Firefly Wednesday: Safe

[osprey_archer]

A Firefly episode with no Mal/Inara at all, hooray! ALSO there is a scene where Kaylee and Inara go shopping in a little provincial store, and Inara hides her amusement at Kaylee’s terrible taste in...well, honestly, just about everything. Last episode it was dresses, this episode it’s china. Half of her shirts are hideous.

I wonder if this becomes an issue between Kaylee and Simon once they get together after Serenity. Assuming they don’t just have a short fling but in fact end up acquiring a living space together, I cannot see Simon being willing to live surrounded by ugly things, and I can’t see Kaylee taking well to hearing her taste is ugly.

What do y’all think about Kaylee and Simon’s chances of a long-term love affair? They’re both good people, but I’m not sure they’re well suited. Partly it is that they have such different backgrounds, and that neither of them seem amenable to changing: Kaylee doesn’t, for instance, ask Inara for advice about how to act like a classy Core lady, because she wants Simon to love her as she is.

On the other hand, they might really compliment each other. Kaylee would help Simon loosen up a little - I think part of his uptightness is because of his and River’s situation, but also some of it is just personality, and Kaylee could help him open up and see good in the world again.

And Simon could be a rock for Kaylee to lean on. For most of Firefly he seems rather brittle, but that’s because he’s under so much stress. The fact that he’s just a little waspish and standoffish, rather than sobbing in corners, says to me that he’s a very strong person, and I think Kaylee needs someone to give her direction. Not to order her around in every little thing, but to give her broad goals and then let her loose to accomplish them.

It’s not that she’s weak - or rather, I think there are certain things she is weak at - when did weak become the worst possible word you could use to describe a character, anyway? Doesn’t it say terrible things about our culture that we consider “weak” is a more insulting character description than “sociopath”?

But she and Simon might compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Provided the culture clash doesn’t make them hate each other in the end.

***

Other things about this episode: Shepherd Book’s mysterious ID badge. goldjadeocean suggested a few entries back that Shepherd Book makes a whole lot more sense if you assume he is, or used to be, an Operative (or at any rate worked for the Alliance in some capacity), which makes so much sense with his character and also suggests possible espionage plots.

Like, maybe Shepherd Book is spying on Mal’s ship? Maybe he is spying on Simon? Maybe he is working for a part of the Alliance that is plotting against the men with blue hands? It’s such a huge government, there have to be factions that are at each other’s throats, and the men with blue hands who experiment with teenage girls’ brains and unleash docility viruses (which make 0.000X% of the population deranged super killers) on unsuspecting planets are clearly a Bridge Too Far even for the Alliance.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES.

Comments

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I think Simon and Kaylee could make it work - like you say, in Firefly, he's pretty brittle but once he'd relaxed and was less panicky about River, I think we'd see more of his good qualities and less of the uncertain ones. Obviously, it would depend on how they worked - they need to practise their communication skills. But I think they could do it! My fingers are crossed!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It would be an interesting relationship to explore, because they would have all these culture-clashy things going on.

[goldjadeocean.livejournal.com]

Kaylee's aesthetic really comes from a place of scarcity. Simon has good taste, but he comes from a beautiful house on a lush planet. Kaylee's life has been full of dull and dusty planets and utilitarian ships. Most of the time the only time her world has colour is when she puts it there. So she doesn't really have a concept of excess because she's never encountered it. I don't think her problem is bad taste as much as being so hungry for beauty that she'll take anything she can get her hands on.

And a lot of her not trying to act like a classy Core lady is, well, the silk purse-sow's ear thing; she wants some of the trappings, but knows she's not the essence of the thing. By Serenity she's grown enough, and Simon relaxed enough, that they might make it work.