and yet more thoughts
And now for some new thoughts.
At least ... new to me.
Again ... about that last scene.
I've thought for 5 seasons that there were a lot of things that C/L could have done differently.
I think that at times they lose sight of the characters completely in making dramatic plot statements and this was one of those times.
As I've already said, I believe that last scene isn't so much about Brian returning to the club scene, coming back full circle as it were. It's about the club scene, gay life in general, being there for Brian to return to.
It links directly back to the fight he put up against Stockwell to reclaim his right to the back room. It wasn't about anonymous sex then, it was Justin he took back there when he knocked the padlock off the door. It was about his rights to be himself. He says it clearly in 501, when he claims "I'm a cocksucker" and stands tall and proud on the balcony. That's the backstory which has set Babylon up to be the symbol for gay rights.
So when Brian is shown dancing at the newly rebuilt Babylon (the Babylon that he has saved three times now - once from Stockwell, once from the developers, now he's rebuilt it after the bombing) - it's not about him seeking pain management, as might previously have been the case. It's about him celebrating his right to be who he is. Babylon is Gayopolis, and he is Rage. And once more he's saved the day. Babylon is about his right to be who he is, and, despite the horror of the bombing (people died in that bomb blast), it's still there. He's still there. The gay community he represents "will survive".
Could the same "we will survive" message have been made with BJ dancing together at Babylon? - yes, but then at least part of the message would have been about Brian and Justin. I suspect that Justin is deliberately excluded so that the message comes across "undiluted". It's done that way precisely because C/L didn't want that last scene to be about the bj relationship.
They wanted it to be about Brian as symbol for the unrepentently out and proud gay man.
Do I claim this is great writing. No, of course not.
In many ways I think it sucks.
But I also don't think that it was intended to be a metaphor for Brian turning into some lonely pathetic figure who's lost everything.
(And of course, as soon as I type that, the words "not everything" come back to me.)
I most firmly believe that for the BJ fans, there are numerous pointers that indicate that C/L expect people to be able to believe (and rationally believe, not like the poor deluded ones - you know who I mean) that BJ have a future together.
But for me the three biggies are:
First: -Brian is not saying "don't look back" like he did when he was planning to leave for NY, he's saying "you don't know that". He isn't shutting the door. He is, to some extent, leaving it to Justin. And Justin's track record is that he's a fucking boomerang. Every time he leaves, or Brian pushes him away, he returns. He returned after the first night; he returned after the "I don't believe in love" conversation; he didn't exactly return after his first excursion to NY, but he made sure Brian could find him; he sought Brian out after Brian apparently abandoned him in the hospital; he returned after Ethan; he came back at Brian with a vengeance in the "chicken soup" scene; and he returned after LA. That's Justin's pattern. He has adventures and then he comes home. To Brian.
I think this is actually a big one, because the irony of it being Justin who is headed off to NY to further his career isn't, or shouldn't, be lost on any BJ fan, and I for one can't help referencing the scene where it was Brian who was planning to leave and contrasting Brian's attitude then and now.
Second: - Mikey's words. Mikey says to him almost exactly what he said to him when he found Brian after the scarfing incident. I can't believe that is accidental. And what did Brian do last time? He realised that he needed something other than Mikey's hero worship, and headed off to the person who could see through all his bullshit to the real man underneath. He went to "reclaim his lost youth".
Again, with Mikey's choice of those words, I have to believe that we are intended to reference that earlier scene, and what it lead to. And I'm talking about the good bit, not Hobbs and his hate - that's already been dealt with in the rebuilding of Justin's artistic career and the rebuilding of Babylon.
Third - and for me this is the really biggie - we have the contrast between 501, and 513.
In 501, Brian is actually starting to believe in a future with Justin. He plans to go out and visit him. Then he gets the phone call about Justin being longer in LA, and, drama queen that he can be, slips into the "it was going to end anyway" mode. He almost makes it, almost has enough faith to hang in there, but fails at that last challenge. And throws away the airline ticket.
In 513 - he keeps the rings.
That, to me, says it all.
Again - do I think this is great writing? No.
Am I frustrated that after five seasons C/L let their desire to make a dramatic political statement take precedence over the characters we've come to love as (at least for me personally) I've loved no other TV characters ever?
Damned right!
But am I sinking into a trough of despair and seeing it as the end of all things BJ?
Not a chance.
I see a future for our boys. Whether in NY. Or whether Justin realises that NY is, in its own way, every bit as shallow as LA, and that the whole idea that he has to give live there and nowhere else if he truly wants to make his way in the art world is just plain ridiculous - well, 1500 on his SATs, remember? :)
PS - to be honest, what I'm mainly irritated about is being forced into a position of having, to some extent, to defend C/L when actually I'd like to smack them silly.
But I just can't stand all the negativity. I truly don't see the reason for it. It's annoying that we don't see them together at the end. It's infuriating even. But it's only heartbreaking if you believe it's over.
And I just don't.