#qaf 1x17

[rinmonsterer]

Surprise parties in QAF ranked from worst to bad

First thing you need to know about "the gang" from queer as folk is that they have zero respect for personal boundaries. Second thing you need to know is that whenever they throw a party for their friends, statistically speaking, the best option on your RSVP sheet is always: run for the hills.

1. 5x01: Mel and Lindz' anniversary home invasion

It's one thing to drag your friend to a surprise party that they can get away from if it gets too much. But the absolute assholery it takes to invite dozens of people into someone else's house and make them host a party when they told you they're too tired and busy with a new baby? Gross. This would be a friendship-ending move for me. And this is only like the third grossly invasive and creepy thing in the unfortunate saga of Michael making Melanie regret she ever decided to have a child, before Judge Michael takes it unto himself to decide how other people should live their lives, and the beginning of the custody war where he sabotages his own daughter's childhood development and ruins her mother's life to satisfy his own selfish whims.

Famous last words: "And he wouldn't give us any trouble."

Rating: Mel, you're a lawyer. How hard is it to get a restraining order?

2. 1x22: Brian's birthday funeral

Barging into your friend's bed when he's asleep and kidnapping him is abusive behavior, you guys know that, right? Doing this only to play an elaborate prank whose purpose is to mock his deepest insecurities is also gross. The fact that this prank is followed by Brian's suicide attempt provoked by his fear of aging? Keep your enemies close, lose the friends.

And then everyone is apalled that Brian doesn't like birthdays.

Rating: Change your locks and phone number, Brian. Not eating alone at the Diner is not worth it.

3. 2x16: Ben's surprise birthday

Stealing your partner's private information, contacting everyone in his contacts (probably impersonating Ben) without knowing who they are, without checking with your partner if he's even up for a party. And then lying to him when he was looking for that private thing you stole and he needed it for work. And then being pissed that he didn't like the surprise. Just a regular Thursday for Michael Novotny.

Rating: Ben, next time you meditate, focus your gaze on the red flags instead of a candle flame.

4. 2x16: Justin's birthday party for three

This deserves a 5000-word meta analysis in which we excuse this shitshow by referencing Brian's self-sabotaging tendencies and lack of self-worth, so that we can absolve Brian of any bad intentions or emotional ineptitude. But for now, let's go with a quote from Melanie: "Just what he needs! To get laid."

Rating: Oh Brian... 😬

5. 5x13: Brian's stag party

Just. So much second-hand embarrassment. CowLip wiping the floor with Brian for 8 weeks straight, transforming him from one caricature into another - an earnest and embarrassing embodiment of everything he'd always despised, just to make a narrative point which nobody needed or asked for. Let's not forget that this character assassination arc also involved pod-Brian wearing a tragic cool dad hairstyle and a suit picked by someone at Mr. Wortshafter's accounting agency, as he non-ironically pitched an ad campaign featuring senior citizens romancing each other in front of a fireplace.

Rating: Couldn't we have one season finale without Brian Kinney's funeral? :|

6. 1x11: Mikey's surprise birthday bash

I don't actually dislike it. But I get it that some people disapproved of this party, so this is a honorary mention. At that point in the show though, this mess was absolutely fabulous and one of my many favorite moments of the season. It had everything:

Emmett making a chastity pact with the Porcelain God;

Drunk Melanie bonding with Justin over country club margaritas;

Ted's elephant trunk thong;

Ted's crush on Michael being remembered for 17 seconds only to be forgotten forever again;

Ted's expert commentary on the Brian and Mikey show;

Vic lampshading the fact that he's a token HIV-positive character;

Tracey getting much deserved closure after being strung along by Michael for weeks;

Brian casually humiliating David in his inimitable drama king fashion;

Justin being the only one staying by Brian's side because "somebody has to help you clean up this mess." ❤

And it gave us Brian inviting Justin to the loft for the first time ever, culminating in the legendary game of "hide the ice cream!" and Justin pledging to never quit stalking Brian. And Justin attempting the most incompetent revival of The Parent Trap in television history.

Rating: Yikes... Let's do this again!

Bonus:

1x17: Michael and David's fundraiser crash

Rating: Now that's what I call a party. Next time - invite me.

Did I miss anything?

How many surprise disasters would you tolerate before divorcing your friends?

[sophsun1]

Britin + Smiling into kisses

[submissiveness]

[classic-maya]

QaF episode 1x17 ends with Brian saying the second you let your guard down “you die” and Justin responding with “not if I have you to protect me” and then a few episodes later Justin let’s his guard down and Brian saves his life and I CANT the foreshadowing

[im-some-lionheart]

In 1x17 Brian doesn't give a shit about Michael's party unti he sees the look on Debbie's face after Michael tells her not to go. He then proceeds to make a huge donation just to justify taking her and all of their friends at their most flamboyant. He literally does it for her, because she's the mother he technically never had, and he knows Michael's behavior is hurting her, I-

[rinmonsterer]

what’s your fave britin moment from every season? xx

Oh wow, my first Anon ask. Thank you for finding me! (✿ಥ‿ಥ) I got so excited I didn't even procrastinate on writing up a response... which is why it's kinda long and partial, but anyway.

SO. I'm in a phase of looking at Brian through the lens of his childhood trauma and I can't unsee him as a fabulous case of avoidant attachment style that baby Brian developed to cope with abandonment and abuse from his parents, and which enabled his dysfunctional survival into his 30s.

