given half a chance. haha

As far as being clumsy, who could be more clumsy than Simon? He continually insults her and the ship, hurting her feelings and pissing her off. At least when Jayne acts up it takes the form of good natured teasing. The first time it clearly hurts her feelings because it was in front of Simon who she just met and was trying to flatter. The second time Jayne teases her was while they were playing ball in the cargo bay and she hauls off and slugs him in the arm. If you notice, she was smiling while she slugged him. In Dead or Alive she cuffs Jayne in the back of the head because she thinks he is being insensitive. If she truly detested the man she would, like Inara, not come within a mile of him.

I think Simon is all wrong for her. Their personalities are incompatible and they have nothing in common, except that neither have been laid in a while. I think she wants Simon but I don't think she loves him. In the final battle, after he tells her he is sorry he had never "been with" her she says:"as in SEX?!" She is suddenly willing to fight...for sex. This is not an exchange between two people who deeply love each other.

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