I know he's only 19, but Justin is really dense when it comes to the whole Ethan thing. How can he think that Brian doesn't love him? For God's sake, Brian let Justin top him just weeks before! Did Justin really not realize that the look on Brian's face right before he stopped resisting and rolls over is saying "it's a really really big deal that I'm letting you do this"? That look says more "I love you"s than a thousand spoken endearments. God, I'm so furious that he left the launch party with Ethan. What a shitty thing to do. Dumping Brian just like that - not to mention in public. After doing something like that it doesn't make sense that Justin ran back to Brian the second Ethan cheated on him. Brian's his Plan B?

Sometimes I'm just not convinced that Justin ever really loved Brian - at least not more than half as much as Brian loves him. The writers seem to agree: Justin's feelings for Brian were a sign of his immaturity. I think the writers make it clear at the end that Justin won't become a man if he stays attached to Brian. The fact that he ultimately breaks away is the sign that he's matured. His relationship with Brian was one of those childish things a man needs to leave behind to become an adult. That interview feels like bullshit. CowLip have said in several forums that the goal of the show was to depict boys turning into men, and they felt like they'd managed to do that with all the characters (except Brian - I'd love to know what they had in mind for Brian's future because it isn't at all clear to me). Justin becomes a man when he leaves Brian and goes to New York. That business about "of course Brian and Justin will see each other again" just doesn't ring true in the overall theme of the show. Brian is a drag on Justin and the noblest thing Brian did in the whole show was let Justin go . . . and Justin went.

Gheez! I've had quite the day. First, I visited my psychopathic client and listened to him tell me in horrifyingly graphic detail about how he murdered his victim, but then insisted that he's not crazy and doesn't want to plead insanity (it's always the defendants who really truly are insane who don't think they are), and then I made the mistake of reading a story on CNN about a guy who died after he ate too many cockroaches. I literally threw up, and now I have a splitting headache. (Btw, do not, I repeat, do not read the cockroach story if you haven't already - maybe it's because I hate bugs, but I found it to be the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of, and that's coming from someone for whom blood-splatter patterns are a regular topic of workplace conversation).

Anyway. I need something to excise the memories of today from my consciousness, so here's another QaF question:

Other than that one all-too-fleeting scene in season 2, do you think Brian ever let Justin top him?