"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

Spoiler Warning: This article deals frankly with the Universal film Serenity, including discussion on the end and several surprises in the plot. If you have not seen the movie and do not want the story revealed to you, do not read farther.

by Paul Lytle

Several months ago, Mr. Lytle wrote about the television show Firefly in an article entitled ". . . Since I Found Serenity." This article completes his exploration into this work by exploring the film sequel, which is called Serenity.

It's tough to make a film sequel to a television show. I had a friend who commented that he did not enjoy The X-Files: Fight the Future because he never watched the television show and therefore didn't understand what was going on. To be fair, I was a fan of the show and didn't understand the film, so this was perhaps a bad example, but the point is obvious. How do you explain what's going on to the newcomer while not boring the fan?

That was really all I was worried about going into Serenity. I have written about Firefly and the respect and love I have for the show. When the movie was made, I fully trusted the creative vision of creator Joss Whedon to make it good. The trouble was, would others catch on enough to make it a hit?

Quite frankly, it doesn't matter. Before I stepped into the theater, I was concerned about grosses and sequels. But then a strange thing happened. I got the movie I wanted, even if I didn't know that was what I was looking for.

It is not the film I was expected. That's probably good, because I still can't figure out how they would have made the movie I was expecting. I was expecting another episode of the television show, or, more accurately, at least fifteen episodes jammed into one two-hour event.

It would have been terrible.

Instead, I got more answers that I was expecting. I found out what had really happened to River (that I was expecting, but nothing more). I found out the origin of the Reavers. I hadn't even thought that the Reavers had such an origin, but it made sense and it worked.

I also saw Malcolm Reynolds make a step toward the man he once was. It was so subtle that I missed it the first time, but it is there.

At first, I was disappointed in Shepard Book's final bit of advice for Mal. I wanted him to bring the captain back into the fold. As a Christian, I was very pleased to finally see a Science-Fiction film that even contained Christianity. I do not know series creator Joss Whedon's personal beliefs, but he is a good enough writer to be respectful of the faith. I have always believed that Book's purpose on ths ship was to lead Mal back to Christ. In the pilot episode "Serenity," we see Mal kiss a crucifix before a battle. The war drove that faith away, but Book was his path back. So this final advice was critically important to me. But then Book told him to believe in something, and that it didn't matter what he believed in.

Wait, that's wrong. That's what I thought he said, but it wasn't. He said that he didn't care what Mal believed in.

The difference, though seemingly inconsequential, is critical. Mal already knows what to believe in. We saw his faith in the Battle of Serenity Valley. Mal's problem is not that he doesn't know where to turn, but that he won't turn that way.

After my last article, I was criticized for saying that Mal is looking for God. Others say that he is angry at God. That is true, and I should have clarified. If Mal discovered a hidden meaning behind his defeat in the war, then he would return to God on his knees. His problem is that what he believed about God did not fit what he saw in the war. I believe he is looking for those answers, but stubbornly, and he will not go down certain paths because he thinks he knows what he will find there.

In Serenity, he goes down one of those paths.

Mal has always been a noble character, but he has never been completely altruistic. His words are often selfish, caring only for what advances his own cause, though we often see that sort of nobility in him. When he brought Simon and River onboard was one of these times. In "The Train Job," he returns the medicine to the town of Paradiso. In "Heart of Gold," he helps a group of prostitutes without really expecting anything in return. Inara forces money on him, but he does not want it.

However, he never steps completely outside of himself. He will put himself in danger, but only to a certain extent. In "Ariel," Simon asks to break in to an Alliance medical facility. The reward for the crew would be to steal some medicine that they could then sell. We do not know whether Mal would have gone without that payoff, but we can speculate that he would not. He can be noble, certainly, but his primary concern is the well-being of his ship, his crew, and himself. He will not make a sacrifice of one of them.

This point might need more evidence. After all, in nearly every episode, Mal ends up doing the right thing. In "The Train Job," he risks the wrath of Adelei Niska to return that medicine (not to mention Niska's rather large associate who comes to look for the goods). The difference here is that he is not throwing himself into danger if neither he nor his crew are to benefit. In that episode, Mal has the chance to explain everything when he is in custody in Paradiso, but he will not. He absolutely refuses to accept the responsibility for his actions there. It is only when he is free and under the cover of darkness that he does the right thing. Even here, at his most noble, he is concerned about the costs of his decisions. He wants to do what is right, but not if there is too great a price on it. He deals with Niska the same way. Mal will risk angering Niska, but only from a distance. There is no benefit for himself, his crew, or his ship in that fight, and so he tries to avoid the fight (not well, as we see in "War Stories," but he still tries to avoid it).

