My fanwank for the deception (since we saw Simon being so bad at it in Jaynestown but so good at it in Ariel) is that a) the people he funded coached him on how to behave and b) Simon is much more comfortable in an academic or medical facility than in mudpits.

Plus, the deception in Jaynestown was sprung on him, and was not his idea whatsoever.

Am I wrong, or is it understood that Simon does not know what is in the box until it is opened? That was always my impression.

If he is only crossing his fingers that Big Scary Box contains his sister, then he cannot have seen her into it in the first place. If he is the one who put her into it, then his only point of dreadful uncertainty should be whether or not she is still alive in it. (Or, I suppose, in a Marx Brothers world, whether his Big Scary Box was switched with that of someone smuggling crawdads in bulk.)

I never had that impression, Nutty. While I have issues with him putting on the ruse and effecting River's escape himself, I can't see him giving people money to rescue his sister and then leaving it on faith that they big box they gave him had her inside. Plus, nothing in his demeanor suggests to me he has any doubts about the box's content.

It was pretty clear to me that Simon knew River was in the box.

And, to be fair to Serenity's version of the rescue, his unwillingness to defrost her could be read as him knowing how badly she'd been messed with, which it's hard to think he'd believe if he hadn't seen it in person.

Plus, there may be medical reasons not to refreeze someone for a certain period of time after they thaw out, or that the box was a one time use thing. And, of course, it's easier to travel with a big box than a crazy, psychic, ninja-groove trained assasin. Which, yes, could have been explained with a throwaway line, but, hey, what's the fun of that?

Leave it to Buffistas to show that there is no paucity of ways to explain the use of the box after the escape without it appearing forced into the story. God bless us, ev'ry one. To add mine to the pile: in addition to keeping the amount of attention-getting craziness to a minimum during the escape, she certainly needed time during which her mind was not getting very much stimulation. A good way to staunch the wound, as it were.

I got the sense from the episode Serenity that he knew it was her, he was anxious about the effect defrosting her too early would have, and he was terrified he'd be turned in.

The thing I'm wondering about is - when he was gonna go down to "check" on his "personal effects" - what was the deal there? Did the box have a vital signs readout or something? Because he obviously wasn't going to unfreeze her and take her to his room (cuz, um, they'd probably notice the new passenger).

I assumed that he had to keep checking on some kind of read out on the cryo-unit. And that unfreezing her early wasn't a good idea.

when he was gonna go down to "check" on his "personal effects" - what was the deal there?

Plus, I think that after what had happened, he wanted to be close to his sister, even if she wasn't aware he was there.

Exactly. The person who means the most to you in this entire 'verse is in a box in the cargo bay, you'd most likely find it hard to stay away, cover or no cover. Notice how intently he looks at the box during the Dobson is Clumsy sequence; I don't see him checking readouts. I see him staring at all he has in the world, and staring at it exactly like you would stare at the only thing you have in the world.