burn the earth and boil the sea

[cyrano]

So I finally saw all the episodes of Firefly, which I hoped might give me insight. But it didn't.
The episode is Objects in Space, with bounty hunter Jubal Early. Opening sequence, River goes around listening to people's heads. And Shepherd Book says/thinks "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not."

Who is he referring to? What is he talking about? The others were all pretty clear. Is he self-referencing?

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

So... he's talking about the Pope?
I mean, none of the others had deep or meaningful insights, but they were still pretty easy to grasp. Jayne says "I shouldn't have sold you out on Ariel". Simon actually repeats his line later in the episode. Mal and Inarra are doing the thing they always do, just less subtly.