While April’s Away, the Mice Will Play
The Monday and Tuesday For Better or For Worse strips this week seem to be clear indications that April Patterson is in Winnipeg, even if no one has expressed that directly. In contrast to last summer when April left and it appeared as though John and Elly were enjoying time having sex with no teenager in the house; this year it looks like April forces Elly and John to eat healthy food (and so they turn into ravenous gluttons after she leaves) and she is also the one responsible for visiting Grandpa Jim, since Elly pops in with food for Grandpa Jim for the first time since he had his stroke.
My guess is that we are headed for a week where we get to see Elly take some of the load off Iris in sympathy for her having to deal with Jim in a bad mood. One of the primary complaints about all the strips where it showed Iris and Jim struggling with Jim’s stroke recovery alone, is that we don’t know why Elly, retired and living in the same town, did not appear in those strips. This next sequence could be to address those complaints.
However, it is already set up for failure; because Jim has been presented as being in bad mood, in order to get sympathy for Iris. If Elly were truly interested in her father and Iris’ needs, then she would volunteer to help out Iris even when Grandpa Jim is in a good mood. If we saw Iris’ exhaustion from constantly having to deal with Jim, and then Elly’s guilty realization she has been letting Iris bear the load alone, it would come off better. Instead, I predict we will see Elly volunteer to help and Iris ladle excessive praise on her. I hope I am wrong. For a change, I would really like to see a Patterson do something nice for someone and not get lavish praise in return.
My guess is that we are headed for a week where we get to see Elly take some of the load off Iris in sympathy for her having to deal with Jim in a bad mood. One of the primary complaints about all the strips where it showed Iris and Jim struggling with Jim’s stroke recovery alone, is that we don’t know why Elly, retired and living in the same town, did not appear in those strips. This next sequence could be to address those complaints.
However, it is already set up for failure; because Jim has been presented as being in bad mood, in order to get sympathy for Iris. If Elly were truly interested in her father and Iris’ needs, then she would volunteer to help out Iris even when Grandpa Jim is in a good mood. If we saw Iris’ exhaustion from constantly having to deal with Jim, and then Elly’s guilty realization she has been letting Iris bear the load alone, it would come off better. Instead, I predict we will see Elly volunteer to help and Iris ladle excessive praise on her. I hope I am wrong. For a change, I would really like to see a Patterson do something nice for someone and not get lavish praise in return.
posted by howard at 10:42 PM
2 Comments:
DJ, your post yesterday is excellent (and should be submitted to Coffee Talk):
“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 seem interesting together. And they've been there, done that--their relationship never changes.”
It’s a huge challenge to turn a stale relationship into one that is fresh and exciting; this is the massive hurdle that remains for LJ. I’m eager to see how she handles this.
Anon
I agree with Anon. You should submit that to Coffee Talk.
As for how LJ is going to handle Anthony and Liz's stale relationship, we have had so far:
a. The couple does a ballet dance, kisses a lot, and takes a nice walk in a park in the dark on a lark from a wedding.
b. The couple takes Francie to a park. Anthony swings Francie, while Elizabeth sits on a swing. They both swing Francie by the arms.
c. The couple takes Francie to a park and sits on a bench watching her while she plays, and they reminisce about the wedding and talk about how they are going to take it slow. Then they go to share an ice cream sundae.
For me, the ballet was the most exciting part, and mainly because it seemed bizarre to me. Personally, I am not interested in seeing a fresh and exciting Anthony and Elizabeth. I have history with these two. I know where they are weak.
I know Elizabeth’s failing in the past has been to have unreasonable expectations for her boyfriends. For me to believe it is going to work with Anthony, I need to see him overcome that tendency of Elizabeth’s and say, “I have to work tonight, and I don’t appreciate you spitting at the phone, just because I can’t be there for you at this particular time, when it’s not an emergency.”
I know Anthony’s failing in the past has been to be so oriented to his own agenda; he hurts the people around him. For me to believe it is going to work with Elizabeth, I need to see her able to get Anthony out of his “Me, me me” shell to focus on the two of them and say, “This is not the appropriate time to talk about this. Let’s talk about it after you get me to hospital, and the doctor gets the bleeding stopped.”
For me to believe Elizabeth is going to make it as a step-mother, I need to see her do something motherly with little Francie, and not just bribe her with ice cream or stare at her playing in a park, and say, “Oh, Francie. Don’t worry about vomiting on me. I’ll wash off. Your tummy was upset from Gramma Elly’s leftover tuna noodle casserole. Now, let’s get you all cleaned up.”
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