Angel 5x18 Origin (more thoughts)

[oyceter]

I find it interesting that most people are thinking of Gunn's refusal of Hamilton's deal as the high road. I mean, obviously I get that refusing another deal with the Senior Partners is a good thing, but I was seeing so many parallels between Angel's speech to Wes in the beginning of the episode ("Fred's dead. You're alive. Start acting like it."), with Wes burying himself in a room with Illyria and lots and lots of alcohol. Gunn's not living. Gunn is doing the Groundhog Day thing, he's literally standing still in time. Not only that, but he doesn't even have the memories of signing the contract, he doesn't know what he's suffering for.

I think the thing that hurts the most is that: does Gunn think this is the only way he can atone, that he can make it better? Does he think so little of himself that the best way to make it up to the Fang Gang is to completely remove himself from the picture?

Comments

[gwynnega]

I think Gunn figured he had two choices: 1) deal with the Senior Partners again and potentially do more harm and 2) be stuck there in the basement but not inadvertantly hurt anybody. Both are lousy options, but he chose the one he thought, on a practical level, would do the least harm to others.

[oyceter]

It's true -- it's just that my brain immediately jumped from Wes being disconnected from the world and that being a bad thing to Angel to Gunn being disconnected to the world (and subsequently, a bad thing for Angel). I think I wasn't thinking of him accepting the SP's offer as the SP's offer per se, I was more in the mind set of him not accepting something that would put him back in the world.

I also find I tend to have a rather coldly pragmatic view of the noble gesture at times...