The accent River was using was urban London, essentially Cockney. The gag was that she was copying Mark Sheppard’s (Badger’s) accent, which is why he mentioned seeing someone “from the old homestead.”
With the best will in the world, the accent River was _attempting_ was Cockney (and London being a city, every London accent is "urban" :). It's not great unfortunately. Mark Sheppard can only help, he can't do the accent for her and i'm sure Summer didn't have very long to work on it, given an episodic TV schedule back in the day. (cue an onslaught of people not from the UK - or maybe just UK natives with a tin ear :) - claiming it's spot on)
@@anonymes2884 Exactly, already a few comments along those lines 😂 No disrespect to Summer who gave it a fair crack, but domi got it right: "She's British!? ...no, that's not British."
@@anonymes2884 Always happy for the help; I’m admittedly a clueless Yank, but I usually know my Scouse from my Geordie. 😅 I just wanted our intrepid viewer to know the premise behind the bit and that the imitation was the key to understanding the scene, and I happened to be the first on that particular thread. Cheers to you and yours!
08:17 "They just changed the plating and hoped no one noticed" - That is the theme of the episode right here. Pretending to be something you are not. Kaylee pretending to be a "fancy" girl instead of a "greasy" mechanic- Inara pretending to belong in this world. Mal pretending to be the chivalrous gentleman. Atherton pretending to be the highclass beau, while he is just a mean, jeleous a**hole. ...
Also, as soon as Mal stops pretending and starts to fight by his own rules (using the sword handle to punch, thrwoing the sword like a dagger) he wins the fight.
I would say that Mal is not pretending or the least. Because Mal's the one that hates the games and pretending. Even doing the crime he has trouble talking to his contact dancing around the subject in code, and wants to just speak plainly.
@@Logan_Baron Maybe pretending is not the right word to use (I am not a native speaker, sorry) but maybe you get what I mean. It is exactly as Kaylee puts it "the plating is changed but it is still the same underneath" - which also fits for Mal in general. He puts on the role of the scavenger but is still the Independence sergeant underneath.
My favorite little scene of the entire series is: Wash "Captain can I have money for a slinky dress?" Jayne "I'll chip in" with no hesitation Zoe "I can hurt you."
"We should figure out what kinda deal this is. I mean, is it a-a gathering, a shindig or a hootenanny?" -- Oz, Dead's Man Party, Buffy Season 3, episode 2.
You've got "Mal/Inara" exactly right. They are both attracted, but her profession has rules. Which creates a lot of tension and frustration. Which is always good for a TV series...
Joss Whedon explained that the movie was season 2. His original draft was 14 hours long and included everything he wanted in season 2. He then had to cut it down to the main story arc and then make some modifications to be a film and service the possibility of a second movie, if it did well. He also had season 3 planned out. He planned on Firefly being 5 seasons, ut didn't have specific plans for seasons 4 and 5. He also laments about not being able to finish the first season.
The difference between disrespecting Inara's profession and disrespecting her personally is a very important distinction for Mal. Mal doesn't disrespect Inara herself. Even in the pilot episode (Serenity), when Mal says, "She's a wh*re, shepherd", he wasn't using it as a insult to her. He was just telling Book her profession, like saying, "she's a plumber." He just used the most derisive label for her profession for two reasons, 1) because he was trying to get a rise out of the preacher, and 2) because he dislikes the profession itself. Even Kaylee picked up on the meaning. She corrected him by saying the correct term for the profession is companion. She didn't mouth off to him about insulting Inara, which I'm sure she would have no qualms doing.
I agree with almost all of that. One modification I’d make is that while I agree Kaylee would call Mal out, I’m not sure she’d do it in front of strangers and/or paying customers. She might, but It’d feel weird to me.
A third reason (maybe not so much in the introduction, but I think definitely later on): Mal insults her job as a subconscious way to keep her at a distance, because he's attracted to her but getting involved would be... complicated.
