Anthony and Elizabeth
Sometimes I wonder with the plotline involving Anthony and Elizabeth if Lynn Johnston is writing poorly and forcing these two together, or if she is a genius writer drawing together threads of things over a long period of time to tell a story rewarding to those who care to pay attention.
For example, the means by which Anthony and Elizabeth were put back together again at Shawna-Marie Verano's wedding. To recap, Elizabeth has been back in Milborough for almost a year and although she and Anthony had time together during the trial, he never asked her out on a date. So, Elizabeth asks Anthony to the wedding and he says he is taking someone else. Elizabeth then chastises herself for being an idiot.
At the wedding, she meets the someone else, and it is Julia, who is short, fat, and likes to show off her dental work. There is no tension in the air between Elizabeth and Julia, which is shown by both Elizabeth and Anthony laughing at Julia's antics. Immediately after this, as Elizabeth is being led off by best man, Mason, her thoughts turn to Anthony and how he has shaved his moustache, gotten new glasses, and her old feelings for him have returned. When Mason passes out, Anthony gallantly steps in, and with his date's encouragement, re-establishes his romance with Elizabeth.
Just awful. So superficial. Elizabeth only has feelings for Anthony because he shaved and the best man passed out? It seems weak to me. Taken by itself, it is. However, there are little threads of things leading up to this point, which could make this story seem much more elegant.
In contrast to this scene, you have to go back to a scene which never appeared in the For Better or For Worse comic strip, and we can only surmise what happened by what people say. This scene is the first meeting between Elizabeth and Anthony's ex-wife Therese. The sequence of events before their meeting is:
a. Anthony asks Elizabeth to a New Years Eve, 2002 party where the other people present are Anthony's father's business associates. Therese is not there.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2001/12/31&name=For_Better_Or_Worse&week=1
b. At the party, Anthony tells Elizabeth he is engaged to a wonderful girl named Therese and that Elizabeth would love and he wishes she could meet her.
c. Anthony also indirectly tells Elizabeth he is engaged because he found out that Elizabeth was living with Eric Chamberlain.
d. They dance very closely (far too close for mere friends), leave the party early. Anthony specifically mentions no one would miss them if they left. Their thought balloons reveal they are still in love with each other.
e. In a later strip, Elizabeth is talking to Gordon Mayes, and he describes Therese as a nice girl, but said he was surprised Anthony was engaged to her and not to Elizabeth.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/7/27&name=For_Better_Or_Worse&week=1
f. Anthony reveals that Therese works for Anthony's father.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/8/3&name=For_Better_Or_Worse
What comes into view then, is that Anthony invited Elizabeth to a party filled full of people likely to be able to tell Therese what his actions were at the party. Then he close danced with Elizabeth and left early with her. If Anthony's dad wanted to introduce him to his business associates, then he is faced with an embarrassing "Where's Anthony?" What also comes into view is that everyone is complimentary about Therese, until after Elizabeth's first meeting with her. It is afterwards that the insults come, and they come first from Elizabeth.
In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000401.php
Elizabeth reveals that Therese already thinks she is competition for Anthony and she has only met her once.
In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000371.php
Elizabeth reveals she only met Therese once and she was like a total iceberg.
What happened during that first meeting? You can look at the differences between Julia and Therese and draw a conclusion easily. Julia is short, fat, and jolly. Therese is pretty, svelte, and described as cold and jealous by Elizabeth. In fact, in every appearance Therese had, she was shown to be jealous and unpleasant, when Anthony looked at or spent time with Elizabeth.
In every appearance except one. In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001066.php
Therese is at the baby shower for her child, Francoise. We are supposed to get the idea the Therese is tactless, because she has asked for money for baby shower gifts and not actual presents. However, we are also shown the idea did not necessarily originate with Therese. Some person (Therese's mother?) tries to sell time holding the baby for $10 a minute, when April was holding the baby earlier at no cost. In contrast, Therese is not shown to be tactless. In fact, she is shown to be gracious to April, for her gift. The big difference here is that Elizabeth is not present, and we see a very different Therese. The conclusion I draw is that Therese is unpleasant and jealous when Elizabeth is around.
