So, was I the only one who thought, "gee, Joss turned River into Buffy, or maybe Dana"?

No.

Not that I minded.

Honestly, I knew he was going to turn River into Buffy when I saw War Stories. Crazy psychic Buffy. So I was ready. It was cool.

Looking back the next day, the only thing I didn't think was pretty much excellent was the Simon/Kaylee. And that very rarely did anything for me in the series, either. Still, that scene is REALLY bad dialogue until Kaylee's all "You mean to say... sex?"

I didn't mind it, honestly. Maybe I will on rewatch. At that point, I was in dire need of some schmoop. Also, I know upthread someone said they didn't quite buy shirtless and confident Simon, but I liked it. (Not to say whether I found it credible one way or the other, but I did enjoy it. In a bunk-worthy sort of way.)

In many ways, I'm not concerned about "buying" things. I thought several of the characters acted enough different from the series that I could have been annoyed if this were another episode, or even a season finale.

But those don't have to be accessible to newcomers. Most of the OOCness was necessary for a fully accessible film, I think.

Also? Still really, really mourning Wash. I think that all of the air was sucked out of the theater for a minute afterwards. I still kept thinking "He'll be ok." for a minute or so after. As if he wasn't so very, very impaled.

Cries again.

ETA: Anyone else keep quadruple checking the thread title before posting anything? I feel like I shouldn't be writing anything at all about it!

Still, that scene is REALLY bad dialogue until Kaylee's all "You mean to say... sex?"

See, the unworkingness of it worked fine for me... Simon is possibly the awkwardest man in the 'verse, and it made perfect sense that he would be stumbly and ineloquent in an oddly formal way; then Kaylee cut right through it with "You're meanin' to say... sex?", and he blinked a sort of deer-caught-in-the-headlights blink that turned into a small "See, this is why I adore her" smile.

My one character-related bitch is the lack of scenes showing Kaylee's mechanical wizardry. That first landing was so rough and Mal was so shouty that Kaylee just looked flustered and panicky, and if we hadn't already known she was the greasemonkey who dove into junkpiles looking for salvageable parts and who patted the engine core and murmured, "That's my girl, that's my good girl," we might not have gotten anything from that sole scene of her working on the ship but Little girl, big ship, in over her head.

But that's really the only major bitch I have.

still kept thinking "He'll be ok." for a minute or so after.

I kept thinking "He'll get better! He'll have a space-age cure, right?" right up until I saw the gravestone.

My one character-related bitch is the lack of scenes showing Kaylee's mechanical wizardry.

I had this, too. I would have like to seen a little more of Kaylee's Serenity love.

I kept thinking "He'll get better! He'll have a space-age cure, right?" right up until I saw the gravestone.

Yep. It's funny. Firefly is the show I'm newest to (I've only seen each ep once.) But, aside from possibly Wesley in Angel, and that less so, because I was so completely spoiled, I'm hard pressed to think of a Whedonverse death that has broken me more. Maybe because it was so unexpected and abrupt, maybe because Wash was so damned lovable, maybe it's because I only saw it yesterday, I don't know. It's hurty, though.

Gorram double post