Mal and Nandi by manwithpez

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Mal and Nandi

POSTED BY: MANWITHPEZ
UPDATED: Sunday, July 25, 2004 06:01
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VIEWED: 6821
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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 8:58 PM

Important people don't do field work.

Did anyone else find it strange that Mal doesn't start revealing that he has any feeling for Inara until after he sleeps with Nandi. I mean there was a little play before, but, then he starts actively trying to tell her. Touching her hand, and trying to get a better look at her face where Early cracked her. I just found it strange.

Maybe he was just a little "backed up" if you catch my meaning...and if you don't, then don't ask your parents.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 9:15 PM

KURUKAMI

Evidently you're forgetting the care that he showed for her in "Serenity" (the pilot ep), when they were considering having Inara run for cover in her shuttle, and in "Out of Gas" right before the paired shuttles went off in opposite directions. I'd say that was quite a bit of concern shown.

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 9:27 PM

ROWAN

I think possibly Nandi's death was a catalyst for his emotions for Inara. Made him realize time is short and you never know what will happen...you might not get the chance to say how you feel. That's how I saw it.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 12:36 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
Touching her hand, and trying to get a better look at her face where Early cracked her.

Sorry to be picky, but we are discussing minutiae. As written Objects in Space contextually precedes Heart of Gold. This doesn't distrupt your argument, just this case.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 2:36 AM

BROWNCOAT1

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

I think that Mal has shown many instances of caring for Inara in the series prior to Heart of Gold. I think Mal kept his distance because he was not certain of how Inara felt.

Rowan has the right of it that Mal finally decides to confess his feelings to Inara at the end of HoG because Nandi's death showed him how short life can be and that he may not get the chance later to tell her how he feels.

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

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 7:34 AM

RHUTTNER

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
Touching her hand, and trying to get a better look at her face where Early cracked her.

Sorry to be picky, but we are discussing minutiae. As written Objects in Space contextually precedes Heart of Gold. This doesn't distrupt your argument, just this case.

Actually as written OIS comes after HOG. The conversation Mal and Inara are having at the beginning of OIS is a result of her telling him shes leaving at the end of HOG. That is what Inara is referring to when she says "if you need the shuttle free" and what Mal is referring to when he asked her if shes told the others yet.

Are you an official Browncoat? If not, go sign up gorram it! http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?u=rhuttner

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:01 AM

CHANNAIN

i DO aim to misbehave

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
I think that Mal has shown many instances of caring for Inara in the series prior to Heart of Gold. I think Mal kept his distance because he was not certain of how Inara felt.

Or because he was very certain of how she felt in that she had no regard for him at all. Maybe Mal wasn't willing to risk his heart, which he's been protecting since that awful moment at the end of the war. Nandi may have given him the notion it was okay to really feel something again.

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Rowan has the right of it that Mal finally decides to confess his feelings to Inara at the end of HoG because Nandi's death showed him how short life can be and that he may not get the chance later to tell her how he feels.

First, how odd is it for me to see my RP character talking about stuff out here

I like it! Second, I have some issue with the idea that Nandi's death showed Mal how short life can be. I'm thinking Mal saw more than enough of that in the war. He kills when he sees fit to - he doesn't seem to have any qualms about taking life from anyone he thinks doesn't deserve it. That may also be why he's living the way he wants to, as free as he can - before someone else gets the same idea about him.

Nandi gave him some other things to think about, too. She felt the need to inform him "I'm not her," and he knew exactly who she was talking about. The idea that it was so obvious to someone he just met might have gotten his brain working on it. If the battle hadn't started when it did, Nandi was going to inform him about how Inara felt about him. Think how that would have changed the dynamics?

Another thought I just had was that prior to HoG, Inara was always just a little unreachable for Mal. Folks here talk long and often about how dissimilar Kaylee and Simon are, but the theme is repeated throughout Firefly within various relationships; Wash and Zoe, Book and Jayne, River and Simon, even Mal and Zoe in some respect. Mal and Inara are also from different worlds and he's very aware of that. Meeting Nandi, who was a bit closer to his own world may have given him a different perspective.

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:02 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by rhuttner:
Are you an official Browncoat? If not, go sign up gorram it!

http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?u=Haken

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:17 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by rhuttner:
Actually as written OIS comes after HOG.

