Canon relationship thingies -- Spoilers abound
Okay, I figured I'd start out with a couple of paragraphs on Simon and Wash and then start on with the ESSAY that is Mal.
Inara doesn't really get much on-screen time with Simon, but what they do get is pretty cute. She helps him out in the beginning by supplementing the infirmary's supplies with her own Temple-issued first aid packs. She sits with him during Out of Gas (and makes him stop explaining how unpleasant it is to die of suffocation), and also helps him deliver Petaline's baby in Heart of Gold. They develop what seems to be a fairly solid platonic relationship; by the graphic novel Those Left Behind, he's comfortable enough with her to ask her to watch River, and she hugs River goodbye when she leaves at the end.
Simon and Inara are alike in a lot of ways. They're both from backgrounds that are comfortable with affluence and high social circles, and they were both born on Core planets. Both are well-educated and well-trained in their respective professions. One might even say they both tend to the needs of others. In some ways, Simon is an almost-perfect example of most of Inara's clients from over the series: a somewhat naive young man from a good family who can easily afford her services. It's this similarity that probably keeps him from being a romantic interest for her; she's been trained to handle precisely his type, and so he presents no real challenge.
I think she worries a bit about his perfectly understandable but extremely unhealthy focus on River. At the beginning of the series, Simon is clinically detached from everyone and everything else but his sister. He's better by the end of the BDM, but this is mostly due to Kaylee's influence and River's improvement. Also, Simon and Inara operate very differently. Although both of them try to remain detached from their patients/clients, Simon's work is based on clinical diagnosis and fact, while Inara's is based on empathy and emotion. This played out in camp when Simon gave Inara facts but she wanted understanding, leading to their argument over what was best for River.
Inara and Wash spend almost no time together in the series at all. They talk exactly twice that I can think of: once in the pilot when she contacts Serenity to ask where they are, and once when the ship can't take off from Higgins' Moon. Nevertheless, i think they share a love for piloting. I also think that Inara is very fond of Zoe, as well, which necessitates a certain fondness for Wash. I think she loves him in a friendly sort of way for being... well, Wash. How can you not?
And then there's Mal.
Hoo boy.
First of all, they're in love. Despite the snarking and the bitterness and the fighting and the "you're a whore" and "you're a petty criminal" and the Alliance vs. the Independents and Rich vs. Poor and the East vs. the West... they're in love. They both have pictures of each other hidden in their cabins, for heaven's sake. It's just that there's this chasm between them, and they can't ever seem to be honest enough with themselves or with each other to start to try to cross it. I'm going to try to refrain from speculating overmuch about Mal's feelings on Inara -- I'll leave that to dont_go_smooth -- but I'll probably slip up.
Inara, I think, trusted Mal from the beginning. She must've. A single Companion would be no match for a ship of slavers or someone who decided he'd let his crew have at her. But she rented the shuttle from Mal after only getting his word that she wouldn't have to service him or any of his crew, and she'd met Jayne. She also trusted him despite the fact that he called her a whore to her face at the end of that first meeting, and she kept trusting him even after she found out about his background and the fact that he wasn't always... strictly honest. I think part of the reason she's so focused on Mal's life of petty crime is that she thinks it's demeaning to someone who could be so much more than he is. Mal was, if I understand correctly, an officer in the army before he went over to the Independents; I'm sure it frustrates Inara that he hasn't found some similar form of work and instead clings to scraping out a life for himself.
I don't know when she fell in love with him. I have a fairly good idea of when it stopped being something she could ignore. I think it hit her during the events of Our Mrs. Reynolds, when Saffron told her Mal was dead. If you look at her face, that's fear. She runs for Mal's room, stopping only to find out what happened to Wash. When she gets down into Mal's room, she runs over to him, pleading with him to not be dead. (She's crying a little as she does so; this is the first time we see her cry because of Mal.) He responds a little and she kisses him. Sadly, the drug that knocks him out also manages to keep him from remembering the kiss at the end of the episode, or Inara would've had some 'splaining to do.
Interestingly, simply realizing her feelings for Mal isn't enough to make Inara leave Serenity, although I'm guessing it's a fundamental breach of Companion protocol. The Companions are Buddhists, and I believe they preach emotional detachment both as Buddhist philosophy and as Companion method. A Companion in love is one who cannot put her heart into her work. (In the pilot, Kaylee asks Inara what the Guild rules on dating are, to which Inara responds, "Complicated.") I think Inara decided to ignore her feelings, although I'm not sure whether she was hoping they'd simply go away or she was hoping that Mal would get a clue.
