But I was troubled by the stupidity of Tracy plannning on selling the organs on to other folks and then not having his own organs left. It would have been way simpler and more plausible if he'd simply realised, belatedly, that he'd got himself into a situation where he was going to be gutted and thrown away once the organs were extricated. Granted this would have made him slightly more of a sympathetic figure, rather than an opportunist. But it would have made more sense.

But sympathetic is good, and he's still an opportunist. You would just need to move the offer of big piles of money back to the original agreement as the incentive for doing something that is clearly insane, rather than complicating things with the second offer.

Sympathetic is good, but I rather like the fact that he's a bit of a knob, and with the selfishness and self-interest and Kaylee-threatening, but that it's not black and white. We still sympathise with him, and get a sense of there-but-for-the-grace-of-God to some extent. It's still moving, despite the fact that he has so thoroughly got himself into this mess himself, despite the fact that he isn't a simple victim who made one bad call and then tried to escape. He's kept on making bad decisions. He's been selfish and thoughtless and used people. The way we do.

I don't know - I pretty much do agree with you, but I'm trying to see why they chose to complicate it with this extra layer of treachery. (For I am a devil's advocate. But I don't have an evil hand. Honestly.)

Just struck me - I really liked Kaylee's reaction to the corpse, and the wee scene with her in her engine room listening to the Recording Device Of The Future (tm) - and Simon pausing and then retreating. And I loved the scene with Tracy (?sp?) pulling a gun on Wash, and Zoe shooting him, and the look on his face.

I feel the need, since it has not been mentioned, that Firefly in its brief life has given us more bareass than any other network show short of NYPD Blue. (And nicer bareass, too.) That had to be a funny scene to shoot, with the athletics.

I suppose this is more salient to the, er, naked eye, when one watches Trash and The Message directly in a row, and finds out the tattoo locations of two hot young men within 45 minutes of each other.

(I don't know whether it's actually Holden/Knox -- what is that boy's name -- or the character Tracy who has a tattoo, but I imagine it would be a PITA to go painting tattoos on people what don't already have them. Same again with Captain Tightpants.)

I suppose this is more salient to the, er, naked eye, when one watches Trash and The Message directly in a row, and finds out the tattoo locations of two hot young men within 45 minutes of each other.

There was much celebration Chez Jay, I must confess, when the lovely vision of Cap'n NoPants in Trash was so swiftly followed by a scene in which he was himself clad but straddling a cute and naked young chap.

(...and, yes, the tattoos were not unappreciated. Ahem.)

And we have, of course, been treated to a fair number of scenes of Inara getting cosy with men and women - and not being hideously punished for having sex. And also Kaylee being rewarded for having the hot sex in public by getting her dream job.

And let us all pause for a moment to remember the Hot Married Sex.

....

....ahhh, yes. Now that was sexy.

I don't know whether it's actually Holden/Knox -- what is that boy's name -- or the character Tracy who has a tattoo, but I imagine it would be a PITA to go painting tattoos on people what don't already have them. Same again with Captain Tightpants.

I'm not sure, but I have a distinct impression that Angel's tattoo is the character's only, and not DB's. With the not-being-visible-in-some-scenes-where-it-should be thing, and if only we had that amount of material (strictly for comparison purposes) for Cap'n Tightpants.

Angel's tattoo is the character's only. And indeed I believe that (Joss? Or whomever) was quite taken aback by how huge it was. The tattoo.

Charisma's sexy sun tattoo is, I believe, hidden by makeup (or perhaps is simply didn't exist) in some episodes of Angel, but it's visible in others.

Painting gratuitous tattoos onto pretty naked boyflesh is the sort of job, like shaving Michael Rosenbaum's head, that one would wake up in the morning and weep tears of gratitude to have been given. Or, you know, pay to do, rather than be paid for.

Painting gratuitous tattoos onto pretty naked boyflesh is the sort of job, like shaving Michael Rosenbaum's head, that one would wake up in the morning and weep tears of gratitude to have been given. Or, you know, pay to do, rather than be paid for.

If I don't finish reading that sentance because I'm in my bunk, you'll understand, right?

Charisma's sexy sun tattoo is, I believe, hidden by makeup (or perhaps is simply didn't exist) in some episodes of Angel, but it's visible in others.

Yup. Jane Espenson talks about the tattoo a bit in the commentary for "Room with a Vu" because there is one scene where you can see it briefly. In later seasons they just stopped trying to cover it up.

I'm not sure, but I have a distinct impression that Angel's tattoo is the character's only, and not DB's.

Right, but that's a plot point. Or, I don't know, a conversation starter. A symbol of the Vast Angst Of That Strangely Sexy Dude. (Also it helped us know quickly whose bareass we were looking at, when he fell naked at our feet in Buffy S3. Okay, that was mostly Mike Massa, right?)

I have a secret thing for tattoos -- it is probably the equivalent to seeing girls in their underwear. You know that thing, where they're not wearing it for display, only for themselves, so it feels like an intimacy that it actually isn't? Yeah, the guy who plays Vaughn on Alias has a tattoo also, and they showed him shirtless (only once or twice).

I think Tracy's big problem was that he never thought things through, as evidenced by his war scenes. No plan, just blunder through life,(I empathize with that) but never thinking through what the outcome means.

This is true about selling the organs to the highest bidder. He just assumed he'd deal with the replacemnt organs when the issue came up. And in the "just run" attitude on the planet.

This is also evident in his relationships with Mal and Zoe. Mal was Sarge, world without end. Zoe was Zoe, who would marry her?

It shocked his world that these people had moved on, even if Mal is only starting to. In the end his lack of planning cost him his life.