Elizabeth visits Mike Part II
In today’s For Better or For Worse, the seeds were set for Paul’s departure from the life of Elizabeth. The basic elements are:
1. Paul is separated from Liz, like Warren was.
2. Paul has not applied for his transfer, even though he said he has.
3. Paul’s heart is wandering, due to the absence of Liz.
These ideas have been presented before in the strip and in the monthly letters, so it is not really new. The new part of it is was using Michael Patterson, a Patterson who has not met Paul, to put the idea forward. Liz has been making the rounds of exploring her Paul relationship with her relatives and so far, each one has not so subtley indicated a preference for Anthony Caine.
I had Constable Paul Wright comment in April’s Real Blog on the overlap between his relationship with Liz and her consideration of the Warren relationship as being an actual break up. Liz and Warren were not really together in any kind of real sense, but the monthly letters and Liz’s attitude toward Paul (he’s just a friend) did change after December last year to reflect that Liz was just then considering Paul as a boyfriend, even though they had been dating for 2 months.
This is one of those situations where the monthly letters project a story radically different from that of the strip. In the monthly letters, Liz mentions some contacts with Warren over the 1 ½ years since he was last seen in the strip, and also remarks about how she was constantly waiting for him to fly his helicopter into Mtigwaki for a visit. This was not reflected even once in the strip. So, the comment about the breakup would almost make sense, if the monthly letters were being considered. As it is, today’s strip just made it seem like Liz is trying to delude herself, which is really not too bad a way for Liz to be portrayed given the other lines she makes about how she manages to find herself in a long distance relationship she promised she would not have again and yet deliberately put herself in.
As I have stated before, I no longer believe the writers are trying to portray Liz in a positive light, because there is strip after strip where she comes off as a self-interested idiot. And today, much to my surprise, Mike receives similar treatment from the writers.
Tomorrow’s strip: The first appearance in the Sunday colour strips of Liz living back at home, and she is taking the role of the 3rd parent for April. Just as I feared, April is regressing, in order to make Liz look good. I hope we don’t see too many of these kinds of strips. When April regressed during the zit / rocking strip last year, it was one of the oddest / lowest points in the strips for that year. The lowest of course being the Howard going after strips and their aftermath.
1. Paul is separated from Liz, like Warren was.
2. Paul has not applied for his transfer, even though he said he has.
3. Paul’s heart is wandering, due to the absence of Liz.
These ideas have been presented before in the strip and in the monthly letters, so it is not really new. The new part of it is was using Michael Patterson, a Patterson who has not met Paul, to put the idea forward. Liz has been making the rounds of exploring her Paul relationship with her relatives and so far, each one has not so subtley indicated a preference for Anthony Caine.
I had Constable Paul Wright comment in April’s Real Blog on the overlap between his relationship with Liz and her consideration of the Warren relationship as being an actual break up. Liz and Warren were not really together in any kind of real sense, but the monthly letters and Liz’s attitude toward Paul (he’s just a friend) did change after December last year to reflect that Liz was just then considering Paul as a boyfriend, even though they had been dating for 2 months.
This is one of those situations where the monthly letters project a story radically different from that of the strip. In the monthly letters, Liz mentions some contacts with Warren over the 1 ½ years since he was last seen in the strip, and also remarks about how she was constantly waiting for him to fly his helicopter into Mtigwaki for a visit. This was not reflected even once in the strip. So, the comment about the breakup would almost make sense, if the monthly letters were being considered. As it is, today’s strip just made it seem like Liz is trying to delude herself, which is really not too bad a way for Liz to be portrayed given the other lines she makes about how she manages to find herself in a long distance relationship she promised she would not have again and yet deliberately put herself in.
As I have stated before, I no longer believe the writers are trying to portray Liz in a positive light, because there is strip after strip where she comes off as a self-interested idiot. And today, much to my surprise, Mike receives similar treatment from the writers.
Tomorrow’s strip: The first appearance in the Sunday colour strips of Liz living back at home, and she is taking the role of the 3rd parent for April. Just as I feared, April is regressing, in order to make Liz look good. I hope we don’t see too many of these kinds of strips. When April regressed during the zit / rocking strip last year, it was one of the oddest / lowest points in the strips for that year. The lowest of course being the Howard going after strips and their aftermath.
posted by howard at 1:40 AM
2 Comments:
My first reaction when I laid my eyes on today's strip was something like a full-body cringe. This is just ridiculous. But I guess it reminds us how much April is Elly "Overreact" Patterson's daughter. :(
I suddenly feel sorry for any children April may have.
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