31 replies to this topic

[cutecouple]

Numbered according to DVD/original intended order. Was first broadcast the summer after Fox cancelled the show. Gorram Fox.

It had hookers, which would have bumped it earlier in the run had it been made sooner. Highlights a lot of awkwardness between Mal and Inara, as well as highlights her background. And a cool quick opening shot zooming in on the whorehouse from space. Quirky blend of high and low tech. Also, what's with the octagonal gun barrels?

And poor, heartbroken Inara.

Edited by cutecouple, Mar 11, 2006 @ 10:46 PM.

[whizbang]

And poor, heartbroken Inara.

I didn't have much sympathy for her, actually. For one thing, she had sex with other men, and for another, if she wanted Mal she should have done something about it! I was so sick of them tip-toeing around each other and not admitting their feelings that it was getting a bit ridiculous. When I saw the film I was really surprised to see that she had actually stuck to what she said and left. I thought she would always talk about it, and then never actually do it, allowing the sexual tension to continue.

One of my favourite things about this episode is the small scene of Wash and Zoe discussing having a baby. Especially after seeing the film, it makes me wonder 'what if..'. And lord knows it would have been a beautiful baby.

[sailorwind]

I didn't have much sympathy for her, actually. For one thing, she had sex with other men, and for another, if she wanted Mal she should have done something about it!

ITA. It pissed me off that she's allowed to have every man in the universe cause it's her "job", but she seems to expect Mal to stay lonely, miserable, and celibate pining after her when she was never going to let him tell her how he feels because it "complicates things" too much. She annoyed me in this episode because she came across as so selfish.

[mollyann]

Word. When the shooting script for this episode was first leaked, before the actual episode became available, my first thought upon reading the Inara-sobbing-on-the-floor scene was, "Who does she think she is, Willow in 'Consequences'?" I know the situations are somewhat different, but the scenes are very similar nonetheless. Of course, Willow was a 17-year-old girl, and Inara is supposed to be a mature adult, especially when it comes to sexual matters. The vulnerability she showed in that scene came out of nowhere and hadn't been earned by previous characterization, IMO.

[sailorwind]

Maybe I'd have bought it more if she'd acted more sensitive and vulnerable about Mal getting married in "Our Mrs. Reynolds", but she didn't. And even if she had, it still didn't give her the right to get all upset about it. Double standards, woman!

[whizbang]

I just remembered one of my favourite moments in this episode. When Kaylee and Wash are heading back to Serenity for their part in the fight they have an exchange along these lines:

Kaylee: Did you notice the captain was being kind of funny at breakfast?
Wash: Kaylee, we all know I'm the funny one.

(Quoted from memory, I don't think that's exactly right - but it had me in absolute stitches! Wash has the perfect delivery.)

[sailorwind]

I think my favorite Wash Kaylee exchange (a close second being their conversation in Our Mrs. Reynolds when they're assessing the damage she did) is in this episode, when they're in the Heart of Gold and Kaylee sees all the whores and says to Wash:
Kaylee: Wash, tell me I'm pretty.
Wash: Were I not wed, I would take you in a manly fashion.
Kaylee: Because I'm pretty?
Wash: Because you're pretty.

[Vercingetorix]

I just saw Heart of Gold and loved it. I think the show really came into its own in the unaired episodes, which is just wierd.

Inara is supposed to be a mature adult, especially when it comes to sexual matters. The vulnerability she showed in that scene came out of nowhere and hadn't been earned by previous characterization, IMO.-mollyann

I bought the crying scene. A lot of it is the mystery of Inara, but my read on her is this:
1) Companion training isn't just reading people. The largest part of it is schooling your own reactions to present yourself to other people the way you want them to read you.
2) Inara is one of the most promising Companions going, but she left the fast track, and we don't know why.
3) Inara is tied down by her training - she can't show other people how she really feels, and she's tied down by an elaborate set of social rules that aren't important to anyone but her.

Inara's not so much Firefly's Willow or Lana as she is its Worf or Odo - out of her element; following a set of rules that don't matter to anyone but her but that are, to her, nearly life and death; and well trained at being what other people expect her to be while completely unable to be what she actually is.

[Easterner]

In the 19th Century Model 1873 Winchester rifles were made with round barrels but you could have their custom shop make them with octagon barrels. This was apparently classed as "way cool" because Winchester ended up selling more octagon than round.