Firefly - "Heart of Gold"

Written by: Brett Matthews
Directed by: Tom Wright

Episode #: 1AGE12
Story #: E01807

SHOOTING SCRIPT: October 29, 2002
BLUE REVISIONS: October 30,2002
PINK REVISIONS: October 31,2002
YELLOW REVISIONS: December 16,2002

Firefly - "Objects in Space"

Written & Directed by: Joss Whedon

Episode #: 1AGE11

SHOOTING SCRIPT: November 12, 2002

Are you an official Browncoat? If not, go sign up gorram it! http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?u=Haken

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:02 AM

JCOBB

Quote:
Originally posted by Channain:
Or because he was very certain of how she felt in that she had no regard for him at all. Maybe Mal wasn't willing to risk his heart, which he's been protecting since that awful moment at the end of the war. Nandi may have given him the notion it was okay to really feel something again.

What about in Our Mrs. Reynolds when Inara shows her feelings for Mal?

I don't care, I'm still free.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:08 AM

CHANNAIN

i DO aim to misbehave

Quote:
Originally posted by JCobb:
What about in Our Mrs. Reynolds when Inara shows her feelings for Mal?

Seems to me the only folks who saw that was us. In the cargo bay, none of the crew seemed the wiser to the look on Inara's face, and nobody else was in his quarters when she kissed him except her and him. He thought she got drugged because she kissed Saffron, remember? Poor schmoe didn't have a clue.

OMR's my favorite episode. I queue that one up a lot...

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:20 AM

JCOBB

Quote:
Originally posted by Channain:
Quote:
Originally posted by JCobb:
What about in Our Mrs. Reynolds when Inara shows her feelings for Mal?
Seems to me the only folks who saw that was us. In the cargo bay, none of the crew seemed the wiser to the look on Inara's face, and nobody else was in his quarters when she kissed him except her and him. He thought she got drugged because she kissed Saffron, remember? Poor schmoe didn't have a clue.

OMR's my favorite episode. I queue that one up a lot...

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

Ah, so you weren't saying thats how Inara really felt, just how Mal THOUGHT she felt. I can see that.

I don't care, I'm still free.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:40 AM

GRIMLAKIN

How does that change one thing? Think about it the origional script was written before the script for OIS. Just revised before it was filmed.

That is like saying scenes in a film are out of order because one was shot before the other. Several scenes of many movies are like that. Heck nearly entire movies are like that. Because that is when you CAN film that part or that script.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:55 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by Grimlakin:
Think about it the origional script was written before the script for OIS. Just revised before it was filmed.

It means that close textual analysis is fruitless without more information.
Of course you can speculate with less information, if you find it entertaining.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 12:28 PM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

After reading my original post, I guess I need to make a clarification. What I meant to say was that Mal didn't show any OVERT feelings for Inara. At the end of Heart of Gold and then again in Objects in Space, he begins to. Inara sees it, and thats when she starts in with "I've put this off for far too long." and tells his she wants to leave. Typical Whedon. One character removes the stick from their ass, and the other firmly plants it in theirs. Yes, Mal and Inara do reveal their feelings from time to time, but to them, I think its exclusive. I think she knows she likes him, but doesn't know he likes her, and vice versa. Nandi was on the point of letting the cat out of the bag, but of course, in another Whedon twist, didn't get to. In the Joss Whedon universe, the people who long for each other are in for woe, as are the people who know about it. Which is good no one in the regular cast knew about them.
I have to go. My stomach hurts.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 5:39 PM

THEREALME

ManWithPez, sorry about the tummy.

I am convinced that Inara's Companion Powers (go ahead, laugh) showed her exactly how Mal felt about her. Hmmm... I sense a new thread coming.

The Real Me

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 6:53 PM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

I don't know. She did say that she found to be a mystery and "just when I think I have you figured out." Maybe her own feelings for him are blinding her, or Mal is such a contradiction that she just can't figure it out.

My stomach's better, by the by.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 4:29 AM

GUILDSSISTER

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
I have to go. My stomach hurts.

Just take a little sprite with some bitters in it, and you'll be just fine!

Guild Sister

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 5:10 AM

BROWNCOAT1

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

Channain wrote:

Quote:
Or because he was very certain of how she felt in that she had no regard for him at all. Maybe Mal wasn't willing to risk his heart, which he's been protecting since that awful moment at the end of the war. Nandi may have given him the notion it was okay to really feel something again.

