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I've re-watched through 203, and there have been no more instances of Brian calling Justin "Sonny Boy". It's so weird how your memory plays tricks on you; I could have sworn I remembered there being more. There were a couple of times that Emmett made comments to the effect of Justin being like a son to Brian -- in the beginning of 119, Justin says that he's saving up money to go to the White Party, and Emmett tells Brian that he's certainly raised him well. At the end of 120, after Justin won the King of Babylon contest and stole Brian's intended trick right out from under his nose, Emmett told Brian that he should be proud of Justin, "Like father, like son." So, there were more examples of comparing Brian's relationship with Justin to his relationship with Gus, but the only times Brian called Justin "Sonny Boy" were in 101 and 203.
As exciting as seeing an episode for the first time can be, in some ways, re-watching the episodes can be even better. Knowing what's going to happen in later episodes, you notice things that seemed insignificant the first time through. Like how early they let us know that Brian dreaded turning 30, and that he had kind of a death wish ("playing" like he was going to jump off the roof at the hospital) and wanted to escape from life, whether by drugs or by sex or by moving away and starting over.
Another thing I noticed this time around that I didn't realize the first time was how early in season 2 there are signs that Justin has lost a lot of confidence in himself and in Brian's feelings for him. All through season 1, Justin was so confident that he knew what Brian was feeling, and he wouldn't let Brian push him away. "I'm on to you"; "Being mean to me has never really worked"; "Not until I say so".
Somehow, the first time through, I totally missed the stark contrast to Justin's behavior when Brian drove him home in 201. "Will I see you again?" That is so not the same Justin that spent close to a year chasing after Brian and refusing to take "no" for an answer. There were a lot of things I loved about season 2 (and I'm looking forward to re-watching the rest of them [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ), but I am so glad that Justin finally found himself again in season 3 -- even if it did take the "Ethan period" for him to get there.
[ 04-02-2004: Message edited Film Lover ]
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