Leia Fee wrote:
Well is it any wonder the poor dab is a wreck by the end of the series? His luck all the way through is absolutely dismal.
Totally agree!
...he's very very good at stealing - why did he keep getting caught? His luck has obviously always been just as bad as it is during the series.
A good explanation! I always wondered that too.
Though all we know specifically is the juvenile detention wards (presumably before the arrest at age 14), CF-1 (correctional facility one?), the penal colony he went to at 14 (these two could be the same, as he does refer to CF-1 as an academy, so he was probably quite young), and Cygnus Alpha.
they'd be unlikely to accept "But I didn't really want to" as an excuse.
Though he does try it with Arlen! :-)
*Everyone* on the crew has a go at him verbally right from the beginning, even those who aren't usually too hard on him. And in s4 they all treat him with utter contempt almost all the time.
It's tragic. Yeah, he's a selfish lazy coward, but he also has a lot of good points - he's funny, kind-hearted (he often shows sympathy) and would be great company. If I'd been in the crew, I'd have befriended him. Probably not trusted him, but liked him, poor sod.
However I think Blake treated him very well, as an equal even. He never puts Vila down, but treats him with dignity, and Vila responds very well - I love the interaction between the two of them in 'Time Squad' and 'Seek and Destroy', and Vila performs very well for him in 'Avalon' too. I think if other people had treated him properly, he would have responded and become the much braver and better person he was when he worked directly with Blake.
I don't recall Jenna being mean - I think she pretty much ignored him.
Gan was a friend, and liked Vila, but at least once got annoyed with his fearfulness.
Cally was generally sympathetic too, but lost her temper a few times. So Vila would have missed Gan and Blake a lot, and losing Cally was the last straw. I think that in season 4 he was as traumatised and near to breakdown as Avon was.
Tarrant's bullying in _City_ and _Moloch_ make me want to thump him
Me too!
in fairness Avon didn't exactly set a glowing example when Tarrant and Dayna joined the crew - with at least two snarky remarks at Vila's expense within minutes of them meeting him.
I've always thought that explained Dayna and Tarrant's attitude. "So Avon despises him - I won't make up my own mind but just go along with it". I don't see Tarrant as a deep thinker, or as having any empathy, and Dayna is young and strong, and hasn't been knocked about that much yet by life; she still has the supreme confidence of the young and tough, she'd hardly understand Vila, or want to.
I think I'd probably want to go and get drunk too.
Yeah, I'd have drunk or drugged myself silly too.
Or done a runner! Avon trusted Vila alone on Scorpio at least twice. Interesting, that - he didn't trust anyone else like that - why? In 'Cancer' and 'Gold' he trusts Vila to take the ship away and return in it. I'd have taken it, bolted for safety, then got Slave to take it back. Why didn't Vila? Is he more loyal than people think? Afraid to be alone? Terrified of Avon's retribution for betrayal from someone Avon trusts, the great unforgivable crime?
Other opportunities for doing a bunk would be on shopping trips, as Xenon base didn't have food in the beginning - they'd have had to do regular supply runs. I'd have tried it - hiding out on a neutral planet and living off the occasional theft, would be much better than the dangerous, terrifying, and friendless life he already lived.
Nico
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