Malcolm Reynolds Part 23: Serenity (September 30, 2005)

This is going to be a lengthy review, so bear with me…

I have the Single Disc, Widescreen version of the Serenity DVD.

Mal is on the bridge of Serenity with Wash and throws a small fit as a piece of his ship flies off while entering a planet’s atmosphere. After yelling at Wash to land Serenity without crashing her, he works his way through the ship telling a fully armed Jayne to lighten his load and informing Zoe her husband may not be as talented as he once was until he finally reaches the engine room, and gives Kaylee an earful about how if his ship crashes she’d be to blame.

Then he comes across an angry Simon, who’s upset because he doesn’t want Mal to take his sister with them on this job. Mal tells the good doctor that she’s a reader, and sees this as an opportunity for her to start earning her keep. He also tells Simon that since he and his sister have been with them, Mal’s been forced to turn down the occasional good work in order to avoid Alliance intervention. Simon insists she stays aboard, and Mal makes it very clear that he has final say in what does or does not happen on his boat. So River joins Mal, Zoe and Jayne on the mule as they make their way to relieve a town of its monthly Alliance security stipend.

The job starts out fine enough, and Mal starts a discussion with the guard about the type of injury he’d be getting (to justify the robbery) when Jayne starts shouting at him…Reavers are outside. Mal tells the guard to get everyone into the vault and lock it from the inside, and makes a run for the mule with the others. As they head out, one of the men from the bank begs Mal to take him with them, but the mule can’t carry the extra weight so Mal pushes him off. He’s taken by Reavers and Mal shoots him dead.

They get out of town and a Reaver ship chases after them. Jayne gets shot in the leg with a spear-line but Mal shoots it off before they can take him. After some fancy piloting by both Wash and Zoe everyone gets aboard Serenity safely, and after shooting a stowaway Reaver Mal gets a face full of Simon’s fist. The doctor is furious at Mal for putting his sister in harm’s way, and both agree to the siblings leaving the ship once they reach Beaumonde.

Later, Zoe calls Mal on refusing to take the man with them. He argues that the mule would not have handled the weight and she tells him they could have tossed the payload and Mal sets the record straight. Times have been hard lately. No one has been paid in a while, Serenity is falling apart and they’ve got to make good on Fanty and Mingo – who gave Mal the job in the first place – or else they’ve got nowhere else to go.

They touch down on Beaumonde and Mal heads to Fanty and Mingo’s bar to talk business and drop off the money when a fight breaks out. Mal looks over to find River attacking everyone in reach of her. The twins take off with the money and Mal scrambles to get his gun – which is in a locker on the other side of the bar. He grabs his gun and aims it at River to see she’s got a gun too…pointed at him. Simon runs in and shouts something in Chinese, and River collapses. Mal picks her up, takes her back to Serenity, and handcuffs her in her room. Then he confronts Simon, who tells Mal and the rest of the crew that he used a safe word intended to put River to sleep if she gets out of control.

In order to learn more about River, Mal sends a wave to Mr. Universe – a man connected to communication signals all over the ‘verse – who tells him that what set River off was a subliminal message hidden in an advertisement she saw. Plus, the message was sent throughout the verse over the past few weeks by someone high up in the Alliance military.

Needing to rest and refuel, Serenity heads to Haven where Mal and the others are greeted by everyone and Mal meets up with Shepherd Book, who tells him that whoever is after River is running a silent ops mission. They want her, and they want to keep her hid.

The next morning, Mal gets a wave from Inara asking for help with some local trouble. They share some awkward banter and then Mal heads to the bridge where he finds Wash, Zoe, Jayne and Kaylee. Mal thinks it’s a trap, but wants to go anyway, to see who’s behind things. And when he arrives at Inara’s training house…alone…he does. The Operative politely asks Mal to hand River over to him, calling her an albatross he was never meant to carry. Mal, surprisingly, gets the poetic reference and declines the offer. They fight, but Mal and Inara escape and return to Serenity.

They head back to Haven, but along the way River escapes her room and knocks Jayne unconscious. Zoe tells Mal that the girl’s made it to the bridge and sealed herself in. Mal crawls through the vent system and makes it in only to find River pointing yet another gun at him while accessing the main navigation computer. Instead of shooting him, she shows Mal what she was looking for – Miranda – a planet that doesn’t show on any chart. Mal mentions that terra-forming didn’t work there, so it’s uninhabitable, and Zoe shows everyone that it’s surrounded by Reavers.

Once they reach Haven, Mal sees that it was attacked by someone other than Reavers. He finds Book, near death, who tells Mal that he shot down the man that shot him as well as the attacking vessel. He also tells the captain that Mal needs to believe in whatever he believes…and dies. Mal tries to alert everyone who’s ever helped or offered them shelter, but is too late. The Operative got to them first.

