What was Inara thinking by Zeek

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

What was Inara thinking

POSTED BY: ZEEK
UPDATED: Monday, January 15, 2007 02:05
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 4:41 AM

So, I'm thinking over Inara's first meeting with Mal that we see in flashback form in Out of Gas. What was she thinking getting mixed up with this crew? She seemed to know there was some questionable business going one when she said "What business is that exactly?" to Mal. Plus Mal flat out gets angry at her and calls her a whore. Personally I wouldn't want to be caught out in the dead of space with a captain who thinks I'm a whore and a crew of criminals. I mean if she met Jayne at all why wouldn't she turn tail and run?

Is she just that good at reading people? Does she know Mal is a decent guy deep down? Was it strictly business because she knew Mal would see the advantage to having her onboard and would keep her safe? What do you guys think she must have been thinking to set out with this crew?

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 4:51 AM

SPACEANJL

I think this ties in with the 'Big Damn Secret' that made Inara leave Sihnon. We never found out what it was, but Joss had it mapped out and Morena at least knows what it is, and how it affected her character.

Speculation - she was looking for some degree of freedom, for whatever reason, and a smaller ship would give her that. Maybe she needed to be below the official radar for a while -she was obviously avoiding larger, fancier vessels. And she assumes that the Guild will keep her safe, as well. It's not until Atherton Wing that she gets an inkling that maybe the reach of the Alliance and the Guild is not quite as powerful and encompassing as she thought. Also, Mal. The woman has eyes. However professional she intends to be, there was always a spark.

Jayne...admires Inara. He doesn't despise her profession, almost certainly wishes he could afford her, and Mal probably threatened him with something dreadful (possibly Zoe

) if he even looked at her the wrong way. For all his snarling, he's Mal's guard-dog, and he does what he's told. Mostly.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:06 AM

TERRI

I agree SpaceANGL, almost all the way. Except for the Jayne guard dog part. I think we still had a bit to go before Jayne had that kind of loyalty to Mal. He was getting there, but not quite there yet. As far as Inara, yeah, all, IMHO, true. Of course, let's not forget her almost immediate attachment to Serenity. She fell in love almost as hard as Mal did.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:12 AM

MRBEN

Was Jayne even on the ship when Inara joined? Do we have a canonical timeline for this?

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:39 AM

SPACEANJL

'OMR' Mal; "You're not the man I met a year ago"

But Jayne joined the ship after it was flying (hence after Wash and Kaylee) and after their first run-in with Patience on Whitefall.

Inara's been on the ship eight months by the 'Train Job'.

I estimate from this that he's been on the ship a little longer than Inara, but after the rest of the crew.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:32 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

It seemed to me that renting to Inara was one of the first things Mal did after Serenity was functional, from Out of Gas. Jayne came later.
Can't prove it, but I think the sequence was:

Mal & Zoe
Bester
Wash
Kaylee
Inara
Jayne

I wouldn't come to blows with anybody who disagrees, especially over Wash and Kaylee

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:52 AM

SPACEANJL

Inara says in the Train Job she's been on the ship eight months. I'm just sayin'...

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:53 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

First off, the line "What business is that exactly?" was Simon's in the pilot episode, followed by "What? I'm a dead man, I can't know?"

Inara never makes direct reference to the type of work Mal and crew take on during their first conversation on the shuttle. She does say something about needing assurance that she could keep her appointments, "So far as such assurances
are possible on a vessel of this type."

In my opinion, when Inara told Mal that she had supported Unification it was just a smokescreen. She was actually endeavoring to contact people who would soon be in postitions of power on their worlds, people who were not satisfied with the status quo. If you recall, many of her clients (Atherton is the exception) were younger men whose fathers were highly placed in their society, and then there was the female counselor, who was probably due to hold an even higher office later on. Inara was working within some organization that opposed the Alliance. All just opinion and speculation of course.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 7:39 AM

CAVALIER

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
In my opinion, when Inara told Mal that she had supported Unification it was just a smokescreen. She was actually endeavoring to contact people who would soon be in postitions of power on their worlds, people who were not satisfied with the status quo. If you recall, many of her clients (Atherton is the exception) were younger men whose fathers were highly placed in their society, and then there was the female counselor, who was probably due to hold an even higher office later on. Inara was working within some organization that opposed the Alliance. All just opinion and speculation of course.

