As a new browncoat, but a longtime fan of Joss, I have to say what really kept me starving for the show was Mal and Inara's interactions. It kept me intrigued enough to watch episode 2, and from there I was hooked. Even in the first episode you know...the way he looks at her before he makes any important decision, almost as if he's waiting for her silent opinion. And she gives it too, in long gazes thar both of them will never admit to. But this, this terminally ill thing...

I'm not going to say that it doesn't work for the show. Admittedly, it makes a horrible sort of sense. Joss is famous for this. How the man manages to write inredibly involved, intricate plots with equally enthralling characters in nearly every situation is incredible in of itself. But the way he is completely unashamed to create the most intense and desperate stories about love that truly are the heart of his stories...well, I think that's what sets him apart. So Inara dying...yeah, he'd go there. I mean, he killed Wash. And look at the state of Buffy and Angel...still madly in love, but away because they can't be together...I mean what other director would have the guts to twist a plot that way that years later still has me reeling. Yeah, 'nuff said.

But yes, if Joss had suggested that Inara was dying I would believe it. Past history has shown that he would in fact go there.BUT I DON'T LIKE IT DAMMIT! I mean, Mal and Inara are tortured enough by their feelings, their pride...I mean, more so than any of his other characters. Now I would not be a true Whedon fan unless I sadistically enjoyed seeing my favorite couple in pain. BUT I THINK THIS IS A LITTLE EXCESSIVE!

I agree with the person below. I don't know If I could've gotten over her death in the show...especially if they eventually tried to set Mal up with someone else later. Then, I wouldn't care how much of a slave I am to Whedon, I owuld stop watching the show. I couldn't take that. Somehow, I could take it if she died in like season 5 and he stoically mourned her for the last two seasons...but not if there was another person. For Mal, there could be no one else after her.
<Admittedly, I might have stopped watching though had the show continued and she died. Was teary enough when she said she was leaving at the end of "HoG", I can't imagine how bad it'd be if were worse.>

I also agree that by the time of Serenity Joss was probably questioning that plotline... I know I would've reconsidered it. Seriously. And in the interview, Morena looked as if she might've heard rumors about her character from Joss, but never to this extent. Almost like it was probably true if he said it, but this was the first time she had seriously learned anything that specific about it.