Can anyone give me the quote that Mal says in response to the townie’s “It’s G-d’s will!”? I know it’s something about Jayne up in the ship, and it was one I rather liked.
I’m also with the idea of Book being a cop, but one that had to take a walk. I don’t see him as undercover. From the way he really -wants- to be spiritual, I figure he left the life and joined a monestary, but left when he realized it really wasn’t ‘him’.
Paraphrasing…
“You see that man hanging from the spaceship? Well, you weren’t hard to find, but it was out of the way some, and he didn’t want to come in the first place. So he is looking to kill some folks. It isn’t God’s will you should be worrying about, it’s his.”
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
My take on book is that he’s a disillusioned alliance bigwig. Maybe a soldier who saved some famous alliance guy or something. Then he saw just a little too much, retired from his job and got religion. Now he’s on a pilgrimage.
[QUOTE]
I suspect something of that nature - not a soldier, more likely an officer. He has the bearing of someone who’s used to being listened to and having to make decisions, even if he is no longer that person. I’ve not seen anything that would make me doubt his religious credentials, but the big question is how deep those creds are.
My theory is that he was an officer who took a religious deferment when the War started, because he did not agree with the Alliance position.
PATRON
This is a holy cleansing. You cannot think to thwart God’s will.
MAL
Y’all see the man hanging out of the spaceship with the really big gun? Now I’m not saying you weren’t easy to find. It was kinda out of our way, and he didn’t want to come in the first place. Man’s lookin’ to kill some folk. So really it’s his will y’all should worry about thwarting.
Re: Book
I was thinking of Jules in Pulp Fiction–the hit man who found religion. Book is a later version, come back for another look at life.
The thing that throws him is the complexity of the crews’ lives, and the moral ambiguities. That makes me think that whatever he did, it was something sort of black-and-white. Which could be military, or assassin for something like the CIA, say. Where it is clear who the enemies are.
Maybe what he fears about it is the temptation to return to violence.
My slightly different take on that is that he was “repulsed” by what he saw of Alliance behavior during the War. This behavior is somewhat alluded to in Trash:
(okay, it was alluded to by Yo-Saff-Bridge, so take it for what it’s worth) that some Alliance types deliberately used WMDs on civilian populations and then looted the remains for personal gain. This would repulse any decent person with a conscience, military or civilian, which I believe Book is.
Then again, IIRC he had mentioned that he had been out of the world for a while, so you may be right.
Generally, about the Alliance: Also remember that in Serenity, pt. 1, an Alliance commanding officer deliberately breaks off pursuit of an Illegal Salvage (and possible Pirate) to go help (what he genuinely thought was) a lifeboat of survivors from the wreck. So the Alliance isn’t always about The Law, just The Law, and only The Law, even if that attitude is more prevalent than not.
And I’d just like to add that the actor playing that officer (Andy Umberger) looked and acted so much like the few senior officers I’d met and seen in action during my time in the service (Army) that I was almost positive that he was ex-military. Terse, yet decisive. If not, he’s a pretty damned good actor, even if just a character actor, judging by the limited performance we saw there.
Firefly does seem to have a greater share of very good to outstanding guest performers than your avergae series; either a credit to the performers, casting staff, the writers, or directors; or some combination of all of the above. In any case, it gives Firefly that special touch that elevates it above “standard TV.”
Interestingly enough, Mal refers to going planetside as getting back to the world, not away from it (He tells Patience, “See you in the world”). So, Book is trying to get to “the world,” and everybody on the ship thinks that’s where he just came from…
In general sci-fi parlance, it seems spacers in this show generally refer to anywhere dirtside as “the world.”
Book seems to refer to “the world” as anywhere among people, not the monastery.
Interesting.
I’ve gotten the idea that whatever he’s done in the past, Book as always been a shepherd. In “Objects in Space”:
Book and Jayne are talking in the kitchen in the beginning, when River is having her psychic episodes around the ship, and Book pretty specifically implies that he’s never had sex. “I follow a narrower path,” I think is what he says.
