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In Dancing in the Dark, Angela reveals that she used to spend a lot of time at Brian's house when she was little. In Strangers in the Dark, the says that when she was little, she practically lived at Sharon's house and Sharon's room was their world. Does that mean Angela was the point of the triangle that included Sharon and Brian? I thought that if she was friends with Brian (her neighbor) when she was a kid AND she was friends with Sharon (her mom's friend's daughter) when she was a kid, doesn't it make sense that Brian and Sharon were friends when they were kids too? But there doesn't seem to be much to support that theory, despite the fact that Sharon and Brian are involved in band and yearbook together. They seem to barely know each other. I suppose it could be that they grew apart as they got older, but there seems to be very little familiarity between them.

The other thing that I wonder about is how Brian and Angela used to play together as kids and now they refer to each other by their last names.

When I was a kid, I watched Happy Days and there was a lot of that "last name" thing going on, but everyone I knew called people by first names so I drew the conclusion that once you got to high school you had to refer to people by last names, or boys at the very least.

Anyway, Angela and Brian call each other by their last names a lot so when did that change occur?

(I realize that they DO use each other's first names also, but it just seems strange to me that they grew up calling each other "Brian" and "Angela" but now they do things like yell "Krakow!" and "Chase!" at each other. Sharon is part of the Last Names Club on a less frequent basis, but she does call Brian "Krakow" on several occasions and she refers to Angela as Chase Face.)

I have a feeling this habit of using last names, is in a great part due to the writers of the show...

everyone calls everyone by their last names quite frequently.
Graff, Vasquez, Cherski, Catalano... we hear them alot.

i don't know if the writers thought it was a normal trend or what. Maybe it is. But speaking for myself...i've never referred to people using ther last names so it's a little wierd for me to understand too.
but it works...i always liked that aspect of the show.

As far as Brian and Sharon being friends...
it does seem like they'd be more familiar with one another...but maybe Angela has always led this TWO-WORLD life. Through the show we see it through the worlds of
Angela with Rayanne, Ricki, Jordan.........and.........
Angela with her parents, Sharon, and Brian.

When she was younger maybe she balanced
Life with Brian the conveniently close, boy next door to play with....and.........
Life with Sharon the girl she saw as her bestest friend to hang out with.


just some thoughts......

I think it depends on who is speaking, who they are speaking to, and in what context.

For example, Angela never calls Rickie by his last name. Rayanne does at the end of Strangers in the House when she and Angela are chasing him and when she demands his presence in contacting Nicky Driscoll's spirit (both instances when she is yelling his name in public but joking around with him).

Angela and Rickie never call Rayanne by her last name, but Jordan and Shane do. Sharon refers to Rayanne by her entire name when talking to Kyle.

Angela refers to Brian by his last name when she is annoyed with him but when she uses his first name, it's usually in private. When she discusses him she uses his first and last name.

Rayanne refers to Brian as "Bri" when she wants something (like not ratting on Rickie in Guns & Gossip or finding a way into the school in Halloween) but when she is berating him, she calls him by his last name.

The use of last names was quite common at my high school. I know that both of my brothers were always called by there last name by almost all of their male friends. It was only girls that seemed to know they had first names. Although my last name does sound like a first name, people did try to call me by my last name, but I would have none of it. I would simply not respond. With guys I think it has to do with sports. If you notice on the back of sports jerseys the players last name is displayed. I think guys just get used to using each others last name because that it what the coach calls them becasue that is what is says on the jersey. But, using last names in high school is very common. It also seems to depend on the last name. If someone had a cool last name it seemed to get used more often then their first.

Also in the show I think it just seemed natural. I think it basically depended on the context and the situation as to weither a last name, first name, or both names were used.

heater_05 wrote:The use of last names was quite common at my high school.

I think it wasn't all that unusual in mine either.

And it's convenient to use last names if there's a lot of people (even if there's two of them) that share the same first name.

I noticed that as the season progresses, Rayanne begins using nicknames for Angela (Angelfood) and even Patty (Pattycakes). Is this because she becomes comfortable enough in their relationship to do so or possibly to bridge the gap between them that occurs after her overdose?

candygirl wrote:In Dancing in the Dark, Angela reveals that she used to spend a lot of time at Brian's house when she was little. In Strangers in the Dark, the says that when she was little, she practically lived at Sharon's house and Sharon's room was their world. Does that mean Angela was the point of the triangle that included Sharon and Brian? I thought that if she was friends with Brian (her neighbor) when she was a kid AND she was friends with Sharon (her mom's friend's daughter) when she was a kid, doesn't it make sense that Brian and Sharon were friends when they were kids too? But there doesn't seem to be much to support that theory, despite the fact that Sharon and Brian are involved in band and yearbook together. They seem to barely know each other. I suppose it could be that they grew apart as they got older, but there seems to be very little familiarity between them.

