R.I.P Ron Glass (1945 - 2016)
I am not an enormous fan of Joss Whedon. I enjoy a lot of what he does but his opinions on religion and God and also some of the happenings in his TV shows and films have definitely put me off the older I’ve gotten. I own the short-lived series Firefly on DVD, I was introduced to it by a friend who showed me episodes when I went visiting folk who were still part of the university I’d recently graduated from. I was hooked by the space-Western style and by the characters.
I was very intrigued by Shepherd Book.
Ron Glass, the man who brought him to complex life has died. It was a fascinating character, someone who’d lived a dark life before (that we don’t get many details of) and who now looked to live a life of faith and sacrifice. Someone with a sense of humour and not afraid to live differently to the rest of the crew, to stand up for what he believed in. He was strong in a physical sense but with a wonderful twinkle too and a warmth and a love that made me want to hug him and thank him. Positive representations of faith, a faith that struggled sometimes yes but still a strong loving positive faith, are not easy to find.
I think most people remember the moment in ‘Safe’ where River tried to ‘fix’ the Shepherd’s Bible, rewriting stuff and crossing bits out because it doesn’t make sense to her ultra enhanced logical brain. But the Shepherd points out that you don’t fix the Bible, it fixes you. Later in the same episode, River is terrified by the sight of the Shepherd with his long white hair unbound, standing up crazily, like a halo, like a scary wild man. It’s a very humorous scene, especially when Shepherd and Zoe try to subsequently persuade River out of hiding. I also love the scene in the pilot where Inara, a Companion, a geisha-like profession held in great esteem but one that the Captain degrades as w, talks to the Shepherd who visits her shuttle. Inara is sure he’s there to tell her of the wickedness of her ways but he’s there simple to offer her food as she was missing at dinner and not to judge her.
I only saw Ron Glass in one other show - Agents of SHIELD, another Whedon project. But I know he had a long and impressive career and that he was particularly known for starring as one of the detectives in police procedural Barney Miller (1975 - 1982). I know he was loved by the people that worked with him. I know I am grateful for Shepherd Book.
RIP.