Firefly: Our Mrs. Reynolds...

[fajrdrako]

I watched "Our Mrs. Reynolds" again last night, and loved it as much as ever. : I think Inara might be at her best in this oneshe seems much more involved in the action than usual, more concerned and human. Jayne also is quite wonderful, especially in his "Vera" scene.

And River is notable for her almost complete absense. I don't think she says a word in the whole episode. Obviously, it would be inconvenient for Saffron to be anywhere near a telepath. So did she just manage to avoid her the entire time she was on Serenity? Or did River find her distasteful, and stay away? Obviously, if she'd warned Mal (or anyone) that Saffron wasn't what she appeared the plot would go up in smoke, but I wondered if Saffron knew about River's abilities.

My conclusion is she didn't know anything at all about River, and had no idea the danger she might have presented to her plans. So it was just very lucky for Saffron that River was preoccupied by other thoughts and not paying much attention to the situation.

Much as it amused everyone else. I thought Book was downright mean in his insistence that Mal was married, and Mal's discomfiture at the situation. Book likes his little mind-games but I thought he went a little beyond the pale in his glee here.

I take it that Saffron's goal was to sell Serenity to the pirate-scavengers for parts and tech, and take off with her payment. Surely if he had known River and Simon were on board, with a price on their heads big enough to turn Jayne, she'd have had another sort of plot in mind to nab them.

I do wonder about the people on the planet in the beginning, though. Did they really consider that dance to be a binding marriage ceremony, and not tell Mal about it? They had no reason to set him up that I could see. (Unless the Elders were also realated to the guy he killed, but no, they'd hired him to remove a menace. So...?)

I'd have thought Saffron made the wedding thing all up entirely, except that Book pulls out an encyclopedia article that confirms that part of her story. So did Saffron sneak the information she wanted onto his computer? Or take advantage of local customs? Or blackmail, seduce, or bribe the Elders in to doing what she wanted them to?

Comments

[diurnal-lee.livejournal.com]

As often as I've watched the episode, I've never given a thought to River. I'm easily bamboozled that way, though it does look like cheating on the writers' part, viewed from this side.

As for the settlers, I expect they assumed Mal knew he was marrying. If you saw a couple exchanging rings before a minister and witnesses, wouldn't you assume they knew what they were about?

The thing is, I think Saffron lied to Mal about being part of his agreement with Elder Gommen. I think the settlers saw an unfamiliar and destitute widow and an off-planet businessman coming to an arrangement between them that was convenient for all involved, and left them to it.

Saffron wouldn't have been in the community for long. She probably stumbled into the village in pretty disarray, weeping over the murder of her husband and the theft of all their worldly goods, to throw herself on the mercy and charity of the settlers. She'd be a relative stranger to the settlers, and they'd not fuss much over losing her, I'll bet. I mean, how much actual work do you suppose she did before Serenity happened along?

Did she expect Serenity in advance? Was she simply waiting on Triumph for the next random ship to happen by?

Heck, maybe she was sneaky about the wedding, too. If she strung out the bits over time, choosing moments when the settlers weren't paying much attention, they may not even have realised there was a marriage going on. Did Elder Gommen even know she'd gone aboard Serenity, when he saw them off?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

As often as I've watched the episode, I've never given a thought to River.

Since she has no part in the action or dialogue, it's easy not to think about her - she just isn't around. But in other episodes, she's around a lot - wondering the ship, taking part in conversations, or interacting. I wonder if there are other episodes where she is similarly missing for part or all of the time. I can't offhand think of any - except maybe "Safe", where she's actually missing. But I'm not sure if I'd have thought of "Our Mrs. Reynolds" as being a River-free episode if someone had asked me this question a few days ago.

According to Wikipedia, there is a deleted scene where River met Saffron and said, "You're a thief." Saffron admitted to having stolen food. Seems to me River is more likely to have said "You're a liar," and pursued the issue, since she's fairly protective of others, but you never know with River.

If you saw a couple exchanging rings before a minister and witnesses, wouldn't you assume they knew what they were about?

Not necessarily - in such loose circumstances. That's what I was assuming, though, until I thought about it. I also assumed that she lied to Mal about the agreement - which I'm sure the Elder would have mentioned in passing to Mal, even if just to see if he would go along with it. I do think Saffron boarded Serenity without anyone's knowledge, from the way she was hiding.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I've seen Firefly, but never got into it as much as some of my friends, but I loved this episode, primarily because of Christina Hendricks. She's one of those actresses I've seen in a couple of things (she also did a very good short run on ER) and thought, "Why isn't she a massive, great big star?" She's got more charisma than just about any other actress I've ever seen, and she can do the gamut of sexy/domineering to fragile/vulnerable.

Come to think of it, I think all of the women on Firefly are more interesting than any of the men.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm crazy over Firefly, but never felt about it as I do Doctor Who and Torchwood. One of my measures of degree of interest in a show is whether I can and do write fic in the fandom. I only ever wrote two Firefly stories: one was a Mal/Jayne UST story, the other my Jack/Mal Torchwood/Firefly crossover, which - no surprise - I felt was infinitely more successful and satisfying to write.

This being said, I love Firefly and I love the way it was written, and I love it more on periodic rewatching.

I agree with you absolutely about the women. They are far better and more interesting than most of the women in most shows on television, and each so very distinct. My favourite character was Mal, but he's very much a classic, standard hero. The women were outstanding.

I loved the Mal/Inara relationship if only because I didn't see any way it could be resolved - certainly not conventionally.

And yes, Christina Hendricks is a fantastic actress. She was recently on Life, but only in two episodes - I'm hoping she'll have more of a part in coming storylines.