I did like how you were like “let’s go stunt people” and then a few second later that one guy absolutely /sends/ it over the bar and into the far wall. :) Regarding your comment about whether Inara knew how to use a sword: IMO the fact that she was able to catch a tossed one by the hilt without seemingly no thought shows she knows her way around a blade.
Scholagladiatora, a swords and fencing channel has a review of the sword fight in this episode. He rates it as not bad, for a tv episode. Mal isn’t supposed to know how to use a sword, and even Athertan’s behind the back move is something you can find in fencing manuals.
It was a bit risky, but that might've been a motivation why he would have used it. It's going to impair the ability to defend enough that you wouldn't want to try it against a competent fencer. However it was obvious Mal wasn't a competent fencer, so Atherton could pull something showy out of the books that he might not otherwise have a good opportunity to use in mortal combat. He was showboating.
"I'm trying not to warm up to [Jayne] so much, because I'm afraid he's going to betray us..." - oh don't worry, you'll definitely warm up to him before he betrays us!
The show was initially approved by someone, I do not remember which title. The guy moved on and someone else took his place. When that happens, the new person usually cancel the shows approved by the previous guy. The reason is: - if a show does well, the previous guy who approved it get the credit for it; - if a show does poorly, the current person takes the blame for continuing it. Firefly got cancelled because the guy who approved it changed job.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 No, they got to fiinish The Message, then shoot some changes to Heart of Gold and Objects in space which originally were goimg to be before The Message and were basically already finished. They had an episode in finished draft form. It is unclear if it was first draft, or final draft. There was another story which had approval on concept and basic outline. You can find a script for a declined story online. Parts of that script were used in two episodes that were shot and the author wanted to rework the main story for hopefully another season.
They got canceled before they got a chance to finish out the season. They didn’t even have a season one finale, much less one they could plan ahead of time.
16:44 You equate Inara with her profession, which is somewhat akin to Atherton. Mal makes the distinction because he believes she's above her profession.
17:40 It's not even a full season - the show was cancelled mid-season. And it came as a surprise. The show was meant to have multiple seasons. The cancellation was the fault of some suits at the studio who hated the show from the start and did everything they could to sabotage it (like not marketing it, putting it in the worst time slot they could find etc).
I don't think Mal actually lacks respect for Inara's profession. I think it makes him jealous because he does have feelings for her and can't stand her being with other men. Since he can't admit that even to himself, he channels the feelings into disparaging the idea of a Companion's profession.
I agree with what you said about Inara sorta-kinda being willing to give up her own life to save Mal. Inara has great pride in herself and in her work, and is fiercely independent. To tie herself, presumably for life, to a guy who (a) she now knows sees her as property, and (b) killed one of her friends, would kill her inside. Let's all be very glad that Mal took full advantage of ol' Ath's moment of distraction. (Can you imagine if this were Inara's last episode?? Boo.) [checks where Patreon is to make sure this isn't spoiling anything] Oh man, if you started off with Mal/Zoe vibes, I'm really curious how 1x10 (War Stories) hit you! Guess I'll have to wait and see.
There's actually a lot more variety in the UK despite our small land mass! There's a lot of interesting things about it; people 30min drive from each other can sound completely different here.
Everyone gets cross with Mal for snapping at Kaylee while they’re all admiring the dress in the window, but he actually does have a reason. It’s easy to ignore his comments leading up to that because the crew are all ignoring him too, as he stands in the background with two big sacks over his shoulder, but Mal’s part of the script goes as follows: _Crew talks about buying a slinky dress, and Kaylee comments about Inara having ones like it_ *Mal: “Well, we best be moving.”* _Zoe and Kaylee talk about Inara and her nice dresses_ *Mal: “Come on, these ain’t feathers I’m toting here, you know?”* _Kaylee talks about the dress’s ruffles_ _Mal snaps at her._
Sure he has a reason, Mal snaps at Kaylee because she mentions Inara and that's a sore spot for him at that moment (it's certainly not because the sacks are heavy IMO, if that's your implication ? - in fact him moaning about that is _another_ symptom of his irritation at the Inara mention).
