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Originally posted by Jacqui:
It's the popular theory.


Mal has a habit of expecting people to do his bidding, just 'cause he's the captain and he tells them to. It's the same in "Bushwacked" when he just orders Simon to go get River and Simon arcs up and accuses Mal of wanting to sell them to the Alliance... if Mal had just said "I plan to hide you", it would have saved time and a lot of worry.

Same as 'The Message', if Mal or Book had just said "we have a plan, listen to us", they could have saved Wash getting shot, Tracey getting shot, Kaylee getting held at gun point and then Tracey getting shot and killed by Mal.

Lotsa trouble, all 'cause Mal's too stubborn to say the word "because".

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

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Originally posted by nosadseven:
Well, by that point Tracey was already convinced they had turned on him, and could very well have assumed that they were BSing him since he had them at gun point. Plus, Tracey was pissing Mal off.

Also, as Captain, Mal doesn't want to set the precedent of needing to explain things before his crew will do as he says. His ship is not the ruttin' town hall. These were both public challenges to Mal's authority, and he disregards their legitimacy. Every time an incident like that happens, Mal demonstrates not only to the people directly involved (Simon / Tracey), but also to everyone else on the ship, that they are expected to follow him, and that he will do right by them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Originally posted by Grounded:
Even so, I don't think Mal's need for control is great enough that he'd let an old war buddy (maybe the term buddy is a bit generous here...) die for no real reason.

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AURaptor wrote:
Monday, October 24, 2005 14:05
...Tracy would still be alive and be bangin' Kaylee in the engine room, with Simon all but forgotten.

Would ya rather have that ??? Huh?

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Grounded:
Even so, I don't think Mal's need for control is great enough that he'd let an old war buddy (maybe the term buddy is a bit generous here...) die for no real reason.

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You wouldn't think so, whould ya? But maybe Mal figures Tracy as much as anyone ( after Zoe ) would know what Mal is all about. What the viewer sees as a flaw in the Capt. ( and perhaps justifiably so ), Joss writes into his characters levels which the viewer may / may not be privy to. Or maybe if the story went . " Hey, Tracy...put down that gun, we've got a plan" then the Feds would be chased off,Tracy would still be alive and be bangin' Kaylee in the engine room, with Simon all but forgotten.

Would ya rather have that ??? Huh?



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

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Excellent post there. But I have to wonder, as fine a plan as Mal has w/ both Simon( Bushwhacked) and Tracy ( The Message ), several times the point is made that Mal's plans usually blow up in his face. Not that any of that is so relevent to the characters, but to us the viewer, it's an odd dichotomy.

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