I was about to post those same two appearances of the co-pilot's chair, but Tim beat me to it. I was scratching my head, wondering whence the fuss....

Since when was Book Mal's spiritual counselor?

Um, always? At least, that's the way I saw him in the series. Mal might not have seen it that way, but Book certainly did, particularly after his conversation with Inara at the end of the [real] pilot.

We got the Mal that Joss originally wanted for the series before Fox told him to cut it back.

This was how I saw him in the film. Mal, as he would have been if Fox had never been silly. As if.

The River being able to fly Serenity did bug me, But I'm torn between them having to find a new pilot (and add a new face to the crew, which I'd rather not have happen) or having someone onboard step-up. Of the two, the latter is the better option, though I'm going to miss Wash terribly.

Yes, this did kind of throw me, but I kind of see it this way.

I liked River as co pilot. She's psychic and super intelligent so it's not surprising that she'd know how to fly, or at least the first parts. She isn't shown as an expert at flying. I felt it was River finding her place in the Serenity family and being accepted as a full person and not being the crazy fugitive to be worried over and hidden. It definitly felt more in line with the end of Objects in Space and the final scene with Mal and River.

Why was the point to deal an emotional bitchslap?

It knocked me out of my sense of complacency and surface comfort in my ability to protect myself by second-guessing the plot. The bitchslap put more life into my fiction, and for me, not in a bad way.

It knocked me out of my sense of complacency and surface comfort in my ability to protect myself by second-guessing the plot. The bitchslap put more life into my fiction, and for me, not in a bad way.

Huh. Okay, I can see that. It didn't do that for *me*, but I can see how it would for other people.

I got spoiled for Wash's death a few hours before seeing the film, along with a friend of mine. We talked about nothing else (except whose the other death might be) and I remember asking who'd fly Serenity with Wash gone, at which point we both said "River!" at exactly the same time. So it wasn't so much of a surprise when I saw that.

As much as I didn't want to see Wash die I liked his death. I liked that he died from the direct threat and danger of the Reavers, I think I would have been angry if he'd died randomly from Serenity crashing.

Bringing up something that came up in the comments in someone's LJ...

A lot of people (self included) feel that the Operative's storyline was intended to give us a glimpse into Book's back story. One person mused that she wasn't sure she liked the notion of Book as a sociopath like the Operative, but that perhaps that was the whole point: that anyone, even the worst person alive, could be redeemed in the proper circumstances.

I, being flip, said something along the lines of "Only if they invoke the soul clause."

And then had a complete d'oh moment, when I realized that by making Book a shepherd, they kind of had, just not in the literal sense like on Buffy and Angel.

Huh. Okay, I can see that. It didn't do that for *me*, but I can see how it would for other people.

I had a vague notion that something bad would happen to Wash, even though I was VERY good at keeping myself unspoiled for once in my life.

So I breathed a sigh of relief, then had my motherfucking guts torn out.

If Book was indeed an Operative, and I think he was, I wonder what happened to change him?

If Book was indeed an Operative, and I think he was, I wonder what happened to change him?

My theory on Objects in Space is that what River's seeing are snippets of the moments that made the characters who they are, and what brought them to Serenity. So Book's "I don't give a hump if you're innocent or not. So where does that leave you?" could be part of a case that made him see the error of his ways? What that case might be, who knows? Goose smugglers, maybe.