Inara ponderings. by dug

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Inara ponderings.

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POSTED BY: DUG
UPDATED: Saturday, January 17, 2004 14:05
SHORT URL: http://goo.gl/XoElY
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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:05 AM

Something about how Inara says "I don't want to die at all" in Out of Gas got me thinking.

1. It's a mystery to her closest friends as to why she left Sihnon (sp.) and picked up passage on a tramp freighter. NOT where a talented, promising companion should be.

2. Seems odd when I think about it that she is only require to get a medical checkup once a year. If it is to ensure "cleanliness" then it should be more often. I think Nevada requires monthly std checks.

3. In Serenity she is shown with a needle and drug set-up when the Reavers are passing by. The assumption is that it is a suicide kit...but in the commentary Joss insists that it is not. He says it is a seed for a future sub-plot.

My theory? Inara is terminally ill. Explains why she is running from a life of promise that can never be fulfilled; won't enter a relationship that can go nowhere, and generally seems to avoid any offer that leads to a "future".

Thoughts?

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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:20 AM

HERO

I already posted the "Inara is dying" theory. It makes alot of sense and its a plot device Joss has used before. Her Order does not forbid dating so it fits right in to the emerging love plot with Mal that has her leaving after 'Heart of Gold'.

As for the needle, rumor is that it turns her into some sort of super fighter (Inara the Vampire Slayer?).

H

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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:34 AM

BOOMERGOODHEART

As far as Inara & Mal goes, this is my little theory as to why they can never be together:

Mal could never accept her career.
Inara could never be anything but a Companion. I just don't see her as "Mal's girlfriend".

Might be simplistic, but that's how I always saw it.

BoomerGoodheart
"I love my Captain."

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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:49 AM

PHLEBOTININ

Maybe it's that I don't want to think that Inara is not long for this world, but she doesn't seem particularly sickly. I know, I know, if she has a terminal illness, maybe it's of the "no symptoms until near death" variety. Or maybe she uses whatever is in the syringe to keep her symptoms at bay. And maybe her putative yearly companion's checkup in Ariel was to get further help or meds for her secret terminal condition.

Maybe.

Apart from the terminal illness theory, are there any others that have been floating around? I don't want Inara to die! Too interesting a character.

When/where did Joss use the terminal illness plot device before?

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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:51 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Inara dying does seem like a pretty likely scenario. It is one Joss has used before, and it is an effective dramatic tool. It is also something that could be used for subplots down the road.

Still not sure what the needle & vial in the box were for, and I am not sold on the whole "super soldier" formula theory proposed by others. Joss says it was not a suicide kit, so what does that leave us?

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:02 AM

HERO

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Still not sure what the needle & vial in the box were for, and I am not sold on the whole "super soldier" formula theory proposed by others. Joss says it was not a suicide kit, so what does that leave us?

Hmmm...

Maybe she was just really bad at chosing a weapon. Jayne grabs his guns. Inara runs to her shuttle and get...a needle.

"Don't make me use this!"

Then she starts jabbing every Reaver that comes near.

Could be.

H

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:15 AM

OKKAY

Quote:
Originally posted by phlebotinin:
Or maybe she uses whatever is in the syringe to keep her symptoms at bay.

I don't think this would be the case, because I don't see how that makes sense within the context of the episode. I would think that once we find out what the syringe is for, we could go back, rewatch the episode, and think "oh, THAT's why she took the syringe out at that particular time." And I don't have that feeling with the "syringe = medicine" theory. Of course, I'm usually wrong about things.

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:22 AM

BOOMERGOODHEART

Could it have been some kind of narcotic, so that she just didn't care about what the Reavers planned to do? Maybe something that she had an addiction to? (Although she might have had a handle on it.)

BoomerGoodheart
"I love my Captain."

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:36 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Quote:
Originally posted by BoomerGoodheart:
Could it have been some kind of narcotic, so that she just didn't care about what the Reavers planned to do? Maybe something that she had an addiction to? (Although she might have had a handle on it.)

BoomerGoodheart
"I love my Captain."

Possible.

Could it have been the same type of drug that Simon used to simulate death in himself & River in Ariel? Something to make her appear dead so the Reavers would leave her alone?

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Friday, January 16, 2004 8:01 AM

KURUKAMI

That had occurred to me as well, but given that the Reavers seemed perfectly willing to skin and dice corpses it seems unlikely.

Remember: "If they take the ship, they'll rape
us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Friday, January 16, 2004 8:01 AM

SAINT JAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Quote:
Originally posted by BoomerGoodheart:
Could it have been some kind of narcotic, so that she just didn't care about what the Reavers planned to do? Maybe something that she had an addiction to?

Could it have been the same type of drug that Simon used to simulate death in himself & River in Ariel? Something to make her appear dead so the Reavers would leave her alone?

BoomerGoodheart, that's out of character for Inara and I would never think she was taking narcotics; even if she was, that was not the time.

BrownCoat1, considering what reavers do to you after you're dead, feigning death is not a good idea.

It has to be a weapon. Since Joss says it's not for suicide, it must be a weapon against reavers. My favourite speculation is still the super-power drug.

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Friday, January 16, 2004 8:38 AM

SHINY

Has anyone considered that the mystery syringe might be a secret shared by all companions, not just Inara's?

Thinking about the super-drug just now also made me think about the 'spice' from Dune...just a random thought...

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Friday, January 16, 2004 9:01 AM

SAINT JAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
Has anyone considered that the mystery syringe might be a secret shared by all companions, not just Inara's?

I assumed it is Companion standard-issue, although I have nothing to back up my thoughts. I think I'm going to watch Bushwacked again tonight and take a really good look at that box it's in.

