Angel ep by ep; PLAYERS-suave Gunn and electro Gwen

[saturn5]

PLAYERS

The Good;
I like this ep, nice to see that Gunn isn't just 'The Muscle', he's suave as well as tough. The best Gunn-centric ep and you could see J. August as James Bond. Love Gunn's little look when Wes goes 'Well the last time this happened..."

The Bad;
Quite humdrum in places, actually drags a bit

Best line;
Gunn describes the last few months of AI as a 'Turgid supernatural soap-opera'.

Jeez, how did they get away with that?

Apocalypses: 5

Angel Cliches
Inverting the Hollywood cliche; the little girl isn't in danger, Gwen has screwed Gunn over

In disguise; 8

DB get's his shirt off; 12

Cheap Angel; 6

Fang Gang in bondage:
Cordy: 5
Angel: 14
Wes: 6
Gunn; 4
Lorne; 4
Fred; 2

Fang gang knocked out:
Cordy: 15
Angel: 16
Wes: 5
Doyle; 1
Gunn; 2
Lorne; 5
Groo; 1
Connor; 1
Faith; 1

Kills;
Cordy: 5 vamps, 3½ demons
Angel; 41 vamps, 57 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 8 humans
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 12 demons+4 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 humans
Kate; 3 vamps
Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.
Gunn; 11 vamps+ 13 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human.
Groo; 1 demon
Fred; 3 vamp+ 1 demon, 5 zombies
Connor; 13 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 demons
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 3
Angel: 3
Gunn; 1
Wes; 1

Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 4
Angel: 10
Fred; 2
Wes; 1
Gunn; 1

Characters killed:
255
Recurring characters killed;
9;
Total number of Angel Investigations:
Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wes, CC, Connor,

Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 12
Wes; 1
Wes; 7
Doyle; 1
Angel; 3
Gunn; 2

Packing heat; Wes with his shotgun again
Wes; 9
Doyle; 1
Angel; 3
Gunn; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Gunn and Gwen, Gunn presumably not only having sex with her but taking her virginity if he's the first person ever able to touch her?
Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast
Angel: 5; Buffy, Darla and The Transcending Furies
Wes; 3; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 1 possible, Justine
Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen.
Fred; 1 Gunn
Groo; 1Cordy

Kinky dinky:
Lorne refers to a female friend Wanda as a 'peach'. Gwen in her customary tight PVC outfits. Wes explains his tryst with Lilah to Fred, he was lost and cut off from those he loved as indeed was she.

Captain Subtext;
Gwen calls Fred a babe and honey, obvious tension between the 2.

Know the face, different character; 4

Parking garages;
6,

Guantanamo Bay;

Buffy characters on Angel; 16
Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony

What the fanficcers thought;
Plenty of demon pregnancy fanfics, a subsection of fanfiction/fanart called GOT-fic, beautiful women being ravished and impregnated or sometimes consumed ('Vore') by monsters, aliens, mutated plants etc (think Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt, The Evil Dead or Alien vs Predator; Requiem). Also of course Willow having sex with snake demon in the comics. PM me for the links. Plenty of fic out there where Gwen joins AI or if the original gang is destroyed helping the new champion form their team or she (and the Groo) show up to save everyone from everything

Missing scenes;

Questions and observations;
Only a few weeks after becoming a dad Angel is now faced with becoming a grandfather! 'Dramarama' is referred to, an old supernatural British kids TV series which Joss Whedon may have seen growing up in the UK. 'Clash of the Titans' also referred to. Angel and Wes refer to 'The last time' CC got supernaturally knocked up both in Expecting and Epiphany. 8 million people in LA, didn't think it was that big. Not only did Angelus not kill Lilah he never actually killed anyone but a vamp? Andy Hallet in the titles, hooray! The last time we'll see Gwen whom was obviously supposed to be a possible regular but they went another way. A pity but at least we see her in the comics. For my money after this ep I figure she goes to see her parents and catches up on a lifetime's worth of hugs. Gunn's love of suits foretells season 5. We see Angel's photgraphic memory again. CC refers to the Fortress of Solitude, Xander's influence again. At what point does Angel twig CC's betrayal?
Marks out of 10; 7/10 a lightweight ep but probably what we need after all the power of the last few eps

 

[MinwaraYana]

Ah, love it. Gwen and Gunn made a great team. Love their outfits. 😀

And you're right. Gunn is not just a muscle. Congrats to Gwen that finally she's not a freak(as she referred) anymore.

8/10

 

[Tasha]

They do make a cute couple. Wait perfect couple**. (look wise)
I've never really enjoyed this episode though. :/
6/10

 

[Sunnydale Siren]

didn't care much for this one.

 

[Lilah]

Best Gunn centric episode, but that down to just the amazing Gwen. Shame we don't see anymore of her!

 

[VisionGirl]

As a Gunn-centered episode, I like it. Not the strongest of the season, but I do like Gunn & Gwen, I think they have more chemistry than Gunn & Fred. I wish we would've seen more of it.

I read online that Charisma Carpenter gave birth shortly before this ep aired. Is that why we don't see her much after this, and when we do she's in a coma? Was the rest of the season filmed after she had her baby?

But more importantly, I had forgotten about that last scene...that was a real twist! Loved that!

Lorne: Has Cordy been a bad, bad girl?
Magic 8-Ball: Definitely

 

[Ianigsy]

I wonder if the "turgid supernatural soap opera" line was originally quoted from a review or something- it doesn't sound right for Gunn somehow and turning that sort of criticism around would be a a very Whedonverse thing to do.

Otherwise...hmm. A bit of a curate's egg- it's kind of paradoxical that the main reason that they can afford to do a Gunn-centric story at this point in the season is precisely because the main arc has reached a point where he isn't really needed. And I'm surprised that Gwen doesn't have a barrel full of issues about touch- her dress sense is positively twisted for somebody who can't touch or be touched without potentially killing somebody! I suppose it makes sense that she would leap into bed with Gunn if the possibility was there that it might be their only chance, but it might have made the relationship more poignant if they fell in love over the course of several episodes but couldn't sleep together until Gwen was shorted out.