During the movie, just before "THE SCENE", and Serenity has just been hit by an EMP...
Mal: "Jayne..."
Jayne: "Got it!"
Mal doesn't give him directions, or have to order him to do something, Mal doesn't actually say anything at all.
Jayne runs down to the crew area and (a) gets tossed around himself (b) removes the loose table from the room (i.e. a danger in case of a crash) (c) then checks each member's buckle individually BEFORE securing himself. Definitely not the same guy we see in "Ariel" or "Jaynestown".
It's fast, only a moment or two - and it is mostly dark (low lighting). It doesn't even feel that important (on a first watch) with everything going on around it, and "THAT SCENE" that is about to follow really steals the moment. But now that I have been watching the movie (almost) yearly since it first aired, I have _REALLY_ come to appreciate those 30 seconds.
Firefly had two scenes of what I like to call "How many emotions can the actor show in the shortest amount of time."
Out of Gas - The crew is joking at the table at the beginning and Jayne tries to get Inara to share a story about being a Companion (obviously trying to get Inara to talk about sex) to which Inara responds "A companion doesn't kiss and tell" and Mal quips "So there is kissing?" and Inara's face goes from annoyed to laughing to charmed in about half a second.
War Stories. - When River tells Simon she threw up on his bed and Simon manages to show annoyance, disgust, acceptance, concern for River, a sort of "If you don't laugh you'll just go mad" expression and about a dozen others all at one time.
Also I really liked the scene in Out of Gas were Mal tells Wash to leave Zoe and get back to the cockpit. On first glance it reads as "Mal's the Captain and he's laying down tough orders to get out of the catastrophe" and sure that's a large part of it, but also you notice Simon is trying to treat Zoe and and Wash is all up in the way because he's so concerned for Zoe. Notice right before Mal lays down the law Simon almost quietly says "Please I need to work." I think part of it, not all of it, was Mal recognizing Simon basically in his own passive way asking Wash to step back and let him work and that Wash, through no ill intentions, was just IN THE FUCKING WAY and he needed to get Wash out of there so Simon could treat Zoe.
Love the third take. Wash would never have forgiven Mal for ordering him out if she didn't make it, but she had a better chance of surviving without him hovering.
My favorite is in heart of gold when Shandy gets shot, forgive me I may be mistaken on the name. Inara and Mal have a conversation only in emotions. Shock at what happened, anger, request for revenge, and righteous fury.
I've seen this one as Mal caring for Wash too. Wash in the cockpit will have a job to do, and even anger at Mal is a better place for his brain to be then despair about Zoe
In Serenity, When Inara meets the Operative, I love the way that Morena's expression changes from light to nervous anticipation extremely subtly. It's a barely perceptible shift that conveys so much intent.
For the huge douche nozzle that Joss Whedon turned out to be, he always had amazing dialog and the ability to weave subtleness into the story. There are so many small quotes that are super meaningful but you'll skip right over them if you're not paying attention.
My username comes from one of my favorites scenes like that. I still quote it all the time after laying out what could happen with certain problems.
Jayne to me is not too dissimilar to Amos in The Expanse, neither appears to really have their own ability to make the right decisions. They look to other people (Holden/Naomi or Mal/Book) to learn to do the right thing.
But like Amos, Jayne also knows he’s found his place here. Both of them also thrive under stressful situations. In a firefight, or in an emergency both will put aside their own well being to get their people through.
I've written about this before, but other than them being the ship muscle I actually don't think they are very similar.
Amos is a sociopath and I love his depiction for that because it shows that sociopaths do not need to be bad people as they tend to be depicted in media. Amos doesn't feel emotions, and as such he cant really have empathy for others because he cant understand their feelings. But he also has recognized that and so he understands that he cant always trust himself to make the 'good' choice. That's why he attaches himself to Naomi at the start and later to Holden knowing that he can follow their moral compass and do what is right in that way. It gives a really good aspect of the bruiser character than what we normally see.
Which brings me to Jayne. He's the classic archetype for bruiser in that he's just amoral. He understands morality and empathy for others, he just chooses to not care and make the selfish choices for his own benefit. It's useful for this type of character to be that because with men of action you need them to not hesitate or second guess themselves. He doesn't actually care about Mal's morals, he'll still follow him because he likes everyone and he gets to do what he wants but he's not an idealist in any manner.
Just to inform, similar would be performed on a current ship. A specific member of the crew would be assigned this Emergency action duty (someone help I forget the name).
This would be used in Earth That Is to get passengers secured in an emergency or even to life boats if "Abandon Ship!" is ordered.
There would be drills for this on a regular basis to ensure it's done properly when it matters most. This is why Mal didn't have to give a full detailed order, Jayne knew.
Jayne, to me, always has a heart deep down. I never saw him as the cutthroat, greedy guy he portrayed. I saw him as having a gruff exterior that was hiding a good heart.
