Simon and Kaylee - Meant to last or meant to not?

POSTED BY: TamSibling
UPDATED: Thursday, February 16, 2006 22:14
VIEWED: 8429
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TAMSIBLING

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 12:48 AM

Let me start off this post by saying that I am a HUGE Simon/Kaylee fan and in my romantic, rose-colored world, they would last until the end of time and beyond. However ...

As I've been exploring the world of fan fiction (and starting to write my own), I can see a definite trend. There are a lot of us who believe Simon & Kaylee could make it work - and a lot of us who don't think they stand a snowball's chance in H*LL.

So where do you stand and why? Here are my thoughts on the matter. Dismiss, dispute or digest at your own will.

Kaylee and Simon seem to be one of those perfect "opposites attract" type couples. (Think Han & Leia with Simon as the proper one and Kaylee as the scoundrel.) Kaylee is full of sunshine and light, while Simon is stiff and anxious. Simon is book smart while Kaylee is street smart. But what attracts them to each other (and would keep them together), besides the fact that they are relatively the same age, very attractive and in lust?

This leads us to the most important characterization question there is and one for the life of me that I cannot answer - What do they each want? Not from each other, but from their own lives?

What does Kaylee want (besides sex with Simon)? The easy answer would be nothing - she's a happy go lucky type girl, content to stay on Serenity with her captain and fix the ship as it falls into various states of disrepair. But that can't be all there is - why - because any character, any person, has to want something for their life and that desire is what drives them to act, to be, to live.

Does Kaylee want to be married with fat babies? Does she want to ever leave Serenity and live on a planet again? Does she want to stop being a mechanic? Not that being with Simon would necessarily force all of these issues to a resolution, but hopefully you can see where I'm going with this ... what does Kaylee want? Until we know, it's almost impossible to predict the state of her relationship with Simon, in the long run.

Which leads us directly to the good doctor. What does Simon want? For the course of the show and into the BDM, Simon's one desire was to keep River safe and then to make her well. At one time, he might have wanted to be a famous doctor (although I think all evidence points to the contrary), but now that he's made himself and his sister marked fugitives, the chances of that happening are slim. Sure, the Alliance may eventually rescind the prices on their heads, but when? Won't Simon be too far behind all the latest techniques to compete in a tough, Core medical environment?

Does Simon want to be married with children? Does he want a relationship like his parents had? If his one goal in life is to make River better and he can't, because of her own psychosis or his own limitations, will he be able to set his sights on a new goal?

I really don't have an answer so I'm hoping someone out there in the black does. Restore my hope in romance (on the eve of Valentine's Day no less) and give me some reason that Kaylee and Simon could work.

Of course one possible solution is that love is not logical. Kaylee and Simon care for and love each other because they do, period. Life threw them together and they are the better for it.

*****
"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time. Know what that makes us?"
"Big Damn Heroes, sir."
"Ain't we just?"

KIERAN

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 1:15 AM

Hmmmm, well, I think that it would work out well, theoretically, the whole opposites attract idea coming into play. However, knowing Joss and his ability to surprise the audience with events that aren't expected or really wanted (death of Book/Wash), I'm assuming something will come in the way of their relationship. It could be their opposite interests, goals, dreams, the situation that Joss presents to us next (because he WILL make a sequel/second series), or even River come in the way of that. It could be that River needs all of Simon's attention, maybe she gets worse, or in the stories/story to come she needs his help in some way, and he doesn't have the time nor the room for a relationship at the time. All in all, though, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

"Found you!"
-River, in Safe

MURKYMERC

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 1:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TamSibling:
Simon is book smart while Kaylee is street smart.

If I may comment on just one peice of this. Has any considered that Kaylee may be of equal intellegence if not greater than Simon. She has that uncanny ability with machines without Simons privalaged background and education. To me, that is more impressive than the wealthy son of aristocrats becoming a successful doctor.

ZISKER

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:21 AM

Love ain't logical. If it were, my parents never would have gotten together.

But on a 'deeper' level: I think Kaylee would want a family eventually - or, given her character, could end up finding herself having a kid. I think she'd take it in the same, cheery stride that she takes everything else. I can also see Simon wanting more stability, and I believe that if he was the father he would try to do right by her and his sister - this could involve all three of them leaving Serenity or even staying, it's moot in this speculation.

I do believe that River will need some kind of supervision the rest of her life given that even if her condition is 'identified' and treatable, anyone with paranoid schizophrenia requires some level of monitoring. So we can assume that whoever Simon ends up with will have to be understanding about that - Kaylee would be ideal for this role as she's already friends with River.

There's also the "Once you've been through a highly traumatic experience with someone else you're stuck with each other" (which, come to think of it, could explain my parents). On that deep connecting level, how is Simon going to sit down with anyone else some day and talk about what it was like to spring his sister, have his faith in his way of life shattered, live on the raggedy edge, find a planet full of dead people, plan crimes to survive, get shot by Reavers etc. etc. etc. to someone who wasn't there? Will anyone else be able to ever really understand? Kaylee was there - they have that bond which will, at least, have them as close friends for the rest of their lives.

In the end, if anyone was going to break it off I do think it'd be Kaylee. But we don't know (yet) what would have happened. I think these two have a really good shot at making it. I don't believe it's doomed to failure.

