So, you're suggesting she was Ender Wiggined? I'd be a bit surprised by Joss ripping off that idea so blatantly. So blatantly, in fact, that it's not until 3 years later that we're figuring it out! Mwahahaha!

But she does mention Daddy, and directly, in the very same episode: "Daddy will come and get us. And I'll get better."

I really don't see how it can be inferred from what we get of Mr. Tam in "Safe" that he knowingly sent River to be part of a horrible quasi-military experiment. I just don't buy it. The scene in which he speaks to the young ones shows him to be comfortably fatherly. He has one line to River, and it's not an unkind one. She's just not the subject of discussion at the time is all.

I'm not saying it's impossible that it could have led to future episodes in which it was revealed that their parents were in on the whole thing. I am saying that they don't give any indication that they'd planned to go that way.

Well, it's possible that the Tams saw having a child in this program was very prestigious. I don't know that they would knowingly sell their daughter to be tortured, but they might develop a blind spot if it was a real status thing.

I just assumed that the Tams focused on Simon - they didn't intentionally sell River out - she chose the program, after all. But I can see how they might overlook a cry for help if it were incredibly indirect and it jeopardized Simon's social/professional status. And then after he tried to get her out when their dad had to come get him, how they would fear for his status again and also how they might think he was just making stuff up. Some people put a lot of stock in their gov't and trust it to do right by them. (I'm not one of those people.)

The scene in which he speaks to the young ones shows him to be comfortably fatherly. He has one line to River, and it's not an unkind one. She's just not the subject of discussion at the time is all.

I had a totally different take on this, more along the lines of what Beverly, et al, had. The father struck me as very dismissive of River in that scene, and the fact that he didn't address her until she asked him a direct question gave me a bit of a chill.

I've fanwanked an entire backstory for the family dynamics just as a result of that scene and what the parents say (and don't say) in the later flashbacks from "Safe," in which Simon was the adored only child and River was a surprise (maybe a deliberate one on the mother's part, but definitely not wanted by Daddy). Her brainpower overshadowing Simon's grated even more on Daddy, who constantly pushed her away in favor of the son (maybe I've read too much Tolkien, because I'm putting this in similar terms to the Denethor/Boromir/Faramir relationship). Mom decided to let her husband's preferences supercede her own, but supported River's decision to go to the new school. Daddy decides to agree when he's paid a visit by some Alliance muckety-mucks, since he could really care less about his daughter's fate, and if it improves his family's status, all the better.

Actually, I set all this up in my head for a fanfic that was never written, but I like it, especially since I haven't seen anything that contradicts it canonically.

Oh, the scene with the Baby!Tams is on Sci-Fi right now.

Black market beagles! I haven't seen this episode in ages.

Ooh, with the incestberries! Delicious.

When the gunfight is just starting and Zoe shoots the gun out of the bad guy's hand, was the bad guy aiming at Mal/Jayne? That's how it seemed on this viewing (for the first time).

I don't know that they would knowingly sell their daughter to be tortured, but they might develop a blind spot if it was a real status thing.

Raq's take is my take as well. Still, not particularly a sympathetic view of Mama and Papa Tam.