Last Mal/Inara quote (Serenity) by veronic

It's not in character for her to say "No, I'm staying" to Mal, so she says "I don't know" and smiles instead.

So the implication is that she chooses to remain on Serenity. She loves the crew too much to go again and post-Miranda they really need her. She'll be with them all at least until they've recovered somewhat emotionally, beyond that I'm not sure.

I don't think she was that fulfilled being a teacher in the training house. In a deleted scene in Serenity, she talks about how she doesn't think the students (all young adults, she started training when she was 12) can be taught well enough out on the Rim; she's the one training them.

So continuing her life on Serenity would seem to be the option she considers more worthwhile. You've mentioned that you don't think she'd continue being a companion: I think she would because she still has something to prove to Mal, and Mal would allow it because he wouldn't want to lose her again. Any other way would make Inara resent Mal, she'd feel like she had to give up her life to be near him.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
It's not in character for her to say "Yes, of course I'll stay" to Mal, so she says "I don't know" and smiles instead.

So the implication is that she chooses to remain on Serenity. She loves the crew too much to go again and post-Miranda they really need her. She'll be with them all at least until they've recovered somewhat emotionally, beyond that I'm not sure.

I don't think she was that fulfilled being a teacher in the training house. In a deleted scene in Serenity, she talks about how she doesn't think the students (all young adults, she started training when she was 12) can be taught well enough out on the Rim; she's the one training them.

So continuing her life on Serenity would seem to be the option she considers more worthwhile. You've mentioned that you don't think she'd continue being a companion: I think she would because she still has something to prove to Mal, and Mal would allow it because he wouldn't want to lose her again. Any other way would make Inara resent Mal, she'd feel like she had to give up her life to be near him.

Interesting.
I agree with you, but in the first Serenity script, Whedon write this:

"We see the scene cut from the movie of Mal and Inara talking in her shuttle, although here he’s intriqued when she admits she hasn’t taken any clients since she left."
http://www.serenitystuff.com/2006/07/01/the-earlier-longer-script-for-
serenity/

So, Inara is not a whore more (or a Companion), she is a teacher.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:57 AM

I know, I've seen that scene, they filmed it and editted it out.

But it's also suggested she wasn't fulfilled being a teacher, and even if she were she couldn't do that flying around the 'verse. Either she'd have to find a different job within the Companion Guild (because she loves being a member), or she'd become a Companion again.

She might help out with the odd job the crew takes on, because there's hints she enjoys some of the excitement of the crime they do, but I really don't think she could become a criminal full-time so long as she still had the companion option, and maybe not even when she didn't. Mal would have an apoplectic fit over that, he does NOT want her in his line of work, and it'd be putting her in danger.

Mal was willing to accept her even before she gave up being a companion. At the end of the episode Heart of Gold, before she tells him she's leaving, he was clearly about to make his move on her.

EDIT: Wait, maybe I'm confused about the scene you're talking about. I have to see whether it's at the end of the movie, or if it's the scene after Jayne insults Mal's leadership.

EDIT: Yeah, it's the scene I'm thinking of.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:00 AM

I look at Inara's line and Mal's line after that as probably the most honest lines that they've ever shared. None of us know what the future holds, hence "I don't know", and it's a "good answer".

And Inara may still be a Companion, but she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. If she chooses to continue Companioning it’s her choice that works for her, same if she chooses a different path, again her choice, which she will learn to live with and not blame anyone or live in regret. And it's Mal that affords her that choice, because he is all about freedom, and that's why she loves Serenity and her family there.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:02 AM

Quote:

EDIT: Wait, maybe I'm confused about the scene you're talking about. I have to see whether it's at the end of the movie, or if it's the scene after Jayne insults Mal's leadership.

I'm talking about last scene, when Inara says "I don´t know" and smiles.

Inara was a whore (Companion), but she wasn´t in love for anybody. When she falls in love, she can´t be a whore for more time.

PD: Sorry my english.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:11 AM

America loves a winner!

2 things keep coming back to me....

Her reaction to finding out that Mal had slept w/ Nandi. As one who professes at not being puritanical about sex, it clearly hit her - hard.

