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FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS
Revealing scene in BDM
Monday, March 31, 2008 8:45 PM
JEWELSTAITEFAN
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 12:32 AM
HUGHFF
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: This is the showndown between Mal and River in the Maidenhead. River has likely killed some of the bar patrons. She has mind reading abilities, so she knows the intent of the thoughts of her assailants - if they think "I have a kill shot" she terminates them, whether they are across the room or right next to her. Her Miranda trigger command tells her to "mow them all down," but she does not kill them all. She does not use lethal force on Jayne, who is not attempting to kill her. Some also think she is precognitive - seeing the future. So, she can read Mal's mind, and possibly what he will think in the next few seconds. Yet she holds her gun on him. This seems to tell us he has not yet decided whether to shoot her or not, and she is waiting to see what he decides. Surely, the moment he decides to shoot her, he will be dead before he can pull his trigger. He likely also knows she can read his thoughts, and considers those ramifications as well. River is operating mostly under the control of the subliminal programming. It is doubtful the Institue programmed her to be judicial with the lethal force, but rather to prefer extreme prejudice and just kill when in doubt. River's reluctance to use the full force her programming allocates is a sign that she is struggling against her programming - using restraint when she is commanded to kill, and trying not to kill Mal if he doesn't mentally conclude he will shoot her.
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Does Mal take all this into account when he decides to take her back aboard? If she had not shown some level of fighting against her programming, when she could have easily killed them all, would he have felt the same sympathy for her? She has shown this effort to him in this scene. Is this what he is pondering when, later as she's cuffed in the Serenity locker, he crouches over her in thought?
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Is this also the genesis of his questions for her later, when she is searching for Miranda on the charts, and cocks her gun on him?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:31 AM
AGENTROUKA
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:42 AM
SPACEANJL
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:58 AM
NBZ
Quote:Originally posted by SpaceAnJL: The way I see it, River begins to make her own choices when she chooses not to shoot Mal. She recognises him. And Mal doesn't shoot her, and he could.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 3:10 AM
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 3:21 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SpaceAnJL: She just seems to come into focus more after this scene, to be more in control of herself. Here's a point. She beat down all those folk who came at her, but the one who actually grabbed her (Jayne) she merely temporarily disabled. My call is for a level of recognition.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 3:24 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SpaceAnJL: My call is for a level of recognition.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 12:12 PM
PLATONIST
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 8:58 PM
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 9:23 PM
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne. Jayne has time for an exchange with her, and she does not smash his gonads with the table, but with her hand [...] and then smashes the table on (?his head?) to knock him out - she could have easily killed him instead of restraining herself.
Quote: Artistic license aside, the amount of time it took Simon to speak the "Safe" words was more than enough time to shoot Mal, Simon, the 3 goons from War Stories, and the whole crew of Serenity. It was still a very pregnant pause where River had to restrain herself to not make any of those shots.
Quote: One was that if she is precognitive, and her gun was empty, she knew pulling the trigger would make Mal shoot her, and the only "safe" move would be to lower her gun - but she kept it up, perhaps inviting Mal to kill her without his knowing she was unloaded, or trusting him to let her live.
Quote: Also, reading minds would allow her to know that Simon was putting her to sleep, right? If so, she intentionally let him do so, further indication she was fighting her programming.
Quote: In the "my turn" scene, she is clearly fighting her programming because she is ready to fight the Alliance forces - likely not a programmed parameter from the Institute.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 9:42 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AgentRouka: Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne. Jayne has time for an exchange with her, and she does not smash his gonads with the table, but with her hand [...] and then smashes the table on (?his head?) to knock him out - she could have easily killed him instead of restraining herself. But, as has been said, killing him wasn't necessary. He's pretty effectively out and taking the time to kill him would take more time than that.
Quote: I don't think any of this speaks for a conscious restraint. Quote: Artistic license aside, the amount of time it took Simon to speak the "Safe" words was more than enough time to shoot Mal, Simon, the 3 goons from War Stories, and the whole crew of Serenity. It was still a very pregnant pause where River had to restrain herself to not make any of those shots. Not really. For all we know, the first few syllables already trigger a readines to receive the phrase, and in the split second before Simon starts speaking, River is probably still busy processing the situation. This is the greatest amount of physical danger she is in, in the entire fight sequence, because this time someone at a distance has the weapon on her and she doesn't have cover. She's good, but she's also human. Maybe she was busy feeling out Mal's readiness to shoot. Quote: One was that if she is precognitive, and her gun was empty, she knew pulling the trigger would make Mal shoot her, and the only "safe" move would be to lower her gun - but she kept it up, perhaps inviting Mal to kill her without his knowing she was unloaded, or trusting him to let her live. Why would the gun be empty?