[cko]

I really enjoyed this episode because:
--All the outdoor scenes. Nice break from the inside-ship and space stuff. Especially the part where the nine of them are walking up to the HoG.
--Everything with Mal and Nandi. Thought they had good chemistry but tinged with sadness.
--Shoutouts to other movies. Defending prostitutes (Unforgiven), Road Warrior (the scene where the bad guys are coming to attack).
--Possibly this fits under "unpopular opinions" but I like Inara and don't have a problem with her crying, her wanting to leave, or anything.
--Nathan is amazing. He looks great in every scene, and that ending with Inara...the emotions flickering across his face. Wow.
But then again, I'm loving every second of Firefly (including extras, deleted scenes, that silly 5-second tour Joss gives) so I'm very uncritical.

[GilvearSt]

I buy Inara's crying. I never saw it as Inara being sad that Mal had sex, but that it was Nandi in particular that bothered her, for two reasons. knowing both Nandi and Mal as she did, I think Inara saw the potential for a real connection to form there. It wasn't just Mal having sex with someone, but him having sex with someone Inara believed Mal could grow to love.
And the larger issue in my eyes was Mal, who spends the entire series going on about Inara's role as a companion, calling her a whore and never accepting her, turns around and sleeps with Nandi, who was a companion and is still a hooker. I think Inara would have felt, at that moment, like Mal's problem wasn't with her job but with her. She wasn't appealing rather than him taking issue with her job, and that is what I think was so devastating and actually lead to the meltdown on the floor.

[Eegah]

Thinking about this episode makes me particularly sad, given how likely it is that everyone at the house, including the baby, was killed by the Operative. You can really give yourself depression thinking about the show like that.

[uptoolate1966]

Thinking about this episode makes me particularly sad, given how likely it is that everyone at the house, including the baby, was killed by the Operative. You can really give yourself depression thinking about the show like that.

Oh, man, did you have to mention that? I'd never thought of it and now I will everytime I watch the episode. Poor baby! *sniff*

[cko]

I know, I've been thinking about that too since I read your post, Eegah. When you think about it, it kind of puts a finality onto the series-BDM. There's no way they can go back to the characters and 'verse they created the first time around. Unless they say fie with continuity, which is always an option, I guess. I've read a lot of interviews with JW where he reminds us that his dead people don't always stay dead.

[scarletine]

And you can always surmise that there were a few folks that had dealt with the crew that the Operative didn't know about. Doubtful, but possible. (Unless there was something shown/mentioned in the movie that went totally over my head.)

Edited by scarletine, Aug 9, 2007 @ 6:07 PM.

[lumpia]

I don't think it was out of character for Inara's breakdown. This eppy just cemented to me, the fact that Inara is completely, head over heels in love with Mal - I think she's more in love with him than he is of her. Anyway, feeling love like that, who wouldn't have an emotional breakdown after catching the object of your affection hookin' up with a good friend of yours? IDK. I suppose a part of this probably comes from my own personal experience.

[cko]

lumpia, I agree. And not because this has ever happened to me. That I can remember. I think she even surprised herself by the depth of her feelings and it scared her. Does her reaction make total logical sense from everything that has happened before? Maybe not, but that is human emotion, it can be contradictory, unpredictable, and surprising.

Edited by cko, Aug 10, 2007 @ 12:01 AM.

[stillshimpy]

I never had a problem with Inara's breakdown and tears because Mal slept with someone else. For one thing, I really don't think that was what that was about. I don't think she was upset that he slept with her friend, I think she was telling the truth about being happy for her friend, that she was with someone before she died.

Instead, I think it is that Mal slept with someone that was so much like Inara in the ways he's always claimed to disdain her. The woman in question was also paid to have sex. She was a prostitute, a hooker, pick your term and also, that's what Inara is. Whatever prettied up version of "Companion" she uses, end of the day? Inara is paid to have sex.

Before Mal hooked up with her friend, she was always able to tell herself that the fact that she (Inara) was a Companion was what made Mal not approach her, not want a relationship with her. Inara had a solid reason, that she thought made sense for why she and Mal couldn't be together. She might not have liked it, but it was a reason.

