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grateful Well, I read that ShowTime is going to be replaying the QAF S5 come this January. I'm torn about watching it again. Do I want to put myself through this AGAIN? But I have LOVED this show from the very beginning. To say that I've never seen a show quite like this is an understatement. It was raw, honest, and unapologetic. If there's one thing I believe that is true of all who watched and loved this show, is that QAF left itself wide open to so many interpretations and all those interpretations are based not only on what we see on the show, but who we are and how we've experienced the world. It's the main reason why QAF is so obsessive. Much is left to our imagination and we have to use our own experiences to fill in the blanks.........so QAF often was a different story to each person who viewed it.
I admit there were moments in S5 that I enjoyed. It wasn't all bad but as the season went along, it became clear to me that it was no longer about Brian, Justin, Michael, Emmett, Ted, and company. The authenticity of these characters got high jacked and were cast to the wind for Cow/Lip's own personal political soap box. I can't fault their agenda (we are living in a scary political time where tolerance especially seems to be a rare commodity) or their desire to educate the public, but the way they choose to go about it is what I find hard to swallow. To use Brian as their scapegoat was truly unforgivable. Jesus, it wasn't enough in S4 that they cut off Brian's ball, but in S5 they go and cut him off at the knees. To put him back where he started in S1 is pretty damn cold and cruel. Nobody could could possibly want to see him remain aloof and alone after all the things he's been through in the last five years and call that growth. They tore down Brian's defensive walls that protected him from heartbreak, only for all of us to watch his heart be broken - by Michael turning against him, by Lindsay ripping away his son, and by having Justin leave him for NY. And Justin who had spent 5 long turbulent years chasing Brian to what......to give him up for NY? With his tenacious personality, no fucking way. Justin would have figured out a way to have both and quite honestly, it wouldn't have been hard to do. This is a character who has always grabbed what he wanted if he could get it. He's was never much on self-sacrifice and denial. In the end CowLip did such a grave injustice to these two magnificent characters. The sight of seeing Brian being so tactical and open in that last scene with Justin, making love with him but then leaving Brian naked and left all alone with nothing, well it was nothing short of horrifying to many of us who loved that character. If that wasn't appalling enough, we then get gifted with Michael showing up and dragging Brian who clearly was leaving his club boy days behind back into that life.
My salvation is that there are fandom writers who have come up with great stories to explain away the nonsense we got from the so called "professionals". That's been my sweet relief, that these characters can escape Cowlip and live on in the minds of writers who have found inspiration in them. Which lead me in to the next part of my rant today. I want to give a heads up to a wonderful post S5 story that is completed and available to read on bjfic.net . It's called "All Mistakes are Temporary". On www.valerielewis.net/bj/fic it's known as "The End done Right". (It's the same story just a different title). What I love so much about Vamphile story is she does such a fucking fantastic job of reminding us why we cared so much about the QAF family. She gives justice to everyone. Obviously the heart and soul of her story is Brian and Justin, but again it is not at the expense of the other characters. The character's conversations are so spot on that I swear you could hear them. In fact I often felt like I was watching this story as I was reading it. (I have to be careful here as I don't want to be a spoiler for any who haven't read it). She showed with a bit of imagination and heart that Brian and Justin could evolve in ways that still kept them riveting, emotional, and edgy. In "The End done Right", Brian and Justin's love is complicated but pure. While they might not always choose to be sexually monogamous, they are certainly emotionally monogamous. In Vamphile capable hands, Brian ends up with a truly intimate life not only with Justin but all the people that Cowlip stole from him in S5 finale and does it while keeping him true to his ideals. It is so lovely and hot (HOT! HOT! HOT!) and funny (no one uses humor better than she does) and then there are the small touches that she adds to make this drama absolutely fucking believable. I told her once in a email and I'll say it again. In "The End Done Right" Vamphile does what Cowlip and company refused to do. To remind us that the real challenge is to try and make a relationship succeed in a world that wants to tear it apart.
I can honestly say that the only reason I am even considering re watching S5 muchless spending the money come May for the DVD set is because of her story. Read it and fall in love with QAF all over again!!!!!
January 1 2006, 10:28:38 UTC 6 years ago
b) yeah here's my impression of 513
but i am planning on rewatching it on showtime because i only did get to see it once and now that I KNOW they'll be all right (because in my head they're in season six and right now brian and justin are drunk and celebrating new years, or just passing out or whatever.
and remember there are a few moments in season five worth revisiting. and you can always just STOP once justin says yes in his great big house with his great big...brian.
lets just think of them like this instead
erm, screencapture totally stolen from someone, whom i would credit if i could but i have no idea from whom i stole it.
January 1 2006, 22:37:44 UTC 6 years ago
Yummy yummy photo
I've always loved how Brian seemed to love playing with Justin's hair. That and the nose touching thing they did seemed to be so just them.;-)
January 1 2006, 16:43:04 UTC 6 years ago
I just know from personal experience how much a person can change their life after something horrible happens, so I don't think Brian was all that OOC....but then again, it's not even possible for cannon Brian (ON THE SHOW) to be out of character. That's just ridiculous. That's Brian...how can he be OOC...it's not a fic, that's BRIAN...on the show. HELLO PEOPLE! lol. It's hard to explain, but yet it's common sense.
