No, I don’t agree. In “War Stories”, Jayne kicked in his money to buy back Wash and Mal. And from all accounts, we know it was a lot of money. Jayne is all about the money. For him to give it up voluntarily to save others in the crew was a definite character development moment in the series. Also, at the beginning of that episode the crew are eating apples that were provided by Jayne, and commenting about his generosity.
I think that wrench knocked some sense into Jayne, and he was always a better crew member after that. The key moment was when he told Mal not to tell the others what he had done.
He heard a noise just beyond the door, indicating that River was loose, and was going to investigate. His words were, “We’re going to go for a nice shuttle ride” - that’s not a threat, that’s an attempt to lure her out into the open.
I disagree; not the current Jayne. He learned his lessons about selling out the crew. Consider Jayne’s actions when River has her first berserk moment in the bar. Jayne actually helps River clobber one or two bystanders, and then grabs her instead of swinging to knock her out entirely. I forget his words then – something like “Calm down, girl - it’s me” before she grabs his jewels.
Additionally, I think sucker punching would be out of character for Mal vs. any of his own crew or acquaintances - even Jayne.
I don’t know if it’s that simple. I think Jayne is feeling guilty, yes, but not in the “I done something I know is bad” sense; it’s more like “I done something other people will think is bad, and I don’t want them to find out about it.” In my view, Jayne is trying to be friendly and generous to pre-emptively distract the crew from thinking badly of him, so they’ll be less likely to reconsider his actions on Ariel. It’s like a kid who breaks one of his mother’s favorite knickknacks, hides the pieces, and then makes his mom breakfast in bed.
Unfortunately, I think you’re right. I was talking to a guy this weekend who’d seen the movie last weekend. Didn’t now anything about it going into it, just knew his buddy wanted to see it. He said his first reaction when his friend suggested it was “Serenity? I don’t want to see a stupid chick flick.” But, once he saw it, he loved it and was asking me for details about the series.
Well, then, let’s go to the real (in constant dollars champ). Audiences had no idea whether Rhett and Scarlett would live Happily Ever After when they first encountered the story (either in the book or the movie, whichever they happened upon first).
Different era. Before the fabled Hollywood Happy Ending. It would have been a formulaic melodrama, predictable in all of its story beats, except for the fact the formula hadn’t been settled yet. And seriously, by the end of Gone With the Wind, I don’t care how they end up, as long as they end.
Agreed. I don’t think it’s any great reach to speculate that, if the series had continued, there would have been an “Alliance ups the priority of retrieving (or, failing that, killing) River” story arc, and that it would have included some serious grimness.
Jayne would like folks (including himself) to think he’s all about the money, but he does have a real loyalty to Mal. In the pilot, the real reason he didn’t go through with betraying Mal is that loyalty, but he can’t admit that. So he says the money wasn’t enough. It never would be.
The thing is, though, his loyalty is specifically and solely to Mal. He doesn’t really have a strong notion of “team”. Before “Ariel”, he just didn’t have the concept that betraying a member of Mal’s crew amounted to a betrayal of Mal himself. Maybe that dose of fresh air the Captain treated him to got the idea across to him… I’d certainly hope so.
And there’s more to his “What will you tell the crew?” than “don’t get caught”. Remember, at that moment, he thinks Mal is about to kill him. He’s already caught, and he’s about to be dead. He shouldn’t care what the crew thinks of him after that… But he does. There’s more depth there than he likes to let on. The Jayne in the airlock there was the same Jayne who couldn’t understand the townsfolk of Canton setting his statue back up.
