Sunday, August 12, 2007

I Ain't Over Till the Fat-Bottomed Daughter is Married

The news came from the Patriot News:

http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1186880133320100.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Though Johnston originally planned to bring all the current storylines to a decisive close in September, the change will instead be more gradual. She wants to explore the budding romance between oldest daughter Elizabeth and an old high school flame.

"I'm interested and readers are interested to know what is going to happen with Anthony and Elizabeth," she said. "That resolution can't happen too fast. They've only just started to see each other again after a long time apart."

I think this is a nice way of Lynn saying, “I wanted to put in all my little nonsense strips with Elly cooking, or cleaning, or doing some other boring thing and making a bad pun; but I also wanted to make Liz and Anthony’s love story as painfully slow as possible. I couldn’t do both and get into the full up hybrid by September.”

I don’t think any serious reader of For Better or For Worse has any doubt as to what is going to happen with Anthony and Elizabeth. It’s been obvious to me she is going to end up married to Anthony for long time. The introduction of Constable Paul Wright made me doubt for a little while, because he is “Mr. Right” and the pun seems too irresistible for Lynn Johnston to ignore; but it always seemed to me, Lynn Johnston had too much time invested in Anthony for it to go any other way.

The upside is that if Lynn Johnston drags this on long enough we could see:
a. Warren Blackwood come back in and make a play for Liz, but then we find he has been messing around with fashion models in Yellowknife.
b. Constable Paul Wright come back in and make a play for Liz, so he can tell Liz she is so much better than Susan Dokis ever was, and Liz can finally use the “Mr. Wright” pun we have waited for ever since his name was revealed.
c. Thérèse come back in to make a play for little Frànçoise, and get smacked down.
d. Eric Chamberlain come back in and make a play for Liz.
e. Liz make a friend at work.
f. Merry mix-ups occur when little Frànçoise creates an elaborate scheme for getting Anthony and Liz back together after they break up over a minor detail of their relationship.
g. The reappearance of Anthony Caine’s mom and dad, who praise Anthony and Elizabeth for finally getting together. This is shortly followed by the strips where Elly Patterson decides Anthony’s parents are evil.

So many possibilities. I can only hope qnjones and eeknight are around to snark it properly.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Informative article; thanks for the link.

I’ve been wondering why LJ has been showing Francie speaking more like a precocious 4-year old than 2½. I’m now thinking that this is being done in preparation for the hybrid, where characters will stop aging.
Anon

5:26 AM  
Blogger howard said...

You could be right. I am starting to develop a different theory. I suspect that little Francie is going to be set up as a playmate for Meredith Patterson, in preparation for introducing strips with little Lizzie and her younger year playmates. However, this is just a theory at this point. I have no proof, except Robin is much closer to Francie in age, but spends his time eating dirt, soiling himself, and living in fear that his Gramma Elly will blow up from eating too much. Somehow I don't see him as a playmate for little "I can swing myself" Francie.

6:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only option I don't think will happen is "e". Lynn would REALLY be stretching reality for Liz to make any friends at this point.


DebJyn

11:51 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Well, there is the most recently seen Julia. And of course there is the mysterious Sylvia. I am sure that Lynn could make that kind of temporary friend for Liz, pretty easily.

2:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

“… to make Liz and Anthony’s love story as painfully slow as possible.”

FBORFW fans were willing to accept Paul in a heartbeat. But it’s obvious that many strip followers are not yet ready to accept lackluster Anthony into the family. I think this is the reason LJ has decided to invest more in developing this arc. I expect to see strips showing Anthony as a truly caring human being who also has a sharp sense of humor. In addition, we will see Liz rising to the occasion and acting her age.

Start tuning the violins…

Anon

4:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just my opinion, but..

I think everyone was so ready to accept Paul because he was new, fresh and different.

Lynn has just had Anthony around too long and made him too similar to the Pattersons. He comes off like an old relative, and that is why he and Liz just don't see interesting together. And they've been there, done that--their relationship never changes.

DJ

8:16 PM  
Blogger howard said...

I remember when Constable Paul Wright appeared, and not only did he appear to be a nice guy helping Elly on the side of the road, but he had a bad pun for a last name and seemed to be man who would fit in exceptionally well with Elizabeth’s lifestyle, having one foot in the Ojibway traditions and yet having a job in a very respectable profession. The more I researched the Ontario Provincial Police for portraying the good constable in April’s Real Blog, the more impressed I was with him. The main thing which made him different to me from Anthony “thought-bubble converser” Caine, Eric “cheating on you” Chamberlain, and Warren “I work on the other side of Canada” Blackwood was Paul Wright had no trouble expressing his feelings to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth set him up for a confrontation with Warren Blackwood and left with him instead of going with Paul to meet his parents, I was impressed Paul Wright did not lose his temper with Elizabeth. When Elizabeth decided to change jobs, just after he had put in for a transfer to move where she was, I was impressed Paul Wright did not break up with Elizabeth Patterson right there and then. If someone had done that to me, I would have been very angry with them.

Most of the people who have a problem with Anthony bear him a grudge due to the way he treated his wife during their marriage. When Anthony made his infamous, “I have no hooome” speech to Elizabeth after she was nearly sexually assaulted; many fans turned against him. In that one moment, he showed he did not truly care about Elizabeth or Thérèse, but only his own agenda. Judging from the Coffee Talk comments, the ones who root for Anthony and Elizabeth do so because of an Anthony they remember from earlier days, when he was regularly put upon and abused by high school Elizabeth. The ones who dislike Anthony remember that speech.

However, I do believe that the fans against Anthony could be turned to him again with a skillfully-written romance story. So far I have not seen that. We really need to have those “strips showing Anthony as a truly caring human being who also has a sharp sense of humor” and strips with “Liz rising to the occasion and acting her age.”

What I think we are really going to get is the return of Thérèse, and a Thérèse smack down. These last few years, Lynn has seemed to enjoy those “revenge on villain” stories, which are easily the weakest things she writes.

9:21 PM  
Blogger Cedar said...

Howard--

I'm pretty sure Sylvia was the court-appointed grief-counselor or whatever, who was assigned to help Liz and Anthony get through the trial. So she's not a real friend. She was paid to interact them her.

1:53 PM  

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