I'm all Insidealicious so I'll take a crack at that question too, Emily.

Locke's giving him the same line he handed out earlier about how being dominated and getting through it makes you stronger. At first I thought she was being vindictive and/or annoyed at being handcuffed by him earlier, but in the process of answering this I'm coming around to the other side of it. Perhaps she's telling him from personal experience that surviving that experience will make him stronger, no matter how much it sucks now. It's a toss-up.

How great is it to not really know anybody's motivations? Ahhh, complicated and interesting characters. Without The Inside, what in the world would I watch this summer?

edited for 50% less overzealous formatting

No, you're remembering it right. Thank you. So do you think it was a sincere comment, or a snappy wisecrack, when she said it at the end?

And lilserf explains it much better than me.

Welcome, lilserf!

Sincere. Definitely.

I don't think Locke does snappy wisecracks often.

Thank you, lilserf. Because it did sound like kind of a Lennyesque crack (along the lines of Mel's "I wonder how warm she is now" or whatever it was), but for God's sake, the man was raped, so kind of a bad time for getting petty revenge for his (admittedly stupid) actions. So then I thought maybe she actually meant it sincerely. I was wondering what other people's take on it were. Was. Takes. Um, I was looking for other people's takes.

(ETA: And if it was sincere, it was a really good line, up there with "People are complicated" which may be my new tagline, and boosts my liking of her character by a lot. So maybe I should just go ahead and assume that regardless.)

Thanks, AmyLiz. I find my real-life associates to be less than interested in extended micro-specific analysis of popular TV so inevitably I ended up here.

And for once I'm actually on the rising edge of a new show -- I managed to not get into Buffy, Angel, or Firefly until they were on DVD (hangs head in shame). I watched the majority of aired Firefly eps, but due to the wonky order and lack of Serenity, didn't really get invested until I got the DVDs on a whim.

Hooray, I caught it early this time.

I thought she was being a bit vindictive. Or maybe I was just wanting her to be a little vindictive.

Great show.

And as someone mentioned earlier, I really felt that Locke was channeling Inara in her conversation with Paul.

edited to fix stoopid speling.

She can be a little vindictive, he fucking terrorized her.

Locke was channeling Inara in her conversation with Paul.

Please god no.

Least favorite Firefly character. I wanted to putt her into space.

I definitely read the intent as sincere. Reflective of her experience, which is to say, she probably didn't think all that much of his assessment at the time. If she came out of her own traumatic experience stronger on the other side, then the idea of creating that experience for oneself in order to become stronger may have rung a little hollow for her when he said it.

I did think she intended at least a little bite by her phrasing.

I found the themes of controlling and controlled, weakness and strength interesting. I wondered what people involved in the S&M scene felt about the parallels that were drawn.