I have certainly complained about teaser openings followed by "[timespan] earlier ...". Oh have I ever. I don't mind when it's used to good effect — there's an A:tLA open that works well, with con games in the Fire Nation — but it's so overused that unless it's used to really good effect, it annoys me beyond all reason. (Pet peeve ahoy!)

I too wish they'd been a little better about seeing Mal as flawed. I think I bought the hype a little too easily at the time. I also remember being surprised whenever he would take a dark or selfish-seeming option, though, so I may just have had the "heroic main character" goggles on a little tight ....