That Old Gang of Mine

That Old Gang of Mine
Written by Tim Minear
Directed by Fred Keller

Original Airdate: October 8, 2001

Plot: Attempting to heal the rift between himself and Meryl, the demon informant, Angel finds Meryl murdered and launches an investigation, turning up a systematic pattern of offing demons all across L.A.--both good and bad demons. Meanwhile, Gunn meets up with his vampire slaying crew, who are under the influence of Gio from Miami, who considers that Gunn has betrayed the cause by working with a vampire. Meanwhile, Cordy tries to help Fred re-assimilate into the real world.

Review

Warning: You don't need me to sing and read my aura to know that I'm not going to hold back SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "That Old Gang of Mine." If you've not seen it yet and want to go in unaware of any of the plot points, I strongly suggest you turn back now....

In short: Surprisingly good.

Of all the characters on Angel, the one that has been the least developed, at least IMHO, is Gunn.

Part of this problem has been that when the scripts have taken the time to focus on Gunn, they haven't really focused on him as a character, but rather they've focused on him as a cliche. Yes, Gunn is an African-American male who was a member of a gang. Sure, the gang fought vampires and Gunn was working for the greater good. But it just seemed as if every time the script writers took a chance to let Gunn focus on that world, the dialogue and the situations got very stilted, cliched and ultimtely cringe-worthy. (I will argue on a counter-point that when episodes focus on the group as a whole and Gunn's part in it that we're given to see a lot more of Gunn as a character and a person than we do when the spotlight comes to rest entirely on him).

And I'll be honest with you. When I heard that "That Old Gang of Mine" would focus once again on Gunn and his old gang, I cringed inwardly. I felt that we'd seen enough of the "Gunn is caught between his two worlds" bit last year. And for the first fifteen minutes or so of "That Old Gang of Mine" I honestly thought that maybe the script was going to be a rehash of what we'd seen all last year--Gunn is caught between two worlds and ultimately is able to reconcile being in both.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

I should have a bit more faith, I guess. Because this episode proved me wrong in every possible way.

Instead of taking the easy route, the script instead took a harder road. And while I'm sure that portions of the story were a bit predicable, it's what we learned about the characters and how that may affect things to come that really deserves the kudos here. (In a lot of ways, this reminded me a bit of last week's episode of Enterprise--from the beginning you could see where the plotline was going and it wasn't staggeringly original but in terms of what it did for the characters, it was an absolute delight to along for the ride).

The thing that absolutely worked here was that at every turn the characters were given tough decisions to make--and there was no easy way out. Nor did Tim Minear take the easy way out or pull an insane plot twist out of the blue to give the characters an easy way out. Instead, the script made them say and do things that could and will have long term consequences. And I can't wait to see the fall-out from this story begin to happen.

Indeed, a lot of this script was spent in finding ways for characters to atone for shortfallings that outsiders saw in the main characters we see in and out each week. It started off with Angel apologizing to Meryl for his abusive treatment of him and Meryl's refusal to accept the apology. The entire sequence at Lorne's with Angel apologizing was hysterical and yet it set up everything for the rest of the episode. We saw two sides that were willing to go to a certain point and no farther--both convinced they were doing the right thing. Both convinced they had "right" on their side and both feeling totally justified by what they were doing. Yes, we eventually see Angel bend a little by going by to extend the hand of friendship further (and doughnuts always help), but it was interesting that it took Angel a couple of hours to come to this course of action. And, of course, that plotline helped to propel us forward into the storyline with Gunn, that was far more complex, but also boiled down to the same thing.

Namely that Gio felt he was "right" and that all demons--regardless of whether they are evil or harmless need to be killed, simply for the sake of riding the world of demons. Certain, it's interesting to see a character such as Gio, who may experience the same type of predjuice in his daily life be the one to give off that kind of hatred and predjuice when faced with a similiar set of circumstances.

Also, to see his apparent hero worship of Gunn was interesting. And to see how quickly Gunn feel when Gio finally met up with him was interesting. The thing about Gio is that he was convinced he was right and fighting the good fight. Or at least he started out fighting the good fight. He certainly reminded me of Faith a bit--in that he tasted blood and liked it and now was undiscriminating in his mass slaughter of all things demon. So, while we can sit there and see Gio as a villain for inflicting pain upon demons who had done no harm to anyone, it's easy to see how he could go down the path he did. And it's also an interesting counterpoint to seeing what Gunn could have become without the visions that Cordy provides to give the group that is Angel Investigations their sense of purpose and a goal.

It was also interesting to see how Gio was able to move in and convince the other members of Gunn's old gang that he was correct in his crusade and to get them to follow. If I were Gunn, this would be a huge area of concern for me--how easily led the group was. Yes, Gio was charismatic and he talked a good talk, but he also twisted events around to his view and how he saw things. Just listening to him berate Gunn about being forced to kill his sister and then having his friend fall in battle last year were interesting becuase the events had happened, yes, but Gio was able to twist them to fit his agenda--whatever that agenda was.

I think the only thing that really disappointed me about the Gio plotline was that when the Host had a read on him and was explaining his aura, we never found out why he left Miami. I found myself wondering if it was like Faith--he'd got too into the thrill of the hunt and the kill and had hurt a human being, thus forcing him to flee the authorities. Or was it something more? Did he, like Gunn, have to kill someone close to him and that sent him spiralling over the edge from fighting the good fight to the mass extermination of anyone or anything that isn't human? These are some questions that I think would have been intriguing to hear answers to. And, who knows, maybe we will hear them in the future. It would certainly give the character a few more facets and shades of gray.