Hmm, I don't know... Sharon and Brian aren't the cuddliest pair on the surface, but there are signs pointing to a fairly strong, if largely unconscious platonic relationship that was in place before the start of the series.

Dancing in the Dark: Sharon's admonition of Brian seems to come from spite at Angela, but I wonder if she doesn't truly feel sorry for his plight. Later, he could have avoided Sharon in the street, but felt compelled to defend his actions to her, so he must value her opinion.

Guns 'N Gossip: Sharon's little self-righteous speech is openly manipulative, but from her perspective it would save Brian from Foster's ominously bubbling vat of water. The set-up with the school paper tart was part of the manipulation, but may have also been her attempt to give Brian an alternate romantic option from his wretched one-way crush on Angela.

Strangers in the House: Here the roles are temporarily reversed as Brian does his awkward best to heal the wounded Sharon. It is about as comfortable with a female as he will ever get throughout the series. She in turn is the first to bring Brian's feelings to Angela's attention, if only as a counterpoint to her own quick discard of the lad upon Kyle's return.

Life of Brian: Again Sharon provides Brian with the romantic escape route when she recognizes Delia's affection. Sharon would not have put the two together if she did not believe that Brian had at least the potential to be a good mate, though she underestimated the mind-altering effects of the Crimson Narcotic.

Nostradamus wrote:
Guns 'N Gossip: The set-up with the school paper tart was part of the manipulation, but may have also been her attempt to give Brian an alternate romantic option from his wretched one-way crush on Angela.

Life of Brian: Again Sharon provides Brian with the romantic escape route when she recognizes Delia's affection. Sharon would not have put the two together if she did not believe that Brian had at least the potential to be a good mate, though she underestimated the mind-altering effects of the Crimson Narcotic.

Very good point. Sharon did try to set him up twice during the series. If they barely knew each other, why would she want to make him happy? Unless she wanted Delia and the random "school paper tart" to be happy?

I don't think that Sharon and Brian barely knew each other - Angela has been friends with both of them since they were very young, so Sharon is at the very least comfortable and familiar with Brian (comfortable enough to be completely honest with him very early on: "She's using you and you totally let her - I pity you."). I think that they have just grown apart in the past few years, probably beginning with puberty/middle school when Brian started being the total brainiac and Sharon went her yearbook/gossipy girl route.

(yes, I realize I just contradicted what I said in my original post!)

yes you did

Seeing as how I am the Queen of Contradiction, I'll that one slide.

I've always wondered just how long Brian had feelings for Angela, how long Sharon knew, and why she never told Angela. He liked since sometime before the series started, when she and Sharon were still best friends. Did Sharon not know then? Did she only become aware in Episode 2, when she notices Brian's actions around Angela?

I think she just noticed in Episode 2 that Brian was all mushy over Angela.
My theory is it first came to her attention because she and Angela were estranged and she was looking for reasons to hate her ex-best friend. So while she was watching Angela closely she noticed how much of a pushover Brian was towards her. At that point she no longer had any interest in Angela knowing anything...she just didn't want Brian to be hurt by Angela the way she was. Maybe this explains her introducing Gina to Brian in Guns & Gossip?

Yeah, I think it started in episode 2. She probably just saw it as Brian being Brian until she was on the outside of Angela's circle looking in.

majesty wrote:I've always wondered just how long Brian had feelings for Angela, how long Sharon knew, and why she never told Angela. He liked since sometime before the series started, when she and Sharon were still best friends. Did Sharon not know then? Did she only become aware in Episode 2, when she notices Brian's actions around Angela?

This is a hard question to answer. Based on my experience as a youth tortured by shyness, I'd say Sharon, being Angela's best friend, and a friend of Brian, knows before the series starts that Brian has feelings for Angela. People tend to pick up on things. Even though I thought I had displayed few outward signs of my feelings for my first crush, people knew. Signs are in how you talk to, stand stand next to, listen to, approach, or distance yourself from another person. Although it's more implied than stated, I think the three of them were close enough when younger that Sharon would have had no choice but to notice Brian's feelings for Angela.