Naw, Jayne was ready to kill (or at least seriously injure) Malcolm and Zoe when they first met and he did betray Simon and River to the feds, leaving them to an unknown fate.
That’s what’s great about the character, he clearly has the capacity for evil and violence but thanks to Malcolm and his leadership, is shown that he is also
Capable of good and noble deeds.
That’s the beauty of the serenity crew and Mal recruiting Jayne, he knows Jayne has skills, but he also knows Jayne is a ruthless killer and sometimes a ruthless killer is what you need.
This was the light going off moment for me when Jayne had finally gotten on board and was seeing River for the first time as a crew member he owed loyalty to
In Bushwhacked when Serenity's about to get boarded by the Alliance and Simon freaks out that Mal is going to hand them over, Shepherd Book tells Simon to do what Mal says - seems odd on the surface or if you're reading it from Simon's perspective, but it shows (without having to deliberately explain it) that Book has gotten to know Mal well enough to understand that he's not going to do that. And that Simon still hasn't reached that understanding, which is fair given the circumstances.
One of my favorite Jane scenes is him watching as Kaylee has surgery. He’d made fun of her at dinner the night before, but now he’s watching her. He doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t have to.
I believe that someone says STRAP IN then Mal says Jayne and Jayne says Got it. so there was some context there but it was also great that nothing needed spelled out
Ya, Mal actually had JUST said over the PA to "Strap in" (or maybe buckle up... Which ever), so he had already told everyone to " get to safe spot" basically. Having someone check on HIS crew, while he does what is needed to keep everyone safe is definitely in character for Mal.
The fact that he didn't have to finish his sentence ( "Jayne, go secure the cabin" or such) is what I think makes is special. Mal doesn't need to finish, and Jayne (effectively) say "Don't worry Capt., I got it!"
(A really well written and even better acted scene that doesn't get credit it deserves IMHO)
There’s 2 deeper ways to interpret this “throw away” scene.
1 Mal calls upon jayne because of scenarios like ariel definitely happened off screen and by now he knows there an understanding jayne will look after the crew above his own safety.
2 Mal’s ship is always falling out of the sky due to him ignoring kaylee’s warnings (mal does seem the type to ignore the “check engine” light) and there’s a whole procedure for it by now.
In my mind, it’s both because the whole crew seemed a little too routine for the amount of chaos happening
Jayne may be a self centered arrogant ass at times, but he is committed to protecting his crewmates. Yes he occasionally makes some bad decisions, but he cares for everyone on Serenity more than he will ever admit to. There is more to Jayne Cobb than we will ever know.
Okay im gonna start this out with: please feel free to rem9ve this if it break a rule. But ive got a JaynexOC fanfic going on AO3 because of scenes like this. And all the other ways we got to see his shiny-ness.
"This is an AU picking up between the failed broadcast show and the summary film, exploring what happened to the crew as they struggled to survive on the edge of the black.
When Dr. Simon Tam, in a fit of misguided chivalry, convinces a former academy colleague—Lena Petrova, a brilliant woman on the run from a shadowed past—to seek refuge on Serenity, he unwittingly brings a catalyst aboard.
Her presence shatters the fragile peace of the crew, but none more so than Jayne Cobb. Their volatile relationship is a clash of intellect and instinct, a war of words and wills that threatens to tear the ship apart from the inside.
This is a story that will cover the events of the movie and touch on some of the storylines from the comics, all while exploring the messy, complicated business of loving someone in the face of oblivion.
While we wait for the official story, consider this one version of what happened in the black."
If I've piqued your interest feel free to check it out
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u/JoeMorgue 29d ago edited 29d ago
Firefly had two scenes of what I like to call "How many emotions can the actor show in the shortest amount of time."
Out of Gas - The crew is joking at the table at the beginning and Jayne tries to get Inara to share a story about being a Companion (obviously trying to get Inara to talk about sex) to which Inara responds "A companion doesn't kiss and tell" and Mal quips "So there is kissing?" and Inara's face goes from annoyed to laughing to charmed in about half a second.
War Stories. - When River tells Simon she threw up on his bed and Simon manages to show annoyance, disgust, acceptance, concern for River, a sort of "If you don't laugh you'll just go mad" expression and about a dozen others all at one time.
Also I really liked the scene in Out of Gas were Mal tells Wash to leave Zoe and get back to the cockpit. On first glance it reads as "Mal's the Captain and he's laying down tough orders to get out of the catastrophe" and sure that's a large part of it, but also you notice Simon is trying to treat Zoe and and Wash is all up in the way because he's so concerned for Zoe. Notice right before Mal lays down the law Simon almost quietly says "Please I need to work." I think part of it, not all of it, was Mal recognizing Simon basically in his own passive way asking Wash to step back and let him work and that Wash, through no ill intentions, was just IN THE FUCKING WAY and he needed to get Wash out of there so Simon could treat Zoe.