A theory on River and more (*Minor Spoilers*) by Amiton

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A theory on River and more (*Minor Spoilers*)

POSTED BY: AMITON
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:27
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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 5:58 AM

This may seem intuitively obvious to some of you, but to me it's just a possible thought pattern, not entirely fleshed out, and admittedly not directly supported with facts throughout. Anyway, here is my thought...I think that perhaps River was simply intended to be trained as an operative, and this ties directly into the BDM operative and Shepherd Book.

First, I want to look at something about operatives from the BDM. The doctor from the hospital was obviously familiar with the concept of Operatives of the Parliament. He was, however, surprised that this particular operative had neither a listing of name nor rank. Because of that, I would submit that not all operatives are the same. I think that rather the operatives are a group of individuals that are highly loyal to the parliament, and that they have various jobs, missions, and places within their own hierarchy.

By virtue of the job that we know that they do, I would submit also that operative candidates must be exceptionally intelligent. This is, in a way, where I think River comes in. I think that maybe the small, selective academy that she went to ended up as fate would have it, to be "operative school." To this contention I would also assert that River was born a reader rather than having been made that way by way of the tampering they did to her brain. I think that was why she was always so far beyond genius - she could comprehend exactly what people were asking her or telling her as it was introduced to her. I don't think she had extensive control over her ability, however. She was a star student at home, in school, and in the academy - but the alliance realized very quickly that they had someone exceptional in their midst, so they operated on her while they trained her.

It's also fair to assert, from what we've seen in her "flashbacks" that she wasn't necessarily a docile supplicant, and we know that the alliance couldn't have that, especially in their operatives. That would set River up for the experimentation for mind-control that we're familiar with. Also, since she was a "star pupil", she set up the predicament that made her escape so much of a threat - she was *really* impressive, but also a reader...

That's as far as I've taken the reasoning on River. I also mentioned Book when I started as well. I'm in the camp that belives Book was an operative, but in the sense outlined in this theory and not necessarily strictly as was portrayed in the BDM. Operative Book had both name and rank and worked closely with some aspect of Parliament, and thus his knowledge of reavers, but without having the extensive intel to relay to Mal exactly what he was dealing with. Book was sharp, well trained, and well versed in operative modus operandi. That doesn't necessarily make him an assassin, but I still think he very much fits the profile of operative. I also think that whatever happened to break his faith to leave the government for the priesthood wasn't directly tied to Miranda. Whatever it was, though, I think that devout faith, of any kind, was necessary for Book to survive, hence the lines in the BDM (and to some extent in Firefly). In *this* retiree's case, he chose the faith in Christianity.

My thoughts :) Dissect and discuss as seen fit!

Amiton.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6:16 AM

MTNSCOTT

I agree with almost every aspect of your post.

Only the half mad are wholly alive!
E.A.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6:45 AM

DANIELFYRE

I'm not trying to nitpick, but I'm guessing you posted this to see what other people thought. That being said the main problem I have with your idea is the whole possibility of River being psychic before going to the academy. I find this HIGHLY unlikey because as you had pointed out if she was then she could in fact read people the moment she met them, if she could do this then she would know the evil intentions of the academy and not go there to begin with. The rest of the stuff I agree with I think it is quite possible that River was being trained to be a new form of opperative and that Book in the day was an operative as well. I just take issue with the whole River being psychic pre-academy thing.

-Dan

Ain't that just shiny?

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:40 AM

AMITON

No worries about nitpicking at all, DanielFyre - that's the point, right?!? A theory has to stand up to scrutiny ;p

In response, though, I'll offer this. I don't think River could control her "reading." She still can't for that matter. Things come to her that are strong on people's minds at the time.

That being said, I also don't think that she would have gotten a read about the "evil" of the alliance, either. Nobody is going to have that in the front of their minds, especially since the alliance, and most particularly the operatives, don't believe what they are doing is evil. They *utterly* believe it to be for the greater good and for the betterment of mankind.

I also don't think that the academy had any such intentions when she got there. In their minds she would have just been a tremendously gifted prospect. *She* chose *them* over better and more prestigeous schools because she wanted the challenge. Also, everything was pretty normal when she first arrived, but when they went south, they went quickly. By that time, it was already too late. She was completely at their mercy, and even knowing how badly they were treating her, she couldn't get herself out of the academy.

Another issue I have is the concept of "making" someone psychic. That's some pretty wild medical leaps going from using brain surgery to lobotomize to figuring out enough of the non-corporeal stuff that link people together through their heads... Mind control I can swallow, *creating* psychics is mind-blowing to me. I also can't figure out any reason why they would intentionally *make* River of all people psychic. If she's rebellious, then attempts at mind control are justified, as would use of partial lobotomy (brutal, but we're not talking about grandmas and puppies here, we're dealing with FFF.net-level fanatics =p). She's already an incredible asset, and going in to attempt potentially destructive and experimental brain surgery would be counterintuitive in my opinion unless they had a very good reason.

Maybe not everything it could be, but that's my take at this point =P

Amiton.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:50 AM

MTNSCOTT

Perhaps She was Psychic before going to the academy, and they discovered it. Then the brain surgery was a succesfull attempt to make her more sensitive to others thoughts. Hence, this led to her not being able to deal with the now overwelming psychic messages, and being "broken".

Only the half mad are wholly alive!
E.A.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:18 AM

AMITON

That is another take, MtnScott. It's not what I would believe, but it is every bit as feasible. A very viable alternative - and options are good!

