Mistral wrote: <I suppose Gambit is just having a friend.>
Although it does have that nice little sting of Avon insisting Vila play Speed Chess rather than give up their winnings - it ain't betrayal like Orbit, but it's an interesting moment of expediency (I do think Avon truly believed that Vila was not in as much danger as all that, and that Orac was up to the challenge, but it still ain't nice). Holmes may have loved putting them together, but wasn't ever under any illusion about what they'd do for each other.
<Though there's one line in Gambit that doesn't ring true - 'You dummy.' It's too flat and generic for me to take seriously>
Oh but I think the tone of voice redeems it :-)
Me: <(other episodes have good A-V in them - Volcano, Deliverance, City and Bounty, for starters - but aren't *built* around it).>
and Mistral: <Heh. Well, would *you* say that a good A-B episode isn't important? ;-)>
Hey, you're talking to someone who's built a whole argument around the two Blake references in Moloch and Rumours, which makes *them* A-B by my admittedly partisan standards ... yes, but there is A-B (Redemption, Pressure Point, Star One) and there is A-B (Duel, Deliverance, Weapon).
<I think Bounty and Volcano both have significant A-V development.>
Absolutely, but what I meant was it's a smaller *part* of the episode as a whole,
<Without those two episodes, I'd be less inclined to interpret the relationship as mutual liking, and more as just being stuck on the same ship.>
Up to Bounty, I think it was more the latter; the relationship does take a while to kick in. (BTW, Deliverance is good A-V as well IMO, Vila's gleeful teasing the whole way through is wonderful).
My absolute favourite A-V *moment* is in fact in 'Blake' - that oddly gentle "you think you've found Blake" - which is IMO a single moment beautifully poised on everything that's gone before, including Orbit. But then 'Blake' does that on a range of levels ...
<Shame on you, neglecting the really important one.>
<grin> Can't think who you mean ... but yes, if he could survive being on Servalan's staff, he could survive a measley intergalactic war.
<Well, the brown vinyl is a bit dodgy, but I love the blue leather. Oddly enough, I like it far better now I know it's blue than I did when I thought it was black. Black leather and studs is just so ... pedestrian.>
The Terminal black-leather-n-studs is nice; the set Dorian buys for him is awful, but I explain it in my own mind as a sort of sartorial mixture of mourning and almost-armour, which fits his 4th series mindset.
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