I guess I can sort of see your point about Wash's death being one that would hurt Mal (although, I kinda think it was really a popularity thing in that they probably couldn't have killed off anyone else). But the thing that kind of bothers me is that I don't really think they'll have anyone dealing with that grief. It's more the realm of series television than movies -- especially in sci fi where they are space battles and action to get to. One of the things I don't like about the Star Trek: TNG movies is that most character development ceased when the show went off the air. You can get away with an episode that focuses on how characters are dealing with things, but there's not much time in a 2 hour movie. Although, I do have a lot mroe faith in Joss's ability to sneak that in than the ST folks. I hope that if the point of Wash getting killed was to show loss and have Zoe and Mal hit by his death, that in some way that's explored (assuming sequels or whatever).