Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds What was that?
Played by Nathan Fillion 
Serenity (2005) · 82 quotes
Serenity (2005) · 82 quotes
Most-quoted character in Serenity (2005): in 41 of its 82 quotes
Most scenes with: The Operative (9), Jayne Cobb (5), Kaylee (4)
I look out for me and mine. That don't include you 'less I conjure it does. Now you stuck a thorn in the Alliance's paw. That tickles me a bit. But it also means I got to step twice as fast to avoid them and that means turning down plenty of jobs. Even honest ones. Put this crew together with the promise of work, which the Alliance makes harder every year. Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don't push me, and I won't push you.
More lines from Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds
8 quotes Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds Appears in an early scene and the last scene, as some part breaks off Serenity.
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds To Simon
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds This is how it is. Anybody doesn't wanna fly with me anymore, this is your port of harbor. There's a lot of fine ways to die. I ain't waiting for the Alliance to choose mine. I mean to confound these bungers. Take my shot at getting to Miranda. Maybe find something I can use to get clear of this. So I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out or taking your leave, I will shoot you down.
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds Sorry about the throat. Expect you'd want to say your famous last words right now. Just one trouble. I ain't gonna kill you. Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish. I'm gonna show you a world without sin.
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds After defeating the Operative
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds I'm assumin' y'all were listenin'? Did you hear us fight? [pause] Trap.
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds After Kaylee asks how he knows Inara's call is a trap
Scenes with Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds
32 scenes
Well, if she doesn't get us some extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Mal
Define "interesting"?
Mal
[over intercom]
This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode.
Mal
Jayne, how many weapons you plan on bringing? You only got the two arms.
I just get excitable as to choice — like to have my options open.
Mal
I don't plan on any shooting taking place during this job.
Well, what you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar.
Mal
No grenades. [Jayne groans] No grenades!
We crashin' again?
Mal
Go talk to your husband. Is the mule prepped?
Good to go, sir. Just loading her up. [To Jayne] Are those grenades?
Cap'n doesn't want them.
We're robbing the place; we're not occupying it.
Mal
Kaylee! Kaylee, what in the sphincter of hell are you playing at? We got the primary buffer panel coming right—
Everything's shiny, Captain. Not to fret.
Mal
You told me those entry couplings would hold for another week!
That was six months ago, Captain.
Mal
My ship don't crash. If she crashes, you crashed her.
Mal
Bit of a rockety ride. Nothing to be worried about.
I'm not worried.
Mal
Fear is nothing to be ashamed of, Doctor.
This isn't fear. This is anger.
Mal
Well, kind of hard to tell one from the other, face like yours.
Well, I imagine if it were fear, my eyes would be wider.
Mal
Mm, I'll keep a lookout for that next time.
Mal
[Preparing to leave the ship]
Hey little one. Understand your part in all this?
...Do you?
Mal
This is what I do, darlin'. This is what I do.
Now River, stay behind the others. If there’s fighting, drop to the floor or run away. It’s okay to leave them to die.
Mal
Doctor, I'm taking your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you I will get very choked up. Honestly, there could tears. [Drives off]
Mal
Listen up! We are coming down to empty the vault!
Guard
You have to give me your authorization password!
Guard
[Jayne fires a couple of rounds of his gun]
...Okay.
Mal
[As the Reavers are chasing them]
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
How come they ain't blowing us out the air?
Mal
They wanna run us down. The up-close kill.
They want us alive when they eat us.
Boy, sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?!
[Mal's Mule crashes into Serenity's bay. Simon, who stayed behind, rushes to River asking if she's all right. Kaylee, who also stayed behind, rushes to Simon.] [to Simon]
Are you okay?
Mal
Is HE okay?!
Sir, I don't disagree on any particular point. It’s just... in the time of war, we would've never left a man stranded.
Mal
...Maybe that's why we lost.
Cap'n didn't make 'em fugitives.
But he coulda made 'em family! 'Steada keepin' Simon from seein' I was there. And I carried such a torch, and we coulda... Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!
Mal
[shocked]
Oh, God! I can't know that!
I could stand to hear a little more.
Mal
[Speaking with Fanty and Mingo, who are identical twins]
Fanty. Mingo.
Mingo He's Mingo.
Mal
He's Fanty. You're Mingo.
Mingo [grins]
How is it you always know?
Mal
Fanty's prettier.
Book Only one thing is gonna walk you though this, Mal. Belief.
Mal
You know I always look to you for counsel, but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I ain't looking for help on high. That's a long wait for a train don't come.
Book When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God?
[After the crew, eavesdropping on a 'wave between Mal and Inara, sees Inara invite the crew to join her at the companion training house]
Inara. Nice to see her again.
So... trap?
Mal
Trap.
Are we going in?
Mal
Only but a few hours out.
Yeah, but, remember the part where it's a trap?
Mal
If that’s the case, then Inara's already caught in it. She wouldn't set us up willing. Might be we got a shot at seeing who's turning these wheels. We go in.
But how can you be sure Inara don't just wanna see you? Sometimes people have feelings. And I'm referring here to people.
Mal
You all were watching, I take it?
Yes.
Mal
Did you see us fight?
No.
Mal
Trap.
We’re about 70 miles from the Training House, and nobody on radar. If the Alliance is about they're laying low.
Mal
They're about. Find us a home. I'll take the shuttle a little closer. Zoe, ship is yours. Remember. If anything happens to me or if you don't hear from me within the hour, you take this ship and you come and you rescue me.
