Episodes 501-502
We’ll begin our marathon with the first two episodes. Full details can be found under the cut.
501
Justin scenes: 1. LA/Babylon phone call with Brian. 2. LA studio, Justin at work. 3. Justin with Conner/Brian and Michael on Street. 4. LA studio, Rage is canceled.
1. LA/Babylon phone call with Brian: Justin shares his enthusiasm and excitement about his work on the Rage movie with Brian, relaying that Brent says he couldn’t have envisioned the project without Justin. But Justin shows concern about Brian’s reaction as he tells him he’ll have to stay in LA longer.
Justin: I miss you. Brian: You take care of yourself, you hear? Do the best work you can. Have the best time you can. That’s all that matters.
Justin’s statement is heartfelt and honest. Brian’s response is distant and emotionally flat. Is Brian already entering self-preservation mode? Was this conversation the pivotal factor in Brian’s decision not to visit Justin and his belief that Justin won’t be back?
Interestingly, Brian seems to be getting sucked off because it’s what he does. It appears routine and unexciting. But, Justin seems to be genuinely enjoying the prospect of a trick at the party once he gets off the phone with Brian. He misses Brian, but he’s certainly not sitting around pining for him. He’s taking full advantage of LA and truly enjoying himself. But he wants to share it with Brian, telling him he’d love it in LA. Thoughts?
***** 2. LA studio, Justin at work: Justin is working furiously and specifically mentions that he hopes his hand doesn’t give out, demonstrating once again that the bashing will always have an effect on his life and who he is, both personally and professionally.
Brett announces that Conner is the new Rage. Note that Brett brings Conner directly to Justin, and personally tells him the news. What does this say about Justin’s position and work on the movie?
***** 3. Justin with Conner/Brian and Michael on Street: We know that Justin fucked Conner once before, because in 414, he whispered it into Brian’s ear. Do they still have the same no repeats rule? If so, is Justin breaking the rule, or is this Brian’s imagination? The setting looks suspiciously like the loft.
Brian tells Michael that Justin’s not coming back. Has he taken everything that Justin told him in their last phone call and extrapolated from there that Justin has too much going for him in LA to ever want to come back to Pittsburgh? It seems to be the classic defensive reaction; Imagine the worst now so that when it happens for real it won’t hurt so much. Thoughts?
***** 4. LA studio, Rage is canceled: Justin and Conner are clowning around like a couple of teenagers. Brett enters and announces that Rage is canceled. Clearly this is a major blow for Justin. It’s not just the loss of his first professional job; it’s the cancellation of a major dream. How personally does he take this? How much of a hit do you think this is to his self-esteem? How does this affect his dreams and hopes for his professional future?
Another issue for consideration: While Brian thinks that Justin isn’t coming back, Justin sees his time in LA limited to his work on Rage. And while he was willing to stay through extensions, and talked enthusiastically about a potential sequel, did he really see himself permanently in LA at that point? If not, what do you think he saw for his future prior to the Rage cancellation? What were his dreams and ambitions given the success he’s experiencing in LA?
502
Justin scenes: 1. LA studio, Justin packing up his stuff. 2. Brett’s house, Brett packing for Australia. 3. LA Party. 4. Justin returns home. 5. Justin at the diner with Ben, Emmett, Michael and Debbie. 6. Reunion Sex.
1. LA studio, Justin packing up his stuff: A clearly dejected Justin returns to the Rage studio one last time. He takes a storyboard, has a final look around and leaves. What’s going through his mind at this moment?
***** 2. Brett’s House, Brett packing for Australia: Justin learns that he has to vacate the house in a few days, and that Brett will be gone for six months. Any hopes that Justin might have had for Rage finding another studio in the near future are dashed. Brett tells Justin that he hasn’t given up on Rage, and Justin gives a hopeful smile, but clearly the disappointment and reality of the situation are evident as the smile fades.
***** 3. LA Party: Justin runs into Conner at the LA party. Justin talks with muted enthusiasm about Brett’s plans to shop Rage around. He gets a wake-up call from Conner who tells him, “When something’s over, it’s over.” Justin’s disappointment is palpable.