@@anonymes2884 maybe - but again he's irritable before she ever mentions Inara. Yes, my implication (my assessment, even!) is that he snaps because he's annoyed that they're standing there looking at dresses while he carries two huge, heavy sacks.
I can see the separation between the person and the job. Many of us end up doing work for survival rather than desire. Some otherwise noble people take questionable or dishonorable jobs. I say this not referring to sex workers, but for me, law enforcement. At least in the United States, it is not a profession I can respect in any way, shape, or form. That said, there is one person in particular in that profession that I do respect. I also recognize that he has probably had to turn a blind eye to things to keep his job, which is why I do not think anyone in the profession is great, but I have seen him push back against people telling him to do the typical cop overreach.
re: Mal and Inara Mal is (naturally) attracted to Inara. However, she is a sex worker. There are plenty of guys who have no objections to sex workers in theory, yet would be uncomfortable with the person they love being one. Also, it's sort of a cliche for a guy to mistake the niceness of a sex worker as being sincere interest (rather than just a part of the job), so "don't fall in love with the stripper" is generally good advice. You don't want to embarrass yourself. She's had plenty of offers. Similarly, sex workers aren't supposed to fall in love with their clients. They're supposed to stay detached. On top of that, Mal is the captain of the ship. As a result, he is in a position of authority. "Don't get in a relationship with a passenger or with an employee." Inara, although technically independent and just renting a shuttle, is sort of both. As a result of all of this, both Mal and Inara know that they aren't supposed to be interested in each other. Neither wants to be the one that makes the first move.
You're not shipping Mal and Inara _yet?_ Mal's problem with Inara isn't only her profession, it's also the fact that she's upper class, comfortable in the central planets...all the things he is not, all the things he despises, all the things that make him uncomfortable. The season was cancelled after only 2/3 of the normal network season had been shot. They did learn about it early...people will let you know the episode that they knew. All in all, the 14 episodes were shot within only a six-month period.
Yep, Wash and Zoe are married. 🙂 Totally agree that until Mal gets over thinking of Inara as a whore, there can't be a romantic relationship there. We know from the pilot that Mal was once religious, probably Catholic, so he probably had a conservative upbringing where sex outside of marriage was considered sinful. He lost his faith in Serenity Valley but he doesn't seem to have gotten past his upbringing. Meanwhile, a Companion is not a whore, they are so much more than just a sex worker, so Mal really, really doesn't respect her work - and Inara's work is more of a calling than just a job. She isn't going to be giving that up, it is part of her identity. And as we see here, not only do Companions choose whom they are willing to take on as clients, they even have the ability to blacklist bad people from becoming clients at all - their Guild is influential, even powerful, in Alliance society.
Revealed a bit here, and a tiny bit more in a later episode, I think Mal also has some class conflicts as well. Inara is comfortable with the upper classes of the Alliance, which makes Mal distinctly uncomfortable. He prefers to dislike such people.
@@kirkdarling4120 yep, she and Simon in particular scream "Alliance elite" by their appearance and manners, reminding him of what he fought against and lost to.
Yes there is a difference between Mal calling Inara a wh*re bc he can't understand why she "consents" to this traditionally exploitative job (remember, Mal places freedom above everything else so he hates that she chooses(?) to do a job like this - also prostitution is a touchy subject, please don't @me to call me a bigot for questioning the ethics of sexual exploitation; but also his reticence to her job is v interesting since in this universe, women in situation of prostitution are supposed to be the ones in power and v respected (free essentially), which obviously is not the case at all IRL, and all of this makes the writer's take on the concept of prostitution not easy to read : fascinating stuff to me) and Atherton thinking she he is bc she's a wh*re... (and I know some people will say "no him insulting her and her job is bc he's jealous and that's all" but I don't think that's what the writers were going for... If we know anything about this team of writers is that they love to have nuanced conversations and explorations of tricky ethical problems so... please don't @me just to say he's jealous and that's it) (I think it would really help to know how women end up going to Companion Academy... as I wrote, Mal thinks she "consents" to this job, but does she??? Is the Academy an institution that preys on lost young women?? Are they groomed to go there at a very young age?? Again, fascinating things to think about)
I think it's made pretty clear _on the show_ personally - Companion is a _respected_ profession and Companions are highly educated, high class individuals (sure, that's not how it _almost_ always works in real-life but that's why it's called science-fiction - some of it's made up :). So i'm certainly not calling you a bigot but I do think you're maybe seeing events _on the show_ through a distorted lens rather than as they're presented. (my own distorted lens FWIW ? As an atheist I just assumed Mal, having presumably been raised religious based on what we see before he loses his faith, was just kind of conservative in some ways, including about sex and what's "ladylike")
@@anonymes2884 I disagree that Mal still holds conservative views towards women, since in ep 6 (which Domi has seen don't worry) he clearly has a very feminist reaction to how Saffron's acting when she's pretending to be subservient.
