Gold (410)

[vilakins]

This isn't that bad for a season 4 episode though it lacks the usual B7 witty dialogue.

Even though the crew's plans fail yet again, it's a fairly entertaining story despite the lack of humour. Avon meets yet another "old friend", presumably from his criminal past. Roy Kinnear is fun in the role.

Vila is quite tough and menacing with Keiller when he thinks Avon and Soolin are dead. It's a side of hem we've hardly seen and I wonder if he'd have come out of his shell and even taken over to some extent if Avon really had been dead.

I'm surprised Soolin didn't notice the non-standard guns; that's her area of expertise after all. And come on, Avon, any connection with a previous President means Servalan yet again. [rolls eyes]

Vila doesn't revert to his usual S4 self even when Avon and Soolin are back, staying tough and hard and cynical. Maybe it's because this is his area of expertise even though he's chosen to take no part in it.

Zerok must have quite a population if the ship's now full of idle rich passengers from there. Haha, the "pyro sauna units" reach parts that other units don't. Something like the pleasure machines mentioned in "Horizon"?

And of course our guys lose and Servalan wins. Figures. That's S4 for you. [sigh]

Comments

[usuallyhats]

I wonder if he'd have come out of his shell and even taken over to some extent if Avon really had been dead.
Oo, I hadn't thought of that, but it's a possibility - he would be the last of the original crew left, too.

[vilakins]

I read a fic in which he did become leader, but at Avon's request, which I didn't consider very likely. I doubt that Vila could handle Avon still being around and criticising, but this ep certainly makes him look like an excellent successor--and a saner one at this point.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I've always thought Vila's behaviour throughout indicates that this episode should come after Orbit rather than before. At the start, Avon is grinning manically at him, as if he's trying harder than usual to pretend everything's normal, but Vila is shaking his head (isn't he? this is from memory) and seems quite detached from the crew's excitement about the plan. And he's the one staying on Scorpio; evidently he isn't taking the line that he's "safe with Avon". And then he's so grim when he thinks Avon (and Soolin, of course) is dead, as if he's regretting the fact that it's ended like this and there's not going to be any chance of reconciliation. But later, after Avon turns out to have survived after all, Vila does make him sweat a little before teleporting him out; perhaps he's decided that that's just enough revenge before they really do go back to normal.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It would work very well after "Orbit". I wonder if the broadcast order was meant to be different.

OTOH I've read fics in which Avon was paying him back for that hesitation.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think Avon's actions derive purely from his survival instinct. I can't imagine that, if Vila had been a bit quicker on the teleport a week earlier, Avon would have said either "we'll die together" or "I'll sacrifice myself". The only question is whether he'd have tried a bit harder to work out how the ship's been sabotaged, but if he hadn't managed that I think he'd still have dumped Vila.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree completely, though his strange voice shows there was some internal conflict.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think he'd have been very upset, though he'd have tried not to admit it. But it wouldn't stop him.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

That's a fascinating idea and would certainly work better than the canonical running order.