Ellynne wrote<but why did they turn to Avon? His first shot at command nearly killed everyone.>

Well, it does appear to me to have been (as usual) Blake's decision at the start (perhaps he was trying them all out for the role ... would have loved to see Vila's shot at it). And Blake may not be the galaxy's most reasonable man, but I don't think he'd had the cheek to hold it against Avon that one of the crew got accidently misplaced on mission ;-)

Also, by Redemption (by which time of course the role *was* being raised in profile) everyone else was clearly deferring to Avon's superior wisdom, knowledge etc etc (both Jenna *and* Cally do the Doctor's Assitant bit in this one, I'm afraid, though it's rather funny when Jenna plays Assistant - "what's going on?" - to both Blake and Avon at the same time). Which sort of made it inevitable - it's a little hard to hold authority over someone like My Darling when you keep having to ask him for the answers.

<Maybe worshipping Avon was a side effect of the radiation and even mild doses could be incurable?>

Oh dear ... and what excuse do the rest of us have?

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