[Canon Review] War Stories
"War Stories"
This episode is really more of a Wash and Zoe episode, but it's still one of my favorites. Oddly, I didn't like it at all when I first watched it. It's grown on me since then.
-- Voice: ... I still love how Mal just goes "huh" at seeing something really surprising. He does it in the pilot ep too, right after he sees River. I think it's the last line of the episode, even.
Quotes:
"Ah, the pitter patter of tiny feet in huge combat boots."
"There's nobody that gets on my boat that I don't meet 'em."
"You mean the captain standin' right here and tellin' you it's not gonna happen?"
Wash: [talking about Mal] "He's insane. I mean, you told the damn stories. He saved you in the war. I didn't know... He's crazy. He wouldn't break, Zoe. He kept me from... I wouldn't have made it. This is gonna kill him."
Zoe: "He's gonna make it last as long as possible. Days if he can."
Wash: [LOOK OF UTTER "WTF ARE YOU ON, AND WTF IS HE ON, AND CAN I HAVE SOME PLZ"]
Niska: "And now we meet the real you. And you are an extraordinary man! But these are not times that call for extraordinary men. Business is not war, heroics are unseemly. They complicate."
Kaylee: "If it were any one of us, Cap'n wouldn't hesitate."
Relationships:
-- Mal - Zoe - Wash: The beginning of the episode sets up a perceived triangle on Wash's end--he's jealous of Zoe's relationship with Mal. ... meanwhile, Mal is /completely/ oblivious to all this. I'd say he registers Zoe as being female and vaguely attractive ('cause hell, it's Zoe and she's hot), but I can't see any actual romantic relationship between them at all. (This is emphasized strongly at the end of the episode.) Furthermore, his irritation and annoyance with Wash butting in at the beginning of the mission looks more like obliviousness and resignation to me. He references their "history" during the torture scenes, but he does so a) after it's brought to his attention and b) to help Wash focus on something besides the omg pain.
Wash: I'd say Mal respects Wash, but on a way different level than he does Zoe. He doesn't interfere with (or even comment on) the piloting even when he's pissed at the situation, but he does take the time to make it clear that this is a one-time thing. Mal's someone who really, really needs to know where he stands with people, and will talk to them to their faces to make sure that they know it too. I'll bet that's why his UST with Inara plagues and frustrates him so. (Amusing note: Mal totally doesn't believe Wash when Wash claims to have been in a firefight. Sarcaaastic look.) Mal also didn't want Zoe to marry Wash. "Shipboard romances complicate things."
Zoe: Saying there's total trust between Zoe and Mal is like saying that space is black. But it really, really comes out in this episode. She manages the ship while he's gone, goes to rescue him on her own -- and the rest of the crew doesn't argue with it. I think it's safe to say that scrapes like this pop up semi-frequently, with more or less the same reaction from Zoe (if she's not with him at the time). Also, during the torture scene, she takes Wash first, unhesitatingly. I think that's partially 'cause she knew he had a much lower chance of surviving torture (and possibly that she knew Mal had been tortured previously--probably either during the War (more likely) or during a Reaver attack (less likely, more interesting to think about)). More importantly, Mal isn't at all surprised by the fact that she walks out with her husband instead of him.
Simon: After the fight, Mal asks Simon about how it felt to take up arms for the first time. I think there's a bit of genuine concern there; he knows that firing a gun at someone isn't necessarily something you want to have to do.
Kaylee: Mal takes her hand as he's walking up the stairs and past her at the end of the episode.
Emergency Mode:
-- Mal knocks Wash over and falls flat to the ground when the shooting starts during the ambush. He's also quiet during their initial placement in the prison -- trying to feel around, gauge his situation. (Also, when he's in the situation with Zoe, she doesn't talk quite so much. ... not that being quieter than Wash is very hard.)
-- Sarcasm. He primarily uses this with Wash to help get him through the torture, but he keeps it up even when he's alone with Niska. I'd say it's a pretty big coping mechanism. Also totally willing to drag out issues/trauma buttons if it'll get the person to focus on him. ("When we get out of this, I'm gonna sleep with your wife!")
