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Character Name: Gene Hunt
Canon: Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes
Canon Point: 3x08, after everyone’s walked into the pub.
disclaimer: major spoilers for the ending of Ashes to Ashes past this point
Appearance: Gene is in his mid-forties, just under six feet tall, with close-cropped sandy brown hair. He's got a stocky frame and what can only be described as a paunch - but despite that, he's still muscular enough to deliver a sound drubbing to most miscreants. He usually wears a suit and a long black coat. He's rarely seen without cigarettes and a number of flasks concealed in his coat - sometimes as many as four.
Age: mid-to-late 40s
History: http://life-on-mars.wikia.com/wiki/Gene_Hunt
Headcanon note: I subscribe to the philosophy that Gene didn't create his world; rather, he stepped into his role. Likewise, once he passes on, someone else will take over his duty in "copper limbo". This doesn't actually have any influence on things, but I thought it might be worth noting. After all, if Gene created his own world, then logic - not that logic tends to apply anywhere in the canon of both shows - would sort of dictate that it would be stuck in the fifties. As it is, time moves inexorably on - since it mirrors the "real world", I assume that it draws bits and pieces of reality from the coppers Gene helps to build the rest of the world. If it was entirely his reality, then the theme of "becoming outdated" present in Ashes to Ashes wouldn't be as important, as you'd think he could subconsciously control that aspect of the world, so that it would always need him/have a place for him.
Personality: In canon, Sam sums Gene up quite succinctly: "an overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding". (Gene's response: "You say that like it's a bad thing.") To be fair, Gene isn't just homophobic/misogynistic/racist - he dislikes everyone equally, and insults them all, political correctness (or tact) be damned. He refuses to take shit from anyone and has a no-nonsense attitude towards investigations. He's convinced he's always right and won't back down from an argument. He always has to be in control of the situation. Basically, he's the classic alpha male, and he wants everybody to know it. He views himself as an Old West-style sheriff, dispensing justice as he sees fit. Sometimes - before he meets Sam - constructing evidence is necessary to make this happen. However, he claims that he would never fit anybody up who didn't deserve it. When Sam asks him if he's "the good, the bad, or the ugly" (referring to the classic movie poster in his office), Gene replies, "all three". To him, justice isn't a pretty thing, and achieving it sometimes calls for desperate measures - he's the one willing to go to those lengths personally to ensure that it happens.
Gene's own constructed self-image is how other people view him because of the nature of his world - it allows him to be perceived as what he is and shapes itself to him, sometimes in distinctly unlikely and over the top ways, in order for Gene to be larger than life. Canon says that the very nature of Gene Hunt was his own creation - after his death and consequent arrival in copper purgatory, he became what he thought he should be. He's not aware of ever having been anything else - he remembers being a derpy PC when he was nineteen, of course, but he has no knowledge of his own death, or of his role in the afterlife.
Canon and other information is vague at best as to whether Gene suddenly aged and became the age he appears to be in LoM/A2A after his death or actually grew up, so to speak, while in copper purgatory. I subscribe to the latter theory - however, there's still a certain immaturity to Gene because the world is shaped around a nineteen year old's view of things. The way he treats women, for example, making sexist - and occasionally overtly sexual - remarks to them, or his inclinations to extreme brutal violence. Keats claims he's still the same skinny kid he was, but Keats is obviously a liar by nature, being a representative of the "Dark Side" (and/or Satan/the Antichrist/a demon), nor does he know Gene half as well as he thinks he does.
He is right, though, that Gene is the absolute ruler of his kingdom, and his underlings are his subjects. Gene has to be in control of things; it's part of his very nature. The thought of losing control is one of the things he has to overcome in his own journey - to willingly relinquish that power and let everybody else move on (or to simply allow them more responsibility in investigations, which is how it starts). The constant struggle for control with Sam and Alex is one of the things that drives him crazy about them, one of the hardest things to deal with. Gene is too stubborn for his own good - ridiculously stubborn, in fact, often clinging to ideas or concepts that impede his duty.
