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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

Would Niska have had Zoe tortured like Wash & Mal were? Any thoughts on him hurting a woman?

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Also, we assume they all just walk out of the Skyplex and back on Serenity after they rescue Mal with no more problems. If Niska's men were all dead or run off, why couldn't they go after the bastard? How far could he have gone?

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Finally, if Mal had not had to let go of Niska to fight the torturer, what do you think Mal would have done to Niska?

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
But who knows? Maybe it is, and maybe that's why Zoe wasn't grabbed and added to the little therapy session when she came with the money. It could go either way, really.

I've noticed most people seem to interpret Niska as having no limits to his sadism and make him really depraved. I think that Niska can be made too black and white evil, surely. He's bad, he's evil, but I don't quite think he's a crazed rapist and mass-murderer.

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
I think the future looks very gender equal to me, and I think as a crimelord who emulates someone as bad as Shan Yu, I'm not sure he'd stop at women and children.

That may seem like a contradiction to some things I've written. So I'll clarify: I do think he tortures women and children and is ruthless enough to go after friends and family. But I also don't think Niska's first inclination is MWAHAHA torture, not if he might need to use a person for something else instead. Furthermore, Zoe looks and is badass, she'd be perceived as a threat even if part of the "code" Niska supposedly has is not hurting women.

But who knows? Maybe it is, and maybe that's why Zoe wasn't grabbed and added to the little therapy session when she came with the money. It could go either way, really.

I've noticed most people seem to interpret Niska as having no limits to his sadism and make him really depraved. I think that Niska can be made too black and white evil, surely. He's bad, he's evil, but I don't quite think he's a crazed rapist and mass-murderer.

I don't think all of Niska's men were dead. That looked like a pretty big space station to me, and I think he'd staff it with more than a dozen armed guards if he was a crimelord of the influence and wealth he seemed to be. Compare his lair to Badger's. Big difference.

And we can only imagine, in our fondest bloodthirsty revenge fantasies.

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Originally posted by AgentRouka:

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

Would Niska have had Zoe tortured like Wash & Mal were? Any thoughts on him hurting a woman?

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I think he would have tortured Zoe, no problem.

He might have tried using her gender as a particular means to torture Mal, as well. As they are, their friendship is very neutral. They might as well be both men or both women, in how they relate to each other, most of the time. But Niska might have tried to emphasize Zoe's gender to play to Mal's protective instincts which Mal might have otherwise easily suppressed about Zoe in order to keep a cooler head, like he does with Wash. Also, in order to humiliate Zoe, as in "Oh, you're just a weak little woman". That might have driven a bit of a wedge into their friendship because it relies on them considering each other complete equals, which would have been compromised IF Mal had reacted very differently to Zoe being a woman, or if Zoe's self-image had been compromised through humiliation.

This is what Niska might have tried. That doesn't say whether Zoe and Mal would have reacted to it. Considering how calmly Zoe reacts to the cut ear, I think they would have withstood that particular angle.

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Also, we assume they all just walk out of the Skyplex and back on Serenity after they rescue Mal with no more problems. If Niska's men were all dead or run off, why couldn't they go after the bastard? How far could he have gone?

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I always figured that time was of the essence. That reinforcements might have been on the way from another part of the skyplex and they wouldn't have wanted to waste time searching for Niska.

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Finally, if Mal had not had to let go of Niska to fight the torturer, what do you think Mal would have done to Niska?

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Killed him? Just hit and hit and hit him? But in a slightly uncoordinated, dizzy way. Mal's pretty out of it at that time from the torture. I think he was not thinking at all and only looking to release his pent-up rage on Niska, killing him being an appreciated side-effect.

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As I think it over more, though, I wonder, would Niska have only TRIED to torture Zoe and Mal? I think the two of them together could have easily overpowered Niska and whatever henchmen he had posted in the vicinity, then stealth killed their way to an escape.

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