Millburn/FiField meeting..

think he got his food/hot drink on it you know like if you had takeaway coffee and had to swap hands to shake someones hand and spilled some in process

That makes the most sense of a small moment, The fact that Millburn wanted to be friends with FiField is curious, Nothing is worse that offering a handshake..and be left hangin/' Millburn should have taken that as a hint and avoid FiField at all costs. He should have tried Vickers if he wanted friends.

It looks like he is stretching his hand because it is asleep.

It was all about business, for Fifield. Money. So, what was Milburn there for exactly? Friends?! : P

Millburn didn't say this was a trip of a lifetime..He didn't say that he saw it as a challenge.. He didn;t say he was there for the money. As a bioligist it shoul have been the greatest adventure to come his way. Was he just a throwaway charactor to fill space and be the first crew member to be infected? I like your suggestion that maybe he viewed it as a social adventure at first,,,but easily influenced by Fifield. He certainly didn't buy into Shaws search for the Engineers and be curious as all get out when they find the beheaded giant.

Fifield is rigid and unchanging like a rock, except for beneath the surface where he's some form of rock that isn't actually tough all the way through or Hollow like Holloway. He's able to recognize that being on this mission is probably not a good thing, and he's the only one who catches on quick. Vickers smiles when he calls bullshit on the Engineers creating us. He wants to access his fight or flight response and book it back to the ship when he gets spooked by the dead alien bodies. Possibly even somewhat considering that whatever killed them could still be around to kill the crew. This hunch would have got him back to the ship and safe for a while if he hadn't gotten lost with Millburn. Millburn was still trying to befriend Fifield and calm him down, now that it seemed that they were bonding due to being stuck in the situation together. Fifield asked if anyone was coming. Not if Millburn specifically wanted to come. He asked if anyone would leave with him because he was too chickenshit to go alone at that point, he was being swayed by emotion. That's also partially why he makes his big point about the dead body arena and meeting your makers, I feel. He asks if any one of them is coming and Millburn responds "ship sounds good". Millburn may be a little afraid, but he's still trying to bond with Fifield and calm him down... He volunteers to go with him. Millburn tries not to show his emotion, or how afraid he may actually be once he sees the dead bodies too. He does actually recoil a little when he's reaching out to the hammerpede but then proceeds with his show. They're opposing forces and Millburn attempts to morph and mutate his personality and attitudes slightly, not minding their differences and sacrificing parts of his logic, in his attempt to befriend Fifield. This alters his behaviour slightly from how you might normally expect his character to behave, but ultimately his love for biology helps allow him to make foolish moves he may not have made otherwise. This leads to where it all goes wrong for Millburn. Since the beginning Millburn was morphing and adjusting to how his friendship with Fifield would best proceed. He chose to emphasize the gentle kind natured accented guy at the beginning and then drops that accent entirely, taking on a more macho approach by the time the presentation happens. He does as Fifield does and speaks out. Calls bullshit too. But partially because of his understanding of Darwinism. His behaviors from this point on continue to reflect those of someone trying to impress someone they wish to befriend. He alters parts of his personality and his attitudes to alter how he's perceived and doesn't put on a complete act. However, he's attempting to manipulate Fifield in very subtle ways by choosing to behave in ways that might impress him. Ways his real attitudes may not agree with but that he alters to try to bond with Fifield. Millburn doesn't completely condone Fifield for smoking space weed, but instead takes on a more humorous tone about it and doesn't really mind.. When he was reaching out to touch the hammerpede it was partially because he thought it was beautiful and liked its biology, however, it's also driven by either a conscious or subconscious desire to try to make Fifield believe that he had a handle on the situation. There was a lot of manipulation going on under the surface + a lot of mesmerizing happening onscreen/on a conscious level on that ship. Everyone on the ship had an agenda according to what Ridley said in some of the interviews before the release. If everyone had an agenda, Millburn was there to make friends.

I agree with Savage Deacon. My thought was that his body has been immobile for two years. The joints are going to be a bit stiff. He's just been gripping the edge of his food tray before plopping it on the table. Wrist needs a bit of a shake to loosen things up a bit.

Again that seems more plausible than my sense of the situation. It is curious that Millburn didn't talk to the other crew member at the table,,

The way I see Millburn is as a guy who has only a few close friends in his life back on Earth. He can get along with people because of his easy-going nature and his ability to adjust his attitudes, although he has very few people in his life that he can bond with as scientists. He recognizes right away that Fifield is different from most scientists, and learns quickly that he's just along for the ride like he is. I think if Millburn wasn't in it for the money, and he didn't care too much about biology; then he may have took on the undisclosed mission mostly for the experience of socializing with other scientists/people that may be on board. Deep down Millburn may be a little insecure and that could also be why he fumbles after waking up. I think many things in this movie are being caused by multiple variables, making the explanations a combination of factors in some cases. This would make Fifield's rejection of him at the beginning a little funny, because Millburn would have only set out on the mission to make friends. He chose Fifield to bond with first for whatever reason but was rejected. He may have liked Fifield's honesty... This may have made Millburn alter his approach and drop the accent. All he knew was that they needed his and others' "scientific expertise" and that this secret mission was paying well. Millburn wasn't in it for the money, and understands why Fifield is (they're being paid quite well), but would have assumed others would be there to share in whatever experience it was that the company wanted kept secret. For some reason he continues to wish to befriend Fifield, possibly because of the rejection. Or possibly because he comes to admire Fifield more in the presentation scene where they both speak out against Shaw and Holloway's ideas about the Engineers.

In "The Furious Gods" there is a little more footage shown of that scene. Milburn says: "My fingers are still numb. But then I've never been out this long before."

".. he continues to wish to befriend Fifield.." I read a note that Millburn confronted the Hammerpede in front of Fified in an aggrssive manner to show off a bit and impress him. Millburn's need to make/keep friends has led him far away from earth. And his not being able to be true to himself..be something different to impress others led to his demise. I also suspect that Fifield didn't mind having a follower in some previous scenes. In that sense they were tied together .