I’m rewatching inuyasha and have no one to talk to about the fact that Kagura should have lived and by doing so the entire Sessh/Rin weirdness could have been completely avoided. Like I have trouble picturing Kagura pregnant but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen and half the time in fairy tales of all locales the kids pop out of the dad’s migraine or some shit and honestly they’d also make amazing godparents (or whatever the equivalent is) to a half dozen adopted mortals and their bloodlines. I’m mad about it and commenting on ao3 fics for this fandom is like screaming into the void.
One of the writers of Freely (maybe Tim Minear?) did a blog post many moons ago where he outlined what some unresolved plot threads were and future episodes. You’re right that it was better off being cancelled. Even Nathan Fillion has said that the reason it’s so beloved is That it never had the opportunity to become bad.
Let me give you the example that stood out to me. Remember in the pilot where Inara gets out a syringe when she hears about Reavers being nearby? Everybody assumed she was going to kill herself. Nope. There was going to be an episode where they got boarded by Reavers and Inara was left alone with them. The crew move heaven and Earth to get back on board and when they do they find Inara barely alive, surrounded by hundreds of dead Reavers. The syringe was full of a Companion drug which kills anybody who has sex with you. So Inara killed then all by letting them rape her.
Mal would have been sweet and tender during her recovery, and that is what would have brought them together.
Probably for the best that one never got made.
Honestly the idea itself, as insane and barely disguised a fetish as it is, isn’t even that bad, to me.
It’s the planned aftermath that is pretty horrendous?
The idea that they would need that for their relationship to evolve in a positive direction when they’re already basically a couple by Shindig is genuinely sad, if they wanted that grim a story beat they should probably place it after they’re already an established couple and Mal has gotten over his shit about companions, then there’s some good meat on the bone in terms of character dynamics to explore.