Once they introduced Gunn, Angel lost it's edge.

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Saturday, December 2, 2006 21:08
VIEWED: 7833
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Besides, the Buffyverse as a whole is filled with badasses who were not actually badass. Spike, Giles, Xander --heck, even Angel himself was a numbskull.

You're right that Gunn wasn't really street-tough, but he does kinda strike me as what, say, Xander might have become if he'd lived in L.A.

Really, Gunn probably wasn't ghetto. Probably grew up in the good part of town, went to school every day, never cut class, wore glasses, wanted to go to college, etc.

Probably something like a young Carlton from Fresh Prince.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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I can't see Gunn having come from that kind of background, mostly because we would have heard about it at some point. Especially from his crew when he abandoned them - they would have mocked him for "pretending" he was one of them for a while.

Not everybody from a rough background is automatically streetwise and tough. I grew up in a pretty rough area of Dublin, which was surrounded by tough, streetwise kids. The problem was that for some reason I never got tough or streetwise. I just got bullied like hell instead. I learned to survive, and the place I grew up in isn't anything near as rough as where Gunn grew up, but do remember that softies show up everywhere!

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yes communication online is hard...
everyone talking to cross purposes.

But I have to say I disagree:

I liked Gunn, and I liked the idea of Gunn (keeping this show set in LA from being all white out-of-towners)
but I do agree that he was under-utilized, but that is a common problem w/the ensamble shows. I mean look at BtVS where Oz, Tara, and in later seasons even Giles and Xander, were totally under utilized.

There were only 13 episodes of Firefly but in a few of them Book and Inara hardly ever appear (actually Book never appears in 'Ariel').

So I guess the question is, how hard edged did Gunn really have to be? Because obviously he did come to trust these people fairly quickly (and loved Fred).....

But I'll admit that I loved his character a lot more in Season 5 when he got all articulate and in the sexy suits

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Jahzara:
The major problem I have with Gunn is that he is SO not hard. I mean, I've been in some pretty rough neighborhoods (though not ANYTHING like LA) and Gunn would have SO gotten his ass kicked.

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Wait, wait...you're mad because Gunn wasn't the stereotypical young, black thug? I completely appreciated that aspect of his character. He didn't form his gang because he was looking for power or money or even a little influence in a society that otherwise ignores him...he formed the gang to protect his family and neighborhood. That driving force does not make someone hard. It's a completely different motivation.

You can see the effects of the different motivation in 'That Old Gang of Mine.' There is the same gang lead by someone not trying to make a better neighborhood or world, but someone high on power....

Gunn wasn't my favorite character, but not because he didn't fit some stereotype of a hard inner-city kid.

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

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Quote:

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Originally posted by RugBug:

Gunn wasn't my favorite character, but not because he didn't fit some stereotype of a hard inner-city kid.

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Not talkin' about stereotypes- he just didn't come off as battle-tested. He didn't have superpowers like Buffy, nor was he a vampire. His strength had to come from, like, STRENGTH. He looked a little soft, and had no scars for his fighting, and was too quick to trust outsiders.
He was like a Superfriend- "Oh, you're a Hero too? Good, let's fight evil TOGETHER!"
It was too easy. His quips were too slick and forced.
He just didn't ring true (to me), as written. Maybe that's a GOOD thing for some folk- I dunno.



As I saw it Chrisisall

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Quote:

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Originally posted by chrisisall:

Quote:

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Originally posted by RugBug:

Gunn wasn't my favorite character, but not because he didn't fit some stereotype of a hard inner-city kid.

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Not talkin' about stereotypes

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Nyah, you didn't, but the person I quoted did.

Quote:

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
He looked a little soft, and had no scars for his fighting, and was too quick to trust outsiders.

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I agree. Didn't J. August Richards say something at one point about how they never really showed Gunn without his shirt on because he was skinny with no muscles to speak of? He was suppose to be the muscle and yet he had none. That cracked me up, and then I watched some more eps and laughed 'cause he was right.

***************
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Mavourneen:

Quote:

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Originally posted by chrisisall:


I'm not personally from Ethiopia.

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I AM

Well it WAS Ethiopia at the time! Now it is back to being Eritrea.

Tracywasthereisall


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I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"


one of the Forsaken TM

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