![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI think the Mal and Zoe relationship has to be one of my favorite things about Firefly. I have never seen before, in a show, a situation where you have an attractive and straight man and an attractive and straight woman who are great friends, and have quite a shared past, yet there is no hint, no indication of any UST there, no past romance, no hidden regrets, nothing except friendship. I love it. They are friends and comrades in arms, and he is her Captain, and that is all there is. Which is so freakingly awesomely rare!
When Mal taunts Wash during torture that he never thought Wash was good enough for Zoe, whether there is any truth in that statement or not, you know he would not be thinking it because of repressed jealousy. When he tells him that he and Zoe are going at it like bunnies, you never think even for a second that there is either truth, or suppressed wishful thinking in that statement. No, it’s just Mal being Mal and trying to keep Wash alive for a bit longer (and making me fall for him just a bit more). There is no hidden grand passion, no secret tormented past. Zoe is happily married to a man who might get jealous of her loyalty to Mal and her obedience to his orders, but who never seriously thinks that Mal and Zoe are OTP.
And of course, at the end of that ep, when Mal and Zoe offer to go and boink because Wash demanded it during the torture, this is done as a complete jest (and the fact that Mal would joke that way also says volumes about the UST-free relationship. I would like to see him joke that way about Inara. Yeah, right.) and the lack of chemistry is remarkable, and any sexing, potential, past, or present, is explicitly dismissed.
Even in Buffy, this wasn’t the case. Xander had a thing for Buffy for years, and Willow for Xander (until her orientation change). But to have two best friends be just that, and no other feelings going one-way, both-ways, or any other combination is lovely. Woo-Hoo for Joss!
When Mal taunts Wash during torture that he never thought Wash was good enough for Zoe, whether there is any truth in that statement or not, you know he would not be thinking it because of repressed jealousy. When he tells him that he and Zoe are going at it like bunnies, you never think even for a second that there is either truth, or suppressed wishful thinking in that statement. No, it’s just Mal being Mal and trying to keep Wash alive for a bit longer (and making me fall for him just a bit more). There is no hidden grand passion, no secret tormented past. Zoe is happily married to a man who might get jealous of her loyalty to Mal and her obedience to his orders, but who never seriously thinks that Mal and Zoe are OTP.
And of course, at the end of that ep, when Mal and Zoe offer to go and boink because Wash demanded it during the torture, this is done as a complete jest (and the fact that Mal would joke that way also says volumes about the UST-free relationship. I would like to see him joke that way about Inara. Yeah, right.) and the lack of chemistry is remarkable, and any sexing, potential, past, or present, is explicitly dismissed.
Even in Buffy, this wasn’t the case. Xander had a thing for Buffy for years, and Willow for Xander (until her orientation change). But to have two best friends be just that, and no other feelings going one-way, both-ways, or any other combination is lovely. Woo-Hoo for Joss!