Quote: Quote: Also, reading minds would allow her to know that Simon was putting her to sleep, right? If so, she intentionally let him do so, further indication she was fighting her programming. There is no evidence that River processes other people's thougths and feelings at top speed, especially those more complex than "I point a gun at you!". In "War Stories", she used her physical vision to make out where her opponents are and "did the math". River's reading takes its own time, and I doubt she had fully sussed out what he was about to do, like in "Objects in space", with the added factor of possibly not knowing that it could be done. If she had known that tv screens would trigger her, I doubt she would have stared at one, too. Quote: In the "my turn" scene, she is clearly fighting her programming because she is ready to fight the Alliance forces - likely not a programmed parameter from the Institute.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 10:17 PM
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Quote:Originally posted by AgentRouka: Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne. Jayne has time for an exchange with her, and she does not smash his gonads with the table, but with her hand [...] and then smashes the table on (?his head?) to knock him out - she could have easily killed him instead of restraining herself. But, as has been said, killing him wasn't necessary. He's pretty effectively out and taking the time to kill him would take more time than that. No. Killing takes less time than non-lethal subduing.
Quote: Quote: Why would the gun be empty? Why would she not shoot Mal? What reason? Nobody else could get a gun aimed at her before she took them out, regardless of distance. I don't think anybody even got off any gun shot. Mal had no chance if she was in kill mode and had a round (even without a gun, she would have killed him if she was in kill mode.)
Quote: Why would the gun be empty?
Quote: In many eps, River is heavily medictaed, mentally in a fog. After Ariel, and by the time of BDM, her meds are more balanced and she is supposedly less foggy. Her "sussing out" time should be less.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:23 AM
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:31 AM
CHRISISALL
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 7:45 AM
MAL4PREZ
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 8:04 AM
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne.This may have something to do with the difficulty of Jayne being on crutches or in a sling for the rest of the movie. That would slowed the plot down just a tad.
Quote:I like to think Joss is better than that. Oh, but he did have Zoe in War Stories, doing her somersault and then standing there forever right in the line of fire, drawing her guns... That was a similar artistic license moment. (And, I gotta say, a bit lame!)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:56 PM
Quote:Originally posted by nbz: Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Every body who touches her gets a body part broken, except Jayne.This may have something to do with the difficulty of Jayne being on crutches or in a sling for the rest of the movie. That would slowed the plot down just a tad. There is that, but he did get hit be a table - straight to the face/head. The only reason he was alive after that was because he is crew. ("Zombie" is probably worse than "injured guy on crutches" for firefly.) Quote:I like to think Joss is better than that. Oh, but he did have Zoe in War Stories, doing her somersault and then standing there forever right in the line of fire, drawing her guns... That was a similar artistic license moment. (And, I gotta say, a bit lame!) That roll makes me cringe. Here's hoping in the rerelease of Firefly that Jewel Staite mentioned, they do something about it. On the other hand there is also the (unnecessary) overuse of the number 8 (lucky for some) that some peeps on here uncovered last year... no one is perfect.
Friday, April 4, 2008 3:44 AM
Sunday, April 6, 2008 7:31 PM
Quote:Originally posted by nbz: No, I think this more personal to Joss than Firefly. I am not talking about the use of 8 in the Firefly culture. The discussion around "8" that was on this board also found similar instances in Angel/Buffy if I remember correctly. The three I can remember in Firefly are: 1. Time Inara had been on ship 2. How long Simon took to complete his education. 3. How long the Tams had been on board the ship when the BDM took place. All three cases are 8 months. Not much an of an issue, but the third one has to be fudged when making a Firefly timeline fit. (Either that date, or other dates used in the series)
Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:45 PM
SHINYGOODGUY
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:30 AM
ANDMAN
Quote:Originally posted by jewelstaitefan: Also, reading minds would allow her to know that Simon was putting her to sleep, right?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:54 PM
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