Sally wrote:
It's no *good* saying he ought to care about their welfare before his own or put the group first - that's like saying Vila ought to be honest, or Dayna ought to let the past go and, if not forgive, then forget where Servalan is concerned. He genuinely doesn't know how to, not for most of the human race, not even for most of the crew. That's what makes it the odd case where he does it by pure instinct so memorable.
Perhaps I should have added, that by Headhunter, I'd forgiven him. They way he over-rides orac's sensible self-preservationist view to bring back Vila and Tarrant from the lifeless Scorpio always makes me sit up and take notice - furious with Orac, furious with himself for not listening to Orac, but still unwilling to have their deaths on his hands. As far as leadership goes, given he's so bad at it, I do think it's a tribute to his guts that he keeps going by S4, when everything has fallen apart around him so often, and it's a weight he's carrying that he clearly doesn't want. And yes, the rest of the crew, in both S3 and S4, don't always help to make the burden lighter. But he might have made his own life a little less fraught if he'd tried a bit harder. He's intelligent enough to realise that, however he hates it, the position he's in means he has to accept or at least acknowledge a certain amout of responsibility. But, as you rightly point out, he never will - his own nature is too much against him. And if he allows himself to care, he knows he's likely to get hurt again, which is another dis-incentive.
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