Chapter VII

With so many characters involved, it's easy for some of them to get lost in the mix. In the movie, Gabe was one of those characters. You never really got a sense of where his character was coming from. How did he really feel about Sam? Was he genuinely attracted to her or did he just have a fetish for black women? How does he really think about the rantings of Sam and the other black people on campus? Fortunately for us, the series allows more time to address those questions. It accomplishes this in a very clever way. Each episode tells the story from the point of view of a different character. Because this episode is told from Gabe's point of view, the audience gains a greater insight into what makes him tick. Unlike most first season episodes, this one spends a significant amount of time with Gabe away from Sam, so we get a better understanding of how he interacts with other people -- both black and white. At the same time, we also learn a lot more about Gabe's relationship with Sam. As a result, Gabe becomes a much more fully realized character in the series than he was in the movie.