MovieChat Forums > Love Soup (2006) Discussion > Why dump Gil?

Why dump Gil?

posted 16 years ago by velmadublin
13 replies | jump to latest

I've only just read that it's back and I can't believe they've dumped the character of Gil?!? The awkward forays into the dating game for both Alice and Gil made the series so endearing and then that final scene of them only rows away from each other in the theatre was both poignant and heartwarming. When they showed the series again on BBC 3 (or 4 maybe, can't remember!) there a little while ago and the continuity announcer said there was going to be another series in the spring I was ecstatic. I was hoping they'd finally bumped into each other or met through mutual friends and it would be about their tentative steps into a relationship. Gah! I'm so disappointed!

[–] chyna-s 16 years ago

Only just found out myself that it is actually on tonight and had to come on here to see if Gil was in it. Guess he is not from your post and so am very disappointed. Oh well, guess Alice can carry it of by herself ok (well, I hope). Will miss Gil very much tho.

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'Stay out of Camberwick Green!' - Sam Tyler

[–] Reject_101 16 years ago

im gutted!
i loved the idea of the show... and i thought these two lost characters were the whole point of it.
without Gil being on equal par of patheticness dating wise, it makes me not like Alice's character so much, she just seems a bit sad and needy.
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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega.

[–] ninjaphil 16 years ago

The character of Alice is still really endearing to me, although she does seem more lost now that there is no apparent person out there for her.

I liked the first episode, particularly the Silhouette scene, that was really clever stuff. Cast aside, I was always the most impressed by the script and that is why I think it will continue to be a good series even without Michael Landes, good as he was.

I too was disapointed Alice and Gil did not meet up in series one. But now I look back on it, I think it was a more fitting closure for the two characters. Everyone has their perfect other out there somewhere, the chances of our meeting them are so unlikely its nigh on impossible. It's far more likely they never would have met. Coming as close as they did worked well as the ultimate tease!

Anyway, who knows they may get Gil back for a third series yet!

Adrian: Why do you wanna fight?
Rocky: Because I can't sing or dance.

[–] wok_wyle 16 years ago

i loved the idea of the show... and i thought these two lost characters were the whole point of it.
without Gil being on equal par of patheticness dating wise, it makes me not like Alice's character so much, she just seems a bit sad and needy.

Couldn't agree more. I watched the first episode, and yes Alice was quirky and funny, and the shadow man was a clever strand of the ep, but it's just not working for me without Gil. I thought the idea was meant to be about how similar they both are, but how they are totally oblivious to one another. They've just dumped Gil without any explanation. And Alice on her own isn't half as interesting to me.

'Be the change you want to see in the world' - Schofield (originally Gandhi)

[–] joelteon7 16 years ago

He wasn't dumped, he simply wasn't available.

You have to consider the various facts available to us. It's been 2 and a half years since the last season, which self-contained didn't really need a follow on, even if it was a brilliant piece of television. When a producer for an 'alright' viewed show dies, it's not usually a good sign. After the gap, I'm sure many of the actors thought there would be no reprisal, like I did after the long wait for a new season.

The other reason for his absence is that he had 'other filming commitments' in Hollywood. If you merge the 2 reasons together, it's perfectly feaseable to explain why he was unable to be in the show.

That doesn't mean to say he wouldn't be in a third season, if that were to be the case. I only found out the above after searching for why the show was 30 minutes instead of 60. Hearing in the adverts that Tamsin Greig was reprising her role was odd, because there was no mention of her counterpart. This kinda explains it away.

I was hoping it'd simply mean every other episode followed each character, but I was wrong. Hopefully they'll be a third season where they'll very cleverly explain -away his absence. The bad thing would be to do the reverse and have just him in for 360 minutes. The show really does need both of them to be at 100%, but at the level it's working at now, it's still vastly superior to most of the dribble on TV!

[–] kim_reaper29 16 years ago

I loved the first series and agree that the whole point seemed to be about the equal counter parts of the 2 main characters. They didn't need to meet, in fact keeping them separate is what made the first series work in my opinion, but it doesn't make as good TV without Gil. Disappointed.

Still agree that it's better than most of the other rubbish on the box though!

[–] nobodysperfect 16 years ago

Yup, totally agree. I thought that the whole point of the series was that they might just end up together... Seems a bit dismal without that promise!

[–] gomez_nomez 16 years ago

I'm way dissapointed. Cannot believe it. I thought the point of the series was to show the two perfect strangers and their lives in different situations and how they'd be PERFCET together! It just doesn't make any sense? Did the actor who played him not want to return for the second series? Does anyone know why the character isn't in it anymore???

[–] minifie-1 16 years ago

Michael Landes returned to Ameriky.

[–] the_other_usernames_were 16 years ago

Michael Landes was the only reason why i watched it the first time! But seriously, what was the point of it without him, he wasnt just eye candy, he was the best character. They better make a third series of nothing but him to make up for it

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] ph75006 10 years ago

Renwick's weird...I couldn't understand why he killed off Gil either because the whole premise of the show was based on the fact that these two people were perfect for one another. Without him, Alice's depressing & lovelorn thoughts are just that now, depressing. Anyway, like I said, Renwick is weird b/c just look at what he's done to Jonathan Creek (the latest season was beyond terrible).

[–] azNbLadEz 9 years ago

I'm pretty sure Landes was unavailable which is why they killed him off. I thought that they could have had him do just one episode for the series finale where the two could have met up finally but they didn't do that.