Thursday, June 21, 2007

Jeremy Jones Returns (and then leaves again)

I suppose I should be grateful in a certain way that the Special Needs characters appear close in appearance to the way that they have appeared before, so they can be recognized. The new girl with the April-like hairstyle seems to have been added solely for the purpose of showing that Lynn Johnston recognizes that not all persons with Special Needs look a little odd, which has been a criticism of the For Better or For Worse strip ever since Shannon Lake was introduced.

However, when Jeremy Jones returned to the scene after making no appearances since late 2005, it was a good thing April called him by name, or I would have thought Screech from Saved by the Bell was making an appearance. Today’s strip establishes him firmly in the villain category, since he apparently has gone out of his way to stop by the Special Needs lunch table to point out that Shannon Lake speaks very slowly.

In my opinion, Jeremy Jones should have disappeared after he got whacked by the car. Lynn Johnston seems to have no idea what to do with him. Every idea developed is discarded.

Jeremy makes no appearance in the strip archive until:

February, 2004. The band 4Evah starts rehearsing over lunch at school. These are Jeremy’s first appearances after he tried to attack April and was hit by the car. After one appearance, the band discusses Jeremy’s poor family background at length. After the second, it is revealed that Jeremy knows something about sound production. The implication is clear that Jeremy Jones will someday be doing sound for 4Evah. In fact, even today his Who’s Who entry clearly states:

Deep down inside, he wishes he could be part of the band 4 Evah, but keeps his distance. He loves to tinker with sound systems and could someday be helpful to others although right now he's the class bully.

What I noted in both those appearances was that Jeremy was honest but abrasive. This became my theme for how to develop him.

The first archived monthly letter with Jeremy Jones in it mimics the strip pretty closely, although April is not as kind to Jeremy as she is in the strip; where she invites him to listen to them rehearse.

April's Letter, April 2004

We have the music room for two lunch hours a week right now and the weirdest thing is that Jeremy Jones (creepyouout!) sits in the hall and listens. He won't come in the room, he just sits there. At first, it was like- what's with this? But now we ignore him. One time Becky heard him telling some guy that our amps needed work, like it was something he knew about. I can't figure him out, so I don't try.

In the next letter, Jeremy Jones = Airplane repairman!! LOL! However, this letter contains the only hint anywhere that Jeremy Jones likes April.

April's Letter, April 2005

People are so weird. I just can't figure them out half the time. Like Therese and her baby shower, or Jeremy Jones being a jerk. He still gets on my case. Mom says he "likes" me. Say what? Just thinking about him gives me the creeps. My dad says that nasty people are usually just covering up the fact that they're unhappy, but it's hard to remember that part when they're being mean to you all the time. Go figure.

Jeremy wants to do aircraft maintenance cause he likes airplanes. That's good because I want him to take off! (I just thought of that!!!).


In this next letter, Jeremy Jones = Power to the People Political radical!! LOL!

April's Letter, June 2005

I think the whole uniform thing is kind of dumb. Jeremy Jones was saying that it's all about crowd control and suppressing our individuality, but our teacher laughed at that and said that it's really about preparing us for the real world and keeping us from spending all of our time worrying about how we look.

The grade 8 grad. July, 2005. Jeremy Jones points out to April that Becky is going to think she is too good for 4Evah after doing her Grade 8 solo. April denies it, but Jeremy is right. In my mind, Jeremy sees the truth and is unafraid to say it. Also in my mind is the idea that Jeremy Jones will be brought in to replace Becky, but that doesn’t happen. That idea is abandoned forever in his next appearance.

Becky and April break up. September 6, 2005. Becky announces to April that Jeremy Jones is her roadie. Jeremy has recognized Becky’s potential and he is jumping on the band wagon is what I thought. What Lynn Johnston wanted me to think was that since Jeremy is evil, this was a clear sign Becky is headed in the wrong direction. Lynn did not communicate this idea clearly to her Lynnions as the next letter will show.

Jeremy Jones in this letter shows a real change. He’s nice to April. He has a girlfriend. He seems to be a competent helper to Becky, who is not his girlfriend as you might have suspected. This implies his relationship with Becky is professional only.

April's Letter, October 2005

I ran into Jeremy Jones a few days ago; he was heading for the bus terminal while I was walking home. He seems to be mellowing out a little bit; for starters he was with a girl! Ew. But I guess he is kind of ok, if you like the bad-boy thing. I mean, looking at him doesn't wreck your lunch. He was actually friendly to me for a change - maybe he was trying to impress his girlfriend or something, but he asked me what I'd bought at the music store and told me Becky's doing a couple of shows a month at places around town, and she's got a demo tape in production. He was actually cool about it; he wasn't gloating about 4 Evah being broken up. Which is good, of course, but weird. It's hard to figure Jeremy out.

Becky gets a radio commercial. November 26, 28, 2005. This is Jeremy’s last physical appearance until today, and it is startling. In typical Lynn Johnston fashion, she decided little grade 8 Jeremy from 3 months ago last July is going to be taller, have a little paunch to his belly, and a jaw line with jowls on him that makes him look middle-aged. Shortly before this point, I took over the character on April's Real Blog and thus began my running joke that Jeremy looked 40, which continued to this day and I must admit I never tired of it. This strip is a high point for Jeremy. It appeared to me Jeremy was on top of his game, and Becky was his future. If Becky was paying him any reasonable amount of money, Jeremy should have been popular in school, with money to burn on girls. My characterization of Jeremy had him on the dating track.

Becky hands out a CD. April 6, 2006. Becky tells April that Jeremy Jones thinks she is going to be famous, which I suppose was intended to make him look like another of Becky’s sycophants and not true friends.

However to continue the trend downward, in this letter April continues to be repulsed by Jeremy Jones.