There is a strip which disagrees with that assessment.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/2005_01.php
At the 2005 New Years Eve party, Shawna Marie Verano tells Elizabeth that one of the mechanics at the garage is a friend of her cousin's and he heard Therese yell at Anthony for spending so much time with her at the office. From this incident, Shawna Marie has concluded Therese is even jealous of Tracey Mayes, not just Elizabeth. Is this truth, or something misheard, or something misunderstood? What you have is a story told 2 persons removed from the eyewitness. We have never seen Therese jealous of Tracey. As far as I know, Tracey and Anthony never dated or had any kind of romantic relationship, so there should be no cause for jealousy. Moreover, Tracey is Anthony's boss' wife. If Therese is jealous of Tracey, then it is proof she is really out of control.
However, at the 2004 New Years Eve party, where Tracey, Therese and Elizabeth were all present we get to see this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000170.php. Tracey is concerned because Elizabeth hasn't spoken to Anthony all night. That tells me a lot more about Tracey and Therese, than Shawna-Marie's 3rd hand gossip. Is Therese jealous of Tracey, or did a mechanic overhear a conversation where Therese told Anthony to stop spending so much time talking to a woman we have been shown is pushing him to be with Elizabeth and not her? My interpretation of what was presented is that Therese is jealous of Elizabeth only.
Something must have happened at that unseen first meeting between Elizabeth and Therese. By contrast with what happened with Elizabeth and Julia, we know that Elizabeth saw Therese was a real threat, and not some temporary girlfriend Anthony picked up to make her jealous as he did in their high school years. What was the difference? Was it just because she was thin and attractive? The clue is that when we first meet Therese, it is at her wedding.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000379.php. She and Anthony have just greeted Elizabeth and Dennis North. She asks Anthony if she is jealous Elizabeth is with a handsome man, and Anthony responds, "Not now." This tells us Therese knows Anthony still has a thing for Elizabeth. Why didn't she break the engagement as soon as she found out? Why did she have a child with Anthony, when she didn't want children, and she knew her husband was still in love with Elizabeth? Could it be that the characteristic that kept Therese with Anthony, to bear a child for Anthony was the one characteristic which made her a threat to Elizabeth? Could it be that Therese was actually in love with Anthony?
If we had seen that scene, it would have changed everything. If we saw Therese in love with Anthony, and the realization cross her face when she met Elizabeth for the first time, and learned that Anthony still had feelings for her; then we would never side with Elizabeth. Her antics in preparing for Anthony's wedding would make her seem like a cruel and heartless homewrecker. And so, the story-teller does not show us the scene and let's us figure out what happened.
If you put all this together over the 5+ years the story is stretched, then you can come up with a completely different reason Elizabeth and Anthony ended up together at the Shawna-Marie Verano party. It isn't because Mason was drunk / medicated. It isn't because Anthony shaved his moustache and got new glasses. It has much more to do with Anthony's date, Julia. In this strip, http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002425.php, when Anthony discovered that Elizabeth had broken up with Paul and then did not come to him, but went to Warren, he tells Elizabeth he asked someone else to the wedding. It bares a startling parallel to the 2002 strip where Anthony told Elizabeth he was engaged, because he heard Elizabeth was living with Eric. This time though, Anthony did not choose another girl like Therese to take to the wedding. He chose Julia.
This sends the message to Elizabeth loud and clear, that although Anthony was hurt when he found out Elizabeth went out with Warren (just like he was back in 2002 when she was with Eric), this time he is showing Elizabeth that he has his pride by having a date, but he was still waiting for Elizabeth. He didn't give her a chance to recover from the mistake of dating Eric and he made the mistake of marrying Therese. This time he is giving her a chance to recover from her mistake of dating Warren and Paul, and shows her he is not going make the same marriage mistake again. Sound preposterous? Read this strip carefully: http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/7/31&name=For_Better_Or_Worse.
The word "mistake" is clearly linked to Elizabeth dating Eric and Anthony's engagement.
Taken over the 5-year period, the story seems much more complex and textured. The reader is challenged to discover the difference between what people say or think and what is truth. The reader has to figure out what really happened in crucial scenes we were not shown. The reader has to figure out the parallels in the story and draw conclusions from the differences. The reader has to be able to go through old strips with a fine toothed comb to put it all together.