That was the big controversy over Season 5. "Brian's changed so much...he doesn't even resemble the person he was before. He's such a pussy-boy now"...ok, I made that last one up, but I'm sure someone thought it even if they didn't write it. But the interesting thing about a lot (not all, but a lot) of those people is that they're the same people that in Seasons 1-4 said "Brian's such an asshole. Why can't he just tell Justin he loves him? Why can't he just realize how much Justin means to him? Will he ever grow up?" Is anyone else seeing the irony in this. People got what they asked for, and yet their still complaining. I tend to stay away from these people because I don't like people who are never satisfied....it's so stereotype female of them. (Wow, I just sounded totally feminist. Ha)
So I just spent like three minutes ranting about something that you probably don't care about, so I'm just going to push the "post comment" button now and spare you.
January 1 2006, 21:56:26 UTC 6 years ago
i guess it might have been better if he recognized that a chapter of his life was over and he had to move on to a new chapter, but instead they ended it in a way that said that lindz and mel were moving on to a new chapter, so was Mikey, so was Justin, but brian should please go back and start reading from chapter one again. he doesn't get to move on. he gets to be the aging club boy.
we've agreed to disagree on this before, and will again i'm sure. but i need to address one more thing. Just because cowlip writes it doesn't mean it can't be OOC.
yes, if they write it it's canon. i get that. but if justin were to, i don't know, say, strangle brian and then bury him in a shallow grave while lying to the family about where he is until eventually we find out he did it to finally get a relationship with lindsay, becaues he wanted to fuck her...well, that would be OOC no matter who wrote it.
brian proposing, brian buying a house, brian turning down sex at his bachelor party, those weren't OOC because brian doesn't do anything half way. but there were moments when the changes really did seem to come out of the blue, as if they were in a hurry to wrap things up rather than crafting a character with a natural progression from extended adolecense to being an adult. and that's what bugged me.
one ep he's "fuck off, no. never. i've told you this a million times"
four eps later he's got the house the rings the "anything my sunshine wants" and the desire to cuddle rather than fuck. HE was the one who changed overnight and became a stepford fag.
okay, i'll stop ranting about something YOU probably don't care about now and just push the "post Comment button" myself.
January 1 2006, 22:29:08 UTC 6 years ago
Vamphile
You know that I am so far in your corner on this. One little point that I'd like to make. A lot of people made a big deal out of the fact that it was so out of character of Brian not to fuck the stripper at his bachelor party. I've always felt that it wasn't. All one has to do is remember the last time he was in a similar situation........the Rage party. Yeah, he went ahead and fucked "Rage" but ultimately he got fucked over it. Because Justin walked out, left him. That HAD to have played in the back of his mind at his bachelor party. How he paid for that foolish act. That was what S3 was about. So it made perfect sense to me why he didn't fuck the stripper even with the knowledge that Justin was sanctioning it. He wasn't about to risk history repeating.January 1 2006, 22:34:32 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Vamphile
we do agree, it made sense to me too in the "nothing half way" category. you've got an interesting point about history repeating itself and that was probably a good part of it. i think it all dovetails in with trying to prove to justin he's for real, and really has changed.January 1 2006, 23:26:13 UTC 6 years ago
Yeah well with 13 eps to work with that's bound to happen, right? *shrug*
January 1 2006, 22:02:41 UTC 6 years ago
hey...........
First I truly appreciate your writing and sharing your opinion. Again, this is what was so special about this show. We all watched this show and while we all shared a love for this show, what often happened was the interpretation of what we saw often wasn't the same. That is what can be both maddening and celebratory about this show.
I am well aware that many people share your feelings on the ending. They were happy and satisfied with it. I pretty much have decided to watch S5 again when it starts airing on Showtime. I think it would be fun and enlightening to do threads on each episode as they air again and get other people's perspective on it. Granted watching it isn't going to change my feelings on the finale but that's okay.
;-)
Anonymous
January 3 2006, 06:35:46 UTC 6 years ago
Re: hey...........
Brian and Justin should HAVE gotten MARRIED AND MOVE INTO A WV HOUSE . thats the way it should have ended . there need to be a reunion show made or brian and justin spinoff show or A 2 movie made . the queer as folk ending should have been 2 hours and not just a 1 hour ending of season 513. brian and justin deseved tbere happy ending like all the rest of brian friends. justin should have been dancing with brian at the end .Anonymous
January 3 2006, 06:48:05 UTC 6 years ago
Re: hey...........
Brian and Justin should have been togther at the end . i hope they make a new queer as folk show . the fans where upset with the ending . brian should have sold the club and loft. and moved in the WV house or brian could have went to NY with Justin in the end .