Season 1, Mission to Destiny "The Sara Fight"
Description:
Avon's second fight occurs on the Destiny colonist's ship. One of the colonists, a woman named Sara, has sold out her own people for profit. She has arranged to steal a valuable shipment of neutrotope without which the crops of the entire planet will fail. Sara's plan to disable the crew using sonovapour hits a snag. One of the crew did not succumb and as a result she kills him.
When Avon and his group arrive on the ship, they discover a mystery. No one knows who used the sonovapour to knock out the colonists or who murdered one of the crew. Avon stays to help repair the ship and, with Cally's help, they both find out that it was Sara who was the culprit. Unfortunately, Sara has a gun and escapes to the flight deck to wait for the people who are coming to pick her up along with the neutrotope.
Using a clever strategem, Avon lures Sara out. A fight ensues.
Part 2
The Sara Fight - Overall Analysis
What does it tells us of Avon the man?
This fight tells us several things about Avon. Avon again faces an enemy who wants to kill him but he does not retaliate in kind. This shows us something about Avon's fighting philosophy. He only wants to disarm and disable, he does not kill. He only uses as much force as necessary in order to disable his opponent. Unfortunately this effectively acts like a self-imposed handicap because Avon's enemies do not have this qualm.
One telling thing about Avon, occurs after the fight. When it comes time to abandon the ship, Avon agrees with the colonists that bringing Sara back to Destiny to stand trial is the right thing to do. (13-16) He does not seek revenge, even though this woman tried to kill him; he only wants to see justice done.
This sharply contrasts with the actions of Blake at the end of this episode, who without informing the others, cold-bloodedly plays judge, jury and executioner with a smile and without any consideration to justice.
Assessment of Fighting Ability
In his second fight, Avon first priority was to disarm Sara and to disable her by grabbing hold of her, presumably until the other two men were able to restrain her with something. This method of grabbing would disable Sara without really hurting her.
Avon manages the disarming part quite well but unfortunately, in doing so he makes mistake and and allows Sara the opportunity to elbow him in the mid-section and temporarily incapacitate him.
Avon may be a person whose first intinct is not to use more force than is necessary but when it is clear more force is required, he definitely can apply it.
Again Avon shows a knowledge of fighting techniques. In order to break Sara's hold around his neck, Avon does not use the cruder method of grabbing her wrists using brute strength, he uses a nice move which involves bringing his hands inside and up between her arms. It is very effective and requires less strength.
Rating the Fight: 6.5 / 10
Although Avon's reluctance to use the same kind of deadly force as his enemy gives him a handicap, when he determines that more force is required, he has the power and the moves to win the fight.
The Sara Fight, Part 2
After Sara elbows and seems to incapacitate Avon for a moment (01), she turns around and tries to throttle him (03-04). The look on her face (05) shows that she is very serious about this and that she thinks she has the upper hand. She is a woman who has shown that she will kill anyone who would stand in her way.
Little does Sara know, Avon has been holding back. He was just trying to hold and disarm her before, but now he gets angry. He's had enough of this murderous woman who thinks she's stronger than he is. He breaks her hold bringing both hands up along the inside of her arms. This releases the pressure. (06-08)
Then Avon takes a swing and punches her. (09-11)
Sara collapses and is grabbed by the two men who are there. One does wonder what these men were doing while Avon was being choked. They were both present. Perhaps they thought that he could handle Sara and didn't want to interfere?
Part 1
The Sara Fight, Part 1
Before the fight begins, Avon has hidden himself. As Sara passes him, he comes up silently behind her and grabs her. (01-06)
Sara tries to bring up the hand which is holding the gun but before she can do anything, he pulls her hand down and ends up disarming her. Unfortunately, in the process of causing her to drop the gun, (which presumably is on the ground now since when we see their hands next, neither of them is holding it) Avon has lost hold of her wrist. (07-10)
Sara takes this opportunity and elbows Avon in the mid-section. This knocks the wind out of him and he is momentarily stunned. (11-13)