The syringe in the box she went for when the Reaver ship passed close by, and kept on going. There's been much talk about Inara having an medical condition, which will cut her life short, and she knows this. That's likely why she left the training house, because she wanted to live an see what of the 'verse she can. And why she can't get close to Mal, or any man, for there's simply no future there, and she'd not risk anyone else's heart for her having a shortened life. Mal and Serenity give her all she could ask for.... a 'family', adventure, a bit of romance ( with Mal ) but none of the complications of a committed relationship.

I like the thought of her staying on, as a means of helping the healing process, after Serenity lost 2 of her crew. Her presence brings back light and warmth that's been absent , and makes the void of Wash and Book's death easier to bear.

It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager

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

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:13 AM

In one comic Simon visits Inara and we think because Inara is ill.
This can be true.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:15 AM

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Originally posted by veronic:
In one comic Simon visits Inara and we think because Inara is ill.
This can be true.

Oh? Which one ? I have some of them, but haven't read them. Of course, she IS a companion, and as careful as she is, still.... with her line of work, things happen. But who knows ?

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:16 AM

The last comic, I don´t remember name.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
I look at Inara's line and Mal's line after that as probably the most honest lines that they've ever shared. None of us know what the future holds, hence "I don't know", and it's a "good answer".

And Inara may still be a Companion, but she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. If she chooses to continue Companioning it’s her choice that works for her, same if she chooses a different path, again her choice, which she will learn to live with and not blame anyone or live in regret. And it's Mal that affords her that choice, because he is all about freedom, and that's why she loves Serenity and her family there.

I agree, mostly, but Mal and Inara aren't Mal and Inara without that "I don't care what you say, I'm doing things my way, screw you" mentality between them. She'd be a companion because she wants to, but she'd also be watching for the moment Mal finally cracks and can't take it anymore. It's what their history is.

For their relationship to even be possible, one of them has to change. And I'm thinking it would be Mal, because there's precedence for him trying to (Heart of Gold), and because eventually for his own sake he needs to mellow out a little. Trust people more, lose some of that anger. He's on a self-destructive path for a stress induced heartattack if he doesn't get himself killed first.

Like you said, if Inara does ever decide to stop being a companion, it would have to be because she wants to. If they ever get far enough, it might even be for Mal's sake, because her going to other clients will still be tearing him up, even if he has to accept what she does.

Later on she COULD make a pretty good criminal (particularly a non-violent con-artist). I just see a lot of resistance to it initially, and it won't happen if she's still a companion. I question whether she would give up companioning in the first place, even if it was for Mal.

I'd actually enjoy seeing a criminal Inara though, she was great smack-talking Saffron in Trash, and she was so eager to help Mal find someone to fence the lassiter.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:28 AM

The comic was Better days.

If she's ill, I don't think it's sexually transmitted, she wouldn't go seeing clients otherwise. She's not a selfish person, she's not about to go infecting other people just so she can get money. She's all about the therapeutic helping of people. I'm thinking she's a carrier for something genetic and is just waiting for the symptoms to start.

AU, I agree completely. :)

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:41 AM

KATESFRIEND

There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:55 AM

Coming together to form a strong mature supportive relationship takes sacrifice and dare I say it "putting the other person first".
Where is it that you think Mal and Inara are that selfish and uncaring to say "screw you I'm doing what I want?"

She doesn't purposely Companion to push Mal into cracking and saying that he has feelings for her. Being a Companion is her job, her line of work, what she has been trained to do, what she brought to Serenity. It doesn't have anything to do with Mal. When Mal did come close to being truthful, she left to spare him the pain of her secret and sacrificed her own happiness to teach at a second rate Training House. And Mal let her go for the same reason and we all know how painful that was for him. How does that illustrate selfishness?

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:00 AM

It doesn't, I think I've been misunderstood.

In the past, that HAS been what they have been like, on the SURFACE. Underneath, there's all the sacrifices that other other half doesn't know about and doesn't see.