On the other hand, this story is being told through a venue which makes it nearly impossible to appreciate it. You have to have collections or be aware and willing to go through an on-line archive and pick through these things. OR you have to have a phenomenal memory. It's like when I watch a daytime soap opera with my wife and she says things like, "You have to know that these two people used to be married a long time for that scene to make sense."
Work of genius or very poor writing? It all depends on whom you ask.
For example, the means by which Anthony and Elizabeth were put back together again at Shawna-Marie Verano's wedding. To recap, Elizabeth has been back in Milborough for almost a year and although she and Anthony had time together during the trial, he never asked her out on a date. So, Elizabeth asks Anthony to the wedding and he says he is taking someone else. Elizabeth then chastises herself for being an idiot.
At the wedding, she meets the someone else, and it is Julia, who is short, fat, and likes to show off her dental work. There is no tension in the air between Elizabeth and Julia, which is shown by both Elizabeth and Anthony laughing at Julia's antics. Immediately after this, as Elizabeth is being led off by best man, Mason, her thoughts turn to Anthony and how he has shaved his moustache, gotten new glasses, and her old feelings for him have returned. When Mason passes out, Anthony gallantly steps in, and with his date's encouragement, re-establishes his romance with Elizabeth.
Just awful. So superficial. Elizabeth only has feelings for Anthony because he shaved and the best man passed out? It seems weak to me. Taken by itself, it is. However, there are little threads of things leading up to this point, which could make this story seem much more elegant.
In contrast to this scene, you have to go back to a scene which never appeared in the For Better or For Worse comic strip, and we can only surmise what happened by what people say. This scene is the first meeting between Elizabeth and Anthony's ex-wife Therese. The sequence of events before their meeting is:
a. Anthony asks Elizabeth to a New Years Eve, 2002 party where the other people present are Anthony's father's business associates. Therese is not there.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2001/12/31&name=For_Better_Or_Worse&week=1
b. At the party, Anthony tells Elizabeth he is engaged to a wonderful girl named Therese and that Elizabeth would love and he wishes she could meet her.
c. Anthony also indirectly tells Elizabeth he is engaged because he found out that Elizabeth was living with Eric Chamberlain.
d. They dance very closely (far too close for mere friends), leave the party early. Anthony specifically mentions no one would miss them if they left. Their thought balloons reveal they are still in love with each other.
e. In a later strip, Elizabeth is talking to Gordon Mayes, and he describes Therese as a nice girl, but said he was surprised Anthony was engaged to her and not to Elizabeth.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/7/27&name=For_Better_Or_Worse&week=1
f. Anthony reveals that Therese works for Anthony's father.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/8/3&name=For_Better_Or_Worse
What comes into view then, is that Anthony invited Elizabeth to a party filled full of people likely to be able to tell Therese what his actions were at the party. Then he close danced with Elizabeth and left early with her. If Anthony's dad wanted to introduce him to his business associates, then he is faced with an embarrassing "Where's Anthony?" What also comes into view is that everyone is complimentary about Therese, until after Elizabeth's first meeting with her. It is afterwards that the insults come, and they come first from Elizabeth.
In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000401.php
Elizabeth reveals that Therese already thinks she is competition for Anthony and she has only met her once.
In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000371.php
Elizabeth reveals she only met Therese once and she was like a total iceberg.
What happened during that first meeting? You can look at the differences between Julia and Therese and draw a conclusion easily. Julia is short, fat, and jolly. Therese is pretty, svelte, and described as cold and jealous by Elizabeth. In fact, in every appearance Therese had, she was shown to be jealous and unpleasant, when Anthony looked at or spent time with Elizabeth.
In every appearance except one. In this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001066.php
Therese is at the baby shower for her child, Francoise. We are supposed to get the idea the Therese is tactless, because she has asked for money for baby shower gifts and not actual presents. However, we are also shown the idea did not necessarily originate with Therese. Some person (Therese's mother?) tries to sell time holding the baby for $10 a minute, when April was holding the baby earlier at no cost. In contrast, Therese is not shown to be tactless. In fact, she is shown to be gracious to April, for her gift. The big difference here is that Elizabeth is not present, and we see a very different Therese. The conclusion I draw is that Therese is unpleasant and jealous when Elizabeth is around.
