Were the Hands of Blue Inept? by m52nickerson

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Were the Hands of Blue Inept?

POSTED BY: M52NICKERSON
UPDATED: Thursday, June 14, 2012 19:04
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Thursday, June 14, 2012 6:14 AM

DALEK!

I have been thinking about this and have come to the conclusion that they were, or close to. They were assigned to find River and most likely to keep her a secret at the same time. We first see them on the Alliance ship in The Train Job. We can assume this ship is close to where Serenity was pulling the job, so the Hand of Blue were at least close.

However we don’t see them again until Ariel. Now they must have been in the area because they arrived very quickly once River, Simon and Jayne are taken into custody. This could be luck, or they could have been on Serenities trail. There are problems with both.

If it is by luck they are nearby than they had been having no success finding River at all. It’s a big Verse so that is not overly surprising nor does it make them inept. The problem come in with them killing the Feds at the substation before having River in hand. With that they lost the knowledge of who the third person was (Jayne) and as such what ship they were on. Again I’m assuming the Feds were not officially documenting anything for the Hands of Blue to read afterwards.

Now if they were tracking Serenity it begs the question why had there not be arrest warrants issued for everyone on the ship? Had that happened and a bulletin put out about Serenity the crew and ship could have been captures dozens of times. Serenity could not have set down on any civilized world. I know, perhaps that is why. So it would not drive them into deep hiding. That could be but even notifying some major ports quietly could have done. Plus if that was really a worry why have posted warrants for Simon and River in the first place?

Now the comics would have us believe that not only did the Hands of Blue know Serenity was harboring River, but the still very much alive agent Dobson did as well. This makes all three of them all manor of stupid. Again the only why they are not is if the Alliance, or the Blue Hands’ did not want to make Serenity and her crew wanted fugitives because they feared they would stay off the radar. I don’t see haw that is bad. It limits were the crew can go and where you have to look for them.

Here what I think. Ignoring the comics, as I do, I don’t think the Hands of Blue knew what ship River was on or how she was getting around. They screwed up on Ariel by killing the Feds to quickly and never got back on the trail, while Jubal Early was able to. He was able to figure out after Ariel which ship River left on, possible by process of elimination, and got closer to River than even anyone else. So all in all I don’t think the Hands of Blue where up to the task of finding River and that is why they where pulled from the job.

Thougths?

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 6:46 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by m52nickerson:
We first see them on the Alliance ship in The Train Job. We can assume this ship is close to where Serenity was pulling the job, so the Hand of Blue were at least close.

Why do you assume that? I think it pretty clearly wasn't all that near the planet; it was one of those big, flying office buildings and was probably the closest Alliance base, so it got the call, but it could easily have been worlds away.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:02 AM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I don't exactly think so. In a show you have to have lots of badguys for the heroes to contend with, meaning Joss didn't want to show the Hands of Blue in every episode, I think they were meant to be a shadowy force that catches up with Serenity now and again, let's face it they're pretty scary, at least to me, so having there all the time would dominish from their scariness for the general population, just like Reavers are scarier when we don't see them, mystery is usually good when it comes to bad guys. I'd still be scared of the Hands if they were there more often but others might not be, and they're supposed to be scary. So what you see as incompetance I see as trying to make the show flow along at a good and varied pace.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:06 AM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Why do you assume that? I think it pretty clearly wasn't all that near the planet; it was one of those big, flying office buildings and was probably the closest Alliance base, so it got the call, but it could easily have been worlds away.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

I agree with you, I just meant close as you put it, the closest Alliance ship or base. They could have been on the other side of the Verse.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:08 AM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
I don't exactly think so. In a show you have to have lots of badguys for the heroes to contend with, meaning Joss didn't want to show the Hands of Blue in every episode, I think they were meant to be a shadowy force that catches up with Serenity now and again, let's face it they're pretty scary, at least to me, so having there all the time would dominish from their scariness for the general population, just like Reavers are scarier when we don't see them, mystery is usually good when it comes to bad guys. I'd still be scared of the Hands if they were there more often but others might not be, and they're supposed to be scary. So what you see as incompetance I see as trying to make the show flow along at a good and varied pace.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.

I agree with you from a out of universe perspective, but that is not what I'm getting at. I'm looking at it from an in universe point of view.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 12:27 PM

EBFIDDLER

My working theory is that the Blue Hands are the secret operatives of Blue Sun Corporation. They're part of a giant, multi-layered corporate entity; it's so big that one part of it has no idea what the other part of it is doing. Joss said tat Blue Sun is a bit like Coca-Cola + McDonald's + Microsoft, they've got their fingers in so many pies, and they're so involved with paying taxes to/supporting/lobbying/bribing the Alliance that it's hard to tell exactly where their legal activities end and where their unfair business practices and less-than-legal practices begin. So I say that it's not so much a matter of sheer incompetence, and more a matter of one sector of Blue Sun not sharing information with another, one set of Blue Hands guys not knowing what the others are up to. It says somewhere in the Visual Companions (or maybe it was in an interview or commentary) that Joss never intended for the Blue Hands to be solely limited to two men; there are meant to be others. I think that, as in many covert operations, very few people, if any, have the whole picture. Mostly, the operations guys (as these Blue Hands clearly are) are assigned a small task to perform; they're not the same ones doing the research. The Blue Hands guys who come close to Serenity on several occasions may not be the same ones who are surveying ports of call for a suspicious Firefly; they may not be the same ones who coordinate with local law enforcement; and, as the Operative remarked in the movie, there's been a lack of coordination of different databases, to put together a more coherent picture of what ship River is on, who she's with, where the ship is, and who might have further information. Just my views on this subject. :-)

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 12:47 PM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

I agree with your outlook on Blue Sun and the Hands of Blue working for them. I tend to thing they where contracted by the government to find River. If not why would they be treated the why they do by the Feds.

Maybe the info did get lost inside Blue Sun, or kept for someones own use. That is a possibility.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 1:51 PM

EBFIDDLER

My theory is that there is a part of the Alliance government that is beholden to Blue Sun, whether by supposedly legitimate means (massive campaign contributions, lobbying, mutually supportive policies) or less legitimate (bribes, blackmail, installation of pocket or puppet legislators). So in certain parts of the 'Verse, Alliance authorities have been directed to give the Blue Sun operatives their fullest cooperation, and the Blue Hands can essentially do as they please. In other places, Blue Sun's sway is not quite so pervasive, or there are reasons that they are unable to give their operatives carte blanche.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 5:10 PM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

Quote:
Originally posted by ebfiddler:
My theory is that there is a part of the Alliance government that is beholden to Blue Sun, whether by supposedly legitimate means (massive campaign contributions, lobbying, mutually supportive policies) or less legitimate (bribes, blackmail, installation of pocket or puppet legislators). So in certain parts of the 'Verse, Alliance authorities have been directed to give the Blue Sun operatives their fullest cooperation, and the Blue Hands can essentially do as they please. In other places, Blue Sun's sway is not quite so pervasive, or there are reasons that they are unable to give their operatives carte blanche.

So perhaps the Hands of Blue are getting cooperation from the Feds even when they are looking for River for their own plans and not looking to take her back to the Academy.

I kinda like that...

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:04 PM