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Cake day: December 4th, 2024

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  • Jayne is gross as fuck, Mal can’t stop calling Inara “whore” every episode in a way that feels so indulgent, it’s a celebration of confederados, the list goes on.

    Mal’s got this whole “I’ve got a code” and “I’m loyal to my CREW” shtick that’s trite and makes his morality too flexible which bumps against his “aww shucks I have a heart of gold” moments. They never critique his “code” which is actually pretty deranged, they just show these moments where he does the right thing and go “See? The confederado is actually a Nice Guy!”

    Like let’s take a look at what he’s fighting against - yes, the government did something heinous with River, but he’s not trying to right that wrong nor was it the catalyst for why he is who he is. In fact, he goes out of his way not to do the right thing with her and constantly threatens to throw River and Simon out every time he gets in a bad mood.

    Look at all these outpost towns that he ends up causing trouble in half the time because he wants to stick it to the government. He doesn’t have to live this life. He chooses it. Like I’m supposed to be proud of him for stealing medical supplies, realizing he didn’t do his due diligence in the slightest and regretted committing a crime, then not stealing it? He shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. All he did was not consign a bunch of people to death - huge problem on their hands that happened because of him! We’re supposed to find that sympathetic and sweet?

    The anti-hero thing did not age well. It doesn’t have any commentary and it doesn’t assess these moments with any sort of critical eye. Most of the crew is fine but Mal and Jayne (especially given what we now know about Baldwin) aged like milk and make it really hard to watch.