Hmm… hadn’t thought of that. Certainly her career choice would provide good cover. I doubt there is much reason for suspicion in her choice of clients, though. Young wealthy men with social status to maintain seem likely clients in her profession and price range.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 8:45 AM

MRBEN

Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
It seemed to me that renting to Inara was one of the first things Mal did after Serenity was functional, from Out of Gas. Jayne came later.
Can't prove it, but I think the sequence was:

Mal & Zoe
Bester
Wash
Kaylee
Inara
Jayne

I wouldn't come to blows with anybody who disagrees, especially over Wash and Kaylee

In OOG Zoe and Mal meet Wash for the first time, when he talks about his 'genius mechanic' which turns out to be Bester. So you're definitely right about Wash and Kaylee.

Jayne and Inara is another matter. I sort of get the feeling, particularly from the conversation in Persephone during the pilot, that Jayne hasn't been on the crew that long, and thus I also think he came last.

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 9:07 AM

MSG

Either way I'd agree with the statement ( or implied statement) that Jayne is always respectful towards Inara. He never threatens her ( well actually Jayne never threatens any woman) or yells at her ( doesn't really do that to any woman) or hurts her ( ok he doesn't do that to any woman either) or talk about her unkindly behind her back ( he does do that occasionally about River) Hmmm from my list I'm noticing Jayne's generally respectful towards women, though he does have a failure of internal censor when it comes to sexual comments, he basically seems comfortable with and kind to women...It's just men he doesn't care much for. Which oddly speaks volumes about his life before Serenity

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 10:40 AM

ZEEK

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
First off, the line "What business is that exactly?" was Simon's in the pilot episode, followed by "What? I'm a dead man, I can't know?"

Oh yeah. Knew that didn't seem right cause I couldn't think of how Mal answered it.

Still none of this really makes me think a young woman especially in Inara's line of work would feel safe aboard that ship. I suppose if Jayne was not onboard yet that would be a big help. Then her only fear of men who would want to have their way with her would be Mal and Wash. Wash never seems threatening. Zoe and Kaylee could vouche for Mal. I guess it's Jayne that I just don't see anyone thinking is all that safe at first glance. At first glance he's a rough and tumble mercinary who's only looking out for his own interests. That doesn't seem like the type of person a companion would want to have anything to do with. Pretty much Inara would have to trust that either she can keep herself safe or that Mal and Zoe can protect her from Jayne. Which also means she would have to trust them.

Every angle I look at that just says no person in there right mind would put themselves in that situation. Possibly this is the proof that Jayne came after Inara.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:38 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
Mal & Zoe
Bester
Wash
Kaylee
Inara
Jayne

I think that Kaylee came on a little later. First was Mal and Zoe, can agree on that. Then Bester, then Wash. The boat was in the air and he rented the shuttle to Inara. Then Kaylee came on board when they were stranded on her planet; they'd already been flying for a little while then. Then Jayne came on. That's just how I see it. I would be interested in how exactly Joss saw it.
What was Inara thinking? I agree she was in love with the ship, and at that point denying her attraction to the captain, and that she was running from something and wanted to get out NOW. I don't really get why she would be quite so blithe about being called a whore and still rent the shuttle from him...
She does make a comment about the 'operation' needing respectibility, so she knows the criminal aspect. I like all the theories, esspecially her maybe working to undermine the Alliance. I hadn't come across that one before.

http://www.bigdamnthankyou.com - show Universal your gratitude!

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow in sunlight. - Gautama Siddharta

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Friday, October 13, 2006 5:24 AM

SPACEANJL

See, I think Kaylee is one of the 'original' line-up. The way Bester was flailing, I don't see him being the mechanic for very long. For some reason, I got the idea that he and Wash might well have been on the same planet where Mal picked up Serenity in the first place. (Persephone? Somewhere between Rim and Core) Their first flight out was nearly their last, when they got stuck on some little prairie moon...