Amiton.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:37 AM

DANIELFYRE

Alright, say that she was psychic prior to going to the academy. What use would it have served them to remove the part of her brain that lets her not feel. One would think that they would want to reinforce that so that she could kill without qualm. But perhaps it was required in order to focus her psychic abilities? Just tryin to throw out possibilities here... Also River was not the only individual in this program there were others, but River due to her inate genius and grace was the best of the bunch. So do you also think the others in the program exhibited psychic tendancies prior to going to the academy or do you think the academy was trying to make them psychic?

-Dan

Ain't that just shiny?

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:51 AM

AMITON

DanielFyre,
That's actually what got me started. I don't think the academy was a school for psychics, I think it was just operative education. I don't think that there was any prior knowledge that she was psychic, nor do I think that what happened with her was because of it. I'm admittedly having some trouble smoothing out decisions over the brain surgery. On one hand, I think they may strip all operative's amygdalas and perform some invasive procedures just to make sure they behave. I have trouble believing that about Book, though, if he was an operative (then again, maybe that's why he *had* to find something he believed in just as strongly?). Again, though, he just may not have been that *kind* of operative.

I'm more inclined to believe that River was on the fast track to being the best and the brightest, but they had some issues controlling her rebellious will, and as such resorted to more barbaric attempts to control her through lobotomy. Via the law of unintended consequences, they broke her, in part because she couldn't push back her readings anymore (nobody seemed to *know* she was psychic before the academy). 500 years in the future, the dark arts of mind-control and subliminal hypnosis have advanced considerably, apparently (just as evidenced in the BDM), but it still seems pretty rough around the edges.

More exposition on my conjecture-based opinion :)

Amiton.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 9:10 AM

RAVENHAIRGRL

From watching the R. Tam sessions it seems like River was possibly somewhat psychic and just didn't know it. She was seen as highly intuitive and perceptive, she could figure people out through their actions and the way they spoke. She probably didn't realize she was psychic as she probably wasn't anywhere near as psychic as she was in the series. Most likely the Alliance saw a lot of possibilities with River and that's why they operated on her and ran all the test, trying to enhance her psychic abilities. Simon says they stripped the part of her brain that allowed her to push things that worried her to the back of her mind, not think about them. She probably did this automatically most of the time with some of the things she psychicly "read", just pushing it away as something silly or paranoid. Without that she can't not help but focus on anything she "reads", it's all just right there and she can't help but think about it and process it.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 9:19 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

I've only read the first post, but I wanted to make sure I said this, and I tend to forget things, even important ones.

I don't think what was being done to River was to make her an operative because I believe that operatives are too devout to come from that.

If you look at the operative he believes, truly believes, in what he is doing. I doubt that anyone who went through what River went through would be like that. I also don't think any kind of brainwashing and such could do that, and I don't think someone who could be brainwashed would be operative material.

However it would make sense for River to be part of a parallel program, perhaps even one meant to replace the operatives. If we look at river we see that she started off a genius and she was made into a psychic and a weapon, these three traits together could make the best possible operative, with the exception that one could never be sent on the mission the operative in the movie was because they wouldn't have to ask why, they would know.

The biggest flaw I see in all of this, which is not necessarily a flaw, is a single line from the movie, "Most of our best work is done when they're asleep." Now if the work he is referring to is simple conditioning that isn't a problem, but why would he be claiming their best work is that, wouldn't the subject in action be better work? Also why would monitoring and directing the subconscious be a part of that?

I get the impression that there is a lot more to the program than just creating an improved analog to the operative, I think if Simon had said, "What use do we have for an operative if she’s insane?" the doctor would have said, "She’s not just an operative," but what he would have said next I do not know.

I'm not saying she was meant to be an operative at all, but I'm not saying she wasn't, I'm just saying that if she was meant to be an operative I think there was more to her purpose than that.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:27 AM

AMITON

Christhecynic,
Those are all perfectly valid points. I'll respond to the best of my ability from my little universe over here =p

It's absolutely true that an operative's strength and real value comes from their belief in what they're doing. Especially one such as the operative from the BDM. Like I said earlier, I don't believe all of the operatives are the same, nor do I think that they all have to have the level of fanaticism exhibited by our nameless friend =) Just the same, River's lack of..erm...devotion?, would surface as a problem. There *has* to be a training pool to select from, and from what I assume has to be done, the education must be thorough, biased, and controlled (just like the classroom scenes from the BDM) and would have to start early. Starting early also means taking chances with recruiting, and as such, there are going to be bad apples. That means that there has to be an alternative program in my take on things, which is how River ended up where she was. In my view, she was in operative training (designed exclusively for highly gifted candidates with a desire to be challenged). She got in trouble quickly (reference the letters home to Simon), and they put her in the alternative, mind-control and behavior modification program. At *that* point, she was no longer on the path to be an operative like the one in the movie, but her service was going to be *just* as absolute and controlled. Intelligence agencies drool over this kind of stuff. And with her exceptional physical skills combined with her newly discovered psychic abilites she becomes exactly what you said - perfect (minus the brain-scrambling problem).

In response to the line from the movie, a think that was strictly from a mind-control perspective. River is still deep in her training at that point. They can teach and talk and train during consciousness all that they want, but the *real* effective work for moving her fellow subjects along comes while they are sleeping. Subliminal messaging, memory modification via force of suggestion, Pavlovian conditioning *directly* in the brain (scaring the bejeepers out of someone in deep dreams whenever they activate certain parts of the brain). From a PsyOps perspective, that progress would be *HUGE*, and of major importance to preparing their subjects for deployment into mission capable status...

Amiton.

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