It's the events in Heart of Gold that make her decide to leave Serenity, I think, although she doesn't screw up the courage to actually do it for another episode. When Mal sleeps with her dear friend Nandi, Inara pretends that it doesn't bother her when she runs into him as he leaves Nandi's room the next morning. But the very next scene is Inara sobbing brokenheartedly in an empty room. I don't think she's crying only from jealousy, either; I think she's also crying because she's hurt that Mal can bring himself to touch Nandi, but not her. She, with all of her elegance, class, and refinement is a whore, while Nandi, the former Companion turned madam, is a woman. Add in the complicating factor of Nandi's death, and I think Inara decides that it would be better for both of them if she were gone. At this point, Inara sees the gulf between them as something that simply can't be crossed.
In the deleted scenes from the BDM, we see Inara teaching at one of the Border planet temples. Despite her attempt to settle down and move on with her life, enough of her history with Mal has followed her that she's seen as a romantic figure by the Companion trainees, who gossip excitedly about her passionate love affair with a space pirate. Inara sputters at this, but one has to wonder how common the knowledge of her feelings might be, considering the Operative uses her as bait.
By the end of the movie, the discovery of the Alliance's corruption and Mal's new-found purpose ("aim[ing] to misbehave") apparently has given Inara enough of a new start with Mal that she decides to stay on Serenity. (I changed this a bit for purposes of getting her into camp.) I think Joss probably always intended for Inara to become disillusioned with the Alliance or with being a Companion, since he was obviously never going to have Mal settle down and become a gentleman of leisure.
As things currently (2/5/07) stand, she's weakening quite a bit towards Mal. Inara came into camp not knowing he was here. Finding out that a) he was here, and b) had been here a year, was a horrible shock for her, and at first she thought to leave him to his new crew, separate herself from him, and so get over her feelings that way. Mal, however, is really. damned. tenacious, and when Inara had a fight with Simon and moved out of that cabin, he offered her a room with him. Inara absolutely refused, intending instead to move into the library per Crowley's offer. That led to a long and somewhat painful discussion, during which Mal said something she never, ever expected to hear from him: "This is us lookin' out for each other 'cause this place don't always got extra folks to care. Mayhap I don't want too many other folks carin'."
At which point she pretty much couldn't say no. I'm a bit worried this is too much progress on that front, but she wouldn't listen after he said that. I think for all her denial and struggle to get over him, she just loves him too much. Even though she despises herself a bit for caving, she couldn't say no.
Inara doesn't really get much on-screen time with Simon, but what they do get is pretty cute. She helps him out in the beginning by supplementing the infirmary's supplies with her own Temple-issued first aid packs. She sits with him during Out of Gas (and makes him stop explaining how unpleasant it is to die of suffocation), and also helps him deliver Petaline's baby in Heart of Gold. They develop what seems to be a fairly solid platonic relationship; by the graphic novel Those Left Behind, he's comfortable enough with her to ask her to watch River, and she hugs River goodbye when she leaves at the end.
Simon and Inara are alike in a lot of ways. They're both from backgrounds that are comfortable with affluence and high social circles, and they were both born on Core planets. Both are well-educated and well-trained in their respective professions. One might even say they both tend to the needs of others. In some ways, Simon is an almost-perfect example of most of Inara's clients from over the series: a somewhat naive young man from a good family who can easily afford her services. It's this similarity that probably keeps him from being a romantic interest for her; she's been trained to handle precisely his type, and so he presents no real challenge.
I think she worries a bit about his perfectly understandable but extremely unhealthy focus on River. At the beginning of the series, Simon is clinically detached from everyone and everything else but his sister. He's better by the end of the BDM, but this is mostly due to Kaylee's influence and River's improvement. Also, Simon and Inara operate very differently. Although both of them try to remain detached from their patients/clients, Simon's work is based on clinical diagnosis and fact, while Inara's is based on empathy and emotion. This played out in camp when Simon gave Inara facts but she wanted understanding, leading to their argument over what was best for River.
Inara and Wash spend almost no time together in the series at all. They talk exactly twice that I can think of: once in the pilot when she contacts Serenity to ask where they are, and once when the ship can't take off from Higgins' Moon. Nevertheless, i think they share a love for piloting. I also think that Inara is very fond of Zoe, as well, which necessitates a certain fondness for Wash. I think she loves him in a friendly sort of way for being... well, Wash. How can you not?
And then there's Mal.
Hoo boy.
