It's a little-known fact that when Natasha Richardson fell and fatally conked her noggin while skiing, what she really hit was a Bunsen burner buried in the snow (it had some paradoxical role in the snow-making schema at that particular resort). So this plot twist (in the new movie) gave Liam the cathartic opportunity to purge his tears of rage against the cruel fates that left him in his current sorry-ass state.
Made for a fun matinée