Jenny Kaye wtote: <The scene is demonstrating that Vila is: 1/ Shallow 2/ A braggart 3/ An untrustworthy liar 4/ Self deluding 5/ Incapable of forward planning 6/ Stupid, in that he greatly underestimates the intelligence of the people he is talking to. Even though he has known these people for a very long time.>
<veg> Let me guess, he's not your favourite character.
Vila's background is as fluid as his mind is, of course. In 'Horizon', when Avon calls him "a fifth-grade ignorant", his answer is "I chose the wrong parents, didn't I?" - nothing about cheating one way or the other on the tests (interesting that he doesn't call Avon on that incorrect ranking either). In 'Shadow' he says to Cally that he grew up 'among the Delta service grades' and was in the Juvenile Detention Wards at a very young age ("since I was old enough to read the graffiti'); in 'Power' he mentions to Pella that he was "technical advisor for the escape" at the 'academy' of CF-1; in 'Stardrive' he says he was sent to a penal colony (possibly Cf-1) at age 14. In 'The Way Back' he says to Blake that he's had his head adjusted 'by some of the best in the business'.
Of course, this interesting history would make perfectly good reasons for being deprived of the Dreaded Captaincy, without bringing in anything about the tests. In fact, he's disarmingly honest about the shadier part of his history (always assuming he's telling the truth about *them* :-). He's not in the slightest bit ashamed on his Delta rank - of all the crew, he's the most open and talkative *about* it - nor does he seem to think it makes him inferior to the others (he does sometimes feel that way, I think, but due to very different reasons). So empty 'bragging' about a higher rank seems pointless, even for him.
So yes, there's a decent case to be argue that he was simply making it up as he went along.
The problem is that one thing Vila says here is absolutely true. He is *not* stupid, but actually quite bright in his own way, as he clearly demonstrates in other episodes (sometimes pulling the possibly-Alphas' butts out of strife, when he absolutely *has* to). He's somewhat scatterbrained IMO, definitely *not* an intellectual, and as lazy mentally as physically, but he can be very quick and flexible (which is why he's Avon's second-favourite sparring partner, after all; *were* he stupid or slow, Avon wouldn't waste his breath).
'Weapon', which is the episode that gives us most information - little though that is - on the grading system, and the reason I have real problems slotting Vila into Delta-by-rank. Goodness, Coser is a *Beta*, and from the way Servalan and Travis - and even Blake - talk, you'd think that was only for the terminally slow and thick - "this man Coser is brighter than his grade classification would suggest". Also, the clear implication is that Beta grades are considered and treated as *very* inferior to Alphas runs all the way through the episode (actually, it's a pity that the writer made Coser a Beta, as the attitudes in this episode to this secondary rank make it that much harder to judge where the rest of the crew might be; they can't *all* be Alphas!!)
Which begs the question of how someone as bright as Vila unquestionably *is* ended up in the service grades that are lower even than Coser. (It also indicates - rather strongly - that being a Beta grade is both restrictive and horrible; if someone like Vila found himself headed in that direction I can see him doing anything to avoid it. But then, as said above, his prison record should have taken care of that little detail).
So to wrap it up:
I still think he could have been exaggerating, rather than lying.
I *do* believe that, given what we know about how the grades worked and were seen, Vila *is* too bright to have been ranked that lowly in a fair test. If there *was* testing - which both his statement in 'Volcano' and Travis's in 'Weapon' attest to - he would have done better than that. And he would hardly have stated that he *did* but his results if it was known to be impossible (not to Avon, who could call him on it quite easily, and didn't). So I have to judge it 'unlikely but unproven'.
I don't, however, think his grading had anything to do with whether or not he could have been a Space Captain, since his history - and his incorrigible thievery - would have put paid to *that* idea even if it had been an option (one has to admit that Tarrant shows a healthy interest in creative acquisition as well. But presumably he kept it under wraps until he graduated <g>).
Yes, he *could* have bought the Delta grade; no, it had nothing to do with being a Space Captain, nor was there any chance of him being an Alpha, he's not *that* bright; unquestionably, he was having a dig at Tarrant, who at this stage is quite likely irritating the living daylights out of him.
JMO.
<As Avon confirmed, "A pro keeps it simple.">
Sorry, ma'am, but I'm still an amateur at 'Playing the Game' so I don't have to do what Avon says if it don't make sense to me ...
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