Post BDM: Kaylee and Simon?

POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Friday, September 10, 2010 03:12
VIEWED: 16959
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Simon is interested. He's not the smoothest operator and he's mother hen to River, but he is interested. Also I'd like to think that romance in the core and at his family's level of standing is very formal, almost victorian. That said, Kaylee is certainly MUCH more interested, invested, over the moon than he is. Plus, she's very sexually open and from a extremely different upbringing and background, where sex was obviously viewed differently. They're both interested, however the differences are what makes the attempted relationship so difficult.

Now at the end of Serenity, I feel Simon after nearly dying had a 'throw caution to the wind, live life to the fullest' sort of outlook. He had reevaluated everything during the reaver battle and obviously felt with his back against the metaphoric flames there were some things he regretted not doing.

I figure Post-BDM Kaylee and Simon's relationship is fairly hot and heavy, both sort of still in the 'seize the moment' mindset. It could last for awhile, they could be in a bliss like haze for quite some time.

Long term though? not a chance.

Now I love Simon and Kaylee, however after things settle down, Simon's going to say something stupid. REALLY stupid, it's in the poor guy's nature. Kaylee has shown that she has a track record for not forgiving his faux pas and taking it a little too seriously. I can see it happening frequently, with Mal getting out of sorts because all of the quarreling means his mechanic and medic are not focusing on work.

Simon, being the proper core man he is, may want to make Kaylee an honest woman and settle down with her. But is that really what she wants? Kaylee is carefree, and has never talked about settling down and has never been portrayed that way. And even if she did, they come from two vastly different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, if they managed to sit down and have a mature, in depth conversation, could they agree on what they wanted for the future?
Where to live? Simon clearly DOES NOT like the concept of space, or spaceship. If the Alliance thought he and River were no longer a problem, he'd happily pack his things and move River either back to the core where he could be a surgeon, or even to a little rim town to practice medicine and live a semi-normal existence. Kaylee would never leave her girl, and if she did and was confined to the ground as a core housewife, she'd be bored to tears. And even if she was a mechanic at a rim town, would she really be happy? She loves Serenity,she loves her crew, she loves going places and exploring and having that carefree adventure element because it's all apart of who she is.
And how to raise their kids? Simon was raised rich, and from what we've been given probably a lot of structure and grooming and emphasis on education. Kaylee possibly didn't have a formal education at all and was raised in a far less structured environment.
These are just two hurdles out of many.

In all honesty, I can see that after things settle down either the relationship ends somewhat bitterly or they both step back, evaluate the situation (with some of asking of advice and perspective from Inara and the others) and end it on friendly terms. Simon would sulk and lament over it for some time, but Kaylee would possibly work her way out of it by finding herself some company every time they make port. Of course this would not be fun for Simon (seeing someone either heading back to the engine room for good times or leaving the engine room), however who's to say he wouldn't gather up his courage and try to prove he's moved on by attempting to court someone else (emphasis on attempt) or bury himself in work?

I can also see them perhaps after months or a year or two falling back onto one another. Sort of one of those after it's over lying there and wondering 'what the f*** just happened with us?" occurrence. Followed by awkwardness, a reigniting of the relationship and an attempt to start over and do it all the right way. I'm not saying that it would be happily ever after from there on out, but

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I agree with your assessment, except on one thing: whether Kaylee would be happy running a mechanics shop.

I don't disagree that she loves Serenity and enjoys the adventure. And we also know that she left her father's mechanics shop because it had fallen on hard times.

But in Better Days, it's made fairly clear that Kaylee dreams of running her own mechanics shop. The part where she dreamed about opening it as a big factory in the core is a concession to her wishes to be with Simon, and a belief that Simon would only be happy in the core.

In any case, if Kaylee's seed money for her mechanics shop hadn't been stolen, I do believe she would have left Serenity, started a mechanics shop somewhere, and would have been happy.

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I meant to respond to this a looong time ago.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
I agree with your assessment, except on one thing: whether Kaylee would be happy running a mechanics shop.

I don't disagree that she loves Serenity and enjoys the adventure. And we also know that she left her father's mechanics shop because it had fallen on hard times.

But in Better Days, it's made fairly clear that Kaylee dreams of running her own mechanics shop. The part where she dreamed about opening it as a big factory in the core is a concession to her wishes to be with Simon, and a belief that Simon would only be happy in the core.

In any case, if Kaylee's seed money for her mechanics shop hadn't been stolen, I do believe she would have left Serenity, started a mechanics shop somewhere, and would have been happy.

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You're right however Kaylee's daydream and what would happen is she and Simon settled on some rim planet are a little different.

She left her homeworld because of the job opportunity, but also because of the sheer idea of taking care of such a ship all by herself and getting to see the 'Verse. In that scene Kaylee projects a good deal of 'Little Country Girl Excited About Seeing the Breat Big 'Verse'. Being around that age I know that feeling coming from a small town (like rim planet small town). You may love your folks to death, but if there's an opportunity to take off and see some sites that don't include field rows, you're all for it.

As for her not minding being dirtside, those is Kaylee's ideal conditions for parting with Serenity. Presumably on a nice planet, lots of money, able to relocate her folks to said place, and a huge top of the line mechanics shop.

If she left with Simon, they couldn't settle on a nice, prosperous place like Pershephone, or a decent border world. They'd end up having to keep a low profile on a developing world. And as eager as Kaylee was to leave home, it's been shown that see truly sees the crew as family. Would she leave that family to brave a life hiding out on the rim and potentially ending up living in a similar situation as her parents with little work?

Now I think she would move back to the core with him if he could return because she's just so enamored with the high class lifestyle. However I also think that she would tire of that quickly. Simon would come home to find her in the garage changing the hovercar's oil or something.

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

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I didn't say that I thought she'd end up in the Core, only that her dream was to start a mechanic shop in the Core. :)

Going to the Core I think is going to be out of the question. And I honestly believe that Serenity is not going to be a home for the crew forever. It's dangerous. Eventually, they'll all split ways, or they'll all die together. I prefer the former, it's less melodramatic.

She'll settle down somewhere little known without many Cortex connections. And maybe Simon will be there with her, having realized his old life is gone, but he's got a perfectly good new life he can start living. Or maybe not. But Rim world with her own mechanic shop is where I see Kaylee when Serenity is put to rest.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by jake7:
Once the newness wore off, they'd find out they're a terrible match, end up in a bad breakup, and there would be much hostility between them.

They could do all sorts of stuff with that...and no one has to die.

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We've seen this dance before, I'm thinkin'.


Cordy and Wes, anyone ?



The T.Rex they call JANE!

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