Hoban 'Wash' Washburn (Caution! Spoilers!)

[Snowdog]

I'm sure I read somewhere that Whedon had plans to bring Wash back somehow. After all, in a SF universe you can do anything. But someone had to die. Whedon has consistently said that if victory is to mean anything, there has to be a cost.

To add to pyan's list:

Kendra, Anya, Cordelia, Wes, Gunn (dying anyway), Topher Brink and Paul Ballard

 

[Mouse]

Topher Brink and Paul Ballard

Don't forget November! Tragic.

 

[Boaz]

"Not a lot of people get me and Zoe" I had to agree, but the more I see how they interact, the more I get it. Kind of an "opposites attract" kind of thing.

Definintely. Not only is Wash's line, "I am a leaf on the wind" describe his style of flying through chaos... it describes his lifestyle.

In Out of Gas, we learn that many captains consider Wash a superb pilot. And yet, he signs on with Mal. Wash goes with the wind. He does not fight against it. He thrives on disorder. He does not mind changes in plans. Zoe gives him stability. Her regimen and discipline provide a refuge for him. Zoe, on the other hand, benefits from Wash's intentional carefree lifestyle. He allows her to safely explore her desires to be spontaneous. Tracey confirms our suspicions, in The Message, that no one from Zoe's past will believe that she could ever loosen up enough to get married.

More often than not, opposites eventually drive each other crazy. The very qualities that seem so wonderful and seductive finally become repulsive when the other person cannot turn it off during a crisis. We can see tension in Wash's and Zoe's marriage. In War Stories, Wash has had enough of Zoe's entrenched patterns. When she refuses to embrace his new idea for financial freedom, he loses it. And Zoe has enough of Wash's flexible lifestyle when he persists in his excuses to not father a child during Heart of Gold.

We saw less than two years of their marriage, so I cannot say if they'd have lasted another twenty. But it seems that their marriage, despite the tension, had real communication. That they were able to argue and discuss their deepest frustrations and still love each other speaks volumes. None of the other two couples on board were even close to opening up, let alone accepting the other person fully. Kaylee let Simon know she was interested, but she never got very far with him. Simon's confession near the end of Serenity hardly gets to the heart of the matter... yet it's enough to get Kaylee naked... and it was a thousand times better than his confession next to the cow fetus. And neither Inara nor Mal will ever make the first move to open themselves. They're both too guarded.

 

[Galactic Journey]

I rewatched the movie recently and am getting more and more narked about Wash getting killed off. Who the h*ll is going to balance Jayne now? Spells death to the series/movie to me, not only death to Wash. I can't see the dynamic working without him. But maybe I'm just having an angry. Grrr.

Never happened.

I mean, seriously. Wash does the flight of his life, "Leaf on the wind" and all that, and when he lands, the Reavers have ALREADY BEATEN HIM DOWN and are in the exact right position to shoot a sharpened telephone pole through the windshield?

Serenity was an awful, awful movie, filled with non sequiturs and continuity issues, and it was just plain all-around bad. But that scene is the crappiest of the crap.

Yes, I enjoyed the original series.

 

[J-Sun]

when he lands, the Reavers have ALREADY BEATEN HIM DOWN and are in the exact right position to shoot a sharpened telephone pole through the windshield?

The way I recall it, Serenity had snagged one of its engines during the crash landing and had turned completely around so it was facing the way it had come in. The Reavers arrived moments after and, it being basically a narrow tunnel, it was like shooting Wash in a barrel. I ain't happy about the event but I don't have a logistical problem with it.

And how have you seen it anyway? It's not due for another 43 years or so.

 

[Galactic Journey]

The way I recall it, Serenity had snagged one of its engines during the crash landing and had turned completely around so it was facing the way it had come in. The Reavers arrived moments after and, it being basically a narrow tunnel, it was like shooting Wash in a barrel. I ain't happy about the event but I don't have a logistical problem with it.

And how have you seen it anyway? It's not due for another 43 years or so.

At such time as they allow me to post links, I shall revert to my Mad Men self. In the mean-time...

 

[Boaz]

I caught Wash's intro scene with the dinosaurs the other day, and it struck me that this might well have been coincidence or real foreshadowing. If you already made the connection, well I'm just not the quickest...

So we all know the lines...

Herbivore: "...this land."
Carnivore: "I think we should call it your grave."
Herbivore: "Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal."
Carnivore: "Ha, ha, ha. Mine is an evil land. Now die!"

And at that point we all laugh and identify with Wash.

But when the scene changes back to the salvage crew, the first face we see is Jayne with happy and evil grin on his face. And what is Jayne doing? Well as the Alliance captains says, "...low life vultures picking flesh off the dead."

Is it just Wash's intro, or is there a subtle intro for Jayne as well?