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Inara didn't leave because of Mal making her, it was her own choice, from the end of "Heart of Gold". In the end of that episode Mal even tried to say something to make her not go, more than he ever seemed to be able to realize regarding his own emotions and how he sees her, only she then didn't give him the chance. Obviously, in one two-hours movie there's no chance of actually touching so many relationships and their past and implications, but I still liked the way it made sense, to both show-watchers and non alike.

The ease with which River disabled and ship and got to the bridge. She could do it at any minute, whenever she wanted, and chose not to.

Zoe's hand on Wash's chair, when he's most concentrated and into his work. Just like in the show. And her hand shows her stress and strain, and her face is completely calm.

Inara taking part in repairing the ship, in giving her her name back, in what is probably an art she's well schooled in, too, so also doing her best with what she has for the ship. Maybe she didn't choose yet whether she's going to stay or not, but regardless, she's part of that crew, of that way of life.

My breath stopped for a second when River hit Simon. Not because I thought she was actually going to hurt him, I have to admit, but because of the existence of something that is so very important to her that she's willing to hit her beloved brother in order to try and get to it.

The Pax was developed on what seems like an outside planet (far away, enough that it could disappear off the maps and not be on any trade route or the like). They went to a more distant extreme than the core planets, even though they were, if the other planets are any indication, on average supposed to go the other way.

The technology guy, who could spread a single feed to all the planets, was killed with a sword, the simple primitive weapon.

River's movement on the bridge, pulling her legs on top of the chair, her knees up, to listen to Mal. So much like a child, and yet it didn't make her clumsy, didn't delay her in a second in piloting the ship.

Jayne playing the guitar. I would never have guessed, but it's perfect.

The "just lying down" is the exact opposite, in every way I can think of, of "just keep flying".

I loved it that Inara didn't decide yet what she's going to do. And that Mal liked that. The possibilities. They're both going to choose how to continue this.

The Operative losing it when the Reavers came - nothing else seemed to baffle him. They're like the opposite of his control, he can't understand them, can't 'find their sin', make their world better.

If Mal knows a poem, it makes perfect sense that it's one about seamen. The "wild west" analogy to the conquering of new planets holds beautifully, in my opinion, but they are still called "ships", and there is still a "captain", and despite Mal's stubborn lack of education, I loved it that he knew the poem (me, I wasn't that educated, and I'm 500 years closer to that poem. I had to Google, ignorant me). He invests in what's important to him, in what matters in his eyes. And his ship is, so even if that means the sort of education he doesn't seem to like, he still has a connection to it.

The way River made a face to Simon when he thought she was being "Miranda". Such a little-sister-to-a-silly-old-brother sort of gesture: all the depth of their relationship, the plot point and the laughter of the audience, all in one face.

Allowing people to have flows, finding grace and beauty and truth in those flaws. That's the way the show (and the movie) had its special effects done - visual to aid the idea?

I could have all these thoughts, about how the world of the movie was different from the world of the show, about how there seemed to be a few things between the show and the movie that didn't match and even about how I could understand those choices and not be bothered by them and why. I still don't want to have those thoughts. I still want to be inside the world I've just recently spent two hours inside, the characters I've met, their stories and personalities and choices. So all that will probably come, with all my geeky flags held high, but right now I still have too much sappiness in me, to mellow on, for going that way. Not just yet

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Oh, and just because I said it so many times before, I don't think I can avoid saying it again, I love Mal. That dark, closed-up, butter, lonely, lost, closed-inside-himself, joking-to-throw-attention-off, full-of-emotion Mal. And I believed him, on every step of the way. I don't know how to judge acting, I don't understand anything about it. I only can say whether I believed an actor or not. And I never stopped believing him, all through his journey. It was the same with the others, but since the movie focused on him more, and gave him a deeper journey, I felt it most with him.

Stories about characters making a choice always get to me (being such an important part of my own faith). Just to name a couple of recent examples: it's one of the things I love most about the "Harry Potter" series, one of the things I loved most about LotR. There's that line that Gandalf says in the movie "all we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). And that's exactly what this movie - to me, of course - was about. At first they were chased, they were forced. They were cut from their resources, from the jobs, from their shelters. Then, after Book's death, it was their choice. Not just Mal's, too. And when they left the Reavers territory for the second time, after shooting them, facing that fleet, it was all their choice.

And I loved the last shot, of that part falling and that thing they'll have to look for and fix and replace. If all the movie was about letting people make mistakes and have faults and finding the strength to look for the way to correct them, than that little mistake - played for laughs, I guess, because I laughed through my tears - was pretty much what the whole thing was about, in a way.

Yes, but did you like it?

(sorry)

eta: Great post, Nilly!

eta²:

It's not fair to make me laugh while I'm in tears.

NATLBSB

Oh I'ma gonna have to talk with Gus about how we're gonna put that on the Nillysite.

How happy am I that Nilly got to see Serenity?

Nilly, your words are such a gift to all of us. Thank you so, so much.

I have to read your posts about 50 more times, and then run off to the theater and see it again right now.

Nilly, I think that Joss -- and all the cast -- needs to read your thoughts about the movie. I mean it. It must be wonderful for the creator of a movie/show/universe to know when someone really noticed and appreciated all the tiny aspects of the story.

You mentioned things about the movie, connections between the characters, meanings behind the smallest of their actions, that I didn't notice at all. But if I were Joss, I'd want to know -- I'd be *thrilled* to know -- that all the little things didn't go unnoticed.

I have uploaded the text of Nilly's posts for Gus to find a home for it.

It's unedited right now, but it's there. Browser friendly:

[link]

Raw text for Gus (with convenient t br formatting):

[link]

Nilly, you have no idea how thrilling that was for me to read. I'm SO glad you were able to see it!

There was a line that the Operative said to Mal, about saving the world, but not for him, that he is a monster, but he's trying to save the world for others. And in a way it's just like Frodo, who saved his world, but couldn't stay living in it.

Ha--I said almost the same thing, earlier in this thread.

Stories about characters making a choice always get to me (being such an important part of my own faith). Just to name a couple of recent examples: it's one of the things I love most about the "Harry Potter" series, one of the things I loved most about LotR.

I always feel a little silly admitting this, but I think what I get from stories like LotR and Firefly and Buffy is something similar to what many people get from their faith. If I weren't about to go to bed, I would expand on this idea a little more, but it has a lot to do with the choices that people make, like you said, and how they deal with the consequences of those choices, and how--in ways both big and small--their choices have influenced my own. (This is also why I tend to bristle when stories that mean so much to me are dismissed with variations on the "oh, fantasy is all about good vs. evil, it's so boring" theme.) (And suddenly I'm longing for a "What Would Captain Tightpants Do?" t-shirt.)

Anyway, I should have been in bed hours ago, but I just wanted to chime in and say thanks once more, Nilly, for letting us peek inside your head and share your joy. Good night!

Bless you, Nilly. You've added back a little shine to my tarnished view of Serenity. I'm so glad you got to see it, and so happy that you let us see it through your eyes.

I'm often awed by the fact that I got to discuss Firefly with you, a little, in Deb's kitchen. I treasure that memory.