serenity

[WARNING to fans: SPOILERS AHEAD!]

joss whedon is a sadistic bastard — and i love him for it.

serenity — a.k.a. the death of wash — is an amazingly well-crafted mish-mash of all the wackiness you'd expect to be bouncing around the cranium of the creator of buffy the vampire slayer.  i know, not necessarily a recommendation for people who just, y'know, don't know...but those of you who do will understand what i mean. 

pretty much from his first appearance in episode one of firefly, hoban "wash" washburn became my favorite character — i mean, c'mon, how can you not love a guy who pilots a ship, plays with toy dinosaurs and has them say things like "curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" and "ha ha ha.  mine is an evil laugh."  certainly, the fact that alan tudyk plays wash adds to the appeal, but the dialogue is pure whedon.

so i walked into the movie last friday night expecting to walk out with that "wow, what a great episode!  when's the next one?" feeling that i had walking out of every star trek: the next generation movie.  in my mind, wash, zoe, mal, kaylee, jayne and the rest had many years of happy wacky adventures ahead.

so, so naïve!

i have to admit, the death of such a central character serves the film very well.  unlike other franchises or serials, i couldn't tell myself during the characters' last-stand, "oh, they'll be okay, they have to make it out alive so they can be in the next episode."  instead, with my expectations for a sequel completely shattered, i thought, "holy crap!  is joss really just going to kill everyone off and end it all right here?  is the message of this movie that you can't fight city hall, everything means nothing and no one makes it out alive?  will river alone be left to tell the tale?"  having the usual fluffy reassurances taken away was a very novel experience — not necessarily pleasant, but effective.

my only gripe about the death is its suddenness — mid-sentence, mid-gag — and the pace of the movie only intensifies thereafter, so (and i know how weird this will sound) i really had no chance to mourn the loss until after the closing credits.  worse, i felt cheated — i had seen wash's grand finale, heard his last words without realizing what they were at the time.  again, great for storytelling, bad for fandom!

in the end, seeing the movie again the next night (are you really surprised?), i was able to really say good-bye to this fantastic character and the series as i knew it.  (hearing the entire audience gasp on cue, plus a die-hard's heartbroken "NO!" was also incredibly satisfying.)  supposedly, there will be a sequel, and the entire cast may somehow return, but i'm glad that the next installment will be — will have to be — very very different.

oh, joss.  you made me love him, and then you took him away.  can't wait to see what you do next...

Posted by jason at October 3, 2005 07:15 PM