Yeah, I think Mal's disrespect of Inara's job was a character arc they planned to address at some later stage. It's a pretty big character flaw, so probably the latter half of what was supposed to be a full season 1.
What if the roles were reversed? I'm just about a hundred percent sure you wouldn't think Inara would need to 'respect' Mal if he were sleeping with a different woman on every planet they landed on.
...Because men suffer such an enormous social penalty for sleeping with many women and it would be bullying to call attention to that? It's ridiculous to argue that these contexts are the same. Women get to deal with the Madonna/whore complex; men have no such social pressure.
@@Mr.Ekshin Men and women are not in the same position and it is wilfully obtuse to pretend that they are. Men are praised for having lots of sex; women are scorned. It is "punching down" to attack a woman for having lots of sex without feeling the need to be apologetic. And one person not liking it when a particular other person has lots of sex is different than a person doesn't like it when a whole gender has lots of sex.
@@adamwells9352 - Face it, it's clearly shown later in the series (more than once) that Inara is absolutely NOT okay with the reverse of this situation. So Mal is just supposed to grin and bear it when she's cavorting around with every snobby, rich guy in the 'verse. But the second Mal's eye is drawn to someone other than her, she's a mess. A big hypocritical, weepy mess. Quit defending her "honor" because she has very little, no matter how much her wealthy clientele try to pretend otherwise. She's all about being 'guild' certified, and has absolutely no compunction about calling out the non-certified people who have the exact same profession as she does... as if they are somehow lesser people than her because they earn less for the same job.
The accent River was using was urban London, essentially Cockney. The gag was that she was copying Mark Sheppard’s (Badger’s) accent, which is why he mentioned seeing someone “from the old homestead.”
Mark taught Summer how to get the accent down.
With the best will in the world, the accent River was _attempting_ was Cockney (and London being a city, every London accent is "urban" :). It's not great unfortunately. Mark Sheppard can only help, he can't do the accent for her and i'm sure Summer didn't have very long to work on it, given an episodic TV schedule back in the day.
(cue an onslaught of people not from the UK - or maybe just UK natives with a tin ear :) - claiming it's spot on)
@@anonymes2884 Exactly, already a few comments along those lines 😂
No disrespect to Summer who gave it a fair crack, but domi got it right: "She's British!? ...no, that's not British."
@@anonymes2884 The thing is: it did its job. It was very clear that she was emulating his accent 'out of nowhere' and that sells the scene.
@@anonymes2884 Always happy for the help; I’m admittedly a clueless Yank, but I usually know my Scouse from my Geordie. 😅 I just wanted our intrepid viewer to know the premise behind the bit and that the imitation was the key to understanding the scene, and I happened to be the first on that particular thread. Cheers to you and yours!
The old man who saves Kaylee from the mean girls deserves a medal.
Shindig is the first episode in my "every episode is my favorite" era! I'm so excited let's goooooi
Badger: "you couldn't buy an invite with a diamond the size of a testicle. I got my hands on a couple"
Mal and Jayne: *giggle
Badger: "Of invites!"
