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- Oh, we do love it when you get strict, Pegasus
- —Simon to Pamela (Pegasus) after she firmly reminds Johnny English, and the others that MI7’s current weapon of choice is dialogue.
Simela is the het ship between Pamela Thornton (Pegasus) and Simon Ambrose from the Johnny English fandom.
Canon[]
Pamela Thornton, or as she is more commonly known, Pegasus, and Simon Ambrose both used to work together at MI7, with Pamela being the Head of MI7 and Simon being the top agent or Agent 001.
When we first meet Pegasus she makes it clear that MI7 has changed a lot since the first movie and it now a much more modern state of the art intelligence. Though, the position of Agent 001 wasn’t anything new like Kate Sumner’s position as MI7’s Behavioural Psychologist, Simon himself was made Agent 001 by Pegasus, probably because he was the opposite of Johnny English who she despised and represented everything she wanted to change about the service, meaning Simon represented what she wanted the service to be like.
Both Pegasus and Simon share a disliking towards Johnny English, even after the events of the movie. Their personalities, however are somewhat different. While Pegasus is more serious, cold and doesn’t really smile, Simon is always smiling and entertaining Pegasus’ other employees with interesting stories of his adventures as an agent, he is also quite bold towards Pegasus throughout the movie by making bold comments and calling her Pamela behind her back, which is something no one does as only her family and close friends would refer to her as that because Pegasus is her known title and a sign of respect which all agents give to her. At the beginning of the movie, Pegasus is shown to like Simon a lot, and the two get quite well.
Key Moments In The Movie[]
Just as Johnny English is about to leave Pegasus’ office in his first meeting with her, she tells him that Agent 001 will meet him downstairs. This line doesn’t seem like it matters much until we find out that Pegasus calls every other character in the movie by their surname apart from Simon, who she constantly refers to as Agent 001, meaning he was more special to her than the other agents, as he is the very only one to be referred to with a different name, not even Agent 002 got that.
Johnny English meets Simon again after five years, and Simon shows Johnny around the toy cupboard, Pegasus enters and gives them a very firm reminder that dialogue is MI7’s current weapon of choice. Simon responds by looking over at her and telling her that they all loved it when she got strict before giving her a suggestive look, while she gives him a brief sharp look, and turns to do the same to Johnny when he laughs at Simon’s statement. Pegasus then proceeds to give Johnny English his orders to fly to Hong Kong to find out who is plotting to assassinate the Chinese Premier, Xiang Ping, before giving him an intimidating warning that he will not repeat what he did in Mozambique, and irritatedly walks off as he responds in a high pitched voice due to accidental eating a voice changing travel lozenge. He repeats this when Simon talks to him, causing him to walk off in the exact same way Pegasus did.
Later on in the movie, Johnny English finds out that a group called Vortex, which is comprised of three people from three different intelligence agencies, is behind the assassination plot. Johnny English gets this information from the first member, Titus Fisher, an agent from CIA, who is immediately killed afterwards by the third man in Vortex, they later find out the second man in Vortex is Artem Karlenko who is from KGB, he is also killed by the third man in Vortex in the same way. Luckily, though, he tells Johnny English that the third man in Vortex is in MI7 just before he dies. Johnny English then returns to MI7 and tells Pegasus about this during a meeting she is having with the Prime Minister, Simon and the Foreign Secretary. Pegasus gives him only twenty four hours to find out who it is. Then Simon proposes to her and the others that they go to Switzerland to have their talks with China as they are willing to lend them their Government Fortress. There are few more discussions as the Prime Minster asks Pegasus to be his translator before also asking her to bring her best man and she chooses Simon.
That night, Simon tells Pegasus that Johnny English is the third man in Vortex and she sends all of her agents apart from him out to kill Johnny. Luckily for Johnny English, they don’t manage to succeed because Patch Quatermain, the second agent is unable to take part due to Johnny steeling his wheelchair and using it to escape all the lower ranking agents.
Shortly afterwards, Pegasus and Simon go to Switzerland. Pegasus inspects the secure glass-walled room where the talks will take place and Simon talks her through how it works before offering to send her refreshments. She says thank you and retires to her room to read some notes. Simon has one of his assistants bring Pegasus cranberry juice, which notably is her favourite as she even asked for it herself during a deleted scene with Johnny English and Bough at the beginning of the movie. In this scene it is portrayed to be a normal thing that she usually asks for, showing that Simon knows a lot about Pegasus’ likes and dislikes and made the effort to bring her her favourite juice. Pegasus is just about to drink it, when Johnny English topples into her room in a body bag, claiming Simon was going to make her kill Xiang Ping, the Chinese Premier. Upon hearing this, Pegasus hurls a vase at his head, declaring him insane. Shortly afterwards, Simon arrives to stop him and Pegasus is incredibly relieved and comments on it. After she says this Johnny English tells her that Simon won’t help her and is here to give her a mind control drug that will make her obey his every command and kill Xiang Ping because Simon is actually the third man in Vortex. Not, believing him, Pegasus stays right up against the wall, her and Simon both looking over at each other briefly. While Johnny is asking Simon how he was going to get the drug into Pegasus, he unknowingly drinks it himself, leading Simon to reveal that he is actually the third man in Vortex to Pegasus. Confused and betrayed Pegasus berates him for it, calling him a traitor to the service and to the country, before he gets Johnny English to punch her in the face and knock her out after telling him to “shut her up”.
