Continuity mistake: When Nandi is killed, she falls to the floor on her back, her left arm by her side and her right on the floor by her head. We see her in this position a number of times, but when Mal and Inara look at one another at the end of this scene, Nandi's left arm is now lying across her chest. Neither of the other characters did this to her. (00:35:00)
Continuity mistake: When Mal and Nandi are talking and drinking on the couch, the position of Mal's left arm keeps changing between shots. In both the closeup shots of Mal and Nandi, his arm is resting next to her on the couch, but in the shot of them both, his arm is behind her.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jayne is telling Simon and River to keep clear of Saffron, he is holding some things wrapped in tin foil (possibly food). He places them on a table next to him. River then calls Saffron a liar. In the following shot of Jayne, one of the food packets has been torn open. River later says that "Jayne" is a girl's name. The food packet that was torn open is now intact.
Continuity mistake: When the crew are planning how to break into the Bellerophon Estates, Mal and Saffron use Serenity's port (left) shuttle to get to the island. But when Wash flies Serenity underneath the disposal bin, the shuttle is back even though Mal and Saffron have yet to return. We never see or hear of the shuttles being able to return to Serenity by themselves and it wasn't part of the agreed plan.
Continuity mistake: When talking to Saffron after being caught by her husband while holding the Lassiter, Mal refers to her as 'Yo/Saff/Bridge', an amalgam of her three aliases, Yolanda, Saffron, and Bridget. The subtitle reads this as "Speaking Chinese."
Continuity mistake: After Durran calls the police and Mal and Saffron try to escape, they leave the Bellerophon Estates through a door which uses a crash bar to exit. However, when the guards arrive at the door, it has changed colour and has suddenly started using a regular handle.
Continuity mistake: At the end, when Inara is closing the lid on the trash container there are three shots. From behind Inara, she has her gun in her lap (in her right hand) and is waving with her left, but from Saffron's point of view Inara has both hands in her lap, then Inara is back to waving again.
The Message - S1-E15
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, when Jayne reads in the note from his mother that she enclosed something in the box for him, there is a shot of Zoë reaching for a crowbar to open Tracey's coffin. Jayne's left hand is visible on the far right of this shot, holding the hat that his mother knitted for him. In the following shot he takes the hat out of the box despite already having it in his left hand in the previous shot.
The Message - S1-E15
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, Jayne receives a hat from his mother in the post, and when he takes it out of the package it is covered in wood shavings or some similar packing material. He puts it on his head like that, but for the remainder of the scene, the hat alternates from being covered in shavings to clean and back again.
The Message - S1-E15
Continuity mistake: The cut the doctor makes on Tracey is small, but once Mal is on top of Tracey, the cut is a lot longer.
The Message - S1-E15
Continuity mistake: In the first scene in which the crew is back on Serenity, they are discussing Mal and Zoe's recent "delivery." Jayne is shown taking his hat off. Two shots later Jayne is shown in the background with the hat still on his head. Six shots later Jayne is shown with his hat in his hand again.
Chosen answer: One of the premises of the show is that the two major Earth societies that survived, and ultimately merged, were the Chinese and Americans. As a result the common language includes much Chinese. Clothing, signage, and building designs also have a heavy Chinese influence.