I'd see Inara as waiting, with dread, for that confrontation all the time she's working as a companion. It's a ticking time bomb. Whether or not it ever comes up is up to Mal.

But if Mal ever does bring it up, she'd be furious about him asking if she'd quit, and it might even cause her to leave again.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:14 AM

I agree, there is surface Mal/Inara and underneath Mal/Inara and I've always felt that the last conversation between them deals with exactly that. Mal's line about "getting you back to your girls' isn't biting or sarcastic, its subtle affirmation that he is accepting of her choices to work for the Companion Guild.

A few little girls on a border moon aren't exactly a threat to his masculine psychic:) And it leads them to begin a more honest exchange, partly because Inara made a life change by becoming a teacher in the first place.

And you know what they say "those that can’t do, Teach".

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:21 AM

Really? You think that'd change? Neither of them are very communicative about their own feelings on the best of days; Inara's too used to focusing on other people, and sometimes I don't think Mal knows WHAT he feels, let alone how to express it.

Ooh, I do like your interpretation of that last line... Although you put a condition on it, that he'd only accept it if she's just teaching young girls.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Katesfriend:
There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

I don´t know why Whedon deleted so much important Mal/Inara scenes (and Script)

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:50 AM

Well, it would have to change and evolve because keeping a pairing in perpetual orbit based on not being able to be civil or honest with another gets predictable and old for viewers quickly. I'm sure there was a time line on how these two were to eventually play out, albeit a very long one:)

Since there are no plans for a sequel, what we may be seeing is the actual LAST interactions of the crew and that is all Joss was willing to give us and left it at that.

As far as Mal only accepting Inara as a teacher, again, I see things more or less as Inara finding that more complicated than he does as SHE is the one who tells Kaylee, Companions usually don't date, which I've never understood, like why the hell not?, if we are being open about sexuality and enlightened about our thinking.

Mal's initial opener while he makes his first forward advance is “I’m not looking for anything from you", which would suggest that he could become open to it quickly, if necessary, and especially if it meant him being intimate with her, he is a man after all and I’m just saying.

From Inara’s evolving behavior it could also be argued that Companioning on Serenity became stressful and not very practical for her. She obviously has a lot of inner conflict over her love for Mal and how to proceed with her life. That was what was to be explored with her character if the show hadn’t been canceled.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 10:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
As far as Mal only accepting Inara as a teacher, again, I see things more or less as Inara finding that more complicated than he does as SHE is the one who tells Kaylee, Companions usually don't date, which I've never understood, like why the hell not?, if we are being open about sexuality and enlightened about our thinking.

Bit of trouble here, I'm not quite following. What does she find more complicated?

As I recall, Kaylee asked about the rules of dating and she replied "It's complicated," playing into the whole "she hates complications" line in Heart of Gold. So other companions probably do date. Inara just hasn't found anything worth dealing with those complications.

I don't know about anyone else, but I love watching them fight, they're hilarious. :)

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 10:36 AM

I'll clarify, Inara finds dating while working as a Companion complicated. She says so to Kaylee. That much we know.

Viewers ASSUME that Mal would find it complicated based purely on his upbringing and his disregard for her work in general terms, of course up until HoG, where Mal takes his ease with a whore. But, he never really asks her to stop working or leave the Guild at any time throughout the series or movie. And we have no real evidence that he would expect her to stop her work if they started a relationship. I just don't see where he sees this as an obstacle as much as she may. It’s all in her head as she says on the vid, "I can't do my work here, I don't think the Captain approves".

Does that help? I love the banter, too! Why would that change if they got together?

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 11:09 AM

Ah. Yes. :)

I'd hope it doesn't. They're two strong-willed stubborn people with very different world views. If they stop fighting it could only be because one of 'ems dead.

Actually, whoever survived would probably still dream about the spats, so maybe not even then.

Hopefully it wouldn't be enough to drive Inara away. I don't think it would, because they weren't fighting when she left the first time around.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 2:48 PM

KHAMBILO

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
As I recall, Kaylee asked about the rules of dating and she replied "It's complicated," playing into the whole "she hates complications" line in Heart of Gold. So other companions probably do date. Inara just hasn't found anything worth dealing with those complications.