That doesn’t sound like ex-cop or soldier to me.
The exact (based on the website I found) “Objects in Space” scene is
[spoiler]JAYNE
So, like… never?
BOOK
Well, no.
JAYNE
Not ever never?
BOOK
Some orders allow Shepherds to marry, but I follow a narrower path.
JAYNE
But, I mean, you still got the urge, right? They don’t cut it off or nothing…
BOOK
(smiles)
No, I’m more or less intact. I just direct my energy elsewhere.
JAYNE
You mean like masterbatin’?
BOOK
I hope you’re not thinking of taking orders yourself…
JAYNE
That’ll be the day.[/spoiler]
However, is the question we don’t hear Jayne ask, “Have you ever had sex?” or “How often do you have sex?”
True, but what else could Jayne mean when he
suggests that “masterbatin’” is a way to redirect Book’s “energies”? And when he says, “not ever never?” I think it’s a bit of stretch to think that he’s talking about marriage.
Not outside the realm of possibilities, but a stretch.
FlyingDragonFan:
Yeah, but Book doesn’t directly respond to “Not never ever?” Instead he talks about some other Shepherd orders, and how he “follow[s] (present tense) a narrower path.” Sounds to me like he’s deliberatly sidestepping a question about his past, there.
Simon: “Why did you come back for us?”
Mal: “You’re on my crew.”
Simon: “Yeah, but you don’t even like me. Why’d you come back?”
Mal: “You’re on my crew. Why’re we still talking about this?”
I have to say I’ve never seen a show that so strongly manages to evoke a feeling of family as Firefly, as dysfunctional as it might seem on the surface.
My vibe from Book has always been that he was someone who did what he felt were horrible things in his past (during the war, or perhaps as an Alliance operative in general), and joining the monastery was his atonement. I get the sense of a wayward knight doing his penance and eventually taking vows. He went back into the world to test his faith, and he’s not entirely sure he’s up to the task and won’t fall back into his old ways.
I didn’t understand Mal’s decision to face an Alliance cruiser than the kidnappers. Was he just upset with Simon for being caught so easily, or was there something else I missed?
Actually, he didn’t want to do either. He was trying to find the nearest port he could take Book to when Inara butted in to give her suggestion. Mal assumed she meant Simon and denied it, then denied the Alliance cruiser option when she clarified. Like with Kaylee in Serenity, however, he eventually gave up pride to save a life.
Either way, Mal wanted a reliable choice, a port he could take Book to without issue. Finding Simon might have taken too long, and there might’ve been a fight to free him from the kidnappers, and Alliance…well, it’s Mal. And as the officer says, the Alliance isn’t a charity. Either choice was a gamble, and if it took too long to get Book to medical care, he probably would die. But of Simon and the Alliance, the Alliance was the safer choice – they knew where the cruiser was.
It’s that last sentence that makes it real.
I agree wholeheartedly. Remind me to come back to this point when we do War Stories.
Something else that came to mind regarding this. The flashbacks to Simon’s and River’s past certainly do a commendable job of showing how close they are, which leads up to the climax, but it also shows just how shallow their parents are. Although the first flashback, with them as kids, shows a loving family, it rapidly degenerates as Simon’s parents refuse to pay attention to the problems he’s noticing. And at the first spot of trouble Simon gets into, it’s almost immediate disownment. Plainly the Tams care more about their wealth and influence than they do their own children.
Contrast that to Mal and the crew confronting an angry mob to rescue two people that certainly don’t make their lives easier and in fact are dangerous to have aboard the ship, and the sense of family is amplified even more. Their own father kicked Simon out at the first hint of trouble, but Mal and the others will go to lengths for Simon and River for no other reason than that they’re crew members.
BayleDomon, these are the kind of insights I am remarkably dense about, I get wrapped up in the story and miss connections. This being the Jossverse, I am sure your observation was fully intended in the script.
Thanks.