On the other hand, the people he works with are his family - the most important thing to him, save his job. (And, technically, though he doesn't know it, they are his job.) They mean everything to him, and he expects his loyalty to be reciprocated. Maybe it's an uneven relationship in terms of power, but Gene figures that families often are. (Alex would probably remark on the highly Freudian implications of all this.) He doesn't understand when Chris betrays him in the second series of A2A because, as far as Gene's concerned, he's just sold out someone who's like a father to him. (In fact, Gene insists on sitting at the head table at Chris and Shaz's wedding reception - when told that it's a table for family, he points out that he's all the family in the world to both of them.) The betrayal of Harry Woolfe in LoM is the same way - except Gene's been betrayed by his own father figure (and eventually forced to shoot him). (Considering that Gene's own father was an abusive alcoholic and his younger brother ran away from home and dosed on heroin, Gene is not lucky when it comes to family life.)
The one thing that terrifies Gene the most is becoming old and outdated and past his prime - he can see it happening in London, as his style of policing falls by the wayside and the world becomes more and more modern. He feels increasingly like he's becoming a relic, and occasionally even admits to feeling useless or helpless, though this is then typically followed by successfully bringing the case at hand to a close despite his own self-doubt. He loves his job - probably more than he's ever loved anything or anybody - and can't picture himself doing anything else. He wants to be in the thick of it all, bashing heads in and bagging criminals, and he hates that policework is increasingly done behind a desk, and that logic and reason are taking all the passion out of the work. He trusts his gut instincts in a world that no longer accepts them as valid evidence.
Though Gene doesn't like to admit it, he also has his softer side. He believes in treating elderly women very politely (and, in fact, has distinct ideas on the "right" way to treat women, though these ideas are sometimes very arbitrarily applied) and would never be outright cruel to children - when they aren't brats, he can even be almost nice to them. When one of his informants attempts to leave a life of crime to provide for his wife and children, Gene lends him one of his own suits for the job interview. (This later backfires when said informant is shot in the head while wearing Gene's suit.) He's always there to save Alex - or just to carry her up to bed when she's too pissed to make it on her own - and has strange ideas about chivalry, possibly also lifted from old Westerns.
River Power: The ability to turn liquid into alcohol with a touch. When it first activates, he won’t be able to control it - either when it happens or what it produces. However, it will somehow become more controllable when he’s drunk. Over time, and with practice (and lbr he’ll get PLENTY of practice), he’ll be able to refine his control to be able to change liquids into whatever he wants.
Canon: Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes
Canon Point: 3x08, after everyone’s walked into the pub.
disclaimer: major spoilers for the ending of Ashes to Ashes past this point
Appearance: Gene is in his mid-forties, just under six feet tall, with close-cropped sandy brown hair. He's got a stocky frame and what can only be described as a paunch - but despite that, he's still muscular enough to deliver a sound drubbing to most miscreants. He usually wears a suit and a long black coat. He's rarely seen without cigarettes and a number of flasks concealed in his coat - sometimes as many as four.
Age: mid-to-late 40s
History: http://life-on-mars.wikia.com/wiki/Gene_Hunt
Headcanon note: I subscribe to the philosophy that Gene didn't create his world; rather, he stepped into his role. Likewise, once he passes on, someone else will take over his duty in "copper limbo". This doesn't actually have any influence on things, but I thought it might be worth noting. After all, if Gene created his own world, then logic - not that logic tends to apply anywhere in the canon of both shows - would sort of dictate that it would be stuck in the fifties. As it is, time moves inexorably on - since it mirrors the "real world", I assume that it draws bits and pieces of reality from the coppers Gene helps to build the rest of the world. If it was entirely his reality, then the theme of "becoming outdated" present in Ashes to Ashes wouldn't be as important, as you'd think he could subconsciously control that aspect of the world, so that it would always need him/have a place for him.
Personality: In canon, Sam sums Gene up quite succinctly: "an overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding". (Gene's response: "You say that like it's a bad thing.") To be fair, Gene isn't just homophobic/misogynistic/racist - he dislikes everyone equally, and insults them all, political correctness (or tact) be damned. He refuses to take shit from anyone and has a no-nonsense attitude towards investigations. He's convinced he's always right and won't back down from an argument. He always has to be in control of the situation. Basically, he's the classic alpha male, and he wants everybody to know it. He views himself as an Old West-style sheriff, dispensing justice as he sees fit. Sometimes - before he meets Sam - constructing evidence is necessary to make this happen. However, he claims that he would never fit anybody up who didn't deserve it. When Sam asks him if he's "the good, the bad, or the ugly" (referring to the classic movie poster in his office), Gene replies, "all three". To him, justice isn't a pretty thing, and achieving it sometimes calls for desperate measures - he's the one willing to go to those lengths personally to ensure that it happens.