After he slept with her friend, from the same trade...bye to that reason! It stops being about "Mal isn't with me because of what I do." and it becomes, "Mal isn't with me...because of me." (and of course that isn't the real reason, Mal isn't with Inara because of Mal...and that's what she was able to tell herself, only she assigned it to his view on prostitution prior to his escapade in Heart of Gold)

And ya'll, I'd cry like my heart was broken too if I realized the very thing I'd been telling myself about not being with someone I loved was a lie too. After realizing that, of course Inara would want to leave Firefly. Maybe she'd been telling herself prior to that that Mal was the one man she would give up being a Companion to be with, and that it would be worth it. Who knows? But it didn't crush her because Mal had sex, Inara has sex with someone else on at least a monthly basis.

It crushed her because at that moment she realized it wouldn't matter if she stopped being a Companion. It took away her hope, and it also simply suggested that Mal didn't love her, not because he had sex with someone else though. But because she found out for sure that her being a hooker wasn't the make or break of the deal.

Edited by stillshimpy, Aug 10, 2007 @ 4:14 PM.

[stillshimpy]

I agree, berrieh on your take on how Mal saw Inara's line of work. I think that is why he so often called her a whore, it wasn't the work he disdained, it was the aspect of denial in prettying it up.

But I don't think Inara got that. I think she was so used to people judging that aspect (the paid to have sex, aspect) that she developed almost...emotional callouses about how she dealt with others judgement. I think it was easier for Inara to think it was about being paid to have sex.

I do really think that the reason she was crying had almost nothing to do with Mal engaging in the act of sex though. Inara understood a hell of a lot about sex, why people have it, how it works, etc. I think that Inara above almost anyone on the show would be able to put that down to the act akin to a very sweaty handshake. She knows what sex means, and what it doesn't mean. It isn't the sex that makes her cry. It's knowing that Mal isn't bothered by the trade after all. It's knowing that he's choosing not to be with her for some other reason, to the extent that he wouldn't even approach her for the thing that wouldn't be a big a heinous deal to Inara.

Instead, it became about Mal choosing that specific person, and Inara having to confront something in that moment. She knew she was in love with Mal, look at her face at the end of Our Mrs. Reynolds when she thinks they are about to have "The Talk". She's so hopeful, and she knows what she is feeling. Inara knew she was in love with Mal, it was just at that moment, she thought that he knew too and she was ready to go there, ready to talk about it. What it meant, where it could go.

In this though, it would have been easier for Inara if Mal's not being with her had been about being a hooker/companion, whatever. It was a known quantity to her, something she encountered, something she was used to, being defined by what she does. She found out that wasn't a factor and it hurt her in a way she wasn't used to at all. Mal not only didn't approach her for the akin-to-sweaty-handshake thing, he didn't approach her on the night where they all thought there was a strong possibility they would all die the next day.

Man, that says something and what is says is the thing that hurts. It's just that Inara didn't understand that it said the opposite of what Inara believed it to say. She knew he wasn't in love with her friend, she knew he was just having some life affirming sex before possibly confronting death. But having the implied "And not even then would it be me." OUCH. She just didn't get that is exactly why Mal wouldn't have approached her that night. That she meant too much to just be the life affirming bounce. That there was no way for Mal to just have sex with her, not for him. She didn't get that it is precisely that which indicated that he was in love with her. He couldn't just have a throw away romp with her.

Edited by stillshimpy, Aug 10, 2007 @ 5:12 PM.

[cko]

It's just that Inara didn't understand that it said the opposite of what Inara believed it to say.

Oh, stillshimpy, this makes so much sense (as do the other comments on this, GilvearSt, etc) and leads to the cross-purposes discussion, so sad, that they have at the end. He realizes he cares for her more than he thought, and she has to leave because he rejected her and she cares more than she thought. Sigh.

[galwaycounty]

I buy Inara's crying. I never saw it as Inara being sad that Mal had sex, but that it was Nandi in particular that bothered her, for two reasons. knowing both Nandi and Mal as she did, I think Inara saw the potential for a real connection to form there. It wasn't just Mal having sex with someone, but him having sex with someone Inara believed Mal could grow to love.

I think she leaves because she realizes she loves him, is beginning to love this ship and this life, and she can't tie herself to anything - she's running from something, clearly, and yet she's landed smack-dab in the middle of what she's been running from all this time (a place to belong). Probably ties in with the "secret" we never got to see.

