Angel - Season 1 impressions (episode 20)

[thalia_seawood]

War Zone

For a summary click here.


- I like the first scene that ends with the clever remark You expecting somebody else?.
So this is our first glimpse of Gunn. Like Wesley on Angel he gets a nice entrance scene.

- Angel, Wesley and Cordelia going to the party together is a scene I really enjoyed.
Angel and Wesley get along well; Angel even makes a little remark about Cordy to him regarding her ability to smell money:

Angel: "She's not just saying that. Hide some in the office sometime to watch her. It's uncanny."

They all manage to leave a positive impression with their new client. Cordy doesn't fawn to obviously over him and Wesley's knowledge of the modern world is also useful.

Nabbit: "Are you familiar with Dungeons and Dragons?"
Angel: "Yeah. I've seen a few."
Wesley: "You mean the - ah, role playing game."
Angel looks up at Wesley: "Oh - game. - Right."

- The relationship between Cordy and Wesley is fun to observe:

Cordy: "I don't think it's *air* either, - but reality is a choice, Wesley. You see what you wanna see and I see what I wanna see."
Wesley: "A man exiting an alley pushing a shopping cart."
Cordy leaning back with her eyes closed: "No - I see a very tan life-guard type with large..."
Wesley: "No, over there. (Cordy looks) These kids must have got electricity into their building. They might have tapped into one of the power lines and run it illegally. If I could spot the tap, that would tell us where their hide-out is. You go ask this gentleman if he's seen anyone that fits the description of our young vampire killers, while I check the power line for any taps."
Cordy: "Uh, why don't you ask him and I check for taps?"
Wesley: "Because - you can imagine him as a scantily clad, buff, young stud, while I am stuck with the naked truth."

- Angel being rescued by Cordelia and Wesley made me smile. An embarrassed Angel is most entertaining...

Angel sticks his hand through the hole but can't reach the handle. A hand reaches past his bruised and bleeding knuckles and opens the door.
Cordy: "Trying to open that? (Angel leans against the doorjamb, looking at Cordy and Wesley) They locked you in, huh?"
Angel: "No. I just love old meat lockers."
Wesley: "You should've tried to call us on your cell phone. - You probably forgot you had it."
Angel takes his cell phone out and looks at it.
Angel: "These things hardly ever work. Besides it was a lot easier and quicker to just (mimes punching a hole and grimaces, shaking his hand) - Look, I'm the boss here, I say when we use the cell phones and people are gonna die and - I have to go."
Leaves.
Cordy yells after him: "You're welcome!"

- The story of Gunn and his gang works overall. The big problem is that everything happens so quickly. I'm sure what happens to his sister would have touched me much more if Gunn and Alonna had had more screentime, e.g. if the Gunn story had been given more room in a two parter. Well, even though it's easy to see that Gunn would be traumatised by his sister's fate: He couldn't protect her and is then forced to kill her...

- Gunn and Angel:
I'm looking forward to see more of their relationship.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

War Zone is probably the only season 1 episode I haven't rewatched. Not that it was so bad, it really wasn't, but it took me eons to muster up interest in Gunn - which I didn't have until later season 4.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

I always try to focus on the positive in my reviews and only go into rant mode when something really bugs me.

As you can see in my last post, 3/4 concentrate on Angel, Wesley and Cordelia and only 1/4 deals with the Gunn plot - despite this being the main part of the episode. :-) Simply didn't quite know what to make of it.

After thinking about the episode some more, I can pinpoint now what rubs me the wrong way.

Gunn is introduced as a character we're supposed to care for and find totally cool:
He's a loner, but loves his sister and cares for his friends. He's a good fighter and also not so bad with strategy. He's a leader. He's got a lot of courage. The fate of his sister is oh-so-tragic. He blames himself for what happens to her, but it's easy to see that he did his best under the circumstances.
And that's all just too much for my taste. I like characters that are quite obviously not perfect, e.g. Wesley who puts his foot in his mouth at times or isn't the most elegant fighter in the beginning or Cordelia who's painfully superficial at time or Buffy who can be super-bitchy. I want my characters flawed... Gunn is a tad too perfect for my taste. In fact, this episode leaves a slight taste of Gary Stew fanfiction in my mouth.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think you're on to something there - Gunn at this stage is much like an central OC in a fanfic who is designed along "cool character" lines. Which probably explains why I liked him more in the season 1 finale where he has just a minor contributing role, and why the season that finally made me really interested in him is the one where he spectacularly screws up.

