lunas_borednow

Angel Investigations is hired by a rich, geeky guy who designs software. This guy went to a demon whorehouse & he's now being blackmailed with some pictures of him & a demon-girl. Angel is hired to get the pictures back. While he's doing that he encounters this group of street-kids who have taken up a little demon-fighting. The leader, Gunn, has a little sister who he's very protective of. She's protective of him, too. She fears that he's too close to the edge- that he has a need for death & cares not about the human lives lost while taken down vamps, only that vamps are getting taken down. The group is after a pack of vampires that claim their neighborhood as their territory &, naturally, the vampires are after this group of hunters as well. Angel tries to coax the kids to understand that what they're doing is too much for them to handle & that they are just going to get themselves killed by doing it. (Very good parallel between 2 human gangs.) The vamps take Gunn's sister & kill her & turn her into a vampire. Gunn goes to stake the vamps out & encounters his sister. She offers him immortality & freedom from hunger & the street-life. Gunn has to let go of his sister, the one who he's cared most about & was doing this vamp-hunting for, in order to stake her. After he does, Angel, the rest of Gunn's gang, & the vamps show. Angel offers the solution of a truce- the humans might take the evil vamps out, but some of the humans will go down if they try. Gunn decides he's killed enough today & everyone departs. Later Angel goes to see Gunn & tells him that even though Gunn doesn't want his help that maybe Angel will need Gunn's help someday.

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From Buffyworld.com

saturn5

WAR ZONE

The Good;

Charlie Gunn, yay! David Nabbit too and some nice humour at the brothel (love the characterisation of the Madam, hard as nails but extremely streetwise as to the sensitive realities of her business)

The Bad;

Not much, good story although the slum allegory is laid on a bit thick.

Best line:

Gunn; "I don't need advice from some middle class white dude who's dead"

Jeez, how did they get away with that?

A nasty incestuous vibe between Gunn and his vamped-sister.

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Cliches

Damsel in distress; 15, in this case it's the male characters who need help

Inverting the Hollywood cliche; We expect a patrician speech from Angel to Gunn at the end. Instead Angel actually asks Gunn for his help in future, again recognising talent when he sees it. CC and Wes rescue Angel who forgets to use his mobile phone to get himself out of the meatlocker.

In disguise; 4

DB get's his shirt off; yep, Angel getting patched up so 7

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; A paying client for AI, Cordy must be so happy. Angel also wants to 'see the cheque'

4

Fang Gang in bondage:
Cordy: 5
Angel: 8
Wes: 2

Fang gang knocked out:
Cordy: 9
Angel: 10
Wes: 4
Doyle; 1


Kills:
Cordy: 3 vamps, 1½ demons
Angel: 3 vamps and 1 demon for Angel so 4 demons so 14 vamps, 10 and 1/2 demons, 2 humans.
Doyle; 1 vamp

Wes; 1/2 a demon

Kate; 3 vamps

Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.

Gunn;

Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang: no but Angel refers to himself as Angelus to intimidate the other vamps
Cordy: 2
Angel: 6

Characters killed: 2 of Gunn's people killed.

27

Recurring characters killed;

2;


Total number of Angel Investigations: Gunn a long way from joining yet
3, Angel and Cordy and Wes

Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 8,

Packing heat; no but one of Gunn's guys uses a flamethrowers which Wes will employ later to good effect.

Wes; 2

Doyle; 1

Angel; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast
Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky:

Angel's entire visit to Madame Dorians and the David Mabbet stuff is just SOOO out there, especially the tail gag (this was the era of Madame Alex/Hedi Fleiss etc). That said of all the demon girls am I the only one to find Lina the only attractive one? One of the demons appears to be one of the girls from She, her Ko well and truly intact (hope she's still not burning people)Cordelia is once again tempted to prostitute herself to a wealthy man as she was in the pilot. Cordy says that David's name feels 'Good in her mouth'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I don't think even Faith would say that?)


Captain Subtext;

Not so subtle racial and social hints, even the vamps bemoan the sort of people they now have to feed on.

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages;

4,

Guantanamo Bay;

Angel once again tortures a vamp

Buffy characters on Angel; 11

Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla

Questions and observations;

Gunn's strategy seems ok to me, taking the fight to the enemy rather than waiting until they come to you. By contrast Angel lets the vamps go at the end, to kill others? The vamps attacking Gunn's headquarters resemble the aliens in the War of the Worlds series. Both Angel and Gunn have killed their sisters.

Marks out of 10; 6/10, an ok ep but one that's hard to watch at times, largely significant for the introduction of Gunn (and his truck) and his motivations.

livstevi21

Hmmm. Not sure I liked this one much. I can't think of much to say about this episode right now. Maybe will give it some thought.

sum1

One of the best episodes of season 1.