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Originally posted by xion47:
In "Bushwacked" Wash said "Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed!" Do you think this has anything to do with the fact that he and Mal were tortured in "War Stories"?
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Originally posted by CHEAPJOE:
What struck me as funnay was when they ask her how her checkup went. She says "Same as last year" Not exactly what one whould call an upfront answer.

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Originally posted by SigmaNunki:
I don't know about that. I makes sense to me to require a check up once in awhile for someone in her chosen profession. ie The stamp of approval from the guild is something of a guarantee that the client won't catch anything.

Sure, it makes sense. I'm not saying she wasn't going for her check-up; I'm just saying it may be a clue towards her secret.

Here are some of them:

Why even use the check-up in the story? To get them to a core world? Simon's job would have done that anyway.

Her statement, not "fine" or "good" but "Same as last year." And we know that her physical from last year would have been less 4 months before she hooked up with Serenity. It's the only event we know of her past, and it happens to coincide pretty closely with her decision to join Serenity?

It takes 2 days for her to get a "physical" when Simon is able to do a bran scan of River in 2 minutes? Seems a little long.

In Serenity she gives Simon her standard Companion Immunization packets. Immunization only works if taken beforehand. Why hadn't Inara used them? Go to Ariel again, and were shown a scene a where a man almost dies because two medications are mixed. Maybe Inara can't use her immunization packets while on her medication?

The Train Job shows us Bowden's Malady, a non-communicable, treatable, and incurable disease. Just the kind of thing Inara could have and still function as a Companion.

And if you want to go with the "symbolic" clues, when we first meet Inara in Serenity, what else is shown and then behind her during her lines? An hour glass with the Chinese symbol for "short interval."

I think the theory fits the clues and the motivation of the character.

Then again, I could be wrong.

"Wacky fun..."

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Her statement, not "fine" or "good" but "Same as last year."

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It's the only event we know of her past, and it happens to coincide pretty closely with her decision to join Serenity?

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It takes 2 days for her to get a "physical" when Simon is able to do a bran scan of River in 2 minutes? Seems a little long.

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Immunization only works if taken beforehand. Why hadn't Inara used them?

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And if you want to go with the "symbolic" clues, when we first meet Inara in Serenity, what else is shown and then behind her during her lines? An hour glass with the Chinese symbol for "short interval."

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Originally posted by Fireflythemovie:
I don't see this as evidence at all. It's a very realistic thing someone would say. Physicals are not really a fun thing, but they happen and then they're done. Unless the doctor finds something wrong, I wouldn't say "bad" (I know, you're saying they already found something wrong, but I have a different perspective), and I'd really never say "good". The best I might say would be something like "not nearly as bad as usual."."

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4 months seems like a really long time between finding out something important (like "I'm dying, and only have a few years to live) and making a decision to leave your current life for an entirely different one.

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Sure. All sorts of blood tests take multiple hours to get results on, and that's assuming that the lab gets to them right away. Imaging techniques (CAT, MRI, etc.) tends to go a lot faster. Not quite as fast as the 3D neuroimager, but I think they've continued to get faster over time. In 500 years, they may well be pretty instantaneous.

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I'm guessing she had them as immunization boosters. For example, I think you're supposed to get a tetanus shot every decade or so, because the immunity you got from the last one has faded over time. For Hepatitis A, to achieve full immunity, you need a series of 3 or 4 injections (of the same stuff) over several months, and the immunity only lasts a few years. Immunizations are supposed to happen on a schedule, and Inara can't be sure that she'll be near well-stocked medical facilities when it's time for her next shot. A booster shot and an initial immunization shot are the same thing (although sometimes in different quantities) so something Inara has for boosters will work for initial immunization, too.

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True, except that Joss said in the commentary that the set people came up with that on their own. It's not something he planted as a clue. And I'd be shocked to learn that more than maybe 4-5 writers (and possibly Morena herself, although I doubt it) knew what Joss was planning to do with the character in the long term.

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And as I said, why even put it in the show unless it serves some purpose?

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I just knew it was less than four months because in Train Job she says she has been onboard for eight months. Doing more research, in Bushwhacked, she says it will be a year in a few weeks. There are five episodes between that and Ariel. Starting to sound like she joined up with Serenity almost exactly around the time she would have had her last physical.

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Sure. All sorts of blood tests take multiple hours to get results on, and that's assuming that the lab gets to them right away. Imaging techniques (CAT, MRI, etc.) tends to go a lot faster. Not quite as fast as the 3D neuroimager, but I think they've continued to get faster over time. In 500 years, they may well be pretty instantaneous.

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Okay, so this was agreement, right? Why would a simple physical take 2 whole days when most tests can probably be done instantaneously?

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Seems like if it was a booster, Inara would say so. We'd have to presume that she knew it was the exact same medicine in the exact same dosage because in any other scenario, it would only make sense to mention they were boosters and not initial immunizations.

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The set designer did do the Chinese symbol, but he didn't say about the hourglass itself. And only Joss can set the scene where it is over her shoulder ticking away. And I think Joss would think the symbol was especially cool (maybe worth mentioning on the DVD) if it had another meaning the set designers weren't aware of.

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It does serve a purpose. It answers Kaylee's question. Inara doesn't look evasive when she's answering it--she looks a little distracted by what's going on on the ship. I see her answer as being more or less equivalent to "as good as can be expected."

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Ok, you're probably right here about the timeline. But I do a lot of things at approximately the same time as my routine annual physical that really have nothing to do with that physical. I still think the routine physical was mostly a plot device to get them onto a core planet, which serves multiple purposes: we get to see a core planet, it gives them a few days with no other obligations in which Simon's plan becomes more practical, rather than being something they have to go out of their way for, it's not the kind of job they ususally do, and Mal avoids the core at all costs. I think he would've said no if they weren't already there.

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]No, this was disagreement. I said imaging procedures are generally fairly quick, even today, and would presumably just get faster. But blood tests take a minimum of several hours (chemical reactions have always taken a specific amount of time to complete, and always will) assuming the lab jumps on them immediately (which is not how things generally work for a routine physical) and there are plenty of other tests that take longer. For this, Inara wouldn't necessarily have to be in the doctor's office for 2 days straight, but she wouldn't be able to leave the planet until the results came back in case results were inconclusive or they needed a follow-up test.

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She called it an "immunization kit". Which doesn't imply anything about whether they're for boosters or not, I was just infering. And assuming that they've given her the syringe and the medicine, she presumably has some training with respect to when and how much she should give herself, and what it is. Simon, being a doctor, wouldn't need this explained. And the doses don't have to be exactly the same, since there are markings on syringes to indicate the volume that's been pulled into the syringe. You'd pretty much never use an entire vial in a single dose, anyway.

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I think SigmaNunki addressed this pretty well, although I saw it as commentary on the amount of time she allows her clients to have with her, rather than a comment on their sexual prowess. Joss pointed it out as the attention to detail paid by everyone on the crew, specifically the props people. He (and Tim, and Nathan, and Alan, etc.) mention all sorts of things in the commentary that are just cool little things that people did on the shoow that they were surprised and impressed by. If it wasn't in the script (or added at the last minute by a director in-the-know), I don't think it can count as a clue.

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Originally posted by SigmaNunki:
There is the likely-hood that Book would've voice some disagreement if it were a lie. He has displayed an eerie amount of knowledge about a few things.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
If you are referring to whether Inara's physical exam story was legit, remember that Book was not on the ship at that time, but had been dropped off at an abbey for some reason.

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In "Out of Gas", Inara comments to Simon that she doesn't want to die at all (and the overlaying comment from the director indicates that particular line is important).

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