😅
08:17 "They just changed the plating and hoped no one noticed" - That is the theme of the episode right here. Pretending to be something you are not.
Kaylee pretending to be a "fancy" girl instead of a "greasy" mechanic-
Inara pretending to belong in this world.
Mal pretending to be the chivalrous gentleman.
Atherton pretending to be the highclass beau, while he is just a mean, jeleous a**hole.
...
Also, as soon as Mal stops pretending and starts to fight by his own rules (using the sword handle to punch, thrwoing the sword like a dagger) he wins the fight.
also the scene where River messes with the LABELED food. hehe
@@RoseJackson1607 perhaps that food is pretending to be something it's not! Certainly Blue Sun is...
I would say that Mal is not pretending or the least. Because Mal's the one that hates the games and pretending. Even doing the crime he has trouble talking to his contact dancing around the subject in code, and wants to just speak plainly.
@@Logan_Baron Maybe pretending is not the right word to use (I am not a native speaker, sorry) but maybe you get what I mean. It is exactly as Kaylee puts it "the plating is changed but it is still the same underneath" - which also fits for Mal in general. He puts on the role of the scavenger but is still the Independence sergeant underneath.
"Show us what you got stunt department" - ask and ye shall receive - a flying flip into the mirror. Nice timing Domi. :)
You cut out my very favorite line of the whole show: "Besides, why would I want to leave Serenity?"
Can't think of a reason.
My favorite little scene of the entire series is: Wash "Captain can I have money for a slinky dress?"
Jayne "I'll chip in"
with no hesitation Zoe "I can hurt you."
10:59 Yes if she wants to she can be british all of a sudden 😅Summer Glau got some coaching from Mark Sheppard (who playes Badger).
"We should figure out what kinda deal this is. I mean, is it a-a gathering, a shindig or a hootenanny?" -- Oz, Dead's Man Party, Buffy Season 3, episode 2.
Chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny
You've got "Mal/Inara" exactly right. They are both attracted, but her profession has rules. Which creates a lot of tension and frustration. Which is always good for a TV series...
Joss Whedon explained that the movie was season 2. His original draft was 14 hours long and included everything he wanted in season 2. He then had to cut it down to the main story arc and then make some modifications to be a film and service the possibility of a second movie, if it did well.
He also had season 3 planned out. He planned on Firefly being 5 seasons, ut didn't have specific plans for seasons 4 and 5.
He also laments about not being able to finish the first season.
The difference between disrespecting Inara's profession and disrespecting her personally is a very important distinction for Mal. Mal doesn't disrespect Inara herself. Even in the pilot episode (Serenity), when Mal says, "She's a wh*re, shepherd", he wasn't using it as a insult to her. He was just telling Book her profession, like saying, "she's a plumber." He just used the most derisive label for her profession for two reasons, 1) because he was trying to get a rise out of the preacher, and 2) because he dislikes the profession itself. Even Kaylee picked up on the meaning. She corrected him by saying the correct term for the profession is companion. She didn't mouth off to him about insulting Inara, which I'm sure she would have no qualms doing.
I agree with almost all of that. One modification I’d make is that while I agree Kaylee would call Mal out, I’m not sure she’d do it in front of strangers and/or paying customers. She might, but It’d feel weird to me.
A third reason (maybe not so much in the introduction, but I think definitely later on): Mal insults her job as a subconscious way to keep her at a distance, because he's attracted to her but getting involved would be... complicated.
"Shindig": Mal takes a contact job from Badger, Inara contracts with a sketchy client, and Kayley gets to wear a dress.;)
I did like how you were like “let’s go stunt people” and then a few second later that one guy absolutely /sends/ it over the bar and into the far wall. :)
Regarding your comment about whether Inara knew how to use a sword: IMO the fact that she was able to catch a tossed one by the hilt without seemingly no thought shows she knows her way around a blade.
Scholagladiatora, a swords and fencing channel has a review of the sword fight in this episode. He rates it as not bad, for a tv episode. Mal isn’t supposed to know how to use a sword, and even Athertan’s behind the back move is something you can find in fencing manuals.
