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blakes7-d Digest				Volume 99 : Issue 230

Today's Topics:
	 Re: [B7L] Greedy is as greedy does? Part Two
	 Re: [B7L] Horizon (Was: Greedy is as greedy does?)
	 Re: [B7L] Return of the Avon/Soolin debate
	 Re: [B7L] Harriet's Pella essay

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Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 03:34:42 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Greedy is as greedy does? Part Two
Message-ID: <19990726103448.44962.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Ellyne wrote after my ‘Blake is not a blackmailer’ diatribe:

<Trying to be fair (i.e. wishy washy) to both sides here,>

and succeeding admirably (at being fair!!)

<I think Avon sometimes _does_ blame Blake for the fact that he
cares about him. Avon's problem is he _didn't_ decide to like Blake,
he just likes him. For most people, not a problem, but it is for him.
Being emotionally attached to Avon is something he perceives as
threatening.  Worse, Blake is aware of Avon's liking him and, at
times, appeals to Avon's loyalty and decency, traits Avon doesn't like to 
admit exists.>

Fair enough. I think it was the idea that Blake simply asking for
Avon's opinion - as he does Cally's (Duel) or Jenna's (Weapon) -
could be seen as emotional blackmail. *Not* asking for it would be
both stupid and insulting.

I agree that Avon probably resents the *fact* that he cares about
this infuriating, impossible and intolerably likeable self-elected leader,
though at times I get the feeling he's also reluctantly amused by it
(*that* smile in Duel, his reaction to Vila’s 'I like (Blake)', the end
of Trial...which brings up the point of how *he* feels about the
fact that other people care about *him* - Blake being one of them.

<At other times, I think he feels he is pushing Avon on things he
needs to be pushed on--but he knows when to back off. In
Countdown, he doesn't let Avon's reaction over Del Grant go till
he knows what's going on, realizing he needs to know what kind of
trouble he can expect between them and then trying to curtail that
trouble till the planet's saved. OTOH, although he tries to talk to
Avon about Anna and believes Avon would be better off talking about it, he 
lets it go.>

Very well put. But even here, I think he'd be pushing Avon for
answers even if they uncordially loathed each other, since it impacts
on the mission. The difference is, in that case, he could push till
Doomsday and still wouldn't *get* them...


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Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 03:47:43 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Horizon (Was: Greedy is as greedy does?)
Message-ID: <19990726104743.90352.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Mistral asks:
<I wonder... in Horizon, does anyone think Blake knew that Avon
was overhearing his conversation with Jenna in the teleport?>

Personally, no I don't...it was a remarkably silly thing to say (and I
think he realised it later), but I've always put it down to a lapse of
thought and slight fit of bad temper. Comes straight from the
previous scene - Blake has a headache (and has had it for some time)
and is not feeling very reasonable; Avon has backache (and has also
had it for some time) and isn't reasonable at the best of times.

They're clearly having one of their *really* off days...like they equally 
clearly did just *before* the start of Redemption.







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Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 05:47:37 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Return of the Avon/Soolin debate
Message-ID: <19990726124737.96006.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Aftre Carol wrote:
<She doesn't trust him any further than she can throw him.>

And Joanne answered:
<And, unless Rob thinks otherwise, I doubt that any member of the
crew (barring, perhaps, Tarrant) could lift Avon to try <smile> >

Yes, they probably could have used Gan occasionally, when they
*wanted* to throw Avon, preferably somewhere dark and deep.

I don't think Soolin trusted him all that much, true. None of them
did except Blake, and by 4th season, of course, Avon had become
colder...but did Soolin lack the perception to see what Blake did
or *have* the perception to realise that it wasn't going to work like that 
again?

And did Soolin trust *anyone*? She certainly wouldn't have learned
a great deal about the gentler or warmer emotions from *this* lot
(no, not even Vila, as selfish in his own way as Avon).



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Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 05:49:04 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Harriet's Pella essay
Message-ID: <19990726124904.21620.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Ellyne wrote:
<The simplest answer, that Avon was obviously still recovering
from Dorian's attempt to dump all of his personality problems on the
crew and that Avon's misogyny was really *Dorian's* misogyny, didn't
occur to me till later.>

Not bad, Ellyne...I'll buy this. Especially if you add in my excusing
him on the grounds that he's still in a state of severe emotional shock (how 
long *is* it from Rumours through to Rescue?) after
rapidly losing or *re*-losing three of the four most important people in his 
life (IMHO - and that we know about). His mind's on
autopilot, everything except survival instincts shut down, and he doesn't 
know it, because he doesn't admit to the depth of the
shock anyway.

So, add in your Dorian dump (made easier by the trauma Avon's
been through)...remember that Pella *is* an enemy, and Avon
always did fight dirty with anyone he saw as a threat...settle the
rose-coloured glasses more firmly on the nose...and don't watch
the episode too often (of course, one could argue that *once* is too often).



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End of blakes7-d Digest V99 Issue #230
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