"Alison Page" alison@alisonpage.demon.co.uk wrote: : Steve said -

: >Re what I said earlier about Vila's professional attack on Arlen in Blake, : if he : >had those skills, why didn't he go for Avon, or was he too gutted at the : betrayal?

: Michael Keating said Vila was crying because he was trying to get his act : together to put *himself* out the airlock. That is, he was going to : sacrifice himself, as you think Blake would.

Hm. I don't buy that at all. If that's what the actor says he had in mind, I'll accept that, but that's not what comes across on screen to me. To me, he's just in terror. Not exactly betrayal, because Avon didn't do anything Vila didn't expect of him. He doesn't have to wait to see Avon's reaction to Orac's comment; he's already hidden before Avon comes down with his gun and his awful soft voice.

I don't think Vila would sacrifice himself for Avon, but I think (and this came up during our post-episode discussion) that he *would* sacrifice himself for Blake. Blake would be willing to sacrifice himself for Vila, and Vila would return the favor, in my opinion. But he wouldn't for Avon, because Avon wouldn't for him.

What would happen between Blake and Avon on the shuttle? I have no idea. Neither of them would hide, so instead there would be some kind of "so this is it after all these years" confrontation. I'm sure Blake wouldn't kill Avon, but I don't think Avon would kill Blake either, _in that circumstance_. I think in the end Blake would sacrifice himself and Avon would be destroyed by it. He didn't even deal that well with Tarrant going down with Scorpio when he was the only one who could save the other. In a case where either of the two had the ability to save the other and Blake saved Avon... well. As I say, I think it would destroy him.

Claudia

--- Alison Page alison@alisonpage.demon.co.uk wrote:

Michael Keating said Vila was crying because he was trying to get his act together to put *himself* out the airlock. That is, he was going to sacrifice himself, as you think Blake would.

I don't know where/when Michael said this, can you remember?

In the Horizon club's 'Interviews' book, he was asked about that scene and in part of his answer he says: "I was actually crying and they cut it because they said it was too real. I was actually crying because he was the only person I would... OK not trust 100%, but the one person that I could kind of rely on, after being with him for a long time and I actually got quite emotional about it."

Even if I'd not read this interview that's pretty much how I saw the scene anyway. Avon was his friend, or at least a sort of protector, and he knew if Avon found him he was going to kill him to save himself.

Knowing how Avon normally behaved, even in the face of danger, knowing he'd lost it and was (presumably) scared enough to kill his friend must have been a scary thing for Vila to remember, even once it was all over.

Jenny F

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