NUCLEARDAY'S BLOG

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Pimping Firefly and Musing on Kaylee
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Well, it must be spring-time again. Birds and the bees, and leaves on the trees. Went on what I suppose could be called a first date with one of the girls from work the other day. Or I guess it's a date. I don't know, I've sorta been out of the "market" for a couple years now, kind of forgot how that's supposed to work. (And how is it that it's always when I'm specifically not looking for a relationship that the women-folk seem to come out of the woodwork? :)

... Is it morally wrong that I also used us hanging out as an excuse to spread the signal a bit? Figured it'd be a good ice-breaker, though, and it's always good to share interests early on. Still feels a bit under-handed I suppose ;p She seemed to like the first few episodes well enough, though, and we had a couple good laughs. Always hard to tell, though, if it's 'cause she liked it or it was just from her having a crush on me. (Not that I'm such a great catch or terribly 'crush-worthy', but hey... she asked me out, so I can hardly be held responsible for an over-inflated ego today :) Anyways, guess I'll see how it all plays out. There's some chemistry going on I have to admit despite my own commitment phobias

Also: posted a little digital collage of Kaylee the other day in the BSR. Had a reply from someone wondering what it all meant. I still maintain that if I could explain it eloquently, I'd have written a fanfic instead. (Not to mention that if it's terribly hard to brain-work, I didn't do that great a job of putting it together :) But I figure I could give it the old college try ;) Link to the pic is here, btw: http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=9562

(Which, thanks to the wonders of being able to edit this before posting: you'll never have a clue as to how many times I've tried explaining this :)

Okay... In a nutshell, I've wondered on occassion if Kaylee really knew what she was getting into when she hopped on board Serenity. I'm sure none of the crew regret their decisions, don't get me wrong. Just seems like she's maybe in over her head at times, I suppose. Mal was looking for a competent mechanic when he offered our little prairy harpy with a fetish for engines a job, and got more in the bargain than he'd realized, I'm sure. And Kaylee was looking forward to adventure, new places, and a big shiny engine to play with when she took the job. And she certainly got more than she bargained, as well.

Sure, Kaylee's as integral to that ship and crew as any of those under Mal's captaincy. And certainly quite competent and not as naive as she appears. But she ain't Zoe. Or even Wash. That is to say, Kaylee's not so much in the running around and shooting people department. Of course, properly motivated... well, we know how that works ;p But nonetheless, I'd rather have even Simon backing me up in a firefight or heist gone-wrong than Kaylee.

That said, surely Mal would never knowingly put Kaylee in a dangerous sitation. But we all know what happens to the best laid plans. We've seen that Serenity has a knack for getting into trouble from time to time. These are criminals, after all. It's a dangerous life. A life she might not quite be cut out for? I don't know. I don't have an answer for that.

Serenity wouldn't be the same without her (or any of the crew,) and I don't see Kaylee getting disillusioned and leaving, either. Serenity's certainly where she belongs. But Kaylee as a gun-toting killer ain't Kaylee either. Not by a long shot. So... I'm not sure... there's a bit of a dichotomy there. I just find it intriguingly... incongruent? I don't even know if it's something Joss intended?

I guess... that's partly the theme of my little project? I think it's also a bit more than that, too. Kaylee's the heart of the ship, so I think her plight speaks to the show as a whole as well?

Mostly, I was playing around with that contrast of Kaylee in some... bad situations, and also how despite it all she's still sunny little Kaylee most of the time. I think, by and large, I was exploring more than trying to define anything... and I still haven't got the end of the rabbit hole.

Anyways, I think if you actually read all that, then you can see why I chose to do a pretty little collage of Kaylee :) There's an aspect there that I can't even nail down. If you see the piece, and can't find the greater meaning, it's likely because I couldn't quite grasp it either. Sometimes a pipe is a pipe, and sometimes it's a picture of a pipe, and even other times it's not even about the pipe at all... (Sorry, got a little artsy-fartsy there. Google Rene Magritte if you're wondering about the pipe thing :)

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