Overall Rating: 5.5
Although this episode was nominated for a Hugo award for best dramatic presentation (short form) in 2004, seriously mixes messages leave me unsure enough about the content of this episode to lean toward a lower score. This is one where I'm going to invite my co-author to give her review as well, because I'm just not confident in what I gleaned from it.
Plot Synopsis:
A full synopsis for this episode may be found here, courtesy of the PC Wranglers.
The Skinny:
I went back and forth on this story and what I believe the central messages are within it. Many times. Watching it, I can see why the Hugo nomination occurred, and I can recognize very well-crafted drama...but so many little red flags were waving in my head at so many key places in the script that I just don't share the consensus opinion of Firefly fandom here. Let's deal with my three biggest objections one by one:
1) I don't perceive Mal as the type of man who would do some girl he just met two days prior. Not only that...but I sensed no chemistry between he and Nandi at all...and the romantic dialogue is really quite uninteresting.
On the other hand...Mal's inability to confront his real feelings for Inara could very easily lead to stupidity...it's popularly understood psychology that appears in many a dramatic presentation...guy falls for girl...guy can't tell girl...guy commiserates with other girl and his feelings transfer for a time...misplaced desire leading to foolish action. One could view Mal's rendezvous with Nandi as a cry for affection from Inara, especially following her "this needs to stay business" plea at the start of the episode.
2) Burgess is written HORRIBLY. He's an incredibly stilted Hollywood pop-up-punching-clown stereotype of men from the bad old days of patriarchy. In fact, one could interpret the righteous speechifying juxtaposed with misogyny as a slap at religious institutions and Hollywood's fa;se accusations leveled at religion with regard to their being anti-female in general.
On the other hand, one could also view his character as an important foil for the dangers women face if they are not puritanical about sex (to steal from Inara's dialogue). No matter how you slice it...if you make sex into a business (either literally, as in the case with a prostitute, or indirectly, as in the case of women using sex appeal in an attempt to get to the top of the working world or to gain some power over men), your customer will start to think he/she owns you. When Burgess bellows "Here's a whore who knows her place!" followed later by "let's remind these whores what a woman is to a man...get on your knees!" (to the same woman) I did get legitimate goosebumps and, for that time at least, I thought the writers were trying to send a message about the dangers of prostitution, rather than simple wagging their fingers at men.
3) Inara's decision to leave makes no sense in light of what she claims to have learned from Nandi. She saw the virtue of living (and even dying heroically) for family...she's seen how Mal runs his ship like a family business and looks out for his crew in the same way. Yet, she chooses to withdraw.
On the other hand, she did just get her heart broken by Mal (whether she wants to admit it or not) and may believe that choosing this particular family can bring her only pain and complication (and we did just spent a day hearing Nandi claim that both Mal and Inara disliked complications).
I did very much appreciate that the episode rings a bell quite loudly in defense of the idea that sex really does come tied with emotional risks and consequences, and that anyone protesting that this is untrue for them is likely fooling only themselves. We see Inara speaking of the virtues of treating sex more freely, and then, when no one is looking, we see the damage such an attitude does to her (she ends up in tears over Mal's emotional betrayal). Think about this the next time you hear someone claiming that sex is just "fun"...there's a good chance that person is either inexperienced enough not to know what they're talking about...or damaged by previous experiences in love and using liberation as a defense mechanism.
There are other things that I found mildly annoying in this episode. Kaylee, though at heart a girl's girl, is not a needy, co-dependent soul with no self confidence. Her asking Wash to call her pretty kind of boggled me. Though Wash's response was very sweet.
On the other hand...Jayne was written perfectly (and with some comic affect. :) ).
A real mixed bag for me...that's about the best I can say. Perhaps my co-author would care to throw her weight to one side of my analysis or the other.
Writing: 4.0
The characters outside of the main cast were some combination of awkwardly or melodramatically written, and the romantic dialogue between Mal and Nandi was...well not very good (at least, I don't think it was very believable if I spent the entire time saying "this makes no sense...not feeling the heat here..."). The dialogue also lacked Firefly's clever wit and there were a number of loose ends in the plot that need to be patched (especially revolving around Inara).
Acting: 7.0
The regulars did a fine job on the whole, but Melinda Clarke (Nandi) and Fredric Lane (Burgess) were not particularly impressive. On the whole, a par episode professionally.
Message: 5.5
I guess here, we need to take the good with the bad. I am not terribly confident in my assessment, however.
Now that I've finally watched this episode again, I'm going to throw my weight behind your on-the-other-hands and give this episode an 8.5. I liked this episode, and I like it because, as you suggest, it presents a very accurate picture of a prostitute's place in most societies (the very bottom of the totem pole). I also find Inara's dilemma quite compelling. Because of her profession, she has publicly adopted a casual attitude about sex, but here, we see that maintaining this facade requires more than a little effort and can be emotionally devastating. And again, that's an important message to convey.
ReplyDelete(By the way, I also found it rather poignant that some of Nandi's girls were seeking the services of Shepherd Book. That's true to history as well; after all, sinners of all types - including prostitutes - were attracted to Jesus.)