There is a strip which disagrees with that assessment.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/2005_01.php
At the 2005 New Years Eve party, Shawna Marie Verano tells Elizabeth that one of the mechanics at the garage is a friend of her cousin's and he heard Therese yell at Anthony for spending so much time with her at the office. From this incident, Shawna Marie has concluded Therese is even jealous of Tracey Mayes, not just Elizabeth. Is this truth, or something misheard, or something misunderstood? What you have is a story told 2 persons removed from the eyewitness. We have never seen Therese jealous of Tracey. As far as I know, Tracey and Anthony never dated or had any kind of romantic relationship, so there should be no cause for jealousy. Moreover, Tracey is Anthony's boss' wife. If Therese is jealous of Tracey, then it is proof she is really out of control.
However, at the 2004 New Years Eve party, where Tracey, Therese and Elizabeth were all present we get to see this strip,
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000170.php. Tracey is concerned because Elizabeth hasn't spoken to Anthony all night. That tells me a lot more about Tracey and Therese, than Shawna-Marie's 3rd hand gossip. Is Therese jealous of Tracey, or did a mechanic overhear a conversation where Therese told Anthony to stop spending so much time talking to a woman we have been shown is pushing him to be with Elizabeth and not her? My interpretation of what was presented is that Therese is jealous of Elizabeth only.
Something must have happened at that unseen first meeting between Elizabeth and Therese. By contrast with what happened with Elizabeth and Julia, we know that Elizabeth saw Therese was a real threat, and not some temporary girlfriend Anthony picked up to make her jealous as he did in their high school years. What was the difference? Was it just because she was thin and attractive? The clue is that when we first meet Therese, it is at her wedding.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000379.php. She and Anthony have just greeted Elizabeth and Dennis North. She asks Anthony if she is jealous Elizabeth is with a handsome man, and Anthony responds, "Not now." This tells us Therese knows Anthony still has a thing for Elizabeth. Why didn't she break the engagement as soon as she found out? Why did she have a child with Anthony, when she didn't want children, and she knew her husband was still in love with Elizabeth? Could it be that the characteristic that kept Therese with Anthony, to bear a child for Anthony was the one characteristic which made her a threat to Elizabeth? Could it be that Therese was actually in love with Anthony?
If we had seen that scene, it would have changed everything. If we saw Therese in love with Anthony, and the realization cross her face when she met Elizabeth for the first time, and learned that Anthony still had feelings for her; then we would never side with Elizabeth. Her antics in preparing for Anthony's wedding would make her seem like a cruel and heartless homewrecker. And so, the story-teller does not show us the scene and let's us figure out what happened.
If you put all this together over the 5+ years the story is stretched, then you can come up with a completely different reason Elizabeth and Anthony ended up together at the Shawna-Marie Verano party. It isn't because Mason was drunk / medicated. It isn't because Anthony shaved his moustache and got new glasses. It has much more to do with Anthony's date, Julia. In this strip, http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002425.php, when Anthony discovered that Elizabeth had broken up with Paul and then did not come to him, but went to Warren, he tells Elizabeth he asked someone else to the wedding. It bares a startling parallel to the 2002 strip where Anthony told Elizabeth he was engaged, because he heard Elizabeth was living with Eric. This time though, Anthony did not choose another girl like Therese to take to the wedding. He chose Julia.
This sends the message to Elizabeth loud and clear, that although Anthony was hurt when he found out Elizabeth went out with Warren (just like he was back in 2002 when she was with Eric), this time he is showing Elizabeth that he has his pride by having a date, but he was still waiting for Elizabeth. He didn't give her a chance to recover from the mistake of dating Eric and he made the mistake of marrying Therese. This time he is giving her a chance to recover from her mistake of dating Warren and Paul, and shows her he is not going make the same marriage mistake again. Sound preposterous? Read this strip carefully: http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2002/7/31&name=For_Better_Or_Worse.