Mal
I mean it. It's cold out there. And I don't wanna get left.
Mal
Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket—
Mal, what are you doing here!?
Mal
You invited me.
I never thought for a second you'd be stupid enough to come!
Mal
Well, that makes you kind of a tease, doesn't it?
Mal
She is a mite unpredictable. Mood swings, of a sort.
It's worse than you know.
Mal
It usually is.
That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.
Mal
The way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. [to Inara] Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
But I have to hope you understand you can't beat us.
Mal
I got no need to beat you. I just want to go my way.
And you can do that, once you let me take River Tam back home.
Mal
No, no. You’re working this deal all crabbed. You got to open with payment.
That is a trap. I offer money, you'll play the man of honor and take umbrage. I ask you to do what is right, you'll play the brigand. I have no stomach for games. I already know you will not see reason.
Mal
The Alliance wanted to show me reason, they shouldn't have sent an assassin.
I have a warship in deep orbit, Captain. We locked onto Serenity's pulse beacon the moment you hit atmo. I can speak a word and send a missile to that exact location inside of three minutes.
Mal
You do that, you'd best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.
[Mal tosses a mechanism to the Operative, who catches it and immediately recognizes what it is]
Pulse beacon.
Mal
Advice from an old tracker. You want to find someone? Use your eyes.
How long do you think you can really run from us?
Mal
I never credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains. And if you're the best they got—
Captain Reynolds, I should tell you, so that you don’t waste your time - you can't make me angry.
Please, spend an hour with him.
I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed-
Mal
Good.
[Mal draws his gun and shoots the Operative in the chest. He attempts to exit, only for the Operative to grab him from behind]
I am of course wearing full body armour. I am not a moron.
You dumb-ass hogs, the only people she's a threat to is us on this boat.
Mal
Look, we get back to Haven in a few hours' time—
Oh, yeah. Hiding under the Shepherd's skirts, that's a manful scheme.
Mal
You wanna run this ship?
Yes!
Mal
[Thrown]
Well... you can’t.
This isn't the war, Mal.
Mal
You telling me that 'cause I don’t know?
You came to the Training House looking for a fight.
Mal
I came looking for you.
I just want to know who I'm dealing with. I've seen too many versions of you to be sure.
Mal
I start fighting a war, I guarantee you'll see something new.
Mal
[As River is holding a gun on him]
The government's man, he says you're a danger to us. Not worth helping. Is he right? Are you anything but a weapon? I've staked my crew's life on the theory you're a person. Actual and whole, and if I'm wrong, you’d best shoot me now—
Mal
[River **** the gun] [Quickly]
Or, we can talk more.
I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?
Mal
I don't murder children.
I do, if I have to.
Mal
Why? Do you even know why they sent you?
It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
Mal
So me and mine gotta lay down and die so you can live in your better world?
I'm not going to live there... There's no place for me there, any more than there is for you. Malcolm, I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
Mal
This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear, because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people…better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave.
Shepherd Book used to tell me, "If you can't do somethin' smart... do somethin' right."
Mal
You shot me in the back! I haven't made you angry, have I?
There are a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now.
Mal
You have no idea how true that is. I know the secret. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is going to know it too. 'Cause they need to.
Do you really believe that?
Mal
I do.
You willing to die for that belief?
Mal
I am.
Mal
[The Operative nods and begin to pull out his gun, but Mal draws first and shoots the gun out of his hand and backs the Operative into a corner.]
'course, that ain't exactly Plan A.
Do you know what your sin is, Mal?
Mal
Ah, hell, I'm a fan of all seven. But right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath.
It's not over. I can't guarantee that they won't come after you. The Parliament. Your broadwave about Miranda has weakened their regime. They are not gone, and they are not... forgiving.
Mal
That don't bode especially well for you, giving the order to let us go, patching up our hurt.
I told them the Tams were no longer a threat, damage done. They might listen, but I think they know I'm no longer... their man.
Mal
They take you down, I don't expect to grieve overmuch. Like to kill you myself, I see you again.
You won't. [Pause] There is nothing left to see.
[Deleted scene]
Serenity... you lost everything in that battle. Everything you had, everything you were. How did you go on?
Mal
If you're still standing there when that engine starts, you never will figure it out.
Mal
(After the Operative has left)
What a whiner.
Mal
Taking her out, should be about a day's ride to get you back to your girls.
Right.
Mal
Ready to get off this heap, back to civilized life?
I, uh... I don't know.
Mal
[Smiles]
Good answer.
Mal
It ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
I do. But I like to hear you say it.
Mal
Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' o' worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
Storm's getting worse.
Mal
We'll pass through soon enough.
Mal
[On Haven, Mal finds Shepherd Book, mortally wounded in an Alliance attack]
It shouldn't have been you. The Alliance should've hit us, it should've been me.
Book That crossed my mind. [coughs] I shot him down. [looks at the wreck of an Alliance ship]
Mal
Yeah, I see.
Book I killed the ship that killed us. Not very Christian of me.
Mal
You did what's right.
Book Coming from you, that means... almost nothing. [Mal smiles] I'm long gone.
Mal
No, Doc'll bring you around. I look to be bored by many more sermons before you slip. Just don't move.
Book Can't order me around, boy. I'm not one of your crew.
Mal
[voice breaking]
Yes, you are.
