Mal! I love him!

1. The first episode that aired was "The Train Job" and I was won over by his dichotomy: he's willing to kick Niska's henchman into the ship's engine, and give back the medicine because it's the right thing to do.

BOURNE: You were truthful back in town. These are tough times. Hard to find yourself work. A man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is. But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well then he has a choice.

MAL: I don't believe he does.

2. I love Captain Mal, and he's totally in Captain (and dad) mode in "Safe". He's concerned about Book and of course, there's this kick-ass moment:

PATRON: The girl is a witch

MAL: Yeah. But she's our witch.(cocks his gun) So cut her the hell down.

And I also love his strong loyalty to his crew:

SIMON: You... you came for us.

MAL: You're on my crew.

SIMON: Right. I just, I guess I didn't..you don't even like me.

MAL: You're on my crew. Why we still talking about this? Chow's in ten. No need to dress.

3. One of my favourite episodes is "Out of Gas", and one of the many reasons is because it's basically on ode to Mal's love for Serenity.

I love how he's old-fashioned in many ways:

INARA: Mal, this isn't the ancient sea. You don't have to go down with your ship.

MAL: She ain't going down. She ain't going anywhere.

And of course that final moment when he first sees Serenity. That look of love is awesome.