Blog #23 - This is for hens to laugh at

      For my scene (which I admittedly did not blog about), I chose the one where River Tam sees the subliminal message in the advertisement, and goes on a killing rampage. At first Mal watches in shock, and seemingly some amusement and fright, but then attempts to grab his weapon. When Mal grabs his weapon, he and River have a short standoff before Simon Tam came in and shouted a phrase that put her to sleep.

      Probably due to the sense of detachment usually felt when watching movies, the lack of importance of the people in the bar, and the general amusement of watching a 90 lb. Summer Glau rip through dozens of men, I did not really feel the underlying terror that this scene really should instill. This scene isn't quite the first to show her assassin abilities in action, but is the first that shows her going on a complete rampage, killing without provocation or difficulty. This slaughter of innocent people shows the true terror of what a super soldier is capable of. Not just the terror of the slaughter, but also of who the super soldier is. However hilarious it is to watch this child engage in the ultimate bar fight, its just evidence of the terrible testing and training that she went through to achieve that state. The R. Tam Sessions help to back up most of these arguments, detailing some of her experiments, and giving an early example of her ruthlessness as she kills her interviewer with a pen.

      Of particular interest is the control of River exhibited throughout the scene. From the commercial advertisement that had the code to send her into the super soldier bar fighter to the code phrase that Simon shouted to put her to sleep, River has codes implanted within her to control her. This is very relevant to a point that Lux made in his article about needing control over the perfect soldier/assassin. Slightly paradoxical, as you want complete control, but complete control means lack of initiative or ability to operate outside of parameters. The codes seem to be a good compromise that allow for a strong degree of control anyway.

(Just a small note, my title is the translation of the phrase that Simon shouts)