The word "mistake" is clearly linked to Elizabeth dating Eric and Anthony's engagement.
Taken over the 5-year period, the story seems much more complex and textured. The reader is challenged to discover the difference between what people say or think and what is truth. The reader has to figure out what really happened in crucial scenes we were not shown. The reader has to figure out the parallels in the story and draw conclusions from the differences. The reader has to be able to go through old strips with a fine toothed comb to put it all together.
On the other hand, this story is being told through a venue which makes it nearly impossible to appreciate it. You have to have collections or be aware and willing to go through an on-line archive and pick through these things. OR you have to have a phenomenal memory. It's like when I watch a daytime soap opera with my wife and she says things like, "You have to know that these two people used to be married a long time for that scene to make sense."
Work of genius or very poor writing? It all depends on whom you ask.
posted by howard at 7:36 PM
14 Comments:
Work of genius or very poor writing? It all depends on whom you ask.
Just don't ask Lynn.
Tremendous job with the analysis and archives, once again, Howtheduck. But as you suggest, for this to work as the subtle storytelling you uncover, the reader is being asked to perform way, way too much work.
aprilp_katje,
But is it any more work than having to decipher through the religious symbolism of a novel like Moby Dick? Or to figure out which part of The DaVinci Code is historically authentic or just something the author made up? Some things are written to be elusive in their content, and the payoff is a greater understanding of the work once you have made the effort.
Sometimes, when I read an article where Lynn Johnston refers to For Better or For Worse as a graphic novel, I get the impression she definitely thinks of her work that way.
But you have to use your Lynn voice and say, "the graphic novel that For Better or For Worse has become." She always phrases it like that.
I don't know. With Moby Dick or The DaVinci Code, one reads the entire piece as a unit and can refer back as needed. Most readers don't have the entire FBoFW oeuvre handy to review, and Lynn is aware that she has picked up readers at various points in the run, so not everyone is going to be privy to all those events you were able to pull together.
If Lynn were truly going for the longterm, subtle plotting you suggest, I can't help believing this is the wrong medium. Or at least that this hasn't been handled in the right way. Also, if this unseen encounter with Thérèse is really meant to be so pivotal, it should have been shown.
But I suspect you're being subtle yourself again--somewhat like what you did at "Coffee Talk." ;)
No matter which analysis you use, though, I still see Anthoney as a selfish, immature user.
Liz's sudden "Wait!" moment and bolting from Paul also to me implicitly puts her in a very devious, selfish light who was mainly worried about "appearing" to be a homewrecker.
I thought your analysis was very thoughtful and interesting, and it definitely does give more light to the storyline.
I can't help but feel that this all came together through lucky coincidence though. I might think otherwise if the quality of the recent storylines haven't been so predictable and ill-contrived, but for there to be such a drop in the quality of the plots...
Wow! Your analysis is absolutely incredible. It’s a joy to revisit these old strips, especially those I have forgotten. Lynn’s story telling is brilliant – after all, she is able to inspire YOU to invest so many hours researching her old strips!!!
I like today’s strip, showing Liz and Anthony taking it slow, and with Franci. This is exactly how I hoped this story would evolve.
Anonomous sees Anthony as a selfish, immature user. I think these adjectives more aptly describe Liz’s behavior over the years. Liz and Anthony’s friendship was not what destroyed a marriage. Anthony and Thérèse’s marriage failed because the two of them were not a good match.
Anon II
aprilp_katje,
I knew I could count on the continuity goddess to remember the exact Lynn Johnston phrasing, “the graphic novel that For Better or For Worse has become." You are quite right most readers do not have the entire FBoFW oeuvre handy to review. This makes it pretty much impossible for the casual reader, or the reader-come-lately. However, Lynn seems to be very aware that she has long term readers with memories like elephants and access to collections, as many of the “Coffee Talk” comments seem to suggest. Not only that, but we have seen several storylines draw to a conclusion in the last several months, which were started years ago. Mike and Dee moving into the house, the apartment fire, the elder Pattersons move into the Stibbs’ place, Mike quitting his job at Portrait to become an author, the resolution to Becky and April’s feud, etc., they all were set into place with sometimes subtle hints in the strip at least 1 ½ years before they actually happened (e.g. Mira Sobinski noting a fire escape in her daughter’s new apartment leads to the apartment fire 1 ½ years later). There is considerable evidence there that Lynn Johnston is a long term plotter.