Good point Channy (

by the way). It could be that Mal, being a man, had no idea that Inara cared for him at all. I am not sure that he cared for Nandi to the depth he does Inara, but he probably got caught up in the moment and emotions at that point.

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

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 8:32 AM

SHAMBLEAU

I agree with Rowan. Something happened to Mal when Nandi died. His "Life's too short..." speech that he starts to give at the end of HOG pretty much says what changed. Not that he didn't already recognize that from everything that had happened in his life. But. having it brought home to him so graphically after he'd connected (in both senses) with Nandi, he went for it.

On why he hesitated before, it wasn't just that he wasn't sure whether Inara cared for him. I think he was perfectly aware that there was a mutual attraction. But. She'd been pro-unification. She was a Companion. Most of the people she saw were the privileged rich of the Alliance. She said she wanted to keep things on a business-like level. She kept herself aloof. Mal couldn't control her. Contrasted to all that, as Sam Spade might say, was maybe she loved him and maybe he loved her.

shambleau

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 2:57 PM

SUPERFLY

I think we've all been missing one of the key ingredeants (sorry can't spell) to the sudden overt nature of Mal's affection for Inara. To put it bluntly, I think it could have had a lot to do with sex.

We heard in Our Mrs. Reynolds that "nobody but me's grab hold of my plow in a long time." But in HOG, not only does Mal get to express his looooooooong represed sexuality, but he gets to express it in a very loving way. Take another gander or two at the sex scene in HOG. Hot enought to make you wanna slap yo mamma, but still extreamly sentual and sensative.

Anyone here ever read Kate Chopin's "Awakening?" Well... I think that's probably what Mal got that night. An awakening. For a long time, he's been more captain than man. One night with Nandi reminded him that he is a man, has needs, and feelings. His reaction to running into Inara still clothing himself outside of Nandi's room says it all for me.

If he hadn't run into her that morning, I imagine he'd have shut the door, walked down the hall, and clicked his heels while shouting "Wooo Hooo!!! I'm a man again!"

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 3:13 PM

PURPLEBELLY

Like a rebirth

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 3:31 PM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

Superfly has hit it on the nail, exactly, I think. That's what I meant in the original post when I said, "Backed up". He's put this wall up, and all of the sudden, antique guns and sake...Bang! And I mean that figuratively and literally. His walls are being torn down. The more of a fmaily he makes on Serenity, the more humanisitic he becomes. I think this is the root of it. I think you start to see him shut back down in Objects in Space. But, he does admit to at least liking River...Something I don't think he would have down prior to sleeping with Nandi. He;s starting to see the crew as a family and not as his charges or some people he has to protect. He's a noble person to start with, but chinks in his armor are starting to show through. That captain's a big softy, and I think the only three on the ship that might have the idea were Kaylee, Book, and Inara.

That, and I'm talking out of my posterior.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 6:08 PM

GRACEOM

I think it was a lot of things... Being able to connect with someone maybe gave him the idea he might be able to connect with other people he'd always kind of had a hankering to connect with... Nandi died and life is short... But also, Nandi *did* confront him with Inara's feelings, even though she didn't really have time to elaborate. I think that must have made an impression. He had reason to trust Nandi's intuition, and he knew that she knew Inara well (how soap operish is that?)

so maybe he finally believed that what he'd always assumed was impossible might just be possible after all (that Inara might acutally care for him, and that therefore he might dip a toe in admiting he cared for her...but then she won't let him).

Okay, I'm incoherant. Tequilla does that to me.

Grace

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 10:07 PM

ROWAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Channain:
First, how odd is it for me to see my RP character talking about stuff out here I like it! Second, I have some issue with the idea that Nandi's death showed Mal how short life can be. I'm thinking Mal saw more than enough of that in the war. He kills when he sees fit to - he doesn't seem to have any qualms about taking life from anyone he thinks doesn't deserve it. That may also be why he's living the way he wants to, as free as he can - before someone else gets the same idea about him.

Hello Channain

so it's an odd feeling to see Rowan out and about and talking on her own is it?

well you see there was this star I wished on and suddenly I came off the paper and became a real girl!

