Theories on the mysteries.... by Randy

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Theories on the mysteries....

POSTED BY: RANDY
UPDATED: Thursday, February 13, 2003 20:53
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Tuesday, February 4, 2003 8:03 PM

Hi there. New to the board. Seeing as how the series has a dubious future, we'll just have to theorize on the two big mysteries: Book and River. Here are my thoughts...

Book - A former Alliance top agent who had a troubled conscience and joined the abbey. How else would he have so much knowledge, clearance ("Safe") and fighting and gun skills. I've seen mentioned in other threads about Objects in Space where River overhears Book's thoughts. My guess is that it is a flashback of when he was an Alliance agent interrogating someone.

River - Being developed into a psychic spy/weapon. In "Ariel", we find out that the Alliance operated on her purposely so that she is forced to feel everything and would therefore become ultra-sensitive.

Also, a minor inconsistency that bugs me: In "War Stories", Mal and Wash are blindfolded and tied up yet are free to walk around. Why didn't they untie each other or at least remove each other's blindfolds? And in that same episode, Wash admits he's never been in a firefight yet suddenly turns into Rambo spouting a "creed". Hmmmm...

So, fellow Firefly fans, what are your theories?

Thank God for Firefly fans, Kazaa and VCDs. How Fox could cancel an excellent show and keep drivel like Fastlane is just incredible beyond belief.

"...morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with" - Mal

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Tuesday, February 4, 2003 8:03 PM

RANDY

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Wednesday, February 5, 2003 3:39 AM

SABI

I think you've got it all figured out. But a theory I'm currently liking is that Mal might have been a Shepherd. I dismissed this at first, until I watched Serenity again (for like the 6th time), the way he says, "So! You're a Shepherd." There seemed to be a strong tone of familiarity in his voice... and especially the way Kaylee smoothed it over without skipping a beat as if she knew exactly what Mal's problem was. And it would explain why he tried to embarass him with Inara and why he was so flippant about saying Grace... he may see Book as a naive, disillusioned follower and Mal wants to crack him like an egg and show him how foolish he is. Kinda like "It means nothing to me, and it means nothing to God, and the sooner you realize that the better off you'll be."

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Wednesday, February 5, 2003 5:14 AM

LOSTANGEL

I don't think this is true for Mal. I think that he may have seen one too many shepherds in his time for his comfort. The clergy have always been around the military in times of war to comfort the soldiers and the wounded, etc. I think that Their attitudes during the war may have helped with the alienation that Mal has with religion. I know that if I felt that God left me and my men to die, and then someone who wasn't on the front lines told me that it was God's will, I'd be lookin' to give someone a hurtin'. It's bad enough to see you and the people you are responsible for to be abandoned to die a slow, horrible death, but to be told that this was supposed to happen can be the straw that broke the camel's back.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

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Wednesday, February 5, 2003 5:53 AM

HJERMSTED

Quote:
And in that same episode, Wash admits he's never been in a firefight yet suddenly turns into Rambo spouting a "creed". Hmmmm...

Wasn't Wash in a fire fight in The Train Job? I don't recall if he picked up a gun himself, but he was certainly fired upon by Niska's men.

I suspect Wash may be one of those people who typically do not give themselves enough credit for what they've accomplished or experienced.

Anyway, I found Wash's transformation into a pseudo-Rambo to be genuine. He even managed to maintain his sense of humor: announcing his "creed" while loading a little teeny gun.

mattro

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Wednesday, February 5, 2003 6:53 AM

RANDY

In the fight with Niska's men, Wash drove that motorcycle thing into a guy but never fired a gun.

I didn't catch the teeny gun thing. Very clever! Haha! That's why I love this show.

As for Mal being anti-religion, I think this is because he felt God let him down in Serenity Valley. If you watch the opening battle sequence of "Serenity", before Mal goes out to fight, he takes out a cross from around his neck and gives it a kiss.

"...morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with" - Mal

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Wednesday, February 5, 2003 6:53 AM

RANDY

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Wednesday, February 12, 2003 11:12 PM

TALRIUS

Okay,

Book- Logical step based on incomplete information. Like the flashback to an interrogation part, never thought in that perspective.

River- That's a given. After Objects in Space most of the questions about her are solved, but not all.

Wash- In the official description for Wash it says he's self-deprecating and not at all the fiery-hero type. But I see Wash in War Stories as a sort of Frodo like person who rises to the occasion when it's necessary and when no one else can or will. As for the untying and taking off the blind folds, it's very hard to untie yourself when you can't see your bonds even with a blind fold off it's hard to twist your neck around to see your hands behind you.

Jayne- He's smarter than we give him credit for. In Shindig during the meeting with Badger Jayne's intellegence seems to spike up few notches. He's polite and has an extended vocabulary. This could be explained away by that he sees Badger as a better offer to his Serenity muscle job. It's an interesting point to the Jayne C O N -spiracy.

Just my thoughts.

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 8:19 AM

SENSOU

Quote:
Originally posted by Talrius:
Okay,

Book- Logical step based on incomplete information. Like the flashback to an interrogation part, never thought in that perspective.

It is a logical theroy, but it seems a bit too direct when compared to the way the show usually goes.

Quote:
River- That's a given. After Objects in Space most of the questions about her are solved, but not all.

And about, say, five thousand new ones came up.