Not only that, but there is often presented in the strip an odd contrast between the way the character acts and what the character says about the way they acted. This seems to confuse people a lot. To me, the clearest example of this was in May, 2006, when we see Liz get the pivotal e-mail from April saying Anthony is divorced and her shocked reaction to it. Liz talks a good game about how she misses home and the like to Jesse Mukwa, but anyone reading the strip carefully sees the definite cause and effect. Anthony’s divorced, and within the month, Liz is moving back to Milborough. This is also hammered in again, when we are shown that Vivian Crane has to convince Liz to tell her then-current boyfriend Constable Paul Wright that she is moving. Without Vivian’s pressure, when did Liz plan to tell Paul Wright?
Liz says has to move back because she is homesick, but when she gets home, we are shown Elly has to go visit her, so we know the homesickness excuse was a lie. Elizabeth, therefore, moved to chase after Anthony Caine. The proof is all there, and Lynn Johnston has given it to us freely.
Those of us who want to empathize with Liz’s character are faced with a conundrum. Do you believe what Liz says, or do you believe what you have seen shown? If you want to empathize with Liz, you have to go with what she says; otherwise it looks like she has tossed away a devoted boyfriend and a great job. Even those people who believe what they have been shown are troubled, because if Liz really is sacrificing love and career and her dreams to chase after Anthony Caine, then Liz has some serious emotional issues. Can it be that Lynn Johnston is showing us a Liz, who is deeply flawed?
Some would say it is not possible that’s what Lynn intended since Liz is modeled off her own daughter, and yet, Lynn Johnston has not shied away from showing us Liz has those emotional issues: Liz in bed with her bunny. Liz unable to congratulate Mike on his book deal. Liz losing it, when Anthony turns her down. It’s all there.
However, if she is intentionally trying to confuse us as to the nature of Elizabeth’s character with “what is said” vs. “what is shown,” Lynn may have thought the unseen encounter with Thérèse had to be unseen. When you get right down to it, until Anthony Caine said, “I have no home”, there were many readers who were convinced Thérèse Caine was unjustifiably jealous. After that moment, it was clear Thérèse Caine knew exactly what she was talking about, and she was never thereafter portrayed in the strip as jealous.
You may be right that this is completely the wrong medium for long-term, subtle plotting; but if you are Lynn Johnston, what other medium do you have? I can see Lynn Johnston, after writing gag-a-day, slice-of-life strips for 10 years saying, “I want to write more complex stuff, and I don’t care if no one is patient enough to follow it.”
Anonymous (first message),
I have tried to analyze the way the plot was put forth by Lynn Johnston, and I tried not to judge the characters themselves, which would require a whole different analysis. It would not be difficult to make a case for Anthony as a selfish, immature user. It also would not be difficult to make a case for Liz in a very devious, selfish light. She does specifically say in this strip, she is not a home-wrecker, so you are correct that is a concern of hers.
Anonymous (second message),
I don’t know if you are the same Anonymous as the Anonymous (first message), so I am addressing you separately. Thank you for the compliment on my analysis.
I will have to disagree with you that it all came together through lucky coincidence. There have been too many story lines from Lynn Johnston which have run over long periods of time for me to believe that, regardless of the quality of those storylines.
Anon II
Thank you for the compliments on my analysis. I should point out that it is not necessarily an indication that Lynn’s story telling is brilliant. It could be evidence that I am an obsessed crazy.
Like you, I was impressed that Lynn Johnston showed Liz and Anthony taking it slow. If they were immediately talking marriage, I don’t think it would be a realistic portrayal. In fact, their awkward conversation seems to me to be a true-to-life reflection of their relationship over the last several years. If they were all chatty as if they had been really close friends the whole time (which they obviously couldn’t have been with Thérèse in the picture), it would have struck the wrong tone.