-- Focusing on other people. He devotes most (if not all) of his energy to keeping Wash going, not for himself. He's clearly capable of running on adrenaline afterwards, but he does best when he has someone else to focus on. (His feat of crazy stamina is slightly different during his fight with the Operative during the BDM, which has him facing the Op alone from start to finish.)
-- Unbreakable. Wash calls him crazy after being taken from the torture session; I'd say he's wrong about that. ... but not by much. One way or another, Mal doesn't break when he's tortured. I'd argue that he's already a bit broken anyway, what with the war having screwed him up a lot and all.
Injuries:
Tortuuuuure. Um. "Out of Gas," "War Stories," and the BDM have Mal's most ridiculous injuries. I doubt all of these scarred him, but here's what I noticed anyway:
-- Electrocution (him and Wash both)
-- Minor initial injuries (Mal is bleeding from his eyebrow/forehead and Wash has the beginning of a black eye; they were probably beaten before being electrocuted.)
-- Ear cut off. It was glued back on by the end of the episode, but there's probably still a scarline present.
-- Knife wound on the left side of his torso, just below the ribs. ... same spot as the gunshot wound. g-go mal. He also got tortured with this awful ... crochet hook ... thingy.
-- Awful mechanical torture device thing. Attaches to the middle of his chest, right below the sternum. ... I don't really want to think about what exactly injuries it caused, although it did kill him. That spot is probably a not-fun scar place.
-- ... pliers? WTF they tortured him with pliers.
-- It's worth noting that Mal is capable of walking around okay after the surgery on his ear is done. Considering that it probably took time to get the equipment and perform surgery, though, that's probably after a period of rest. He is also capable of fighting off Niska (with help!) after being tortured to the point of death minutes before. (He is, however, very wobbly after the adrenaline has worn off.)
Between the half hour of traveling at low power to get to the skyplex, the two-ish hour delay between the initial kidnapping and Zoe setting out the first time, time spent going to and from the skyplex (at least a half hour's journey there and back, plus negotiation time), and then time to prep for the assault (at least an hour or more), Mal's torture probably lasted about four straight hours. Wash was rescued after about two.
Timeline:
Wash makes a reference to Serenity being rich after their last heist, which occurred in Ariel (the previous episode). They lose most of their money to Niska by the end of the episode. Considering that they had enough time to buy apples but nothing bigger than that (Mal mentions taking time off to "spend some of this money"), I'd say they were only rich for about ... a week? Two at most? (Tangent: it's pretty obvious that Jayne bought the apples out of guilt/being threatened by Mal at the end of Ariel. It makes me wonder if Jayne why got apples in particular. Where they just the only kind of fruit available? Cheap? Mal's favorite? No reason?)
Random:
-- A Griswold is a tiny grenade about the size of a battery that responds to pressure. It killed a bunch of soldiers in Mal's platoon during a battle outside New Kasmir. (Need to look that up in my sourcebook and see if I can track down the planet that's on.)
-- This is something that's more obvious in Out of Gas, actually, but Mal is totally not a technical guy. Or a pilot. Zoe was obviously handling the technical side of things before Wash stepped in; he's utterly hopeless at starting Inara's shuttle in Out of Gas.
-- Mal's wearing a red shirt in this episode up to and during the torture, a blue shirt afterwards. He's also not wearing his brown duster or his jacket.
-- The medicine was left over after the ambush and sat there for about two hours in the desert. Considering that they took it in a cold case, I'll bet some of the medicine spoiled, but probably not all of it.
-- When Mal and Wash are are tied up and blindfolded, the following conversation happens (paraphrased!):
Wash: You've been in situations like this with Zoe before, right?
Mal: Many a time.
Wash: Well, good. I'm sure you two are always in tricky...situations ... ... Mal, she's my WIFE!
(Okay, so the rest of the conversation gives better context. I'm just amused that Wash associates being blindfolded and tied up with Zoe and Mal being together.)