In 2016, it’s odd to think of anyone treating the sacrament of marriage so callously, but both couples made sure to underscore the fact that a simple piece of paper doesn’t consecrate love on its own that a marriage certificate is nothing more than a Post-it signed by a ship’s captain or internet pastor.īut it’s where they begin that’s the interesting part: Justin is 17 when he goes home with 29-year-old sex god Brian Kinney in 2000 Meredith is on her “last” tequila-fueled bender before starting her residency when she goes home with a random hottie in 2005. Justin’s five-year story and Meredith’s five-season residency both end in weddings called off at the last second: Justin’s so that he can move to New York to pursue his art, and Meredith’s so that Izzie can marry Karev and stop boning a ghost. They literally call him “Sunshine” on the show. Justin, on the other hand - from his initiation at the hands of a supernatural sexual force named Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) to a life-altering attack at his senior prom - begins and ends his journey with dogged cheer. That a person as screwed up as Meredith can fight her way to wholeness and still be interesting is a revolutionary idea, and one we only get to see evolve because the show has been on for so long.
Justin taylor queer as folk tv#
She had the most uncomfortable, blurred-consent sex on network TV with her buddy, George, witnessed her mother’s suicide, and - in quick succession - lost her soul mate Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) to Zurich, and then her husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) to another disaster. She died once and chilled out with God, got her hand stuck in a guy who exploded, went blind from IVF, and more recently, was put out of commission for months by a deranged patient. Plane crashes and mass shootings and the specter of Alzheimers. Meredith is a “dark and twisty girl” who, over five seasons, becomes a “happy woman” - it’s the most enduring theme of Grey’s Anatomy, now in its twelfth year, especially considering what the woman has been through. When comparing the central couples of Grey’s Anatomy and Queer As Folk, it’s helpful to begin with the progressions of Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison), our two protagonists, who in their own ways, fought to get out of the shadows of their partners.
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A fter you read, be sure to visit Vulture’s Facebook page to vote on which couple you think should advance. Today’s round will decide whether Grey’s Anatomy’ s Meredith and Derek or Queer As Folk ’s Brian and Justin move on to the next round. Each day, a different writer will be charged with picking the winner of a round of the bracket, until New York Magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz judges the finals, on October 14. In 2015, we battled it out for the best high-school TV show this year, we’re determining the greatest couple on television in the past 30 years. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Photos by Getty Images, Showtimeįor the next three weeks, Vulture is holding its annual pop-culture bracket.