It was a bit risky, but that might've been a motivation why he would have used it. It's going to impair the ability to defend enough that you wouldn't want to try it against a competent fencer. However it was obvious Mal wasn't a competent fencer, so Atherton could pull something showy out of the books that he might not otherwise have a good opportunity to use in mortal combat. He was showboating.
Thanks for the new episode. Glad you're enjoying them! Interesting relationship dynamic between them, isn't it? hehehe
While I love all of this show, this is the one for me where it truly hits it's stride.
I believe that Mal respects Inara as a person. It's just her occupation that he doesn't approve of.
In that respect, I feel the same way.
Mal is mean to Kaylee.
Mal gets stabbed.
Karma! You never escape unscathed if you are mean to Kaylee!
"I'm trying not to warm up to [Jayne] so much, because I'm afraid he's going to betray us..." - oh don't worry, you'll definitely warm up to him before he betrays us!
The show was initially approved by someone, I do not remember which title. The guy moved on and someone else took his place. When that happens, the new person usually cancel the shows approved by the previous guy. The reason is:
- if a show does well, the previous guy who approved it get the credit for it;
- if a show does poorly, the current person takes the blame for continuing it.
Firefly got cancelled because the guy who approved it changed job.
I believe the "guy" who approved it was a woman. I seem to recall hearing that in a video of a cast panel at a con.
@@larrystuder6378 it certainly is possible that it was a woman. When I heard about it, I think the person was referred to as "the executive".
@@ghyslainabel i think she became one of those evil people whose name is never to be mentioned...
They found out they were canceled while filming the episode "The Message"
Right. They still had to make two more episodes afterward.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 No, they got to fiinish The Message, then shoot some changes to Heart of Gold and Objects in space which originally were goimg to be before The Message and were basically already finished.
They had an episode in finished draft form. It is unclear if it was first draft, or final draft. There was another story which had approval on concept and basic outline.
You can find a script for a declined story online. Parts of that script were used in two episodes that were shot and the author wanted to rework the main story for hopefully another season.
They got canceled before they got a chance to finish out the season. They didn’t even have a season one finale, much less one they could plan ahead of time.
16:44 You equate Inara with her profession, which is somewhat akin to Atherton. Mal makes the distinction because he believes she's above her profession.
17:40 It's not even a full season - the show was cancelled mid-season. And it came as a surprise.
The show was meant to have multiple seasons. The cancellation was the fault of some suits at the studio who hated the show from the start and did everything they could to sabotage it (like not marketing it, putting it in the worst time slot they could find etc).
Kaylee surrounded by men, just as it should be!
"He's scre-ew-wed" No, not any more. hehe.
I cant wait til "Heart of Gold"
I don't think Mal actually lacks respect for Inara's profession. I think it makes him jealous because he does have feelings for her and can't stand her being with other men. Since he can't admit that even to himself, he channels the feelings into disparaging the idea of a Companion's profession.
I agree with what you said about Inara sorta-kinda being willing to give up her own life to save Mal. Inara has great pride in herself and in her work, and is fiercely independent. To tie herself, presumably for life, to a guy who (a) she now knows sees her as property, and (b) killed one of her friends, would kill her inside. Let's all be very glad that Mal took full advantage of ol' Ath's moment of distraction. (Can you imagine if this were Inara's last episode?? Boo.)
[checks where Patreon is to make sure this isn't spoiling anything]
Oh man, if you started off with Mal/Zoe vibes, I'm really curious how 1x10 (War Stories) hit you! Guess I'll have to wait and see.
At this rate, you're going to finish Firefly before you finish putting up all of Buffy.
There are a bunch of English accents just as there are a bunch of American and Canadian accents. For example. Oxbridge, Geordie, Cornish, Cockney...
There's actually a lot more variety in the UK despite our small land mass!
There's a lot of interesting things about it; people 30min drive from each other can sound completely different here.