Only, somewhere in the middle of Serenity, he changes. He sacrifices two members of the crew and the ship, to an extent. Not intentionally, of course, but he knows that he will have to sacrifice something, if not everything. Furthermore, he was completely willing to die for the cause, and the cause has nothing to do with him. River has benefitted as much as she can from the revelations on Miranda, and there is nothing more to gain. Yet when the Operative asks him if he is willing to make that very sacrifice, he says yes and means it.

So what brought this change in him? Belief.

It is not the full belief I hope that Mal will find. In fact, in Serenity, it is merely the belief that the people need to know the truth. That is a far cry from God, but it is a start.

Why? Because Mal has removed himself from his concerns. That has always been his stumbling block. Malcolm Reynolds is mad at God because Malcolm Reynolds lost at Serenity Valley. It was a personal betrayal. But now that he is able to see things from outside of himself, he can begin on that road back to God. He will be open to seeing the meaning behind his defeat, even if that meaning has nothing to do with him.

So what is that meaning, anyway? What purpose is there behind the Alliance winning that fight? I haven't the foggiest clue. Maybe we'll have a Signs-like sequel that will answer that question. I do not hope for that, because, more than likely, the outcome of the war had nothing to do with Malcolm Reynolds. He is also on the path to learning that.

For me, this is the film. The obvious conflict is between the Operative and River (through Mal, who is River's champion). On a larger scale, it is between the government and the people. Between people who want to control others and people who want to be left alone. But the important conflict is within Mal, and it is a conflict not completely resolved, though it moves in a direction so that we might know what the result will be. We do not need more to understand where this will go.

Which is the most unexpected part in this for me. The fans have been talking nothing but sequel, or, dare we hope, another television series. I got caught up in that, because I wanted this story to go on. This universe has so many stories to tell, and not a fraction of them are told. But this movie is an ending, not a beginning. Joss Whedon, it seems, did not want this taken away from him again, and so he told the story he wanted to tell, holding nothing back for something that might be in that vague someday, somewhere.

The fans were shocked by the deaths of Wash and Book, and many feel betrayed. But this is a betrayal in a way that only a television series, or a long series of films, can betray. It is only a betrayal in that we expected more with Wash and Book. We expected another series or another movie. We cannot look at Serenity in this manner. Serenity is the ending of Firefly, not an interlude or subplot. If something comes next, it will not be what came before. It might include the same characters in the same ship, but this story is over. Do not misunderstand: I do hope for another story, but I will not make the mistake of hoping that Firefly continues.

And contrary to popular belief, an artist cannot control whether a character lives or dies and remain an artist. I have heard the fans demanding answers from Joss Whedon, how dare he murder those characters, but it doesn't work like that. Those movies where the good guys take on the world and come out with a small scratch on their forehead might be fun, but they generally are not very good. In good films, decisions come with a price. Sometimes the price is too high (Book's death was extreme, but necessary to the point), and sometimes the price is lower than we would expect (to go through the last battle and only lose Wash is a miracle), but the price is there. If they are not paid, the work of art loses something — its reality. We might enjoy it, but we do not believe it.

Some of the fans might be angry, but their anger tells me something about the film. They believe it. No, we don't believe that it actually happened in real life (the catchphrase for the unimaginative), but it is real nonetheless, and true. Had there been no deaths, the fans would be complaining that it was unrealistic. Now they are hurt by what they saw, and that is how it should be, because the death of someone real hurts.

Mal was hurt as well, and through that fire he is beginning to be purified. What a price to pay for that lesson, but I think both Wash and Book would have chosen it for that end, if only for Mal's sake. For that end alone, but add to it River's recovery, Inara's (assumed) return, and the happiness shared by Kaylee and Simon. Add to that a chance for peace that was not possible before.

I am reminded of an exchange between Simon and Mal from "Serenity." The moment is somber, with a tone of longing in the words. Mal says, "We're still flying."

"That's not much," Simon replies.

"It's enough."

They have come a long way to reach this particular ending, and, as we know, each ending brings about a new beginning. This one will be tough. Mal needs a guide still, and now Book is gone. There is no one on the ship right now who can fill his role, since all of the others are, to a certain extent, lost in the woods. They will still need to hide, and that means that an honest living will remain out of their reach. Plus, the ship is already falling apart again. They have a new quest, a new story, and they can either flounder or survive.

And they, like Joss Whedon and his wonderful vision, are survivors.

It is a story that may never be told. That's okay. Most of the time we leave our heroes at the end of a film or a book, and let them live their lives as we live our own. I would like to travel a little longer with Mal, but the time we did walk together touched me. I cannot say that about many people I have met on the screen or on the page. So I just smile and hope for the best, for both of us. He's still flying, and flying with good company and a purpose.

It's enough.

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