Fiona replied to my:
Considering that Orac is his only means of getting back to Liberator,
Avon's priorities here don't strike me as out of character. He must be kicking himself for having let Orac out of his sight. :-)<<
It's still a bit self-centred of him,<
Well, to me Avon seems a very self-centred kind of person. :-)
and if he did like the fellow, it's a bit strange<
Actually, I don't see much evidence for Avon liking Mellanby. The fact that Mellanby's a rebel - and a failed one at that - would speak against him, IMO. Avon's polite to him, but that is good politics in the circumstances.
But even if he did like Mellanby, his reaction still wouldn't strike me as out of character. Avon's a practical man. Getting back to Liberator is his top one priority. He needs Orac for that, so the fact that Servalan has taken it is more important to him than the death of a man he has only known for a few hours.
It's him leaving Orac for Servalan to grab in the first place that I find
hard to credit.<<
To be fair, she wouldn't have had a go at all if Mellanby (or Dayna?)
hadn't left the gun lying around in the first place.<
Still, one would expect someone with Avon's survival instinct to want to keep his only means for returning to Liberator with him at all times, especially when his enemy is around. All the more since Servalan has told him that she's after Orac. (This is what I meant by sloppy writing :-) )
I didn't interpret that as sarcasm but as a clumsy consolation attempt.
:-)<<
Perhaps not sarcastic, but still, it's an odd thing to say when someone you
like dies. It's also a line that needs unpacking. If Mellanby had been fretting in exile, longing to get off Sarran, the line would have made a lot of sense: in death, Mellanby finally escapes his exile--and in that sense, his words might be a comfort to Dayna (although a consolation attempt is rather out of character for Avon--<
Not if he sees it as the quickest way to get Dayna to help him find Servalan.
and Avon's never clumsy, he's always very precise).<
Maybe clumsy is the wrong word, I meant that he seems not very good in the art of consoling. In Headhunter he leaves it to Soolin to tell Vena about Muller's death. The only thing he can think of to say to the grieving widow is: "Don't try to be stupid!" :-)
Marian