Quote:
Wash- In the official description for Wash it says he's self-deprecating and not at all the fiery-hero type. But I see Wash in War Stories as a sort of Frodo like person who rises to the occasion when it's necessary and when no one else can or will. As for the untying and taking off the blind folds, it's very hard to untie yourself when you can't see your bonds even with a blind fold off it's hard to twist your neck around to see your hands behind you.

I disagree with you on this point. I see Wash as a person who does what he thinks should be done -admittly a subtle difference; it can, however, make a large difference in how he acts in a given situation. In your Wash-is-Frodo model, Wash would have stayed with the ship to guard it in War Stories because Zoe and Jayne were perfectly able (as far as we can tell) to rescue Mal on their own; I wish I could think of another example or two, but he really hasn't done that much. We need more episodes.
And it is really hard to get out of bonds, blindfolded or not. Niska probably added guards at the door too, as an added safety precaution.

Quote:
Jayne- He's smarter than we give him credit for. In Shindig during the meeting with Badger Jayne's intellegence seems to spike up few notches. He's polite and has an extended vocabulary. This could be explained away by that he sees Badger as a better offer to his Serenity muscle job. It's an interesting point to the Jayne C O N -spiracy.

In the Out of Gas flashback, he seemed more intelligent. Three possible reasons:
1.) He's smarter than he acts.
2.) He's a reasonbly bright person who wasn't burdened with an overabundance of schoolin' (or none at all.)
3.) He's a...how to put this delicatly?...a partaker of various substances that are currently illegal in the US. This is very unlikely, but possible.

Quote:
Just my thoughts.

Sensou
Who should not be doing this after nap hour, or as it is commonly known, math class.

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:09 AM

HJERMSTED

Aside from the obvious ("That's not a Shepherd."), here's a Book-related mystery that's been bugging me...

Why would one Alliance facility roll out the carpet for Book in 'Safe' and another interrogate him as if they had no idea who he is in 'Bushwacked'?

Does Book have dual ident badges? Does he use his true badge for those life or death moments ('Safe')? Did he use his more anonymous alias when being questioned by the Alliance ('Bushwacked)?

Keep in mind, in the intended airing order 'Safe' is only two episodes after 'Bushwacked'. So why two totally different treatments for Book by the Alliance in such a short span of time?

mattro

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 10:12 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by Hjermsted:
Aside from the obvious ("That's not a Shepherd."), here's a Book-related mystery that's been bugging me...

Why would one Alliance facility roll out the carpet for Book in 'Safe' and another interrogate him as if they had no idea who he is in 'Bushwacked'?

Does Book have dual ident badges? Does he use his true badge one for those life or death moments ('Safe')? Did he use his more anonymous alias when being questioned by the Alliance ('Bushwacked)?

Keep in mind, in the intended airing order 'Safe' is only two episodes after 'Bushwacked'. So why two totally different treatments for Book by the Alliance in such a short span of time?

mattro

That's a damn good question. Never thougth about it. The two card thing makes some sense. What if, in Bushwacked, they didn't officially scan them? That doesn't hold up though, cos it looked like Mr. Melrose (the commander guy, whatever his name is, that's how I think of him) had a big thick file on Mal.

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 6:51 PM

LIVINGIMPAIRED

Quote:
Originally posted by Hjermsted:
Aside from the obvious ("That's not a Shepherd."), here's a Book-related mystery that's been bugging me...

Why would one Alliance facility roll out the carpet for Book in 'Safe' and another interrogate him as if they had no idea who he is in 'Bushwacked'?

Does Book have dual ident badges? Does he use his true badge for those life or death moments ('Safe')? Did he use his more anonymous alias when being questioned by the Alliance ('Bushwacked)?

Keep in mind, in the intended airing order 'Safe' is only two episodes after 'Bushwacked'. So why two totally different treatments for Book by the Alliance in such a short span of time?

Maybe after he left the military (or whatever) he had to get a civilian ID, but he still kept his military ID. When he was shot, he showed them the old ID. It had expired, but it still showed his importance, and they felt obligated to honor it.

________________

So then Shepherd says to a Companion, "Well, a good goat would do that."

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 7:09 PM

RANDY

Quote:
As for the untying and taking off the blind folds, it's very hard to untie yourself when you can't see your bonds even with a blind fold off it's hard to twist your neck around to see your hands behind you.

The key point here is that Mal and Wash were blindfolded and tied up but left to wander around. I'm saying why didn't Mal take off Wash's blindfold and vice versa. NOT that they'd take their own blindfolds off. They were free to move around so all one had to do was kneel down behind the other one. And once they had their blindfolds off, they could see how the knots were tied and untie each other (or at least try to), again, Mal untying Wash and vice versa. Granted, that would be difficul,t trying to untie someone with only one hand and doing it behind your back. But hey, if you're tied up, wouldn't you give it a go? And even if they couldn't untie each other, they could at least get a look at what was around them that they could use.

"...morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with" - Mal

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 7:09 PM

RANDY

Quote:
As for the untying and taking off the blind folds, it's very hard to untie yourself when you can't see your bonds even with a blind fold off it's hard to twist your neck around to see your hands behind you.

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Thursday, February 13, 2003 8:53 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

I think you're on target.

Maybe Book was a top security(Read Secret Police) offical. What if he's still active? You know deep cover (It's atleast partially blow after safe).

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