I will agree with you Anthony and Thérèse seem to have such different marriage goals, they were not a good match. Personally I see Liz and Anthony as obsessed with each other, so they cannot truly be involved with anyone else. I don’t think it’s a mistake Liz was never shown telling any of her other boyfriends she is in love with them to their face. I don’t think it’s a mistake Anthony is shown mooning over Liz, just 3 weeks after he got engaged to Thérèse. If I view their relationship as more obsession than love, this storyline makes sense to me. It also explains why Anthony and Thérèse’s marriage failed, and why Elizabeth’s relationships with other men failed.
Question
If Liz and Anthony are so obsessed with each other why didn't they stay together?
My sense is that Anthony and Liz had a somewhat platonic relationship in high school and they made no commitment to each other when they left for college. By the time Anthony graduated, he was ready to settle down while Liz was ready for adventure, so the timing was wrong.
I would also describe Liz and Anthony’s current relationship as obsessive. It will be interesting to see how this obsession matures into love.
Anon II
PS …and my kids think I’m obsessed crazy!
Anon II,
Question
If Liz and Anthony are so obsessed with each other why didn't they stay together?
Liz and Anthony played a little game in high school, where they constantly went back and forth with, “I’m not interested in Anthony when he’s unattached. I’m interested in Anthony when he’s with someone else.” It was that kind of obsession. After high school, it played out on a much grander scale, and this goes back further than I have on-line archives to reference, so I am going by memory.
As I recollect, Anthony did not get attention (letters or calls) from Elizabeth, after about the 1st year they were in university; so he said, “You don’t seem to be interested, so let’s break it off.” And as I recollect, when Liz told this to April, she said, “Well, it’s typical for you to be interested in Anthony when he’s not interested in you.”
Then the next time Elizabeth sees him, he drops the whole business on her how he knew she was living with Eric, and so now he’s engaged to Thérèse. This shows he was paying pretty close attention to Liz’s love life. But then he and Liz are hugging all over each other at the New Years Eve 2002 party and thought-ballooning unspoken affection for each other. Liz didn’t say, “I don’t like Eric anymore, because I think he is cheating on me.” Anthony didn’t say, “I would rather be engaged to you than to Thérèse.” It seems like that high school obsession all over again to me.
I think you are quite right Anthony was ready to settle down after he graduated from university, since he got married right after he graduated in 2003 (assuming he did not extend his university education by one year like Liz and Candace Halloran did, who graduated in 2004). It is also clear that Anthony had little job ambition, since he continued to work for Gordon Mayes and settled in the same job he had before he got his degree.
Liz ready for adventure. Now that is possible. However, this strip hints that there was a “get away from Anthony” motivation for Liz’s Mtigwaki adventure, just as this strip hints there is a “come back to Anthony” motivation for Liz ending her Mtigwaki adventure. Maybe the timing was wrong, or maybe the timing was exactly the way Liz needed it to be, in this game she has been playing with Anthony.
As for me, my kids think I am weird. They are encouraged in this belief by their mother.
Lots of reasons would have made Mtigwaki appealing to Liz, and adventure is probably at the top of the list. If the purpose was mainly to get away from Anthony then she could have gone to Montreal or Ottawa, where life would have been easier, social opportunities would have been better, and the salary would been greater (even when the cost of living is factored).
The Mtigwaki chapter in Liz’s life was a remarkable journey and brought out the best in her while returning home brought out the worst. I was sorry to see this adventure come to a sudden end.
Anon II
Funny you should mention the whole "gossip-about-Tracey-Mayes" incident. The fact that it was third-hand at best suggests that the girls-room version of events isn't all that reliable.
My take on it is this...Therese already had several black marks against her among Anthony's friends because they always saw him and Liz as the golden couple. When her jealousy (apparently justified) cropped up, of course all Anthony's friends were liable to cluck their tongues and mutter over what a jealous shrew she was. With that preconception, people would read overall jealousy into her behavior no matter what she did.
So what if, say, it was a case of Tracey asking Anthony to do some extra work, and Therese called him on it? "Tracey's not your boss, Gordon is! You're letting her take advantage of your good nature!" But this would filter to Anthony's friends via a game of "telephone" and their own preconceptions of Therese, and so turn into, "OMG, she's even jealous of Tracey Mayes!"
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