As I said before, Inara states in the 'Train Job' that she has been on board only eight months.

Serenity OVC seems to give them in order - I think Jayne came on board last of the crew, but before Inara. If we take Mal's flippant statement in 'OMR' - 'you're not the man I met a year ago', that would put Jayne on board before Inara. He wasn't with the ship four years before, since that was when he was on Higgin's Moon (Stitch's hotbox sentence gives that) but he's been around long enough to have a clear working relationship with folks (the hoopball in 'Bushwhacked' is a close-knit group who know each other well.)

Maybe it comes down to gut feeling. Inara is not crew - she never was. She's a passenger.

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Saturday, October 14, 2006 7:53 AM

CAVALIER

Quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAnJL:
See, I think Kaylee is one of the 'original' line-up. The way Bester was flailing, I don't see him being the mechanic for very long.

Which leads to another question: What was Kaylee thinking? Inara was a respected businesswoman, and protected to some extent by the Guild. Kaylee had no such protection; she could have been raped, murdered and thrown out an airlock without anyone who cared being able to do anything about it.

Of course, a similar point could be made about the man who handed over a valuable cargo to a shipful of armed robbers at the end of Shindig.

I think that the explanation is probably summed up by Niskas obsession with reputation. Mal has to keep a reputation for being trustworthy and keeping his end of a deal, or no one will do business with him. So Inara and Kaylee would have known they were protected by Mals need to keep a reputation as a man you can do business with, even if they knew nothing about him.

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Saturday, October 14, 2006 8:18 AM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

Quote:
Originally posted by Cavalier:
Kaylee had no such protection; she could have been raped, murdered and thrown out an airlock without anyone who cared being able to do anything about it.

But, Kaylee sees the good in everyone. She instinctually knows that Mal has a good heart, and likewise with Jayne, Simon, Book, etc. That's my take on it, anyway.

---
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone."

Trouble-Maker in the House!

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006 12:14 PM

BROWNCOATCRUSADER

let's be honest fokes, if Malcom Reynolds offered you a a job on Serenity, you'd take it too.

[Crack-Clink]
Mal: What was That?!

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Monday, January 15, 2007 1:08 AM

BEKKAHTHEFIREFLYFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by mrben:
Was Jayne even on the ship when Inara joined? Do we have a canonical timeline for this?

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

Mwahaha canonical timeline!
I love this place!!

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Monday, January 15, 2007 2:05 AM

SUPERFLUOUS

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
So, I'm thinking over Inara's first meeting with Mal that we see in flashback form in Out of Gas. What was she thinking getting mixed up with this crew?

The way I’ve always seen it, there can only be a few reasons why Inara chose Mal’s crew.

One being, because Mal’s crew are crooks and are generally disreputable folk (don't blame them, its in their nature).
It’s playing old schoolyard rules. If you get into a spot of trouble, you find the biggest, ugliest pit bull of a person you can find and convince them that you should tag along with them for a while, or even fight your battles for you (not saying that Serenity or crew are ugly of coarse).

Or perhaps on top of this, Inara had personal plans for Mal and could have potentially chosen them (by reputation) for a certain job in the near-distant-future. Depending on the risky ness of the job, she may have tried to be certain that the crew were able and wiling to go along with it. Maybe that’s why Inara is so upset (at first) in the 'Heart of Gold'. Mal's prepared to risk his life (and others) for free and is regretting her future plans for them. Possibly the potential job is connected to the object Inara has on Serenity (TV).

By very least she could be trying to lay low for a while. Something a more elegant ship couldn’t provide. Giving her the freedom of choice to pick her own clientele. Clientele that may not be connected to the people she’s running from. That’s if she was on the run from something that is.

At the end of the day, no-one in a position (such as Inara- high society) would demean themselves among thieves, unless there was a good reason for it.
Sorry for painting the pircure black BTW.

____________________________________________________________
Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.

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