I do know Joss and Nathan have talked about how each member of the crew are parts of Mal's psyche and he keeps them close because it helps him hang on those parts of himself.

I think Book helped him in this respect too. The whole "you're not that person" (or whatever the line was) and "you gotta have faith" thing seemed to be what tipped Mal into trying to save River again.

eta: OK, that's not quite right, as Mal did save River before talking to Book. But Book helped him along that path....

Saw the preview last night, and as tommyrot and Kathy A. can attest, my reaction was, "That fucker killed my two favorite characters!" Strangely, I was more angry than sad. Stages of grief or whatever, I guess.

I was right there with you with the rage after seeing it the first time. (Though Kaylee beats out Wash and Book for my favorite character, they're right behind her.) I'm still not happy about it, but I've gone through all the stages to acceptance at this point. I agree that I don't think people familiar with the series will get much of an impact out of the deaths. That said, the amount of tension in the climax that was too much for me, might work perfectly for people new to the story who aren't as invested in the characters.

He did suggest that his behavior might have something to do with Inara leaving, because once they got her back he was behaving more like TV!Mal.

I thought of this, much later. In the car, on the way home. An hour into the drive. Once I was done complaining.

I said to Chris Buchanan, "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE JOSS!" and then followed that with a quiet, "But this isn't the first time I've said that," which drew laughter from the few fans remaining when I went to talk to him. (I waited for the line to go away. My intention was to be at the front of it, but I always run to the side of the autograph table. Which is fun and makes me feel special, but means I don't ACTUALLY get to talk to the cool people.) Joss is a devil man. He rips out my heart and jumps up and down on it. Then he puts it back in place VERY carefully, so it can MOSTLY heal before he rips it out again.

Joss is Niska. But cuter.

I think Book helped him in this respect too. The whole "you're not that person" (or whatever the line was) and "you gotta have faith" thing seemed to be what tipped Mal into trying to save River again.

Good point. And it ties into the way Serenity the episode Mal is not nearly as dark as Serenity the movie Mal, who in turn are darker than the rest of the TV run Mal. In the beginning of Serenity the episode, we have Inara on his crew, but no Book yet, so Mal is less-ragey than he could be, but still not the character we see through the rest of the run. Once Book integrates with the crew, Mal gets tempered further into the character we're most familiar with.

I was actually ANGRY at Mal for a while there, thinking, "But you kept insisting before that they WERE part of your crew. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

I felt the same way, having recently re-watched all the episodes that aired. Granted, Mal isn't warm and fuzzy to Simon and River in the series, but he's also very matter-of-fact about them being part of his crew, and if you fuck with his crew, you fuck with him.

More random thoughts on the movie:

* After the movie, SA, LingMao and I were talking about how, when the bounty hunter skewered Mal, all we could think was "This is *nothing* -- Mal's been through WAY worse!"

* Honestly, what I liked the best was how amazing Gina Torres was. How she was able to have Zoe react as a wife when Wash got skewered, and then immediately switch to soldier mode. That was the best, purest distillation of Zoe's character I've seen.

And is it wrong that, in the scene at the graves, all I could think was "DAMN, Gina Torres is HOTT!!!"?

* Most of the characters seemed the same as in the series; Mal was the most notable exception, being rather darker, but I also think Jayne was tweaked just a little, to make him a little less -- "dumb" isn't the right word for how he was in the series -- maybe what I mean is that in the movie, he seemed just a little more aware of how things impacted the whole crew rather than just himself. If that makes sense.

And while Simon's personality was the same, I found it interesting that he had more agency in the film than in the series. (But was it necessary to put him in that blue outfit that made him look like an ice dancer?)

* I think that, for viewers who have never seen the series, most of the movie is very accessible and doesn't need the extra backstory from the series. However, I think there needed to be more backstory on Inara (though I *loved* "That's not incense.") and how she fit in with the crew.

* And, as someone who *really* disliked the Chinese slang in the series, because I don't think there were enough external markers to show a strong Asian influence on the world they existed in -- I thought the movie did a bang-up job of giving the various settings an Asian influence.

Oh, and I loved how gracefull Summer was in her fight scenes. One reviewer called it "ballet-fu."

Oh, and I loved how gracefull Summer was in her fight scenes. One reviewer called it "ballet-fu."

It was like a ballet version of what Faith was doing in the night club in 5X5.

Oh, and I loved how gracefull Summer was in her fight scenes.

One of the biggest cheers from our audience was the power shot of River, post-Reaver fight, as the doors opened, revealing her holding the 2 weapons amid all the Reaver corpses. It felt like a Very Buffy Moment.

It felt like a Very Buffy Moment.

Yes! I was thinking the same thing. It reminded me of that shot of Buffy (that they used in the opening credits) in the episode "Ann," holding the wicked ax with a "OK, who's next?" look on her face.

It reminded me of that shot of Buffy (that they used in the opening credits) in the episode "Ann," holding the wicked ax with a "OK, who's next?" look on her face.

Yes! That was the episode I was thinking of -- that expression like, "Bring it, bitch," and/or "Don't. Fuck. With. The. TINY. GIRL!!!"