Some qaf fans view Brian's character as a celebration of absolute sexual freedom and rejection of societal expectations, but that angle doesn't resonate with me personally, even though I know the showrunners claimed at some point that this was what Brian Kinney's character represents. I think the healing journey of Brian Kinney The Wounded Child was much more compellingly acted and written on the show than the manifesto of Brian Kinney The Symbol of Rejecting Heteronormativity. Mostly because the writers decided to tear down Brian The Symbol and piss on it for 10+ episodes in season 5. And also because I subscribe to the belief that Brian's extreme sex-drugs-and-disco lifestyle was a coping mechanism to at least equal degree as it was a choice.

@winderlylandchime wrote this beautiful fic - And Then There Were Three - where Justin is shown as a mother figure in Brian's life, because he's been giving him unconditional love and helping heal his "mother wound" by giving Brian what his mother refused him: a secure base of unconditional acceptance and attunement to explore healthy beliefs about himself, trust in other people, and love.

...anyway, I am on an Attachment Theory hyperfixation trip, but not a psychology professional, so I'll leave the rest of that for my fic, for now.

And do make sure to read this post by @sophsun1 about the Kinney family dynamics and how it fucked Brian up. It's just so spot on.

So, my fave Britin moments from season one and two relate to that healing and processing:

1. Season One

"You're not a shitty father"

The one in 1x17 where Justin is "killing Brian with kindness" as Brian is mulling over giving up Gus to save Mel and Linds' relationship. He's grieving the loss of his secret dream of being a good father, telling himself that he could never be one, because he is fundamentally broken and carries the Kinney curse of abusive parenthood.

And here Justin denies Brian's negative beliefs with love and total conviction (unlike Brian's other friends), for which I just adore him so much because at this point, how can he know? Is it because Brian has been a decent father figure to him and took care of him when his own dad kicked him out? Is it because he's gotten to know Brian better than we've been shown? Or does he just have unconditional faith in Brian and his innate goodness?

I know I should be squicked by the father-son dynamic between these two overgrown boys who consistently fuck each other's brains out, but... I just find it so beautiful how they help each other fill the voids and tend to wounds left by their respective parents, in their own dysfunctional but ultimately loving ways. At the end of the day, childhood attachment issues are fundamental to every relationship in a human's life - especially the one we have with ourselves - so even if it's problematic and you can argue it smells like grooming - I love it for them.

This episode has more glimpses of that parental dynamic, when Justin says he's safe because Brian will protect him, or when Brian

2. Season Two

"You're a good son." "Promise not to tell. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hell"

2x09 is one of the most painful and amazing episodes of the series - the one where we see Brian's relationship with his mother before and after she finds out Brian is gay. Here we get a clue on how Brian learned to assume the worst about himself. BTW, we also get a possible clue on why he detests buying flowers.

So my fav Britin moment is at the end of the episode, where Brian meets Reverend Buttfuck at Babylon and after they talk, Rev. tells him he's a good son and Brian answers "Promise not to tell... Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hell." And he goes to dance with Justin, who greets him in the cutest, softest way ever. And then there's a cut to Rev. who is me in that moment as he looks at them with a smile.

I love this one because it's one of the last openly loving, domestic and happy days we see between Brian and Justin, before everything goes to shit and they start drifting apart.

This scene follows after Brian's mother finds out Brian is gay and condemns him to eternal damnation. Later she compares him to his father (in how they treated her) and basically disowns him, while talking about Reverend Buttfuck as a son she wished she'd had. Brian knows that this is BS because he and Justin fucked Rev. B at the Baths. But even though she's caused Brian nothing but pain, he decides not to tell her, because he knows it would devastate her. Brian either has sympathy for her, or he still cares about her because he is not, in fact, a terrible son or a cruel person.

This whole episode is just a masterpiece and it makes me very emotional.

I love how in that last scene Rev. B counteracts the poison that Joan's words seep into Brian's heart and it just gives me such amazing comfort which I hope Brian got to feel, too. I just love it to pieces that when Brian basically gets ultimately rejected by his mother, he receives absolution from the man who replaced him as his mother's son, and then Brian goes straight into Justin's arms where he is received with love and acceptance. Like a better mother.

4. Season Four --> here

... and since this post got a little too long, I'm gonna leave seasons 3-5 for another time... or just give it up because seasons 4 and 5 give me indigestion :X

[submissiveness]

i want them back 

[sophsun1]

Justin + Red crop top

Queer As Folk – 1.17: Solution (How TLFKAM Got Her Name Back)

[submissiveness]

[submissiveness]

“i’m killing you with kindness.”

[submissiveness]

“well, we wouldn’t have missed your party for the world, sweetheart.”

[submissiveness]

“it’s french. we’re frenching.”

[sophsun1]

As it is Pride month, I’ve been trying to watch some episodes of qaf but I’ve run out of ideas which ones to watch. Because I don’t want to do a full rewatch right now and I also don’t want to put up with all the unnecessary drama in the full show. So i wanted to ask which episodes are your favorite ones? Can be happy -lol does that even exist in qaf universe- or just cute or comforting. Basically I’m wondering which episodes are your favorite ones to just watch without fully watching? Either way, thank you for answering :)

Hey anon!

I'm gonna try to resist listing every episode that's a fave because there's a lot -

Honestly ALL of season three is everything to me

1x10, 1x19, 1x08, 1x16, 1x17, 1x18, 1x122

4x08, 4x14, 4x07, 4x01, 4x10

2x06, 2x02, 2x15

5x10, 5x11,