Once Agent Tucker and Kate Sumner manage to stop Johnny English from killing Xiang Ping, Simon runs away, just as Pegasus comes in with the rest of her agents, although she tells them not to shoot him. After he is gone, Pegasus stands next to Johnny’s collapsed body for quite some time without saying anything, perhaps contemplating on what Simon had done to her. Then Kate revives Johnny English, and after a brief celebration, Johnny English goes after Simon, which Pegasus tries to tell him not to do, he does not listen to her and goes anyway.
After Johnny English falls out of the cable car that he and Simon were in during their fight, he takes out an umbrella which he thinks is a bullet proof shield but is actually the wrong gadget. He tries to use it to shield himself while Simon is shooting at him, but it doesn’t work. While watching, Kate and Tucker realise this and run outside to shout this for Johnny to hear. Since the Prime Minister, Xiang Ping, and his translator have gone only Kate, Pegasus and Tucker are left. Kate and Tucker continue to shout this over and over again, knowing that if Johnny closes this umbrella it will blow up the cable car that Simon is in. Pegasus also knowing this, is the only one who doesn’t shout it to Johnny, in fact, she says absolutely nothing and stays inside, instead of running outside to the balcony like the others. Johnny eventually closes the umbrella which does blow up the cable car that Simon was in. That is the last Pegasus sees of Simon. After he betrayed her she now thinks that he is dead, while her friend, Kate, who hated Simon from the beginning, seems perfectly fine with it all.
Of course when Pegasus is in Buckingham Palace, one of Simon’s assistants—the killer cleaner—comes back to try and kill Johnny English again. This fails as she is caught by the guards. This shows that Simon might still be alive, as he would have needed send her to do that, and it may have been a sign he sent for Pegasus to tell her he was still alive. This is the end of the movie, so we never see Pegasus and Simon together again.
Luckily for Pegasus, though her and Simon’s relationship ended tragically, she doesn’t seem to upset in Buckingham Palace and even smiles at Kate while they talk about how pleased they are that Xiang Ping didn’t die.
Quotes[]
- Pegasus – “Gentlemen, may I remind you all that MI7’s current weapon of choice is dialogue.”
- Simon – “Oh, we do love it when you get strict, Pegasus.”
- Simon – “The door can withstand mortar attack, the door’s one way, you can get out, but no one gets in.”
- Pegasus – “Excellent”
- Simon – “I’ll, uh, have them send refreshments to your room when you’re ready, Pegasus.”
- Pegasus – “Thank you, Agent 001.”
- Pegasus – “Agent 001, what’s going on?”
- Simon – “Oh, he’s quite harmless at this phase…the drug will kill him, but just before it does there will be a short window where he’ll do everything I tell him to.”
- Pegasus – “You are a traitor to this service and to your country!”
- Simon – “Do shut her up old chap.”
- “Agent 001, thank God!”
- — Pegasus when Simon comes into her room after Johnny tries to distract her from drinking the mind control drug in Switzerland.
Fanon[]
Simela is one of the more popular ships in the Johnny English fandom. It is rivalled by Kamela, as the two ships heavily contrast. The reason for its popularity is probably because of the many hints in their dialogue that suggest they have feelings towards each other, like Simon’s bold comments or Pegasus’ expressions of gratitude and special treatment. Another reason it is popular is due to the tragic history of the characters, and the fact that they used to be on good terms. This has lead fans to imagine that Pegasus was actually in love with Simon before he betrayed her and that he broke her heart afterwards. They also imagine that Simon did not realise he liked Pegasus until he betrayed her because he saw her reaction and realised that he really did not want her to hate him. Another reason it is popular is because of the many dynamics that the two have: enemies to lovers, betrayal, Pegasus being his boss, Pegasus being serious and never really smiling while Simon smiles all of the time, them becoming rivals, and the noticeable height difference with Pegasus being 5’6 with the high heels and Simon being 6’3. Also, fans like to imagine reconciliation scenarios between the two of them.
On the other hand, though, some people may dislike the ship because it looks like a very toxic relationship post betrayal and may only end in suffering in their eyes. These fans tend to prefer healthier ships dynamics in the Johnny English movies and think Simela would never work out.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Pamela Thornton/Simon Ambrose tag on AO3
- PamelaThornton/SimonAmbrose stories on Wattpad
- FAN ART
- Simela fan art on Pinterest
Trivia[]
- Simela first came about after fans started to notice the subtle chemistry between them e.g. the delete scene where Simon starts off by insulating Pegasus, before complementing her by commenting on how attractive her legs are.
- Pegasus talks about Simon the most out of all the characters in Johnny English.
- Simela was the first ship with Pegasus to ever be shipped.
- Simela was the second ever Johnny English ship to have a story about it be published on Wattpad.
- Simon and Pegasus’ last names both mix together to make “Thornrose”, Pegasus’ last name starting with “Thorn” and Simon’s ending in “rose”.
Gallery[]