And while Gio was interesting enough and he served as the catalyst in a lot of ways, the real focus of this one was Gunn.

As I've said before, there are times when Gunn goes back to his old life that I just cringe. Namely because the dialogue seems to be so badly written. And that did happen in the first few minutes here. But once the plotline settled down and developed, it got better quickly. And all of what happened to Gunn here was superbly done.

Because in a lot of ways, as much as we hate to admit it, he could just as easily turned out like Gio. We saw that in the early scenes with Gunn--his dropping off Meryl and then driving off quickly, his wondering why the Angel crew was bothering to investigate someone eliminating demons, etc. It's certainly easy to see that Gunn could become like that. Indeed, the whole early sequence with the dream about his sister was nicely done and a good way to remind us what Gunn has lost in this battle and what he's given up in order to do what he feels his right and help Angel to win the battle against the coming apocolypse.

I liked seeing Gunn's attempts to hide how much he knew from both sides. He hid the fact that his old crew was behind all this from Angel and Wesley, but he also hid the fact that Angel and Wesley were closing on them from the old crew. It was interesting to see the conflicts going on and J. August Richards did a great job of conveying that. I'll admit I've enjoyed his performances as Gunn but I've never been really blown away by one--until now.

And seeing it all come to head at Lorne's was nicely done. I feel as though the early scene of showing that violence can't be done at Lorne's was interesting. For one thing, it was funny to see Meryl try to hit Angel and then Angel's glee at knowing he'd tricked him. (It was kind of third-grader-ish of Angel but it still worked). But I also think that it was brought up so we could know why Cordy had to go to the three (I want to call them sirens but I know that's not right and it probably shows my bias after having recently seen O Brother Where Art Thou) women to lift the spell. But I'll admit that I liked that.

I liked the conflict at Lorne's. It was tense and edgy. It certainly had me on the edge of my seat. I liked seeing the conflict between Gunn and just about everyone there. And to hear the things that each character said were intersting.

And certainly I bought 100% that when Gio handed Fred the crossbow that she's new enough and just unstable enough that she might actually kill Angel. I loved that sense of knowing, yet not really knowing. There's a sense of mystery still about this character still and I like that. Certainly we've seen now that Fred has a bit of a dark side and isn't just the crazy girl who talks to the plants that we saw earlier. I cannot wait for more exploration of her character.

Also, seeing Gunn's reaction and his explanation that Angel can't be his friend but he can work with him was superbly done. In a script full of great dialogue and a lot of really great words, those were some of the best. And everyone involved reacted so well to it. The look on David Borenaz's face as Gunn revealed that he couldn't be Angel's friend was superbly done. There was shock, hurt and understanding all at once and I liked all of it.

But the real clincher came in the end--with the final scene between Gunn and Angel. As a lot of you know, one of my favorite episodes of Buffy is Lie to Me and a lot of that comes from the coda. A good coda can take a good episode and kick it up to great. And the final conversation between Angel and Gunn about trust was superbly done and the clicher that really threw the episode over the top for me. It's got so many nuances and I'll bet you right that this one is going to come back to haunt the characters for the rest of the season. (And you've got to wonder if the trust might not come down to Gunn having to kill Angel's baby with Darla--if that's what it turns out to be--in order to save Angel.)

So, I've got to say that I really liked this episode. And, so far, this year Angel is three for three. Three solid, chracter driven episodes that have walked the fine line between light and dark and done it incredibly well. I admit I had my doubts at the end of the season last year, but those doubts have been fully and completely allayed by the first three stories this year.

I even liked the plotline of Cordy and Fred trying to be friends. It provided some humor and it also makes me feel for poor Fred. The poor girl--she goes out for a nice evening out and comes under a gang attack. And then her controlled calm as she explained to Gio just how she could kill him was chilingly done. I think Fred learned a lot more on Pylea than just how to be a scared slave running for her life. And there is so much potential there for exploration that I can't wait to see more.

Also, her singing Crazy was just inspired. And I will say this--Fred got better as she want along singing.

So, I guess that's about it for now, except a few small things...

--Once again, we see Gunn react positively to Fred. Watch him come into Lorne's, see her singing and the smile that lights up his face. This boy has a serious crush on Ms. Fred.

--Loved the scene between Cordy and Fred in the courtyard of the hotel. It was a light moment in an overall dark episode.

--Here's one thing that bugs me: Last year, we saw Cordy have a vision of Gunn. I wonder how the events depicted here fit in with that vision or if we are seeing that the crew has saved Gunn from becoming the vision Cordy saw.

--I'm glad that we didn't have a Darla scene forced into the storyline.

--I am also a bit worried. At the end of the episode, there was mention of a new episode but no preview. I am not one to panic, but that doesn't seem like a good sign to me.

--Did anyone else just hate the fact that there was in-show ads for every other damn show on the WB after every stinkin' commercial break?!? I know it's the wave of the future but I still dislike it. I've only just now barely learned to put up with the transparent network logo in the bottom corner.

Well, that's about it for now. Overall, it was a great episode of Angel--possibly the strongest of the young season. The first fifteen minutes weren't all they could have been, but the final 45 more than made up for it. Nicely done.

My rating: 9.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Angel switches bodies with an old man (I'd be more excited if it hadn't been already done and virtually the same way on Lois and Clark....but Angel has proved me wrong time and again this year based on my hopes and fears...)

"You can trust me. I didn't kill you when I had the chance."

"No, I trust you to kill me when the time comes."
--Gunn & Angel