***** 4. Justin returns home: When Justin walks into the loft and sees Brian fucking the trick, he looks genuinely happy and like he has no problems with the situation. He’s not surprised; he’s grinning broadly and even gives a sexy little eyebrow raise as Brian comes. Does anyone see anything in this particular scene that makes them think that Justin is, in any way, displeased with Brian’s behavior?
***** 5. Justin at the diner with Ben, Emmett, Michael and Debbie: Justin’s first words about LA: “I hated it out there.” Superficial, self-centered, you’re nobody if you’re not involved in a big project. We’ll learn later that this is far from the truth. What’s his motivation for the things he says here? Sour grapes? Saving face? Trying to convince himself?
Emmett asks Justin what he’s going to do, and Justin says he hasn’t had much chance to think about it. Debbie tells him he can go back to busing tables any time. And Ted nails the issue when he says, “So, would you like to slit your throat now or after we have coffee?” What a letdown after LA. What must this be like for Justin?
***** 6. Reunion Sex: After really hot reunion sex, ehem… Justin and Brian talk about Justin’s time in LA. And here we have some critical issues being raised. First, (after tickling and giggling YAY) we have this:
Brian: I thought you were never coming back. Justin: I figured. Brian: Why would you? Justin: Can’t imagine.
And the tone suddenly turns solemn.
Next, we have Justin telling Brian what he really thought of LA:
Justin: I told everyone how shitty it was out there. How stupid everyone was. Truth is, I loved it. It was hot, it was fun, it was exciting. We were going to change the world. The first gay superhero. Now, it’s over.
Notice that the specifics that Justin relays to Brian all center around Rage and what he was trying to accomplish. He doesn’t specifically mention fucking around, the guys, the parties, etc. Thoughts?
And finally, we have this:
Brian: Now you’re back. Must be quite a letdown after all that. Justin: There’s still one thing Pittsburgh has that Hollywood doesn’t. That is, if the offer still stands? Brian: [Hesitates and then opens the empty drawer.]
This is a pivotal scene for what will happen later with Brian. Being the biggest fucking success you can be is incredibly important to Brian. The idea that Justin would come back to Pittsburgh solely for him is going to weigh heavily on Brian in the coming episodes. Is Justin compromising his career prospects, his chance to be the best, in order to be with Brian? Perhaps not, but it certainly seems like Brian could interpret it that way. Agree or Disagree?
And, does this explain why Brian’s behavior gets increasingly self-destructive as we move forward? Why his tricking and going out seems to increase more than we saw it in the last season?
An interesting issue in 502 is the concept of home. We see scenes of Brian planning for the reopening of Babylon, his “home,” juxtaposed with Ben and Michael doing a walk-through of the house that’s about to become their new home. We also see the broken home environment that Mel and Lindsay have ended up with. How does this tie in to Justin, who is told to vacate Brett’s house where he’s been staying in LA? And what kind of home is he returning to? Remember that he says to Brian, “That is, if the offer still stands?” Is he at all tentative when he asks that? And, how does it impact Justin that he doesn’t have the stability of a home? While we aren’t ready to cover the specifics of future episodes just yet, think about this concept of home, and Justin’s lack of a stable one for the entire time that we’ve known him, in terms of Justin’s later actions in S5.
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In both of these episodes, we have Brian clearly exerting his philosophy and lifestyle. Witness his speech in Babylon to Ted at the end of 501 (“This is where I live. This is who I am.”), and to Michael in 502 (“You and the nutty professor get married – in fucking Canada – you move to Stepford Avenue with all of the other ersatz heterosexuals, and suddenly that gives you the right to make pronouncements on everybody else’s life?”), the multiple tricks we see him with, and his disdain over the celebration of Mel and Lindsay’s anniversary. We also see Justin seemingly living this same lifestyle: The LA sex party, and his reaction to Brian when he catches him mid-fuck upon his return. They truly seem to be of a similar mind at this point in their story. Agree or disagree?
Another point for consideration: Justin’s confidence is shaken after the letdown of the movie being canceled. How would you compare this to Season 2 Justin and how his confidence took a beating after the bashing? Remember that Justin’s confidence issues had a major impact on the events that led to the breakup in Season 2. Think about this in terms of the 507 breakup that we’ll be getting to shortly. Are there similarities?