Kaylee Frye

[ray gower]

What makes the characters in Firefly tick?

The series finished before it got going, leaving a huge hole in what we know and understand about them. There must be some good theories about them, so let's have some thoughts?

Let us have a go at Kaylee here?

[ray gower]

I have a little problem with Kaylee. She is just a little too happy go lucky to be real.

Still she is cheerful and transparent enough in a simple way to be able to accept whatever is going on and it can be quite funny.
Simon: "What is going on here?"
Kaylee: "Oh, crime."

It leads to a slight problem in the last of the series where she is mindlessly playing with River, after having been captured, tied up and threatened with heinous damage. I have no problem with her not becoming a gun totting killer though, that she could not pull a trigger was plain and evident.

She seems fascinated by Inara's trade, or at least Inara's tales of adventure in polite society. If she has inklings to join that fraternity, she will have to loose some of her generous spirit.

Otherwise she appears to be a simple 'Country Girl', with a gift for ship's engines

[Lonewolf89]

I think the main thing with Kaylee is she sees Mal and the rest of the crew as nice people that she trusts. She hasn’t really gotten her mind wrapped around the idea that they’re criminals, that they kill people at times, and that they’ve got the government on their tail. She came onto the Serenity to be around engine room. She didn’t come onboard wanting to start a high paced life of crime and she doesn't see that side of her job.

As far as ‘Objects in Space’ goes I think Kaylee tries to push the bad things in her life into the back of her mind. She buries those memories and focuses on the good things in her life. She also feels safe around the crew. She obviously is attached to Mal and she thinks he had protect her from anything. And so far she’s been right.

[Brown Rat]

One of the many things I enjoy about Kaylee is that she's a tomboy with a yearning for certain girlie things (like that tiered-cake, frilly dress).

I don't think she's completely naive about danger--even the danger posed by her shipmates. After River shoots the bad guys without even looking in "War Stories," Kaylee seems leary of River.

[Loner]

I think she is trusting. Not in a naive way but in the sense that she gives people her trust until she is given a reason not to. She gives everyone a chance.
A sort of "Innocent until proven guilty" system of friendship, I guess.
And she doesn't judge people. That's sweet. And rare.


I want to know more about Wash. What brings someone like him to a raggedy bunch like them? He just doesn't seem to fit. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Wash! But he can be so law abiding sometimes...and pacifist (both good things). How did he end up with them and why? That's what I'd like to know.

[Wilwarin]

Originally Posted by Loner

I want to know more about Wash. What brings someone like him to a raggedy bunch like them? He just doesn't seem to fit. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Wash! But he can be so law abiding sometimes...and pacifist (both good things). How did he end up with them and why? That's what I'd like to know.

I want to know what happened to his moustache ... and how Zoe went from "don't like him" to married. But I'm soppy that way!

[PTeppic]

Originally Posted by Wilwarin

I want to know what happened to his moustache ... and how Zoe went from "don't like him" to married. But I'm soppy that way!

For the first, on a statistical basis:
a) because Zoe wanted him to remove it, OR
b) he got bored with, tired of maintaining it, OR
c) fashions(!) changed

For the second, simply close proximity for extended periods of time...

[Brown Rat]

Hey, I'm feeling sorry for poor Kaylee here, as Wash's dynamic personality--or maybe it's his dinosaurs?--takes over her land. ("And we will call it . . . This Land." )

[Wilwarin]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

For the first, on a statistical basis:
a) because Zoe wanted him to remove it, OR
b) he got bored with, tired of maintaining it, OR
c) fashions(!) changed

For the second, simply close proximity for extended periods of time...

First most likely IMHO, that's how I got rid of my husband's goatee ... mwahaha. But Brown Rat is right, poor Kaylee. I do like her character but there's not that much to her, is there? I don't see that much of a character arc for her in the future (should there be a future, fingers and toes crossed) ... although more than for Wash, obviously. Does she have hidden depths I've missed?

[PTeppic]

She's kind of like a little girl who happens to be a natural with engines and is now in space with a load of outlaws.

Although it's rarely mentioned she's not as innocent as she looks, almost the opposite, remembering how she got her job. It would be pretty cliched for her to have a plotline where she falls in love. Then presumably gets jilted somehow. The alternative would be an old lover, somehow. Perhaps less cliched?

She seems to have no malice in her body (as above, pretty much the opposite) so can she have any of those kinds of plotlines that say Jayne would have, where a previous wrong-doer against turns up? Probably not, unless that's a direction they want to highlight.

How about, her family make out she's been kidnapped for some reason, rather than leaving home voluntarily - makes life difficult for the Serenity crew?

[Loner]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

How about, her family make out she's been kidnapped for some reason, rather than leaving home voluntarily - makes life difficult for the Serenity crew?

I can't see that happening considering that in Out of Gas she says "I'll just go tell my parents" when she is offered the job on Serenity. But that's because I imagine her parents as liberal hippy types... not conniving Jayne-types.

I would imagine she has experience with Companions (or their less glamourous sisters) based on her interaction with Inara. I guess she's an only child or she would have mentioned it, what with Simon and River on board.

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by Loner

I guess she's an only child or she would have mentioned it, what with Simon and River on board.

Interesting observation, Loner. I usually expect someone who was an only child to be more self-centered than Kaylee. She's so good at sharing and at caring about others' feelings that I always thought of her as coming from a large family (the sort of hippie family you mention). But you've made me rethink my assumption: I realize that, like a only child, she has a confident sense of who she is and of the universe being a kind and wonderful place.

[Loner]

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

Interesting observation, Loner. I usually expect someone who was an only child to be more self-centered than Kaylee.

I always thought so too. I do have siblings and have often resented the enforced sharing! However (as the eldest) I feel the need to make sure everyone is included and has a share in what is going around. I have in the past witnessed the lack of empathy or guilt in the only child. (No offence intended to the single children out there who are not like this at all!)

I kind of imagined Kaylee'd be the "mother-hen" type looking after all the littl'ns, but I realised she wouldn't have had all that and never mentioned it. She's not the kind to keep things hidden or bottled up. If she had a lot of siblings and relations I believe she'd've mentioned it.

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

I realize that, like a only child, she has a confident sense of who she is and of the universe being a kind and wonderful place.

Exactly. She has the kind of trust in Mal that one might have in a parent or older sibling.

[carrie221]

I always saw her as having a very large family with her being one of the oldest but not the oldest.

She does seem to share well and looks out for everyone. But not the oldest as she seems to think it is natural looking up to someone.

[Wilwarin]

I imagined she would have brothers at least, and been a tomboy. Also, thinking about it, I can't see her agreeing to leave home so quickly and cheerfully if it meant her dad would have no-one left to help him.