Left with nowhere to go, Mal tells all his plan – to get to Miranda, even if it means desecrating Serenity to look like a Reaver ship. His crew starts to argue, and Mal lays down the law: He tells Zoe, Jayne and everyone else that if they’re not going to follow him, they’re free to stay on what’s left of Haven. If they choose to do neither, he will shoot them where they stand.

Everyone follows him, and together make Serenity look Reaver-like enough to make it through to Miranda, which has breathable air, livable cities…and millions of dead people. They find a homing beacon in one of the buildings and it leads them to a video signal explaining what happened here: Scientists created a compound intended to make people live better through less aggression, and after dispersing it throughout the atmosphere almost everyone felt so content they simply stopped doing everything – including eat and breathe. However, an extremely small percentage of the population had the opposite results and became so aggressive they went mad. These were the first Reavers, and that is the secret that the Alliance feared River had in her brain, and why they were after her all this time.

Mal tells everyone he intends to speak for the dead of Miranda, because eventually the Alliance would try something like this again. He’s going to Mr. Universe, so the message can be spread through the whole ‘verse, and asks each of his crew to join him and all of them do.

They send a signal to Mr. Universe to let him know they’re on their way to him, and Zoe mentions that the Alliance will know it too, so Mal comes up with a plan. Serenity leaves Miranda and passes one again through Reaver space. But just before they reach the other side, Mal shoots down a Reaver vessel to get their attention. Wash steps on it, and a Reaver armada follows them…right into an Alliance blockade positioned over Mr. Universe’s planet. Serenity makes it through the surrounding violence, but not alone. A Reaver ship knocks Serenity out of the sky, and Mal jumps into the co-pilot’s seat and helps Wash land in (mostly) one piece. Without warning, a Reaver spear shoots through the bridge and kills Wash – right in front of Mal…and Zoe.

Mal drags her off Serenity as the Reavers continue shooting the ship. They regroup with Jayne, Kaylee, Simon and River at Mr. Universe’s complex, and Zoe agrees to hold their position while Mal gets the message to Mr. Universe.

He makes it to the main computer center to find Mr. Universe dead and the network destroyed, but Mr. Universe left a message for him, saying there’s a back-up further underground. Mal makes it there, only to be stopped by The Operative. They fight, and Mal manages to immobilize The Operative but doesn’t kill him. The signal goes out, and Mal returns topside. He finds all of his crew wounded except for River who’s missing. A blast door opens to reveal the girl standing over many dead Reavers when the wall behind her crashes open and Alliance troops storm in. The Operative acknowledges defeat and orders them to stand down.

Serenity is cleaned and rebuilt, and as Mal prepares to leave, he gets a visit from The Operative who warns him that the Alliance Parliament may seek retribution for what he’s done, but The Operative’s part in all this is over.

Mal checks in with his crew, all of whom are staying – including Inara - and settles into the pilot seat himself. He looks over and sees River in the co-pilot’s chair, and together they take Serenity into the black…as another piece of the ship falls off.

Notes of Interest:

1) This is the first time Mal sees River in action.

2) It’s revealed here that Mal was born on September 20, 2468, was bound by law five times with no convictions, had the rank of Captain in the 57^th Brigade, signed up to fight voluntarily, and was awarded a Valor Commendation for the Battle of Serenity Valley.

3) Mal‘s advice to the security guard during the Reaver attack made the news, as it’s reported that everyone inside the vault survived.

4) According to Mal, it’s been eight months since Simon and River came aboard his ship – which means eight months passed between ‘Serenity’ and Serenity.

5) So - Mal doesn’t know the Mona Lisa, but read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?

6) Mal reveals that the recording they found on Miranda is twelve years old, meaning that’s how long Reavers have existed.

7) We learn Mal had a nerve cluster moved after it was damaged during his first tour.

8) Mal’s a faster draw than The Operative.

9) Mal attends the funeral for Mr. Universe, Derrial Book and Hoban Washburn.

WTF? Moment: Here’s a nit-pick. Remember in “Our Mrs. Reynolds”, when Saffron/Bridget/Yolanda sealed the bridge? The door she closed off was right where the bridge connects to the hallway/stairs. Here, when River seals herself in the bridge, the door is located back down the hallway before the stairs leading to the bridge. I think Mal made this change (along with other modifications throughout the ship) back when he had money during the “Better Days” storyline so he’d always have a way in.

WTF? Moment #2: It could be argued that one of the themes of this film is about Mal figuring out what he believes in. He’s been struggling with this ever since Serenity Valley, when his faith (in God, and fighting in the war) was lost. This is what Book’s been trying to rebuild in him – faith. Not necessarily in God, but in something. And when he finds Haven destroyed he realizes that what he believes in more than anything else is himself and his determination to do whatever it takes to continue. The details and circumstances change from day to day and job to job, but he believes in his need to continue – to live and fight another day.

As a side note, this is where his relationship with Inara gets interesting. He confesses to being confused around her, she fogs his compass. Why? His drive to continue disappears when she’s with him…because he no longer needs to continue. She (forgive the reference) completes Mal, and he knows it.