Something about Gunn that has been remarked on occasion: that maybe because none of the Mutant Enemy writers are black, they shied away from treating him the same way they did the white characters at first. They didn't want to be accused of racism.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Something about Gunn that has been remarked on occasion: that maybe because none of the Mutant Enemy writers are black, they shied away from treating him the same way they did the white characters at first. They didn't want to be accused of racism.

There's definitely something to that, re: the inconsistency of Gunn's writing over the years. But I think the more important issue with "War Zone" is that it really is the only episode I can think of in all of Angel or Buffy that exists solely for the purpose of introducing a new character. "Parting Gifts" doesn't count b/c we already know Wes, and other new characters on both shows are either introduced as smaller parts of other plotlines, or they are minor characters elevated to major status. The Gunn plot in "War Zone" plays sort of like it would if it were the premiere of the "Gunn & Angel" show. Gunn basically gets a "re-introduction" ep in early season 2, and that goes over much better for me, but you can really see them flailing around with "how should we use this character?" What ends up happening is that b/t "War Zone" and the later ep ("First Impressions" in S2) we are overloaded with info and backstory aobut Gunn, so he doesn't work into the group naturally.

Now, of course, a lot of shows do this "new character's first ep" thing, and it's not a big deal; but in the Buffyverse, we are so spoiled on the seamless integration of new characters, that "War Zone" feels like a false note.

That said, I do like Gunn tremendously from the very first; (It's possible that I'm just very vulnerable to the "OMG cool intro!" -- check my first-sight love for Aragorn, Wolverine, and Starbuck in the new BSG; I don't mind "OMG this character is so cool!" if I think they really are, and personally I think Gunn is :))

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

That said, I do like Gunn tremendously from the very first; (It's possible that I'm just very vulnerable to the "OMG cool intro!" -- check my first-sight love for Aragorn, Wolverine, and Starbuck in the new BSG; I don't mind "OMG this character is so cool!" if I think they really are, and personally I think Gunn is :))

Gunn as a Gryffindor. :-) - Have to admit I'm not so keen on the Gryffindor type: The charging into action without thinking too much and then coming out on top anyway bugs me a little. However, I do love it when characters charge into action and fail exactly because of it. That's the moment where I get all interested.

But it's a good thing we all like different things about people or fictional characters or the world would be very boring.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

oh, Gunn will suffer for it, before all is said and done.

EVERYBODY suffers. They're Joss's toys after all :)

the "throw your heart over a wall and run after it" type is definitely one of my favorites, if only because it's so different from what I am in real life. . .though of course I have a fondness for the Wesleys too (and so I have a weakness for fic where Wesley and Buffy work together -- not in a shippy way -- as she is SUCH a Gryffindor).

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

EVERYBODY suffers. They're Joss's toys after all :)

Oh yes, the first rule of the Jossverse.

though of course I have a fondness for the Wesleys too (and so I have a weakness for fic where Wesley and Buffy work together -- not in a shippy way -- as she is SUCH a Gryffindor).

Cordy is a Slytherin, isn't she? Willow - either a studious Gryffindor a la Hermione or a Ravenclaw. And I have no clue in what house Wesley would be.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

i have suspicions re: Wesley but you'll have to watch more of the series. . .

I think he's the one you can argue most for belonging to every house (and one of these days I'm going to get an animated icon that has 4 screens in which Wesley shows up as Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin in turn, with appropriate poses -- so far, you've mostly seen him in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw mode, I'd say. (though what was Lockhart? b/c Lockhart and Sunnydale Wes have some points in common!)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

PS -

Xander is that rare Hufflepuff on the cusp of Slytherin. . .

Willow depends a lot on the season.

Giles is a definite Ravenclaw and Riley, of course, is Gryffindor.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

And I guess Spike is a Slytherin on the outside with a Gryffindor on the inside that he doesn't care for. - Of course, I haven't seen him in later seasons yet, so I may be far off. It's just that the way he has behaved around Dru clashes with the way he otherwise acts.

And once again: Neat icon. :o)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I think you're right on about Spike, actually. Just don't accuse him of having an inner Hufflepuff. . .

I think the Hermione icon is by vaznetti

This is my favorite Spike icon, with a David Copperfield homage built in.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Something about Gunn that has been remarked on occasion: that maybe because none of the Mutant Enemy writers are black, they shied away from treating him the same way they did the white characters at first. They didn't want to be accused of racism.

Interesting. Makes a lot of sense when seen in that context.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

and since I promised season 1 W/A links, here's one: Forearmed is Forewarned

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! Enjoyed the story!