History YMMV / ForwardPeptuck

** StoicWoobie: Mal most definitely qualifies as this by the end of "Mosaic." Zoe becomes one as well at the end of "Hunt."

* TheWoobie: River. Yes, she's ''already'' a Woobie, but this story just amplifies it {{up to eleven}}. Aside from suffering multiple mental breakdowns, she is also [[spoiler: tortured and nearly raped by Niska's men, before being beaten up on by the Hands of Blue.]] Then she [[spoiler: suffers another psychotic break that ends with Mal having to knock her unconscious.]] ''Then'' she [[spoiler: is attacked, wounded, paralyzed, and ''again'' nearly raped by Reavers.]]

** There are strong hints that it may be with [[spoiler: Echo/John, who has already been hinted at [[FoeYay being an agent of the Alliance who is hunting for her.]] ]]

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: One of the most potent scenes toward the end of "Business":

* LesYay: the brief scene between River and Grace in "Mosaic" is nothing ''but''.

* HilariousInHindsight: At the climax of "Hunt", Zoe [[spoiler: is forced to shoot and kill a young girl who had MindControl powers forced on her and went insane as a result.]] A couple years later, nearly the exact same thing would be revealed as the CynicismCatalyst for Melinda May, the {{Badass}} ActionGirl NumberTwo on a [[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD another Joss Whedon show]].

* CompleteMonster: Niska becomes an even more extreme one when he [[spoiler: orders his men to rape River, as a "favor" since she is about to "die a virgin".]]

* LesYay: the brief scene between River and Grace in "Mosiac" is nothing ''but''.

** Lt. Womack, already a corrupt scumbag in the series, turns plain vicious in ''Silver'', where he [[spoiler: cold-bloodedly murders most of his associates and suppliers to eliminate the evidence of his organ smuggling operation, and then forces Mal to destroy the last remaining lab rather than risk himself.]]
*** And at the end of the arc, [[spoiler: Womack kills one of his own men in cold blood so he can escape from his crashing ship.]] Fun guy.
** A possible example is Inducer One-One-Nine, aka [[spoiler: Kathryn Wade]] who killed nearly a thousand people with her psychic abilities, using them as shields or minions or, in one vicious case, as distractions against her pursuers, and uses MindRape quite liberally, up to an including [[spoiler: River]]. There is quite a bit of disagreement among the readers as to whether One-One-Nine is a monstrous figure or a tragic figure, considering [[spoiler: she was nine years old]] when she escaped and was mentally unstable to the point of sociopathy by her stay at the Academy.
** The "Mongol" of the Six Rifles. He tortures a man he's been sent to kill with a bit of DissonantSerenity, and at least one other member of the Six contemplates having to kill him eventually if he goes out of control. Later on, when he [[spoiler: captures the young Jayne in a flashback]], he goes onto a lengthy monologue about torture, where he offhandedly mentions that he is also a rapist and talks about how much he loves inflicting terror on his victims.

* NightmareFuel: More than one reviewer has said that the "Inducer" psychics are outright terrifying. And it's justified: [[spoiler: there is absolutely ''no'' defense against their effects. Not even knowing they're attacking your mind is a defense against them. As one character puts it, knowing an Inducer is attacking you is "like knowing the name of the person beating you to death with a sledgehammer." Not to mention that their effects are ''ongoing''; once an Inducer creates an emotional response, it apparently self-perpetuates, i.e. making a person angry at someone causes that person to get angry everytime they see that person, simply by association, until it becomes outright hatred.]] Very powerful, and ''very'' scary.

* TheWoobie: River. Yes, she's ''already'' a Woobie, but this story just amplifies it [[UpToEleven up to eleven.]] Aside from suffering multiple mental breakdowns, she is also [[spoiler: tortured and nearly raped by Niska's men, before being beaten up on by the Hands of Blue.]] Then she [[spoiler: suffers another psychotic break that ends with Mal having to knock her unconscious.]] ''Then'' she [[spoiler: is attacked, wounded, paralyzed, and ''again'' nearly raped by Reavers.]]
** WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Katie]] claims to be one of these, saying that [[spoiler: she]] has been killing people because of what they did to [[spoiler: her.]] Of couse, considering [[MoralEventHorizon some of the things]] [[spoiler: she's]] done, this may just be self-justification.

** StoicWoobie: Mal most definitely qualifies as this by the end of "Mosaic." Zoe becomes one as well at the end of "Hunt."

** The "Mongol" of the Six Rifles is strongly implied to be one. He tortures a man he's been sent to kill with a bit of DissonantSerenity, and at least one other member of the Six contemplates having to kill him eventually if he goes out of control.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: More than one reviewer has said that the "Inducer" psychics are outright terrifying. And it's justified: [[spoiler: there is absolutely ''no'' defense against their effects. Not even knowing they're attacking your mind is a defense against them. As one character puts it, knowing an Inducer is attacking you is "like knowing the name of the person beating you to death with a sledgehammer." Not to mention that their effects are ''ongoing''; once an Inducer creates an emotional response, it apparently self-perpetuates, i.e. making a person angry at someone causes that person to get angry everytime they see that person, simply by association, until it becomes outright hatred.]] Very powerful, and ''very'' scary.
** One of the reviewers even said the concept quite ''literally'' gave them nightmares.

** A possible ([[YourMileageMayVary the reviewers are split on this]]) example is Inducer One-One-Nine, aka [[spoiler: Kathryn Wade]] who killed nearly a thousand people with her psychic abilities, using them as shields or minions or, in one vicious case, as distractions against her pursuers, and uses MindRape quite liberally, up to an including [[spoiler: River]]. There is quite a bit of disagreement among the readers as to whether One-One-Nine is a monstrous figure or a tragic figure, considering [[spoiler: she was nine years old]] when she escaped and was mentally unstable to the point of sociopathy by her stay at the Academy.

* UnpleasableFanbase: Early on, some of the reviewers asked for more dynamic conflict among the crew. When it happened in "Adrift" those very same reviewers got ''angry'' about it.
** In "Adrift, there's Inara's decision to [[spoiler: help Book get Simon to the Alliance ship for treatment, going over Mal's head and his direct orders to not do so.]] To some reviewers, this was [[spoiler: outright holier-than-thou mutiny against Mal]] while to others [[spoiler: it was a refusal on Inara's part to let Mal's orders result in the death of not just a crewmember, but also her friend.]]
** The reviewers' reaction to the confirmation of a pairing involving River indicates that no matter who she's paired with, ''someone'' is going to get angry.