Power (402)

[vilakins]

As this is more misogynist crap from the dickhead Steed, you don't get a proper review. There are very few good things about this episode and they are: Gunn Sar's embroidery, the running joke about his head count, Vila's scene with Pella, and the crew acquiring a teleport and Soolin. These are however not enough to make me watch this sexist shit except for the Vila and Pella scene because it's neither.

Pella is amused by Vila and kind to him; she must recognise very quickly that he's not the sort of man she's used to. Awww, the look on his face when she strokes his hand. :-) He also shows that he's clever when he talks about the stress patterns and what they tell him--and of course there's his "academy" CF1. :-) A fan thought it might stand for Correctional Facility 1, and since we learn in the next episode that Vila was sent to a penal colony at 14, my fanon is that they're the same place. Pella even says sorry to Vila when she throws him to the floor. What a pity that she had to meet Avon who was much more a Hommik and definitely not harmless.

I have this theory that Vila's teleport accidents are due to him not wanting to go where it's sending him and this affects its workings. The accidents happen when he's sent into danger, not to the ship, except for this once. It makes sense however: Vila had no idea whether it would work so he blocked it somehow (with some sort of low-level telepathy?) until he heard the others and realised it was safe.

And yay, we now have Soolin, who won't take any rubbish.

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Pella's reaction to Vila is indeed interesting, because in her own way she's as ruthless and unpleasant as Avon (she too kills a friend, and put her in the shuttle in Orbit; the only difference would be that she'd have found Vila's hiding place). It's almost as if not only do they each recognise Vila's lack of danger but something else in him that they occasionally yearn for in themselves, for about 5 seconds before they start being bastards again.

Pella is like the woman in Sarcophagus in seeing him as a potential pet. Which must, I think, mean that they both see him as non-sexual, which wouldn't please him....

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

they both see him as non-sexual

I get the impression most do. Only Kerril saw him differently and he certainly seemed very surprised. I rather think he plays the flirt to either spark some interest (which he doesn't) or to convince others (and perhaps himself) that he really could be sexually attractive. Because underneath it all is an odd innocence that I think he'd want to hide.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I like the idea about the mindset effect the teleport.

Also... that episode was terrible.
But I had an interesting thought at one point. If a man under psychic enhancement would have stronger powers than a woman, that would mean it was based on energy from mass-- not intelligence or will. So... fatties would totally RULE on that planet.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Gunn Sar was quite a big guy, as were a lot of the Hommiks.

[auroramama]

Oooh, that's very clever. I think Robin Hobb had a fat-based sorcery system in a recent series, but as so often, I couldn't handle the extreme humiliation she engineers for her lead characters.