When I left Theio’s two nights ago, I told and and that I had heavy thoughts running through my head, and I needed a walk. The walk helped. Signs and notices – portends from both the spiritual and the secular – plague me, but not because I’m seeking to ignore them. This time, I can take them for the warnings that they are.

Serenity is a phenomenal work of cinema. There is no… the action doesn’t detract from the plot, the plot is important enough to make the characters’ struggles worthwhile, and key background information is learned about the setting’s history. All this, and Mr. Whedon doesn’t shy away from killing off main characters. I am still in shock over Wash’s death. He would kill the one character that everyone related me to. “I am a leaf on the wind.” A leaf on the wind is dying, floating to the earth to decompose.

You could tell, in the theater, which of us hadn’t seen it yet. When he died, nobody expected it. Definitely not an easily-called plot twist. Gasps and startled shouts came from little spots all over.

Guard dogs, indeed.