I still kept thinking "He'll be ok." for a minute or so after. As if he wasn't so very, very impaled.
I cursed myself for not seeing it coming, but mostly I cursed Joss for making me forget to. See, during the whole flight-through-gigantic-battle bit, I kept thinking, "Oh crap oh crap oh crap at any moment someone's going to bite it who's going to bite it any second now oh god" and it kept not happening. Once they hit atmo and things changed to "how will we avoid crashing" rather than "who's going to blow us out of the sky" my thought process shifted and I forgot to keep asking myself who was going to die. Which is why it was only after THAT that someone finally did bite it. When I realized what he'd done, I though, "Crap, he did it to me again."
It was stupid of me. I don't know why, but the idea of a big death very honestly didn't even occur to me. When Book died, I was sad, but since he wasn't onboard Serenity anymore, it didn't seem as much like the core unit was being broken up.
It shocked me, but didn't anger me- if I didn't apparently enjoy having my heart ripped up and fed to me at unexpected times, I guess I would have gotten off the Joss train a long time ago.
In retrospect, it makes all kinds of sense that we had two deaths. It'd be a bit too weak-ass standard movie fare to have the Beloved Friend of the intrepid crew be the only one to die; that's action movie material there, the sort of thing to emphasize that our main characters are invincible themselves. You've got to kill someone closer to the action too.
More important (maybe) is that in potential sequels there will only be seven key players, which means more development for everyone. Expect "Serenity II: Ooh, Shiny" to be even tighter because of a reduced requirement to hit so many bases.
One thing I do wonder- is anything ever said in the movie that makes it obvious that Book was ever even
on
Serenity? If you didn't have the backstory, do you think you'd know how Mal and the others knew him?
I think it is implied in his last scene with Mal but, even after two viewings I can't recall where it is made clear.
Don't think so.
Also, I think the Shepherd was once an Operative. Then he switched beliefs.
Also, I think the Shepherd was once an Operative. Then he switched beliefs.
Damn, that's a good call. Now I wish they'd forgone the surprise of the place being wiped out to a nice, juicy confrontation scene between him and this Operative.
Also, note to self - put DIRTY, PRETTY THINGS on must-see list.
