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

[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.