I agree, I do think Brian wanted to marry him. He was all about it until Lindsay started in with her guilt trip. *calms self* I'm okay...

I feel like the main point is that "Justin wouldn't have known what could happen", if he didn't give NY a try. And true, no one needs to make moves like that anymore to succeed. And maybe that would've been proven to him, over time at least, that he could be successful anywhere. Or that he could get his start in NY and then move back after he already had a reputation? Also, WTF would he actually be doing in NY? Like opening a gallery or something? Painting murals on the side of buildings? I always wonder about that.

I'm still not convinced he actually wanted to go for himself. I'll have to reevaluate in a few days when I rewatch that episode. And true, why couldn't they have still gotten married and then Justin went off and tried it, anyway? I've said before that I do love how season 5 ended, and I still do, I'm just exploring some options here.

But above all, I think the fact that Brian didn't return the rings is pretty much all that needs to be said.