The Importance of Relatives
I found it more than a little ironic that the discussion of Liz and Anthony in today’s For Better or For Worse strip turned into a discussion about how getting married means putting up with your spouse’s relatives, when we have yet to see Liz interact with Anthony Caine’s family. Lynn Johnston has made it no secret how she preferred Rod Johnston’s family to her own, and this is reflected in the fact that I cannot remember a single occasion where Deanna and Elly ever clashed over anything. Part of this has to do with the fact that once Mike and Deanna moved into the Sobinski apartment, the almost only time Deanna and Elly had any conversation was when Deanna and Mike were visiting them in Milborough. Elly came to Toronto precious few times from 2001 to 2006. The other part was that Elly invariably agreed with the path that Deanna planned to take; the most significant of these was her decision to stop breast-feeding and return to work back in 2003, much earlier than mother Mira wanted.
With the return (and eventual humbling) of Mira Sobinski, the question arises again, “Where are Anthony’s parents?” and more importantly, "Will Elizabeth prefer them to her own family, as Deanna did?" We know in advance that Anthony is going to get along beautifully with the Pattersons, since they were pushing Liz to Anthony all during his marriage. The only possible exceptions would be April or Iris and Jim, who have never expressed an opinion one way or the other. Traditionally, when Liz brings home a man, April asks the “so when are you getting married?” question, and thinks some comment to herself that she has fulfilled her important role of the younger sister in asking a rude question which everyone wonders, but most have the good taste not to ask. And, of course, we never get to see the question answered.
June 11, 2004 – She asks, “Are you in love?” to Warren Blackwood.
July 5, 2006 – She asks “Are you and Elizabeth going to get married?” to Constable Paul Wright
If Lynn Johnston decides to follow that same course, then we could have a moment where Anthony Caine decides to answer April’s question in the affirmative and then goes on to propose. Lynn likes repetition, but I don’t know if she will go that far in this case. April is 16 now, after all. Maybe, Merrie or Robin will ask the question instead, showing the circle of life.
With the return (and eventual humbling) of Mira Sobinski, the question arises again, “Where are Anthony’s parents?” and more importantly, "Will Elizabeth prefer them to her own family, as Deanna did?" We know in advance that Anthony is going to get along beautifully with the Pattersons, since they were pushing Liz to Anthony all during his marriage. The only possible exceptions would be April or Iris and Jim, who have never expressed an opinion one way or the other. Traditionally, when Liz brings home a man, April asks the “so when are you getting married?” question, and thinks some comment to herself that she has fulfilled her important role of the younger sister in asking a rude question which everyone wonders, but most have the good taste not to ask. And, of course, we never get to see the question answered.
June 11, 2004 – She asks, “Are you in love?” to Warren Blackwood.
July 5, 2006 – She asks “Are you and Elizabeth going to get married?” to Constable Paul Wright
If Lynn Johnston decides to follow that same course, then we could have a moment where Anthony Caine decides to answer April’s question in the affirmative and then goes on to propose. Lynn likes repetition, but I don’t know if she will go that far in this case. April is 16 now, after all. Maybe, Merrie or Robin will ask the question instead, showing the circle of life.
posted by howard at 11:21 PM
15 Comments:
I could readily see Anthony bucking the trend and preferring the Pattersons to his own flesh and blood. Part of me is convinced that they hold out a certain amount of hope that he'll wake up and patch things up with Thérèse and get over his warped obsession with some girl he had a few dates with ten years ago. That being said, it does seem likely that Merrie would drop the 'When are you getting married?' bomb.
Mike and Deanna moved into the Sobinski apartment
???
her decision to stop breast-feeding and return to work back in 2003
The weird thing about this was that I had no idea Dee had stopped breastfeeding at the time she went back to work, until she specified this in a monthly letter almost a year later. I don't know why the letter writers felt this was necessary. ::fume::
earlier than mother Mira wanted.
The working part, yes. Mira wanted Dee to formula feed right from the get-go.
I agree that we are being set up for an Anthony proposal. Park of me says ::puke::--but the other just wants to get this over with (and of course snark the heck out of it).
Howard:
Even more irony--the strip two years ago: http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001551.php
Liz was supposed to meet Paul's family and that was when she manipulated both Warren and Paul. We have never seen Liz have to deal with the possible in-laws; as I remember, Mike had to meet and go through the introduction with the parents of Rhetta, Martha, and Dee.
Odd that Lynn still can't flesh out the character of Granthony.
DJ
While I agree with, and am interested in, the whole question of "Whither the Caines?", this strip makes me angry for a whole other reason, which completely eclipses any of my usual storytelling and characterization peeves.
Namely, it's a Misguided Etymology Strip. "Hey, look, word X contains separate albeit somewhat related word Y! Isn't that profound?"
No, Lynn. It really isn't. If anyone said the whole significant-sign speech to me in real life, I'd laugh and tell them they were an idiot and possibly try to hit them with a copy of the OED. I would also use several words derived from good, old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon.
Namely, it's a Misguided Etymology Strip. "Hey, look, word X contains separate albeit somewhat related word Y! Isn't that profound?"
I am so with you on this, dlauthor. I hate it when Lynn pulls one of these.
Hey Lynn, did you know that "considerate" starts with "con"? I guess whenever someone is being "considerate," it is actually a big old that can't be trusted.
DreadedCandiru2
Part of me is convinced that they hold out a certain amount of hope that he'll wake up and patch things up with Thérèse and get over his warped obsession with some girl he had a few dates with ten years ago.