April's Letter, June 2006

I can't imagine ever hugging Jeremy Jones or being sad at the idea of never seeing him again.

Jeremy is mentioned once again as a competent sound and lighting man, if he is able to handle Becky on tour over the summer.

April's Letter, August 2006

Oh, and Becky? She's "on the road". She's doing the Heritage Fest in Rocky Falls and a bunch of other summer community gigs. She's got a CD out and she sent me one. It's good. She's doing really well, but I wouldn't want her life. Her dad is her manager (they fight) and Jeremy J. is still doing sound and lighting. She's seriously into this.

This was Jeremy’s last mention in the letters and his last appearance of competence as we began what has really been a horrendous year in For Better or For Worse plotting.

The Gym / Jam. November 3, 2006. Gerald says Jeremy didn’t show up to do sound, and he becomes one of many who betray Becky, to show she has sacrificed true friendship for the sake of fame and glory. Normally I try to go with what’s in the strip, but I did a majour retcon of this one, because it just did not make any sense.
(a) 4Evah&Eva had neither sound man nor sound problems during their performance, but Becky does.
(b) Jeremy has been working with Becky for over a year, and to be a part of her performance at his own school would be a huge ego boost after 2 CDs and a summer tour. Even the biggest stoner in school would turn out for this performance and yet Jeremy doesn’t. I could not come up with a plausible explanation for it and so I opted for retcon.

Retardation explained. March 15, 2007. Shannon Lake implicates Jeremy Jones, Miriam and Bianca as persons who call her retarded. April says she hates them for that. This is the first time Jeremy Jones and Shannon Lake have linked in the strip for anything. I had been working them as friends, since they were both outcasts of a sort, but I had to turn Jeremy into a man who called Special Needs people names, which was another radical change in character.

And then we have today’s strip, which was the follow-up to March 15, 2007. It was tough. I had to answer the questions:
a. If Jeremy has called them retarded before, then why isn’t he calling them retarded now?
b. Why does Jeremy look so different than his last appearance?
c. Why would Jeremy Jones pick on such an obscure thing as Shannon’s halting speech, when the new thing happening is April sitting by Shannon? That would be the logical choice to pick on.
d. Is the person with the cigarette Jeremy? And if he is, who is the girl?
e. Why has Jeremy Jones changed from competent sound and light man for Becky to a person who would randomly throw insults out to a table of Special Needs kids?
f. Why is there no teacher to protect the Special Needs kids?
g. Why are those people smoking inside the cafeteria right beside the Special Needs table of kids?

Today’s posts answered all those questions. It is possible, we will see another appearance of Jeremy Jones at the telethon, since Becky is playing there and we have never been specifically told Jeremy no longer works with her, even though that would be the logical conclusion after the Gym / Jam debacle. Once the telethon is over, then I believe Jeremy Jones will be done, as far as the For Better or For Worse strip is concerned. Then I can kill him off brutally. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This strip has just gotten so tiresome, I can't bring myself to care anymore. But it is ludicrous. Even the baddest bad boy isn't stupid enough to smoke in the cafeteria. And even the biggest jerks get tired of making fun of misfits, special needs kids, etc. It's ridiculous that Lynn has painted a picture of a public high school where EVERY STUDENT EXCEPT APRIL goes out of their way to try to humiliate the SN students. She's become a caricature of a caricature of herself.

To answer your questions from a few days ago:

I'm SO excited about moving! It's actually going to happen sooner than I thought, so the absences will probably be over the next two weeks or so. I'll be back before any wedding happens--which I wouldn't miss for the world, anyway!

MPA degrees basically prepare you to work in government, or at a non-profit, or a university, or (sometimes) a hospital. My first choice would be to get a Ph.D. in psychology, but I cannot afford to do that. I found out that most graduate students in psychology are taking out student loans to finance their doctorates. I already have massive student debt from law school, and can't afford to finance 4-5 more years of schooling.

My next choice would be to work at a university or a nonprofit. I have been applying for jobs I want, but I can't get them because I don't have an administration degree and/or strictly administrative experience (though being a lawyer is heavy on administrative responsibility). An MPA will take me about a year, and it's affordable because it's in-state tuition. I am also keeping my current job, which is possible because 1) I can do a lot of it from home at flexible hours, and 2) I am not telling the university about it.

I'm just not quite sure how much time it will take up to juggle it all, yet.

BTW, some nice Boy Scouts are helping me move on June 30. Do you think they can get a badge for that?

9:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

BTW, Howard, I so love your exhaustively researched historical posts. This is the kind of thing I think about when I see stupid strips like this, but I'm too lazy to do my own research. Many thanks!

9:42 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

QN, I'd missed your news about moving and the MPA program! Congrats! :)

ITA about how ludicrous this current arc is. It's painful.

2:44 PM  
Blogger howard said...

qnjones,

Covering your topics:

The Boy Scouts helping you move might be able to get some hours for community service which, while it won't get them a badge, could be added on to the 8 hours they need for the Citizenship in the Community badge, if they don't already have it. It's one of the badges required to become an Eagle Scout.

I am so glad you are going to be around for the wedding. As bad as this week as been, the wedding has got to be the most gloriously awful thing. It will be so much fun.

The MPA sounds great. Done in a year. Affordable. Will help get you a job you want. That sounds great. I don't see any negatives.

4:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I *am* going to pay these Boy Scouts, so I'm not sure they can count it as community service. :)

I'm starting to doubt a wedding will ever happen. But if anything good to snark about Liz comes up, I will be there!

I hope you liked the parade disaster I set up for today. That felt like a throwback to what I think of as the glory days of QN/Howard snark. And I really, really loved Luis. OMG. We have to follow up on that!

5:30 PM  

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