Gene's own constructed self-image is how other people view him because of the nature of his world - it allows him to be perceived as what he is and shapes itself to him, sometimes in distinctly unlikely and over the top ways, in order for Gene to be larger than life. Canon says that the very nature of Gene Hunt was his own creation - after his death and consequent arrival in copper purgatory, he became what he thought he should be. He's not aware of ever having been anything else - he remembers being a derpy PC when he was nineteen, of course, but he has no knowledge of his own death, or of his role in the afterlife.
Canon and other information is vague at best as to whether Gene suddenly aged and became the age he appears to be in LoM/A2A after his death or actually grew up, so to speak, while in copper purgatory. I subscribe to the latter theory - however, there's still a certain immaturity to Gene because the world is shaped around a nineteen year old's view of things. The way he treats women, for example, making sexist - and occasionally overtly sexual - remarks to them, or his inclinations to extreme brutal violence. Keats claims he's still the same skinny kid he was, but Keats is obviously a liar by nature, being a representative of the "Dark Side" (and/or Satan/the Antichrist/a demon), nor does he know Gene half as well as he thinks he does.
He is right, though, that Gene is the absolute ruler of his kingdom, and his underlings are his subjects. Gene has to be in control of things; it's part of his very nature. The thought of losing control is one of the things he has to overcome in his own journey - to willingly relinquish that power and let everybody else move on (or to simply allow them more responsibility in investigations, which is how it starts). The constant struggle for control with Sam and Alex is one of the things that drives him crazy about them, one of the hardest things to deal with. Gene is too stubborn for his own good - ridiculously stubborn, in fact, often clinging to ideas or concepts that impede his duty.
On the other hand, the people he works with are his family - the most important thing to him, save his job. (And, technically, though he doesn't know it, they are his job.) They mean everything to him, and he expects his loyalty to be reciprocated. Maybe it's an uneven relationship in terms of power, but Gene figures that families often are. (Alex would probably remark on the highly Freudian implications of all this.) He doesn't understand when Chris betrays him in the second series of A2A because, as far as Gene's concerned, he's just sold out someone who's like a father to him. (In fact, Gene insists on sitting at the head table at Chris and Shaz's wedding reception - when told that it's a table for family, he points out that he's all the family in the world to both of them.) The betrayal of Harry Woolfe in LoM is the same way - except Gene's been betrayed by his own father figure (and eventually forced to shoot him). (Considering that Gene's own father was an abusive alcoholic and his younger brother ran away from home and dosed on heroin, Gene is not lucky when it comes to family life.)
The one thing that terrifies Gene the most is becoming old and outdated and past his prime - he can see it happening in London, as his style of policing falls by the wayside and the world becomes more and more modern. He feels increasingly like he's becoming a relic, and occasionally even admits to feeling useless or helpless, though this is then typically followed by successfully bringing the case at hand to a close despite his own self-doubt. He loves his job - probably more than he's ever loved anything or anybody - and can't picture himself doing anything else. He wants to be in the thick of it all, bashing heads in and bagging criminals, and he hates that policework is increasingly done behind a desk, and that logic and reason are taking all the passion out of the work. He trusts his gut instincts in a world that no longer accepts them as valid evidence.
Though Gene doesn't like to admit it, he also has his softer side. He believes in treating elderly women very politely (and, in fact, has distinct ideas on the "right" way to treat women, though these ideas are sometimes very arbitrarily applied) and would never be outright cruel to children - when they aren't brats, he can even be almost nice to them. When one of his informants attempts to leave a life of crime to provide for his wife and children, Gene lends him one of his own suits for the job interview. (This later backfires when said informant is shot in the head while wearing Gene's suit.) He's always there to save Alex - or just to carry her up to bed when she's too pissed to make it on her own - and has strange ideas about chivalry, possibly also lifted from old Westerns.
River Power: The ability to turn liquid into alcohol with a touch. When it first activates, he won’t be able to control it - either when it happens or what it produces. However, it will somehow become more controllable when he’s drunk. Over time, and with practice (and lbr he’ll get PLENTY of practice), he’ll be able to refine his control to be able to change liquids into whatever he wants.