Intro to Reverberations #13
This is my intro to Reverb #13. It's something of a rant. You don't have to read it. The chapter will stand on its own. Or at least, if it doesn't, it's not because of anything in here.
I just wanted to put this on the table so that some of my feelings about one of the scenes in the chapter (or at least, its canon original) are clear.
Reverberations #13
Author’s Notes:
If there was one scene in S5 that convinced me that the writers had totally lost track of their two main characters, had completely lost any sense of who they were, or where their heads were at, it was the scene in Justin’s studio the morning after the bombing.
Not Brian’s proposal - in the scheme of things for me that was a small matter, and I could actually think of reasons why he might do that.
No, I’m talking about this piece of dialogue:
Brian: “I thought if anyone would come through this unruffled it would be you.”
Justin: “When I was bashed I found out that the best way to survive, to go on, is to make something. A painting, a napkin holder, it doesn’t matter. Just so you could prove to yourself and to them that they didn’t get you.”
Unfuckingbelievable!
I don’t know which of the two I found more completely out of whack. I mean, my reading of Brian is that his natural tendency to over-protectiveness (however well disguised, we all know it’s there) and his general control freak nature, are pretty much never going to allow him to be this relaxed about what happened, and, specifically, about Justin’s being involved. (This is, after all, the same man, who just a few hours ago, could hardly speak to tell Justin how scared he’d been of losing him.) I just don’t buy that for a moment.
But apart from that, there’s the tiny little fact that Brian, far from having reason to believe that Justin is the one who would come through it "unruffled", has every reason to believe the complete opposite. Brian was the one who’d witnessed first hand for weeks, if not months, Justin’s struggle to regain himself after the bashing. He’d seen Justin too afraid to be touched, he’d seen him needing help learn to walk down the street again without flinching, he’d watched Justin lose it completely over not being able to paint or draw, he’d even had to stand by while Justin employed Brian’s own pain management techniques of booze, drugs and sex when he looked like losing his place at PIFA. And just a year ago, as a direct result of the bashing, he’d been worried sick because Justin was roaming the streets in the Pink Posse, searching out physical confrontations with a gun stashed in his backpack. There is no way Brian would assume that someone once again trying to kill him because he was gay would leave Justin “unruffled”.
The stuff about Justin’s anger and despair at not being able to draw brings us, of course, to the absurdity of Justin’s response, because after the bashing Justin couldn’t create anything. Just when was he supposed to have had this post-bashing revelation that creating something helped him survive? He was in hospital and rehab for weeks and couldn’t pick up a paper clip, let alone create anything. When he came out he could barely hold a pencil, or use a knife. He couldn’t even paint letters on a placard for the Pride parade, and his frustration over his inability to create was a major contributor to his mental problems after the bashing, not a cure for them. Even doing the Rage comic didn’t really help deal with his post bashing trauma. We know that, because at one stage in S4 we saw him dash off drawing after angry drawing and find no relief in them for his rage and frustration. Which was what drove him out onto the streets with Cody.
To have him turn around now and claim that being able to create was what “saved” him, helped him survive after the bashing is so absurdly ridiculous that you’d almost believe the lines were written and put to air by someone who’d never even seen the earlier seasons. To accept it, one would have to completely disregard most of S2 and a good part of S4 as well, since the whole Pink Posse thing was also predicated on Justin’s inability to move past what Hobbs had done to him.
If any shred of respect for the writing in S5 remained after the shambles of the first part of the season, it shriveled up and died during that little piece of nonsense. It was to me arguably the most absurdly OOC piece of writing I’ve ever seen in an ongoing series.
It drove me nuts when I first saw it and that single scene was one of the main catalysts which called Reverberations into being. I am so glad to have the chance to finally deal with it.
I just wanted to put this on the table so that some of my feelings about one of the scenes in the chapter (or at least, its canon original) are clear.
Reverberations #13
Author’s Notes:
If there was one scene in S5 that convinced me that the writers had totally lost track of their two main characters, had completely lost any sense of who they were, or where their heads were at, it was the scene in Justin’s studio the morning after the bombing.
Not Brian’s proposal - in the scheme of things for me that was a small matter, and I could actually think of reasons why he might do that.
No, I’m talking about this piece of dialogue:
Brian: “I thought if anyone would come through this unruffled it would be you.”
Justin: “When I was bashed I found out that the best way to survive, to go on, is to make something. A painting, a napkin holder, it doesn’t matter. Just so you could prove to yourself and to them that they didn’t get you.”
Unfuckingbelievable!
I don’t know which of the two I found more completely out of whack. I mean, my reading of Brian is that his natural tendency to over-protectiveness (however well disguised, we all know it’s there) and his general control freak nature, are pretty much never going to allow him to be this relaxed about what happened, and, specifically, about Justin’s being involved. (This is, after all, the same man, who just a few hours ago, could hardly speak to tell Justin how scared he’d been of losing him.) I just don’t buy that for a moment.
But apart from that, there’s the tiny little fact that Brian, far from having reason to believe that Justin is the one who would come through it "unruffled", has every reason to believe the complete opposite. Brian was the one who’d witnessed first hand for weeks, if not months, Justin’s struggle to regain himself after the bashing. He’d seen Justin too afraid to be touched, he’d seen him needing help learn to walk down the street again without flinching, he’d watched Justin lose it completely over not being able to paint or draw, he’d even had to stand by while Justin employed Brian’s own pain management techniques of booze, drugs and sex when he looked like losing his place at PIFA. And just a year ago, as a direct result of the bashing, he’d been worried sick because Justin was roaming the streets in the Pink Posse, searching out physical confrontations with a gun stashed in his backpack. There is no way Brian would assume that someone once again trying to kill him because he was gay would leave Justin “unruffled”.
The stuff about Justin’s anger and despair at not being able to draw brings us, of course, to the absurdity of Justin’s response, because after the bashing Justin couldn’t create anything. Just when was he supposed to have had this post-bashing revelation that creating something helped him survive? He was in hospital and rehab for weeks and couldn’t pick up a paper clip, let alone create anything. When he came out he could barely hold a pencil, or use a knife. He couldn’t even paint letters on a placard for the Pride parade, and his frustration over his inability to create was a major contributor to his mental problems after the bashing, not a cure for them. Even doing the Rage comic didn’t really help deal with his post bashing trauma. We know that, because at one stage in S4 we saw him dash off drawing after angry drawing and find no relief in them for his rage and frustration. Which was what drove him out onto the streets with Cody.
To have him turn around now and claim that being able to create was what “saved” him, helped him survive after the bashing is so absurdly ridiculous that you’d almost believe the lines were written and put to air by someone who’d never even seen the earlier seasons. To accept it, one would have to completely disregard most of S2 and a good part of S4 as well, since the whole Pink Posse thing was also predicated on Justin’s inability to move past what Hobbs had done to him.
If any shred of respect for the writing in S5 remained after the shambles of the first part of the season, it shriveled up and died during that little piece of nonsense. It was to me arguably the most absurdly OOC piece of writing I’ve ever seen in an ongoing series.
It drove me nuts when I first saw it and that single scene was one of the main catalysts which called Reverberations into being. I am so glad to have the chance to finally deal with it.