Character Info
Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye was portrayed by Jewel Staite. Kaylee has exceptional mechanical aptitude, despite her lack of formal training, and serves as ship's mechanic on Serenity. Kaylee is considered by the crew to be exceptionally sweet and chipper, the type who maintains a bright and positive attitude even when others are feeling low. Jewel Staite explains Kaylee's character as being wholesome, sweet, and "completely genuine in that sweetness", adding "She loves being on that ship. She loves all of those people. And she's the only one who loves all of them incredibly genuinely." Staite told Interview magazine, "She's kind of a floozy who wears her heart on her sleeve." Kaylee has shown an affinity for strawberries. Despite her mechanical aptitude which allows Kaylee to fix just about anything, she has a desire for girlish things and is annoyed when Mal does not see that she is a woman as well as a mechanic. Although most notable in the episode "Shindig"—when he criticized her desire to purchase an elaborate dress on the grounds that she would have no opportunity to wear it in her job—this recurs throughout the series. The background of the character is revealed in the episode "Out of Gas", showing her joining the crew of Serenity. The ship's captain, Malcolm Reynolds, interrupted her and Bester, the ship's mechanic at the time, having sex in Serenity's engine room. However, when Bester incorrectly informed Mal that the ship could not be fixed, Kaylee quickly proved him wrong by diagnosing the problem and repairing the grounded Serenity virtually on the spot. Impressed with her mechanical ability, Mal immediately offered her Bester's job. Kaylee happily accepted, and left her family (and Bester) behind to join the crew. When Kaylee is shot in the stomach in the pilot episode, Simon Tam uses her injury as a bargaining chip to be allowed to remain on Serenity with his sister, River. Jayne Cobb would embarrass her in this and later episodes by making fun of her attraction to Simon, usually right in front of Simon. The romantic attraction to Simon Tam remains unconsummated during the run of the series, even though it is clear that Simon bears strong feelings for her as well. (In the novelization of Serenity, River reveals that the attraction between Simon and Kaylee is not a simple crush or infatuation, but that the two are in fact, in love.) It is often his 'proper' attitude that prevents the two of them from ever engaging in a more meaningful relationship, or his dedication to protecting his sister.[citation needed] The problem is compounded by the fact that he sometimes makes comments that hurt Kaylee's feelings, insulting the lifestyle of the crew, Serenity, and even herself, though he never intentionally means to insult her; a prominent example of his ineptitude at making conversation is in "The Message" when he described her as 'the only girl in the world', on the grounds that all the other women he knew were either married (Zoe), professional (Inara) or related to him (River). Simon himself almost never gets mad at Kaylee, the exception being "Objects in Space" when Kaylee revealed River's disturbing aptitude with a firearm, which placed a dark cloud over River in the eyes of the others. In the movie Serenity, Simon Tam confesses his feelings for her, which she reciprocates. The ending depicts the two finally consummating their relationship; Kaylee and shirtless Simon kiss each other passionately, then sink to the engine room floor (falling out of frame in the process), with River peeking in wide-eyed from an overhead hatch.