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams

LEIASKY

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:02 AM

I think they have a good chance of staying together. I think there would be a lot of bumps along the way in their relationship, though. Simon saying the wrong thing and Kaylee taking it the wrong way, his dedication to his sister's well being. Stress of being on the run, Simon's hate/hate relationship with Jayne, and even tension with Mal.

I think Kaylee started out by just wanting Simon for sex, but as they got to know one another, become comfortable around each other, their friendship grew. The closer you get to the end of the series, you see their friendship slowly change.

The way he looks at her in the Message and Objects in Space. I think love grew out of a deepening friendship.

"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."

BITTERBIERCE

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:11 AM

"If I may comment on just one peice of this. Has any considered that Kaylee may be of equal intellegence if not greater than Simon"

No, no we haven't considered it. So she's good with ships, so is my idiot cousin.

BITTERBIERCE

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:18 AM

Anway, blah blah blah, but it just seems to me like Kaylee and Simon are the faithful types. Pretty damned solid faithful types too, like savagely faithful. In fact, they seem like the types that would stay faithful long after a marriage has gone downhill, too. Not that I think it would, because they're sweet types who would stay sweet.

All thag opposites stuff seems way overblown and mostly innacurate to me- not least of which because I don't see Kaylee as streetsmart at all, just basically adapted to a harsh universe. Simon would lose the stiff part once he humped her anyway.

And anyway they both seem like settling down types. And they both seem like types to bring up little 'uns, too.

REGINAROADIE

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:24 AM

Normally I'd post a long winded answer. But in this case, I'll refer you to my fanfic epic known as "You Can't Go Home Again". I think the whole story, once you've read it, would answer your basic questions.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Couldn't we at least abduct their political or religious leaders instead of just any idiot in a pick-up truck?"

"I'm sure the Great Leader has his reasons."

"Well I'm sure the Great Leader is just some sort of twisted ass freak."

"All right, I am now offically ignoring you, commence anal probing."

ASARIAN

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 1:45 PM

Hey TamSibling, I liked your post; made me think, it did.

I just want to say something about Kaylee (what, you think, not about River? why, she'll be in here, don't worry; lol).

Really, there's a whole lot more to Kaylee than sex. I think Kaylee shares an endearing quality with River: innocence. Like River gazing at the stars, full of joy and marvel, Kaylee is cheerful at life. She sees the beauty of things. A rare trait. Where others may frown, and wonder what the verse has gotten to, Kaylee will just say: "Look, they got boy whores! Isn't that thoughtful?" That's Kaylee for ya. She just keeps looking at things with innocent eyes. Not that she never had sex, or wants to, but she somehow never loses her basic innocence.

Hmm, this is the second time, in so many days, that I find myself taking a page from Kaylee's book, and loving it. I guess I really want to be like Kaylee. She has a cheerful soul. That speaks to me.

Now, as for your question, Simon and Kaylee, I like to see them together. It seems fitting somehow. Kaylee has faith in people; and Simon, noble as a grape, is like the very reason to have faith in people. There's poetic beauty in that.

Why, this Valentine's day is beginning more hopeful than I thought. :)

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

AGENTROUKA

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:09 PM

I can see those two just as easily working out as falling apart.

Pro: they force each other to grow.

Kaylee has to accept in Simon a man who cannot be HER hero. He's River's. Unlike every other man on the ship, he's not trying to protect her. She has to learn endurance and grow a bit of a spine during the course of their pre-romance. She starts standing up to the men in her life, let's go of her tendency to wait for a "perfect moment".
The Message is a very important eppy, there. The confrontation with Mal in the movie is also an excellent example.

Simon, on the other hand, finds in her someone who forces him to adapt to a new world but also has the patience to show him how. Simon operates strictly on familiar patterns, so this is indeed an important thing. Plus, she allows him to step outside of his tunnel-vision regarding River. Be just himself for a moment, remember the bright side to life.

Con: They really do not have so much in common. In fact, nothing at all, beyond sex and the above mentioned temporary effects.

Kaylee is pretty entrenched in her role as Serenity's mechanic. It's almost ideal, in her mind. She has all these fantasies about "fancy" things and at the same time she mocks the things that Simon still holds dear about that kind of life, like propriety.
I imagine she still has some illusions about what married life might be like, such as happy-sunshiny romance forever that would be shattered with the continued reality of Simon's caring for River. Not like River's brain will ever be un-cut on. It'd never be just them.
Add the burden of children and this could easily become a bad strain.

Simon lacks the sense of adventure that is inherent to Kaylee, but at the same time I think he would be bored with just a family life somewhere. He was a trauma surgeon, after all. I bet he misses that controlled adrenaline kick, the sense of being useful without being in danger.

The life he left behind was pretty much ideal for him, and in Kaylee he doesn't have someone who could even remotely substitute the thrill of academic challenges. She's brilliant but not in the spheres that he is.

They are both gifted, but in entirely different fields.

Much as I adore them, I can't find a single thing that they would both have in common, long-term. Something beyond sex or helping each other grow up to a point.

My guess would be a hot and mutually beneficial short-term relationship with a drawn-out break-up period but eventual friendship.

I'd gladly be convinced otherwise, though, if someone sees it differently. :)

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