Everyone gets cross with Mal for snapping at Kaylee while they’re all admiring the dress in the window, but he actually does have a reason. It’s easy to ignore his comments leading up to that because the crew are all ignoring him too, as he stands in the background with two big sacks over his shoulder, but Mal’s part of the script goes as follows:
_Crew talks about buying a slinky dress, and Kaylee comments about Inara having ones like it_
*Mal: “Well, we best be moving.”*
_Zoe and Kaylee talk about Inara and her nice dresses_
*Mal: “Come on, these ain’t feathers I’m toting here, you know?”*
_Kaylee talks about the dress’s ruffles_
_Mal snaps at her._
Sure he has a reason, Mal snaps at Kaylee because she mentions Inara and that's a sore spot for him at that moment (it's certainly not because the sacks are heavy IMO, if that's your implication ? - in fact him moaning about that is _another_ symptom of his irritation at the Inara mention).
@@anonymes2884 maybe - but again he's irritable before she ever mentions Inara. Yes, my implication (my assessment, even!) is that he snaps because he's annoyed that they're standing there looking at dresses while he carries two huge, heavy sacks.
23:15 well he is only "all right"
I can see the separation between the person and the job. Many of us end up doing work for survival rather than desire. Some otherwise noble people take questionable or dishonorable jobs. I say this not referring to sex workers, but for me, law enforcement. At least in the United States, it is not a profession I can respect in any way, shape, or form. That said, there is one person in particular in that profession that I do respect. I also recognize that he has probably had to turn a blind eye to things to keep his job, which is why I do not think anyone in the profession is great, but I have seen him push back against people telling him to do the typical cop overreach.
Just a heads up…his name isn’t Mall, it’s Mal(colm) as in rhymes with Pal. 😊
I think it's more of an accent thing. She's probably pronounce 'Pal' similarly.
@@caitlin329 As in Pall Mall ;)
re: Mal and Inara
Mal is (naturally) attracted to Inara. However, she is a sex worker. There are plenty of guys who have no objections to sex workers in theory, yet would be uncomfortable with the person they love being one.
Also, it's sort of a cliche for a guy to mistake the niceness of a sex worker as being sincere interest (rather than just a part of the job), so "don't fall in love with the stripper" is generally good advice. You don't want to embarrass yourself. She's had plenty of offers. Similarly, sex workers aren't supposed to fall in love with their clients. They're supposed to stay detached.
On top of that, Mal is the captain of the ship. As a result, he is in a position of authority. "Don't get in a relationship with a passenger or with an employee." Inara, although technically independent and just renting a shuttle, is sort of both.
As a result of all of this, both Mal and Inara know that they aren't supposed to be interested in each other. Neither wants to be the one that makes the first move.
❤🧡💛💚💙💜
His name is Mal, short for Malcolm, not Mol.
It's called an accent dude, let it go. ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
You're not shipping Mal and Inara _yet?_ Mal's problem with Inara isn't only her profession, it's also the fact that she's upper class, comfortable in the central planets...all the things he is not, all the things he despises, all the things that make him uncomfortable.
The season was cancelled after only 2/3 of the normal network season had been shot. They did learn about it early...people will let you know the episode that they knew. All in all, the 14 episodes were shot within only a six-month period.
Yep, Wash and Zoe are married. 🙂
Totally agree that until Mal gets over thinking of Inara as a whore, there can't be a romantic relationship there. We know from the pilot that Mal was once religious, probably Catholic, so he probably had a conservative upbringing where sex outside of marriage was considered sinful. He lost his faith in Serenity Valley but he doesn't seem to have gotten past his upbringing.
Meanwhile, a Companion is not a whore, they are so much more than just a sex worker, so Mal really, really doesn't respect her work - and Inara's work is more of a calling than just a job. She isn't going to be giving that up, it is part of her identity. And as we see here, not only do Companions choose whom they are willing to take on as clients, they even have the ability to blacklist bad people from becoming clients at all - their Guild is influential, even powerful, in Alliance society.
