osprey_archer: (Firefly)
[personal profile] osprey_archer
One of the few things I like about Mal is his relationship with Kaylee. He has a sort of older-brotherly or perhaps fatherly air toward her, in a gentle, caring, not-at-all-overbearing way. The scene in Jaynestown where Kaylee and Simon are hitting it off in the bar and Mal is all, "It's time to go!" Priceless.

Kaylee: But things are going well! (Significant Look at Simon. He's just told her that she's pretty, in his awkward Simon way. )

Mal: Oh. I...will leave you here to...look after Jayne, then?

Kaylee: (nodnodnod)

Of course, I think it says something about Mal that he is only capable of forming this relationship with the one person on his crew who not only would never question his authority, but views him with the trusting awe usually reserved for small children toward their parents: there's an earlier episode where Kaylee is all, "Cap'n said he'd take care of it," and it's clear that in her mind, when Mal has said he will do something, God himself could not stop him.

I think this child-like quality is both part of the reason I like Kaylee so much, and part of the reason that I have reservations about her relationship with Simon. Although oddly it does not bother me with regard to Kaylee/Inara. Possibly because Kaylee is never like, "INARA, your fancy-schmancy ways make me feel inadequate/feel like you think I'm inadequate, and therefore YOU SHOULD CHANGE."

Whereas this is one of the keynotes of her conversations with Simon. I feel like "I want you to change a lot!" is never a good starting point for a relationship.

Of course, Inara doesn't give the impression that she thinks she's better than other people, whereas Simon is so awkward that he totally gives that impression, even when he doesn't actually think that. (And I bet he does sometimes feel better than other people, although probably not better than Kaylee in particular.)

...And most of the rest of the episode is about Jayne. I must confess, I have never particularly cared about Jayne. In show, I find it baffling that Mal didn't think he needed to find his crew a tank who will actually be loyal.

On a more meta level, I find it exasperating that the show keeps flirting with the idea that Jayne will totes betray them, even though it is clear that the gods of the narrative will never allow Jayne to successfully betray anyone (and no one seems to hold his attempts against him, either). The show wants to have the frisson of danger that a possibly traitorous character can give, without actually dealing with the fact that this would be massively disruptive for ship camaraderie.

Date: 2013-05-09 01:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] entwashian.livejournal.com
The thing I don't like about Kaylee/Simon is similar to what you've talked about here. I feel like it's fairly obvious to the audience, anyway, that Simon is trying to do right by Kaylee; like he says in the movie, his one regret is not being with her. He's so awkward with her because he's trying to keep himself at an arm's length due to everything going on with River, but he genuinely admires Kaylee and enjoys her company, and so he doesn't want to push her away. He walks a really fine line between spurning her and leading her on during every single interaction they have.

Which means he sometimes inadvertantly strays from that very narrow path, and I think Kaylee gets wayyyy too offended about that way too easily. It happens here, it happens in Safe, and it happens in The Message. Kaylee always presumes the best in everyone else, but when it comes to Simon, I think she thinks he's better than everyone else, and that he should act accordingly. Because he's from the Core, she expects him to be pretty and perfect, like Inara, and he's not, because he's not a trained Companion. And when he fails to live up to her expectations (and he will fail, because no man could live up to that expectation), Kaylee throws really childish fits.

Date: 2013-05-09 03:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] osprey-archer.livejournal.com
Yes, it is puzzling, because she's so quick to see the good in everyone else but with Simon she's always so...impatient, in a way. It's like she thinks that if he wasn't hampered by his sense of propriety, he would have fallen in her arms at once, and feels bitter that he hasn't. Hence the fact that she gets so offended by small things that he does.

Never mind that he's in an environment that is totally strange and frightening to him, looking after his deeply wounded little sister, and generally has more issues than the New York Times.

It doesn't show her in a very good light.

Date: 2013-05-09 06:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carmarthen.livejournal.com
Your Firefly reviews just make me even more sad about the show it COULD have been, produced and written by someone else. :-(

Date: 2013-05-09 01:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] osprey-archer.livejournal.com
I...am sorry? It's a little depressing rewatching it, because I remembered it being rather better than this.

Date: 2013-05-09 06:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carmarthen.livejournal.com
Ha, yeah, I can imagine. It's one of the few TV fandoms I always wished I could get into, because there's so much cool and so much to critique.

...actually, I was working on a Firefly story for Lishan that I got stuck on. Would you maybe be willing to help me figure out how to make it work sometime (all OCs, though).

Date: 2013-05-09 09:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] osprey-archer.livejournal.com
Yes, I feel that about Firefly. It helps that it's so short - I often find TV canons overwhelming, because they just go on forever. still kind of want to write Kaylee/Inara, but I have so many problems with so many other things in the show that I just don't think I could do it justice.

And sure, we can chat about your Firefly story. Not sure how much help I'll be as they're all OCs, but we'll see.

Date: 2013-05-10 12:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carmarthen.livejournal.com
Well, it mainly has plot stakes issues, and I am crap at fixing plot problems.

Date: 2013-05-14 04:26 am (UTC)
artemis_wandering: (fairy)
From: [personal profile] artemis_wandering
THE MAN THEY CALL JAYNE!!

I love to randomly sing that. :D

The show wants to have the frisson of danger that a possibly traitorous character can give, without actually dealing with the fact that this would be massively disruptive for ship camaraderie.

Oh so true.

Date: 2013-05-14 01:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] osprey-archer.livejournal.com
Jayne has his own folk song! Who doesn't aspire to that, am I right?

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