Where Are We Going?
April sits at lunch with the Special Needs crowd and gets to experience what it feels like to be insulted. I read this strip as “Lynn Johnston finally has had enough of us snarkers constantly saying, “April’s not a real friend of Shannon. They never do anything with each other.” So there!
As for the storyline in general, it is necessary to follow Becky McGuire strips all through out the storylines to realize what is going on. The idea originally is that Becky had picked up a bunch of friends who did homework for her. But they were fair weather friends, only with her because she was famous.
After the humiliation of the Gym / Jam, we see Becky once in the mall in this strip:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002340.php
April declares that Becky gave her a look. Eva and April still poke fun at Becky, but the crucial point to note, which Eva did note is that Becky no longer has friends. “It’s lonely at the top.” I don’t see the “look”, but instead I see Becky looking at April and Eva and remembering when she and April used to do the same thing and walking away sad because the Gym / Jam cost her all her fake friends.
In this recent story arc, Becky is playing for free for Shannon and company. I think this means Becky has learned her lesson. Instead of making her music all about her, she is doing something for other people. No money, playing for other, playing for Shannon all equal "Good".
The only element which would taint it is asking Gerald to play with her, if Gerald's relationship with Becky was more than just as a drummer to singer. However, back in October, Becky's implosion at the Gym / Jam was because her band was drug-using professionals. We got the quote from Eva in this strip that they wanted to be good way too bad.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002126.php
Becky cannot be converted to the right way of music, if she is still using professional musicians as her back up. But Gerald, the clean cut drummer, is acceptable. And really, the only completely acceptable back-up band for Becky is her original group 4Evah. The only other thing left is for April to realize it and accept her Patterson badge for having converted a villain to good.
The giveaway that this is the way it is going to go is April's comment about how she won't share the stage with Gerald and Becky. For a telethon which lasts 24 hours, the comment seems nonsensical. After all, the two performing groups could be separated by as much as 23 hours apart and she's not even addressing the concept that Gerald (as far as we know) is still a part of 4Evah&Eva. Even Shannon is in on it, because she suggests the two groups would perform on 2 different stages. My thought was, "How is this going to possibly work on the sound? Like a 2-ring circus?" It certainly can't work for a telethon in a mall, where there is little to no sound control.
The only way it makes sense, to have 4Evah and Becky on the two different stages performing the same music at the same time, is if the point of the strip, already known by April and Shannon, is to have 4Evah and Becky back performing together again and thus reconcile their main difference in the 2 years since the grade 8 graduation.
This is the direction I think it is going. As a story, there is no joy in watching it unfold. It is as stupid as stupid can be. My fascination with this strip these days is to see just how clumsily the stories are executed, and this one looks to be like a doozy.
As for the storyline in general, it is necessary to follow Becky McGuire strips all through out the storylines to realize what is going on. The idea originally is that Becky had picked up a bunch of friends who did homework for her. But they were fair weather friends, only with her because she was famous.
After the humiliation of the Gym / Jam, we see Becky once in the mall in this strip:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002340.php
April declares that Becky gave her a look. Eva and April still poke fun at Becky, but the crucial point to note, which Eva did note is that Becky no longer has friends. “It’s lonely at the top.” I don’t see the “look”, but instead I see Becky looking at April and Eva and remembering when she and April used to do the same thing and walking away sad because the Gym / Jam cost her all her fake friends.
In this recent story arc, Becky is playing for free for Shannon and company. I think this means Becky has learned her lesson. Instead of making her music all about her, she is doing something for other people. No money, playing for other, playing for Shannon all equal "Good".
The only element which would taint it is asking Gerald to play with her, if Gerald's relationship with Becky was more than just as a drummer to singer. However, back in October, Becky's implosion at the Gym / Jam was because her band was drug-using professionals. We got the quote from Eva in this strip that they wanted to be good way too bad.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002126.php
Becky cannot be converted to the right way of music, if she is still using professional musicians as her back up. But Gerald, the clean cut drummer, is acceptable. And really, the only completely acceptable back-up band for Becky is her original group 4Evah. The only other thing left is for April to realize it and accept her Patterson badge for having converted a villain to good.
The giveaway that this is the way it is going to go is April's comment about how she won't share the stage with Gerald and Becky. For a telethon which lasts 24 hours, the comment seems nonsensical. After all, the two performing groups could be separated by as much as 23 hours apart and she's not even addressing the concept that Gerald (as far as we know) is still a part of 4Evah&Eva. Even Shannon is in on it, because she suggests the two groups would perform on 2 different stages. My thought was, "How is this going to possibly work on the sound? Like a 2-ring circus?" It certainly can't work for a telethon in a mall, where there is little to no sound control.
The only way it makes sense, to have 4Evah and Becky on the two different stages performing the same music at the same time, is if the point of the strip, already known by April and Shannon, is to have 4Evah and Becky back performing together again and thus reconcile their main difference in the 2 years since the grade 8 graduation.
This is the direction I think it is going. As a story, there is no joy in watching it unfold. It is as stupid as stupid can be. My fascination with this strip these days is to see just how clumsily the stories are executed, and this one looks to be like a doozy.
posted by howard at 9:36 PM
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