LOL!
I will have to have a look at what I've been up to!
This is not my best medium for expression and I realise how poorly I explain and express myself in a written format when I read how others write including you.
I completely agree with your statement: "I'm thinking Mal saw more than enough of that in the war. He kills when he sees fit to"
In a war or business environment Mal would have hardened his heart somewhat keeping those he cares about at arms length for fear possibly of the pain you feel when you lose someone you love. I though maybe Nandi had opened his heart a little made him realise that keeping people at arms length while caring for them is not really working for him on a certain level. That there isn't any point to fighting his feelings or suppressing them for Inara because he's still going to hurt if he loses her the only difference will be that he never got to have any of the good stuff. I think this is how Nandi acts as the catalyst opening Mal up to this realisation. His defences have been lowered and his emotions are on the surface he's in a vulnerable place emotionally hence his attempt to make his declaration to Inara she sensing this in him knowing it's coming from Mal because he's in this emotionally vulnerable state shuts him down before he says something he isn't really ready to follow up on once he's no longer feeling this way. This would probably be the next morning when he wakes up and realises what he’s said and done. I think Inara does this as much to protect herself as to protect him.

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Friday, July 23, 2004 1:49 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Nandi pretty much seduced Mal, not realizing that he AND Inara secretly loved each other. She figured it was just him, and thought he could use a good thrust.

The scene of Inara crying over Mal and Nandi was pretty powerful, and telling. Even though she's a companion, and a damn good one, she still could not seperate her feelings for Mal and the 'business' side of things.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Friday, July 23, 2004 4:09 AM

THEREALME

Great ideas, everyone. But I'll have to disagree on one point. I think Inara shut Mal down before he could express his love for her in order to protect HERSELF.

She's a companion, after all, and with her Companion Powers (tm) she certainly knew what he was about to say. After all, I did, and I'm hardly psychic at all!

She had realized how vulnerable she had become, how connected with Mal. That is also why she had to leave. She was running away. I think that Inara handles sex fine, but has problems where love in involved. This is due, no doubt, to Inara's Secret.

Whatever THAT is.

The Real Me

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Friday, July 23, 2004 4:28 AM

CHANNAIN

i DO aim to misbehave

Quote:
Originally posted by Rowan
Hello Channain so it's an odd feeling to see Rowan out and about and talking on her own is it? well you see there was this star I wished on and suddenly I came off the paper and became a real girl! LOL!
I will have to have a look at what I've been up to!

Check the New Characters thread for the Gunrunners RP. That's the quickest way. Not a lot of folk have the time to wade through 18 threads, all 100 or so posts each. The Fa-Zhou Rowan character is why my Avatar looks like Jeannette Lee.
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3498
You're becoming quite notorious, actually

Quote:
Originally posted by Rowan
I though maybe Nandi had opened his heart a little made him realise that keeping people at arms length while caring for them is not really working for him on a certain level.

That's my thought as well. A fella can go a long while maintaining an existence without really living. Nandi put a nice dent in that armor of his, then Inara cracked it when she told him she was leaving. Now he's gotta fix it.

Quote:
Originally posted by auraptor
Nandi pretty much seduced Mal, not realizing that he AND Inara secretly loved each other. She figured it was just him, and thought he could use a good thrust.

Oh, I think there was a lot of mutual seduction going on there. Love might be a bit strong too, IMO. But she knew there was something going on between them - heck, she even said as much.

Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe
But I'll have to disagree on one point. I think Inara shut Mal down before he could express his love for her in order to protect HERSELF.

I'm thinking there might even be Guild law against Companions falling in love. The second they do that, they're out - buh-bye prestige, privilege, the whole nine yards. She'd lose her access to the Guild client registry and be forced to eek out an existence on her own. Not that she wouldn't be able to, but it would be a lot harder, and several of those clients of hers all like the idea that they're "courting" a registered companion. Atherton Wing--case in point. Desirable as she is, I seriously doubt he would have given Inara a second look if she didn't have the Companion pedigree.

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Sunday, July 25, 2004 2:37 AM

ROWAN

Quote:
Originally posted by THEREALME:
Great ideas, everyone. But I'll have to disagree on one point. I think Inara shut Mal down before he could express his love for her in order to protect HERSELF.

Hello THEREALME

I didn't want you to feel lonely out there thinking you were all by yourself in this belief. You and I are in complete agreement I said the same thing myself in my earlier post.

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Sunday, July 25, 2004 6:01 AM

THEREALME

Thanks, Rowan.

I must admit it was getting a might lonesome.

The Real Me

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