silversexual replied to your post “who wants to talk about how silver’s pretty shitty treatment of...”
He took pretty great care of Randall. Treated him like an equal, while also being terrified of being seen as obsolete, as Randall was seen by the crew. SO... the crew... is who treated Randall pretty shittily. John was the one who helped keep Randall on the ship a bit longer, by agreeing to make a deal with him.
Silver did not treat Randall like an equal. He took care of him—which is not the same thing as treating someone well—because Randall blackmailed him into it. Here’s the first conversation about Randall in the show:
Billy: Here, every man is equal. All right? Silver: Even him? Billy: Randall was the ship's boatswain before he got beaten to within an inch of his life while taking a prize. He lost his wits, but not our loyalty. We like Randall. You, we'll see.
What Billy says here holds up: the men are never seen treating Randall poorly or even that differently. But Silver initially laughs at the idea that someone who’s “lost his wits” is equal to other men.
Here’s a conversation from episode IV, to demonstrate the general tone of the crew’s relationship with Randall:
Morley: Shove over, Randall. The shade's mine for the next hour. Don't want no arguments. Randall: Did you bring me barnacle? Morley: Oh, fuck. Sorry, mate. I forgot. Randall: You promised. For Betsy. Morley: You're right. Hold my spot.
Morley, who is certainly closer and kinder to Randall than most but not in a remarkable way, treats him with as much respect as he would any other member of the crew.
The only time the crew ever treated Randall poorly (on screen, at least) was when they argued that having a one-legged, brain damaged cook was a fire-hazard. That was a council decision, and no individual crew member is seen firmly in favor. Most of them seem to regret that this has to happen, and it’s described as “a raw deal.” More importantly, the only reason Silver stopped them from kicking him off the crew was because if he didn’t, Randall was going to testify against him and he would probably end up dead. That’s not treating someone well, or equally, or...anything. That’s just Silver’s survival instinct.
The reason I even brought this up was because a friend of mine was watching the show for the first time, and asked why Randall didn’t want to wear the prosthetic leg in 108. I thought about it for a while, and my opinion is that while it’s mostly there to set up Randall’s rescue of Silver later in the ep, it’s also a way to showcase Silver’s attitude towards Randall and disability in general. He doesn’t ask why Randall doesn’t want to wear the boot, he doesn’t make a serious effort to help him, he doesn’t hold back from complaining about the difficulty of helping take care of Randall, etc. If someone treated Silver like that after he lost his leg, the rest of the crew probably would’ve jumped them.
None of this is meant to be some sort of “anti-Silver” argument. The fact that Silver has a notably shitty attitude towards disability and the utility of human beings is fascinating and helps enrich his character. His struggle in season 3 is largely related to his internalized ableism—this is canonical. Contextualizing that be showing him acting in ableist ways earlier in the show is just good writing.
