Characters
Been a long time since Patience shot me, and that was due to a perfectly legitimate conflict of interest. I got no grudge.
— Mal · Firefly
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker recalls being shot long ago and treats it with dry understatement, calling it a legitimate conflict of interest. Nothing is held against the shooter. The humour comes from calmly casual forgiveness of an act that would usually earn lasting resentment.
Context reviewed