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Friday, January 16, 2004 10:28 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Quote:
Originally posted by Saint Jayne:
Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
Has anyone considered that the mystery syringe might be a secret shared by all companions, not just Inara's?

I assumed it is Companion standard-issue, although I have nothing to back up my thoughts. I think I'm going to watch Bushwacked again tonight and take a really good look at that box it's in.

I forgot that Reavers didn't mind defiling the dead.

Could be a Companion standard issue thing. Still doesn't tell us what it might be though.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Friday, January 16, 2004 5:09 PM

CAPNRAHN

I dunno ...

"Inara the Reaver Slayer" does sound Joss'esque.

OR meebe Inara WAS a Reaver at one point and for a short time - abducted as a child or pre-teen? The drug may keep her sane, unless she overdoses. THEN she becomes "Inara the Reaver Slayer".

Could explain quite a bit about her actions.

Just another, darker, path ...

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Friday, January 16, 2004 6:51 PM

CARDIE

If she's ill, then it's her medication. (I also wondered if the stop in Ariel was to be treated for her illness.) That seems the simplest explanation for most of the mysterious things about her, rather than constructing elaborate theories about a drug making her into some kind of super-being.

Cardie

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:06 PM

HERO

Don't forget everyone. Just because Inara may be dying does not measn she was going to die. Some kind of plot where she comes very close only to be saved at the last second could be just as effective.

I can picture the Captain holding her in his arms as her life life fades away. Then a moment where the stoic captain breaks down completly only to witness the miracle he's praying for.

Damn, I think I've been watching too much General Hospital.

H

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Friday, January 16, 2004 7:11 PM

CAPNRAHN

I can't quite see Inara looking at her life saving meds while beliving the Reavers were about to board Serenity.

Hee hee, and Joss is WELL known for his elaborate story arcs. AND his red herrings!

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 3:23 AM

DRAKON

Quote:
Hee hee, and Joss is WELL known for his elaborate story arcs. AND his red herrings!

My wife has this thing where if we watch a movie or tv show that just misses, she'll say, "That needed another rewrite."

She noted the other day she has never said that about Joss Whedon's work.

"Wash, where is my damn spaceship?"

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 8:23 AM

SHADOWKATE

Just a couple of points:

1) While she is only required to get a check up once a year, don't forget that they are given immunzation packets. My guess for this is that its assumed that all compainons are using these and hence only need a check up once a year (in case something goes wrong), or maybe that they only need a check up by a certain doctor once a year and when ever anything seems wrong they are just suppose to go to a doctor close to where they are based. Also remember that women only need to see a gynocologist once a year so maybe its something like that.

2) My guess behind her leaving was that something happened with a high ranking person (maybe she was discarded for someone else from the governer?) but I do believe she is running from something.

3) I happen to agree with a lot of other people, I think that the vial is probably some sort of enhancement drug.

This isn't to say that I totally disreagard the sickness issue, esp because it has been used by Joss before. Its just that the way I read the information given that idea is lacking some support (again, the way I READ IT, I know I don't always show the same view point as me).

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 12:25 PM

While I endorse the 'super-drug' theory, I'm willing to entertain the possibility that it is not that, but rather a death-simulating drug, like Mal says in Serenity "If we run, they gotta chase us, it's their way".

However, maybe it's a poison of sorts, only it goes to her skin and tissues, so that anybody who... takes a bite out of her... dies from it.

Kind of a twisted revenge poison. You live long enough to see those who are eating you die first.

Anybody remember the show "The Invisible Man", with Vincent Ventresca? On the second episode, The Catevari, a man has been injected with increasingly lethal doses neurotoxins for years, so while he himself is immune to them, anyone he scratches or spits on dies within minutes. This is what made me think of the Lethal-To-Your-Attackers-Poison theory, maybe Inara is immune to the syringe, but if she even scratched (and punctured the skin) an attacker, he/she would die. It fits in that it is not a suicide kit, but it would work amazingly against Reavers.

Whadda y'all think?

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 12:25 PM

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 1:47 PM

LADYJAYNE

Quote:
My wife has this thing where if we watch a movie or tv show that just misses, she'll say, "That needed another rewrite."

She noted the other day she has never said that about Joss Whedon's work.

LOL! That sounds JUST like my husband. It's always, "I would have included this-and-such" or something. Then there is his Ulitmate Insult to a piece of writing: "That NEVER would have made it through the writer's group." He's been meeting with a group of authors for critiques here in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area for about ten years.

Unfortunately, he HAS said that about some of Joss' stuff He said it a lot during the first season of Angel. We kept watching though, because we knew it was just trying to find its standing. Ironically, it's now doing that again.

Anyway, interesting theories about Inara. I would like to think that it's not an addiction stroy, though to me, that is the one that jumped into my mind first. Joss doesn't exactly have even a half-decent record with the addiction motiff.

--Kala

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Saturday, January 17, 2004 2:05 PM

SAINT JAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by CB:
However, maybe it's a poison of sorts, only it goes to her skin and tissues, so that anybody who... takes a bite out of her... dies from it.

Kind of a twisted revenge poison. You live long enough to see those who are eating you die first.

You're a very "up" person, aren't you?

While fantastic in concept and novelty, I'm not convinced by your ideas. If it is a poison for the reavers, why not a skin creme? If Inara's been building up resistance to a specific poison, it would not be necessary to inject herself now (the focus would be on her flesh, not the syringe). And I'm not sure Inara is into "twisted revenge".

PS, in her line of work, I'm sure pumping herself full of toxins is not the greatest of ideas.

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