First of all, they're in love. Despite the snarking and the bitterness and the fighting and the "you're a whore" and "you're a petty criminal" and the Alliance vs. the Independents and Rich vs. Poor and the East vs. the West... they're in love. They both have pictures of each other hidden in their cabins, for heaven's sake. It's just that there's this chasm between them, and they can't ever seem to be honest enough with themselves or with each other to start to try to cross it. I'm going to try to refrain from speculating overmuch about Mal's feelings on Inara -- I'll leave that to dont_go_smooth -- but I'll probably slip up.
Inara, I think, trusted Mal from the beginning. She must've. A single Companion would be no match for a ship of slavers or someone who decided he'd let his crew have at her. But she rented the shuttle from Mal after only getting his word that she wouldn't have to service him or any of his crew, and she'd met Jayne. She also trusted him despite the fact that he called her a whore to her face at the end of that first meeting, and she kept trusting him even after she found out about his background and the fact that he wasn't always... strictly honest. I think part of the reason she's so focused on Mal's life of petty crime is that she thinks it's demeaning to someone who could be so much more than he is. Mal was, if I understand correctly, an officer in the army before he went over to the Independents; I'm sure it frustrates Inara that he hasn't found some similar form of work and instead clings to scraping out a life for himself.
I don't know when she fell in love with him. I have a fairly good idea of when it stopped being something she could ignore. I think it hit her during the events of Our Mrs. Reynolds, when Saffron told her Mal was dead. If you look at her face, that's fear. She runs for Mal's room, stopping only to find out what happened to Wash. When she gets down into Mal's room, she runs over to him, pleading with him to not be dead. (She's crying a little as she does so; this is the first time we see her cry because of Mal.) He responds a little and she kisses him. Sadly, the drug that knocks him out also manages to keep him from remembering the kiss at the end of the episode, or Inara would've had some 'splaining to do.
Interestingly, simply realizing her feelings for Mal isn't enough to make Inara leave Serenity, although I'm guessing it's a fundamental breach of Companion protocol. The Companions are Buddhists, and I believe they preach emotional detachment both as Buddhist philosophy and as Companion method. A Companion in love is one who cannot put her heart into her work. (In the pilot, Kaylee asks Inara what the Guild rules on dating are, to which Inara responds, "Complicated.") I think Inara decided to ignore her feelings, although I'm not sure whether she was hoping they'd simply go away or she was hoping that Mal would get a clue.
It's the events in Heart of Gold that make her decide to leave Serenity, I think, although she doesn't screw up the courage to actually do it for another episode. When Mal sleeps with her dear friend Nandi, Inara pretends that it doesn't bother her when she runs into him as he leaves Nandi's room the next morning. But the very next scene is Inara sobbing brokenheartedly in an empty room. I don't think she's crying only from jealousy, either; I think she's also crying because she's hurt that Mal can bring himself to touch Nandi, but not her. She, with all of her elegance, class, and refinement is a whore, while Nandi, the former Companion turned madam, is a woman. Add in the complicating factor of Nandi's death, and I think Inara decides that it would be better for both of them if she were gone. At this point, Inara sees the gulf between them as something that simply can't be crossed.
In the deleted scenes from the BDM, we see Inara teaching at one of the Border planet temples. Despite her attempt to settle down and move on with her life, enough of her history with Mal has followed her that she's seen as a romantic figure by the Companion trainees, who gossip excitedly about her passionate love affair with a space pirate. Inara sputters at this, but one has to wonder how common the knowledge of her feelings might be, considering the Operative uses her as bait.
By the end of the movie, the discovery of the Alliance's corruption and Mal's new-found purpose ("aim[ing] to misbehave") apparently has given Inara enough of a new start with Mal that she decides to stay on Serenity. (I changed this a bit for purposes of getting her into camp.) I think Joss probably always intended for Inara to become disillusioned with the Alliance or with being a Companion, since he was obviously never going to have Mal settle down and become a gentleman of leisure.
As things currently (2/5/07) stand, she's weakening quite a bit towards Mal. Inara came into camp not knowing he was here. Finding out that a) he was here, and b) had been here a year, was a horrible shock for her, and at first she thought to leave him to his new crew, separate herself from him, and so get over her feelings that way. Mal, however, is really. damned. tenacious, and when Inara had a fight with Simon and moved out of that cabin, he offered her a room with him. Inara absolutely refused, intending instead to move into the library per Crowley's offer. That led to a long and somewhat painful discussion, during which Mal said something she never, ever expected to hear from him: "This is us lookin' out for each other 'cause this place don't always got extra folks to care. Mayhap I don't want too many other folks carin'."
At which point she pretty much couldn't say no. I'm a bit worried this is too much progress on that front, but she wouldn't listen after he said that. I think for all her denial and struggle to get over him, she just loves him too much. Even though she despises herself a bit for caving, she couldn't say no.