I've always interpreted the "It's complicated" line as 'It's not allowed.' I think the reason why Inara phrases it this way is beacuse she's talking to Kaylee and she doesn't want to ...how do I saw this...crush Kaylee's dreams. Kaylee as well as most people in the 'verse regard companions as having these lavish, glamourous lifestyles. I think Kaylee inadvertently brought up a sensitive suject with Inara here, which is why she words it the way she does. Also, if 'It's not allowed', it also explains Inara's feelings a bit towards Mal. It's clear that she cares for him but if romantic relationships aren't allowed in the Guild, then she would have to make a choice between Mal and her career which would explain a lot of her mixed feelings towards Mal.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 4:06 PM

Hmm. No shipboard romances versus no guild romances, eh?

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 4:55 PM

Am I the only here who wanted Mal/Inara kiss?

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:12 PM

SCHISM

I prefer prolonging the tension.

Didn't anyone watch The Avengers?
;p

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Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:22 PM

The best sexual tension is Mulder and Scully.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 3:53 AM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by veronic:
Quote:
Originally posted by Katesfriend:
There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

I don´t know why Whedon deleted so much important Mal/Inara scenes (and Script)

I know why!
Joss Whedon said that Universal wanted a movie not longer than two hours. That was not enough time when there is 190 pages of script. Some scenes must die so that the others may live. Joss gave Universal one hour, 59 minutes by killing scenes with Mal/Inara, Mal/Reavers in hand-to-hand combat, and Serenity/gunships. It's Serenity steel versus Alliance titanium hulls. Steel wins!

Could be that 'Katesfriend' is thinking of the deleted Mal/Inara scene on page 137 from the early draft of the script at
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/13/2048723/Serenity-190pages.pdf
Inara quietly answers Mal (after he's left the room) with “I know”.

That scene of longing between Mal and Inara eventually morphed into a simple “I don't know” on page 124 of the shooting script at
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/13/2048723/Serenity-126pages.pdf

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:49 AM

OHHH
Thanks for this scripts.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:53 AM

NCBROWNCOAT

I do love the deleted scene between Mal and Inara in the shuttle on the way to Mr. Universe's moon.

Inara asks Mal why he didn't ask her to stay after HOG and Mal, not so deftly, avoids answering. Adds a lot more to his answer at the end of the movie.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:55 AM

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Originally posted by Katesfriend:
There was an edited out scene before Miranda (I think it's in the preliminary script) where Inara asked Mal what he was going to do about River. Mal replies "I don't know." Inara then says "I don't know isn't an answer!" Hence the play on words as the last scene. It's been a few years since I read the script, but the wordplay between them always stuck with me as a beautiful piece of continuity, even if it didn't make it into the final product.

Yep, that makes a lot of sense. And speaking of the dialogue, it reminds me of something Morena said, i forget where, about the writing of another scene, during the series, between River and Book. It was the 'faith fixes you' line that Morena said she'd never heard before, and I found that to be hard to believe. But then thought....Hey, actors have their own lines to remember, they don't always have time to check out what's going on in other scenes. She commented on how beautiful the writing was for that show, as if she were on the outside, looking in.

I always found that curious and refreshing , at the same time.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:57 AM

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
I do love the deleted scene between Mal and Inara in the shuttle on the way to Mr. Universe's moon.

Inara asks Mal why he didn't ask her to stay after HOG and Mal, not so deftly, avoids answering. Adds a lot more to his answer at the end of the movie.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

I'm gonna have to fire up the DVD again , gorramit !

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Sunday, February 15, 2009 5:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
I do love the deleted scene between Mal and Inara in the shuttle on the way to Mr. Universe's moon.

Inara asks Mal why he didn't ask her to stay after HOG and Mal, not so deftly, avoids answering. Adds a lot more to his answer at the end of the movie.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

ME TOO¡¡¡
Very significant scene

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Monday, February 16, 2009 9:29 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I had conjured she said she didn't know because she didn't know YET. She hadn't decided, she was willing to hang around and learn more about what Mal was like NOW, and how things would be NOW.