[/b]Bolding mine.
Brand new to this board and will have to visit the Obsession thread soon--I've just seen Firefly, the series, and have watched it through more than five times since discovering it on the new TV show website that begins with H***. I've already bought the BDM and dvd's are on the way.

The above quote is how I read the scenes with Mal and Nandi and Inara's breakdown. I'd have to say for the most part, I wanted to see Mal end up with Nandi--I thought they were better suited. The UST between Inara's *status* and Mal's feelings started getting tiresome for me.

I'd like more back story on several characters, but something drove Inara away from the House and give up the fast track. Can't help but wonder if she wasn't looking for love and blew her chance at it.

Edited by galwaycounty, Mar 29, 2008 @ 7:05 PM.

[rab01]

With the caveat that I haven't seen the BDM yet and haven't heard Joss' commentaries, I just don't see where the Inara/Mal relationship was founded on him not approaching her. I always saw it as the opposite, that she was the one saying no and keeping him at a distance. She's a Companion trained to read non-verbal cues and couldn't see Mal's????

I think she broke down because at that moment it hit her just how much she wanted to be with Mal and cried even harder realizing that she still wasn't going to say yes. To be with Mal would probably require giving up being a Companion. Facing a choice between someone you love and eveything upon which you've based your career and identity could make anyone cry a bit.

[cko]

galwaycounty and rab01, welcome! It's wonderful to have new people obsessed with Firefly! (If you're not new, my apologies but hooray anyway!) Thanks for the reminder that I haven't watched all the commentaries either.

I always love new insights on the Mal/Inara relationship. It is one of the more controversial elements of the fandom, I think. Though with this fandom, the controversial elements are rather mild.

[LilJen]

During the episode, just as things were getting heated between Mal and Nandi, I turned to dh and asked, "So, if his various crew members are laying wire, readying guns, hammering up windows for reinforcement, training the other whores in weaponry, helping deliver a baby, prepping Serenity for a rescue, why does Mal get to do shots and fool around?" Guess it pays to be the captain.

Also made no sense that Kaylee apparently couldn't get any of the sex workers to sleep with her. What was up with that? I figured she'd jump right in like Jayne did. Guess she was too busy pining for the doctor?

Edited by LilJen, Nov 8, 2008 @ 5:20 PM.

[Lead Magnet]

Maybe just too busy, if Mal was making use of his free time and not working so much. :)

[Baywom]

"So, if his various crew members are laying wire, readying guns, hammering up windows for reinforcement, training the other whores in weaponry, helping deliver a baby, prepping Serenity for a rescue, why does Mal get to do shots and fool around?" Guess it pays to be the captain.

But Jayne found the time to snuggle all night with his temporary girlfriend. They show them sleeping together then show Mal and Nandi waking up together. Lucky Helen.

Edited by Baywom, Nov 26, 2008 @ 9:18 PM.

[gadzooks]

Despite owning the boxset for months, I only got round to watching this ep tonight as I've been stringing it out forever - it's the last Whedon series I'd yet to finish watching.

And, awww...I really enjoyed it, despite its held-together-by-gum plot and its cliches (BTW, as a freelancer, I've had 'The Whore With the Heart of Gold' on my business card for years, but very few people seem to get the old Western reference). I suppose the same might be said of the series, but I always liked the premise of this show and thought it would've gone on to be one of the greats had it been given time to fulfil its promise. IMO, the BDM went on to do just that - 'Serenity' blew the last 3 Star Wars movies into the weeds in every way possible.

I'd liked to have seen more of Kaylee and it was glaringly obvious that River was still a passenger in more ways than one (so I was glad she was pivotal in BDM).

I can see why some might find the UST between Mal and Inara annoying, but it was early days and being dumbassed about relationships is so common in the real world, whatever one's experience.

Edited by gadzooks, Nov 29, 2008 @ 1:45 PM.

[furrylump]

I love Jayne in this episode. It's funny, he gives off the impression of being only interested in sex, not having a girlfriend, but when he spends days surrounded by all these prostitutes, he stays with one girl the whole time, talks to her, gives her advice on the battle, and even braids her hair. It makes me think he wants a relationship without the commitment.

This epi makes me wish we had more of Wash and Kaylee in scenes together. Not in a romantic way, I just like their little friendship. Of course, that's the problem with this show - it was cancelled so quick, and it feels like heaps of people didn't get enough scenes together.