Orbit (411)

[vilakins]

Ah yes, the episode that inspired so many fics (with or without red fur) and gets at least a mention in most PGPs. It's very OTT (and OOC) but entertaining enough though it's a strange mix of humour, cruelty, and betrayal.

Vila still doesn't trust Tarrant. I wonder it they were still considering making him a double-agent. or whether at least parts of this script were written back when they did.

Come on, Avon, surely you didn't believe that a screen would instantly show what was happening 17 light-years away? That had to be a set-up. I doubt the tachyon funnel did anything.

Vila acts quite OOC here. There's when he offers to nail Egrorian's enemies to posts and send him the pictures, and later when he behaves like a complete idiot with Dayna and Soolin. He has to be being flippant with Egrorian, perhaps infected by Avon's strangely (and also OOC) playful, almost hyper mood, but the clowning about later pretending to know all about tachyons? That has to be a joke too because Vila really isn't that stupid or oblivious, but I don't know why he's acting the fool there. Sheer high spirits at this point? It still doesn't explain him suggesting to Avon that they break Egrorian and Pinder's necks and take the tachyon funnel. Where's our "I'm a thief, not a murderer"? At least he seems a bit concerned about Pinder. Robert Holmes usually writes Vila well (and as an intelligent person), but he's all over the place here.

And of course Servalan is behind the whole thing. [rolls eyes]

Egrorian seems to fancy Vila as a replacement "golden-haired stripling".

I do think Avon would have found and killed Vila eventually, even though he didn't want to. His odd voice betrays internal conflict and he does seem to be taking his time finding Vila, but I'd say he'd have done it if he hadn't stumbled across the neutron-star material.

I wonder if Pinder left it right where one of them would find it. I can believe it; Vila did show him some sympathy. As it is, he gets his revenge on Egrorian.

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

This one is a complete no-no for me because of the OOC stuff. What you said re Vila, but I think Avon is damn near as OOC. Apart from his credulity re the funnel (he's cheating, why doesn't he assume Egrorian is?), there's his uncharacteristic failure to do his research (Tarrant has done it and he hasn't?) plus throwing his habitual caution to the winds by not using the teleport. And he continues in this course even after having good reason to think Servalan may be about? I don't think so. There is also the slight problem that this funnel is such an indiscriminate and immoral device that I can't help thinking Tarrant at least might think it too unsporting to contemplate using, and if they did use it, they would instantly forfeit any public support they had.

I think if this were a fan story it would be clear that someone wanted to set up an angsty situation and threw credibility out of window to do so. The longer I've watched B7, the lower I rate the Holmes stories - all of them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I rather like "Killer". That's a very punchy ending.

Yes, Avon's also very OOC, but frankly he's been losing it all season so it's not as obvious.

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

I think you have the right point there about Avon. He very much likes to be in control, but after being so comprehensively fooled by Servelan at the end of S3, things have been slipping away from him.

He wants revenge on Servelan for his humiliation on Terminal so he decides to fight back, as Blake did. He doesn't have the Liberator or the fortune in gems etc it had, so he can't continue running and looting as he did in series 3 anyway.

So he starts seeking allies in S4 and it keeps going horribly wrong (Stardrive/Animals/Headhunter). The crew is losing faith in him, and Avon is losing faith in himself. By the end of series 4, the pressure's getting too much and he is, as you say, losing it. In the end of course, he tries to hand the whole mess over to Blake, to let him take charge again. Only by then, Avon doesn't even really trust himself, and we all know how that works out.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I actually wonder whether he was programmed on Terminal. It would explain the personality changes and perhaps even Servalan's ubiquity if they implanted a tracer.

[babel.livejournal.com]

Hm, I totally disagree with you about OOCness, but that's okay. XD More loving Orbit for me.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I don't think Avon hunting Vila was OOC (it was logical) but they both behave oddly at times.

[brosus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do think that they behave strangely in the episode, but I also think there's a difference between bad writing OOC and characters not quite behaving like themselves due to their situation.