In all our observations, nobody has asked Inara to marry, right? All proposals have been to be a "permanent Companion" or something like that, not a WIFE and not a marriage.
If Mal asked Inara to marry him, I am not convinced she would not be willing to give up Companionship for marriage to Mal, and a life of marriage and spacefaring.

Quote:
Originally posted by veronic:
Am I the only here who wanted Mal/Inara kiss?

Inara last said "I don't know" and Mal replied "Good answer."
I think it was during the panel discussion, Nathan commented upon the lack of Mal/Inara kiss. He ended saying something like he did not want MAL to kiss INARA for the sake of the story, but they should have because he wanted to kiss Morena. Morena replied "Good answer."

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013 5:31 AM

Well, on the other hand, you don't really want to pair up characters all at once in a story. Kaylee and Simon got together, and anything more than that would have almost been too many romantic subplot resolutions. It starts to get redundant.

This thread was a while ago. Some of my ideas about Mal and Inara have changed since this. I still don't really want to see Inara quit her profession because she wants to be with Mal, that seems out of character for her, though other reasons would be acceptable. Why does she have to be the only one to make a sacrifice? And I still don't know what Inara could do after Miranda if she did quit. Eventually she'd find a job on the ship I'm sure, but it seems like it would have to be a gradual thing.

Inara could stop taking conjugal clients, but otherwise still practice. Or, one of the fun things I've considered, the guild doesn't really have any representation out on the rim, she could be take a job as an actual ambassador for the guild. Like doing charity work, empowering non-guild prostitutes, fighting sex trafficking, talking with the movers of rim world society, and generally trying to make a good impression and improve the public image of the guild and companions out on the rim. Companions seem to be given token respect out on the rim, but there's also kind of a double standard snide leering disrespect underneath that.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 6:12 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Excellent point. Freedom is key for both Mal and Inara, it's like breathing air for them.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
I look at Inara's line and Mal's line after that as probably the most honest lines that they've ever shared. None of us know what the future holds, hence "I don't know", and it's a "good answer".

And Inara may still be a Companion, but she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. If she chooses to continue Companioning it’s her choice that works for her, same if she chooses a different path, again her choice, which she will learn to live with and not blame anyone or live in regret. And it's Mal that affords her that choice, because he is all about freedom, and that's why she loves Serenity and her family there.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 6:28 AM

Exactly. Mal knows he can't keep her locked in a steel grey cage and watch her wither away without her independence, without meaning. He's lived that. So he knows if she leaves he has to let her go.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 6:46 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Very keen observations Mr. Auraptor. May I add my 2 cents?

1. I believe she was "hit" by several things at once, hence her emotional reaction. For me it's her love for Mal, also her looming death and how, as you rightly put it, she doesn't want to expose Mal to a deep heartbreak once she succumbs. While on Serenity she's filled with joy, but Mal is a constant reminder of what she won't allow herself to have - namely the love of her life. "I don't know" says to me that she's willing to allow the wind to take her on a journey and not try to control everything. As a companion she plans everything. As a passenger and crew member, she's a "leaf on the wind" (as are they all), it is the truth of things and it sets them free.

2. Both she and River are key to the healing process for the remaining crew.
Inara as "mother" (I love how she scolds Jayne and Wash during the kitchen scene in Objects in Space while discussing River's recent behavior. She is Mal's alter ego and commands a certain amount of respect from the crew).

River has a bit of all of them in her. I've thought of the opening sequence in Objects in Space where River walks through Serenity and emotionally connects with the crew. She absorbs some of their characteristics (perhaps doing this subconsciously) and by the BDM she becomes "whole" again.

As for Inara staying on Serenity, I always felt that she would choose to return where she belonged. When I think of it carefully, they all have a deep-seeded connection to the ship, but Mal, Inara and River most especially. Inara needed that time away from Serenity to see how much she needed it and how much it needed her - Serenity as part of the family.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
2 things keep coming back to me....

Her reaction to finding out that Mal had slept w/ Nandi. As one who professes at not being puritanical about sex, it clearly hit her - hard.