Revealed a bit here, and a tiny bit more in a later episode, I think Mal also has some class conflicts as well. Inara is comfortable with the upper classes of the Alliance, which makes Mal distinctly uncomfortable. He prefers to dislike such people.
@@kirkdarling4120 yep, she and Simon in particular scream "Alliance elite" by their appearance and manners, reminding him of what he fought against and lost to.
Yes there is a difference between Mal calling Inara a wh*re bc he can't understand why she "consents" to this traditionally exploitative job (remember, Mal places freedom above everything else so he hates that she chooses(?) to do a job like this - also prostitution is a touchy subject, please don't @me to call me a bigot for questioning the ethics of sexual exploitation; but also his reticence to her job is v interesting since in this universe, women in situation of prostitution are supposed to be the ones in power and v respected (free essentially), which obviously is not the case at all IRL, and all of this makes the writer's take on the concept of prostitution not easy to read : fascinating stuff to me) and Atherton thinking she he is bc she's a wh*re...
(and I know some people will say "no him insulting her and her job is bc he's jealous and that's all" but I don't think that's what the writers were going for... If we know anything about this team of writers is that they love to have nuanced conversations and explorations of tricky ethical problems so... please don't @me just to say he's jealous and that's it)
(I think it would really help to know how women end up going to Companion Academy... as I wrote, Mal thinks she "consents" to this job, but does she??? Is the Academy an institution that preys on lost young women?? Are they groomed to go there at a very young age?? Again, fascinating things to think about)
I think it's made pretty clear _on the show_ personally - Companion is a _respected_ profession and Companions are highly educated, high class individuals (sure, that's not how it _almost_ always works in real-life but that's why it's called science-fiction - some of it's made up :). So i'm certainly not calling you a bigot but I do think you're maybe seeing events _on the show_ through a distorted lens rather than as they're presented.
(my own distorted lens FWIW ? As an atheist I just assumed Mal, having presumably been raised religious based on what we see before he loses his faith, was just kind of conservative in some ways, including about sex and what's "ladylike")
@@anonymes2884 I disagree that Mal still holds conservative views towards women, since in ep 6 (which Domi has seen don't worry) he clearly has a very feminist reaction to how Saffron's acting when she's pretending to be subservient.
Yeah, I think Mal's disrespect of Inara's job was a character arc they planned to address at some later stage. It's a pretty big character flaw, so probably the latter half of what was supposed to be a full season 1.
What if the roles were reversed? I'm just about a hundred percent sure you wouldn't think Inara would need to 'respect' Mal if he were sleeping with a different woman on every planet they landed on.
...Because men suffer such an enormous social penalty for sleeping with many women and it would be bullying to call attention to that? It's ridiculous to argue that these contexts are the same. Women get to deal with the Madonna/whore complex; men have no such social pressure.
I think so, if it were his profession. (And after all, she doesn't just sleep with them)
@@Mr.Ekshin Men and women are not in the same position and it is wilfully obtuse to pretend that they are. Men are praised for having lots of sex; women are scorned. It is "punching down" to attack a woman for having lots of sex without feeling the need to be apologetic. And one person not liking it when a particular other person has lots of sex is different than a person doesn't like it when a whole gender has lots of sex.
@@caitlin329 - They aren't paying her for the tea parties and foot washing ceremony.
@@adamwells9352 - Face it, it's clearly shown later in the series (more than once) that Inara is absolutely NOT okay with the reverse of this situation.
So Mal is just supposed to grin and bear it when she's cavorting around with every snobby, rich guy in the 'verse. But the second Mal's eye is drawn to someone other than her, she's a mess. A big hypocritical, weepy mess.
Quit defending her "honor" because she has very little, no matter how much her wealthy clientele try to pretend otherwise. She's all about being 'guild' certified, and has absolutely no compunction about calling out the non-certified people who have the exact same profession as she does... as if they are somehow lesser people than her because they earn less for the same job.
Basically, Mal sees Inara as better than her profession, and doesn't like that she clings to it. Atherton ONLY sees her as her profession.