Blog 20: Article/Episode

In the episode of Firefly "Shindig" Mal seems to be angry with Inara for agreeing to go to the party with Ath.  WHy does this upset Mal?

This upsets Mal because as someone who has to work to make a living, he resents the type of people who will be in attendance.  He seems very aggravated the whole time that he is at party and this is also because he feels uncomfortable around people that he perceives to be "snobs".  He almost seems a little jealous that Inara gets to go to something as high class as this as an escort, whereas he has to continue to try and find the next job for the crew.

In this episode, Mal quickly begins losing to Ath in their sword battle.  How does this reflect Mal's normal personality?

Mal is normally very blunt and aggressive, as you see with the many bar fights that he gets in to and even how he originally got himself involved with the duel with Ath in the first place.  Mal doesn't think, and tries to use his brawn to defeat people in normal hand to hand combat.  However, this tactic doesn't work in the world of sword fighting and that blind aggression is part of the reason as to why Ath is able to toy with Mal and eventually critically wound him.  Plus the fact that Ath is an expert swordsman doesn't help Mal's case either