The syringe in the box she went for when the Reaver ship passed close by, and kept on going. There's been much talk about Inara having an medical condition, which will cut her life short, and she knows this. That's likely why she left the training house, because she wanted to live an see what of the 'verse she can. And why she can't get close to Mal, or any man, for there's simply no future there, and she'd not risk anyone else's heart for her having a shortened life. Mal and Serenity give her all she could ask for.... a 'family', adventure, a bit of romance ( with Mal ) but none of the complications of a committed relationship.

I like the thought of her staying on, as a means of helping the healing process, after Serenity lost 2 of her crew. Her presence brings back light and warmth that's been absent , and makes the void of Wash and Book's death easier to bear.

It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager

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

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:19 AM

I've also thought part of it might be that Inara saw how Mal reacted to Nandi, he blamed himself and said that he wished he'd never met her. I think Inara might have stayed even after the Nandi thing if Mal hadn't said that.

Quote:
Inara needed that time away from Serenity to see how much she needed it and how much it needed her - Serenity as part of the family.

I would say All of them have their connection to the ship, though arguably Mal, River, Kaylee, Wash, and Inara top the list.

I think Serenity changed Inara's life. Unfortunately, it wasn't a life Inara is sure she can have. So she ran back to her old life, but found she couldn't continue like she had. Then she wasn't satisfied by teaching either.

I's almost like to see Inara go wild, maybe embrace what time she has left.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:21 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

I agree with both your comments, with a slight difference: I think Inara would choose to stop being a practicing companion, but only if Mal asked her to. Trouble is, you're right, Mal doesn't know what he wants or doesn't want to admit that he wants her to stop. I always felt that either River or Book would give him the nudge he needs.

Funny thing though, as you guys mention Heart of Gold, it was in that episode where they both communicated almost telepathically. After Mandi is shot, Inara gives Mal a look that is unmistakable - no words, just sheer emotion. Love that scene. So there is precedence for the unspoken word between them (the other one that comes to mind was in the Serenity Pilot as they're being chased by the Reavers, and Mal asks her to get in her shuttle - he did not command her, but asked (great scene setting up the dynamic relationship - the look they give each other, priceless).

Two more things: I agree she would make a great thief, but Mal would tell her only if she's not directly involved in the caper (by the way, I think Simon would also make a great thief - love Ariel for that reason, among others).
I agree that Mal is the one that needs to change and open up to Inara without fear, but he doesn't know how to start that conversation.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
I look at Inara's line and Mal's line after that as probably the most honest lines that they've ever shared. None of us know what the future holds, hence "I don't know", and it's a "good answer".

And Inara may still be a Companion, but she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. If she chooses to continue Companioning it’s her choice that works for her, same if she chooses a different path, again her choice, which she will learn to live with and not blame anyone or live in regret. And it's Mal that affords her that choice, because he is all about freedom, and that's why she loves Serenity and her family there.

I agree, mostly, but Mal and Inara aren't Mal and Inara without that "I don't care what you say, I'm doing things my way, screw you" mentality between them. She'd be a companion because she wants to, but she'd also be watching for the moment Mal finally cracks and can't take it anymore. It's what their history is.

For their relationship to even be possible, one of them has to change. And I'm thinking it would be Mal, because there's precedence for him trying to (Heart of Gold), and because eventually for his own sake he needs to mellow out a little. Trust people more, lose some of that anger. He's on a self-destructive path for a stress induced heartattack if he doesn't get himself killed first.

Like you said, if Inara does ever decide to stop being a companion, it would have to be because she wants to. If they ever get far enough, it might even be for Mal's sake, because her going to other clients will still be tearing him up, even if he has to accept what she does.

Later on she COULD make a pretty good criminal (particularly a non-violent con-artist). I just see a lot of resistance to it initially, and it won't happen if she's still a companion. I question whether she would give up companioning in the first place, even if it was for Mal.

I'd actually enjoy seeing a criminal Inara though, she was great smack-talking Saffron in Trash, and she was so eager to help Mal find someone to fence the lassiter.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:33 AM