I had heard this. I thought she looked better with the 20 pounds, but Mal did say that they were short on food, and it sounds like the intervening six months were pretty rough, so it works for me.

Here's my take, libkitty, on why Book's death helped drive the plot of the movie in a way Wash's didn't... obviously, this is simply my interpretation:

By the time Wash was killed, the plot had been fairly well played out - the crew didn't need Wash to die in order to get to the final showdown; they were headed there with or without him. They did, though, need Book's death (as a micro-level representation of what happened to all of the people/communities they had sought shelter with and, presumably, cared about in some manner) to have Mal become so enraged that he'd choose at that point to respond so aggressively to the threat that the Operative represented rather than just try to keep running and hiding, or, hell, even turn River over. That reaction of Mal's and his decision made out of that rage, for which Book's death was the catalyst, led them to Miranda, the next stop along the plot line.

Wash's death is less related to moving along the plot (which is almost completed by the time he dies), specifically, and more related to emotional impact on the characters and the audience. The two deaths are just used differently, in my opinion. I don't think one was more or less important; I just think they each served a different purpose. I don't have a problem with the fact that Wash's death wasn't a key plot point. It was plenty pointy anyway, emotionally.

I would argue that Wash's death was more important in terms of the characters and the movie as a whole than Book's was.

How so in terms of the movie as a whole?

Back from another viewing with a former roomie. (That brings the total ticket sales from me and local friends I've gone with to $50 for the weekend.) It's still holding my interest, and it's fun to now start spotting the little things.

In the post-Maidenhead scene where Mal is slinging Simon around the dining room, Zoe briefly has her hand on her gun. That seems odd to me, as Mal was clearly winning the struggle at the time and she can't have possibly thought that Simon could not only turn the tables but present enough of a danger that she couldn't intervene successfully unarmed. It makes me wonder if she thought Mal was really losing it, and she might need the gun to make him stand down.

It makes me wonder if she thought Mal was really losing it, and she might need the gun to make him stand down.

That's just what I wondered when I caught it on second viewing.

Here's a plot hole I need help closing. When the Operative was stunned by the flashbang, why did Mal not kill him before fleeing? It makes sense to me that the Operative was not trying to kill Mal during the fight -- he wanted Mal to give River up, or lead him to her. But I can't figure out what changed for Mal during the fight that he wouldn't finish the Operative off.

When the Operative was stunned by the flashbang, why did Mal not kill him before fleeing?

Simplest reason? It was mentioned previously that there was backup in the other room, and he knew they would be alerted.

I dunno. If there was time to get away at all, there was time to cut the guy's throat.

eta: Or shoot him some more. We know that Mal recovered his pistol.

Depends. Do we really know how far back he was blown? Could Mal even see him?

For all he knew, the backup was en route that very moment and he and Inara wouldn't make it out of there alive. Not a moment to waste.

Plus he had to stop and find his gun....