That would be fun but I would have to say Lynn doesn’t have time to deal with that kind of controversy, since she spent 2 weeks creating and resolving the controversy with Frànçoise, who was a character who has actually made some appearances over the last 2.75 years. I suspect we are going to end up with (a) Anthony informing us that his parents have been dead for 10 years, (b) his parents live far away and can’t make the wedding or (c) his parents simply do not appear for the wedding and no one in the strip questions it.
aprilp_katje,
Mike and Deanna moved into the Sobinski apartment
Well, all I can say is that by the time I write up the FOOBiverse’s Journal entry, and the ARB entry, I am pretty tired and not thinking that clearly when I write up the Howard Bunt Blog entry. Sobinski should have been Lovey’s.
The working part, yes. Mira wanted Dee to formula feed right from the get-go.
Yes, right. I think I got the breast-feeding and working linked in my brain.
DJ,
Liz was supposed to meet Paul's family and that was when she manipulated both Warren and Paul.
That was a low point in Liz history, and also one of the key points in April’s Real Blog during our version of the Howard Bunt trial. Howard’s defence pointed out that Elizabeth had a history of bringing old and new boyfriends together to see if it would end in violence, and maybe Howard and Anthony’s fight was another of those occasions.
Constable Paul Wright handled himself pretty well as far as violence went; but if I were dating a girl who did that to me, i.e. skipping out on meeting my parents when I had just driven her to the town where they lived and then taking off in a helicopter with an old boyfriend in the town where my parents were expecting her and where many of my relatives would have noticed what was going on, so it would have been a crushing humiliation; that would have been the end of the relationship right there. Constable Paul Wright should have said, “You set me up! How could you? We're through!” Liz did not treat the good constable very well.
dlauthor
If anyone said the whole significant-sign speech to me in real life, I'd laugh and tell them they were an idiot and possibly try to hit them with a copy of the OED.
Usually I view these kinds of strips as “Lynn Johnston is desperate for a punch line and this is the best she can come up with.” Ultimately she wanted to touch on the twin ideas that Anthony and Liz are officially serious and that Deanna’s parents are awful; but the strain of coming up with the joke to mesh those two ideas was too much for her creative skills. I think she should have just used the last joke and skipped over “significant other.”
I think April is a little old to be asking inappropriate questions of Liz's suitors. This will have to be left to Merrie or Francoise. Maybe they could have a little girl convo about it first, then confront the loving couple. Merrie tells Francoise that it is great to have to parents who are so compatible and love their children ever so much - wouldn't she like to have that too? Then they can toddle over to Liz/Anthony and embarrassingly ask when they will get married. Anthony will say something like, I was saving this for NYE but I guess there is no time like the 'present'. Get it present as in time and present as in Christmas present or Liz is a present to their new family. And the punny couple lives happily ever after. **pukes**
I suspect we are going to end up with (a) Anthony informing us that his parents have been dead for 10 years, (b) his parents live far away and can’t make the wedding or (c) his parents simply do not appear for the wedding and no one in the strip questions it.
I'd say (b) or (c) are far more likely than (a) but you can never tell. My gut says (c) but there's always a chance she could spring(a) on us.
Anonymous
Your scenario sounds frighteningly possible; but I like it. I hope that’s what Lynn does.
DreadedCandiru2
The reason I think (a) is a possibility is because Lynn is notorious for not researching her own strip. For example, back in August when she retconned that Frànçoise was born after Thérèse and Anthony moved into Gordon’s old house, instead of before, as it was in her strip. The little hints about Anthony’s parents in the strip are even more obscure than that, so I could see Lynn killing the parents off in order to avoid any questions they may raise.
It's also possible that LJ could suddenly turn the Caines into horrible, shallow monsters, like she did with Dee's parents. Mira especially was generally portrayed a decent person until the wedding planning started--she was legitimately upset when Dee was in the car accident, kind to Mike when he came to visit her, polite during Mike's dinner with the family and she was shown to be laughing and joking with Dee during the same dinner, worried but respectful of Dee's feelings when she went to Honduras, etc.
It wasn't until they announced their engagement that Mira turned into such a one dimensional, nasty character. And LJ loved writing that nastiness so much, that she didn't even let it stop once the craziness of the wedding was over.
So it's not out of the question for me that Anthony's parents, who are otherwise non-entities (although there have been strips, like the wedding, where Anthony is seen with an older woman, she's never explicitly said to be his mother, and she's only been mentioned once or twice, in the context of taking care of Francie), could suddenly be turned into jerks.
Cedar
It's also possible that LJ could suddenly turn the Caines into horrible, shallow monsters, like she did with Dee's parents.
With Lynn Johnston’s love of repeated storylines, this is definitely a possibility. I would say the only limitation is time. However, she managed to make Shawna-Marie Verano’s mother into a wedding monster in a few strips, and I had never seen her before or since; so it is within her abilities to do it, just not to do it well if Mother Verano is an example. Really, if you get to a point where all Patterson in-laws are evil, then it raises the question “Is it that Pattersons are good, or do they simply bring out bad behaviour in the people having to deal with them?” It's not a story I would recommend to Lynn.
The main difficulty I had with Mira Sobinski’s negative portrayal, was that a lot of the things she did, which were taken negatively, were things I considered to be positive things. Not only that, but Mike and Deanna were unnecessarily cruel to the Sobinskis. The whole business of making sure that they were the last to learn about the birth of Robin seemed spiteful to me, particularly on an occasion where everyone should have been happy and celebrating.
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