I don't really get the Simon appeal - I think it must be hard to play Simon. He's a hard character to give appeal to. He is there to exposit a lot about River and worry about her and try to make her better. I like his bond with River but it sort of defines him and makes him slightly one-dimensional. He can't fulfil his life's ambition because of River. He can't make a move on Kaylee because of River. He can't leave the ship and go home because of River.

I don't dislike Simon but I don't really love him either. I like his relationship with Jayne and I like that he's the butt of a lot of jokes. There seems to be quite a lot of Simon fic around. I've seen some Simon/Inara fic which is just wrong on many levels.