The Return of Jim
In For Better or For Worse, the reappearance of Jim Richards confused me. It didn’t confuse me so much because I didn’t expect him to reappear, but because in my mind I had this timeline of the Liz – Paul – Anthony thing going like:
This week – Anthony and Liz go to the Howard Bunt verdict and something happens which makes Liz realize she is love with Anthony
Next week – The arrival of Constable Paul Wright for Christmas and the end of the Liz / Paul relationship.
Next week after that – Anthony builds up to proposing to Liz on News Year Eve
But now I have to reconsider the sequence, because Grandpa Jim in therapy looks to have the legs to go all week, particularly if we get to see Iris and the 2 therapy ladies at their apartment.
This means if what I predicted between Constable Paul Wright and Liz and Anthony occurs, then part of it may have to occur in flashback, like what was done with Warren Blackwood last Christmas. The other possibility is that Paul drops out of Christmas visit for some reason, and this spurs Liz on to break up with him for not being there for her. This could occur at a much faster pace than the face-to-face visit and could occur over the phone, like the Rhetta Blum break up. Rhetta style or Warren style. Grandpa Jim’s appearance is making me think it may be Rhetta style.
As for the strip themselves, they really have the appearance of a Lynn Johnston stroke retcon, where Lynn talked to someone who knew something about strokes. On April’s Real Blog (and also on the pretty much forgotten Melanie’s Lounge website), I thoroughly roasted Lynn’s lack of research on strokes. And frankly, I was amazed she would take the research so lightly, considering the average age of her audience and the likelihood that many of them would have had strokes. This week the backlash showed, as Lynn is having the unknown doctor spout off stroke facts, while Grandpa Jim adds a little humour. It was like when Lynn Johnston did the pow-wow strips, she had to have some humour in each strip, usually in the form of Elly Patterson. This week we have the doctor replacing the pow-wow Ojibway and Grandpa Jim replacing Elly.
This week – Anthony and Liz go to the Howard Bunt verdict and something happens which makes Liz realize she is love with Anthony
Next week – The arrival of Constable Paul Wright for Christmas and the end of the Liz / Paul relationship.
Next week after that – Anthony builds up to proposing to Liz on News Year Eve
But now I have to reconsider the sequence, because Grandpa Jim in therapy looks to have the legs to go all week, particularly if we get to see Iris and the 2 therapy ladies at their apartment.
This means if what I predicted between Constable Paul Wright and Liz and Anthony occurs, then part of it may have to occur in flashback, like what was done with Warren Blackwood last Christmas. The other possibility is that Paul drops out of Christmas visit for some reason, and this spurs Liz on to break up with him for not being there for her. This could occur at a much faster pace than the face-to-face visit and could occur over the phone, like the Rhetta Blum break up. Rhetta style or Warren style. Grandpa Jim’s appearance is making me think it may be Rhetta style.
As for the strip themselves, they really have the appearance of a Lynn Johnston stroke retcon, where Lynn talked to someone who knew something about strokes. On April’s Real Blog (and also on the pretty much forgotten Melanie’s Lounge website), I thoroughly roasted Lynn’s lack of research on strokes. And frankly, I was amazed she would take the research so lightly, considering the average age of her audience and the likelihood that many of them would have had strokes. This week the backlash showed, as Lynn is having the unknown doctor spout off stroke facts, while Grandpa Jim adds a little humour. It was like when Lynn Johnston did the pow-wow strips, she had to have some humour in each strip, usually in the form of Elly Patterson. This week we have the doctor replacing the pow-wow Ojibway and Grandpa Jim replacing Elly.
posted by howard at 11:08 PM
2 Comments:
The aphasia seems retconned, since we were seeing Jim beginning to speak again, with his "Ta" and "Yes." I had him wondering if he's having a setback. :)
Good catch, aprilp_katje. He should have been able to say "Yes" to the doctor's questions.
Post a Comment
<< Home