Sally Manton wrote:

Nicola: <Up till season 4 anyway, poor thing. Vila has the stuffing knocked out of him then. I can only recall 3 or 4 scenes where the poor guy can even crack a smile.>

And I can't see it getting much better for him in *any* Season 5. Not with this lot. (Actually, I know I'm one of those minorities of approximately one here, but I'm still firmly of the opinion that, if Blake survived and had anything - people/a base/a ship - to still call his own, Vila would tell fannish sentiment and the Scorpio crew to go to hell and want to stay with Fearless and now Extremely Fearsome Leader. *None* of them have really any call on his loyalties by that stage, and especially not My Darling.

You're in a minority of two then. I've always thought Blake treated Vila very well - sure he got annoyed with him occasionally, but he never put him down; he even complimented him several times! They worked very well together when they were on missions. I think they had a lot of respect for each other. Vila did say he stayed because he liked Blake (and had nowhere else to go). And remember the smile (one of the very few in season 4) on Vila's face in 'Blake' when he says "You've found Blake!" Then the poor bastard sees Avon gun him down. I still hold to my opinion that Vila is a very tragic character despite his humour.

And I've never subscribed to the belief that Vila and Avon were close, or that Vila would easily forgive Avon. They may have once enjoyed each others' wit and prowess at chess, but I would never have called them friends.

Nico

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