Insta-Mom
When my father was married to wife #2, she had two little girls who were much younger than I was. I remember times when those little girls would go to visit with their father. My dad hated those visits, because whenever the dad came to drop the girls back with him and their mother, they made a huge scene, crying and weeping about their father having to leave them. Let me tell you the one person those girls never went to for comfort in that situation—My dad. Even though he had married wife #2 well after she had been divorced from the father of those girls, he still took the blame. His presence in their mother’s life was solid proof that their parents were never going to be together again.
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse strip, I was reminded of that moment in my life, when I had to watch my father trying to be a good step-father to those girls. Based on that experience, the one person Françoise would avoid after Thérèse left, would be Elizabeth, particularly with Anthony there. It makes no sense to me whatsoever, that after Françoise is making a scene by hanging on her mother and saying, “Mama!” she would even consider going to the person whom she just last week was afraid was replacing her mother.
Françoise’s affections for her mother can’t just be moved from mom to daddy’s girlfriend. There is no basis for it. I have been railing on about this ever since Elizabeth and Anthony got together. There has to be at least one scene with Elizabeth and Françoise together, enjoying each other’s company, with Françoise accepting Elizabeth on her own merits. Without that scene, this story simply does not work.
I could go on about how the story is cheapened with the pun Liz makes at the end. I could prattle on about how Liz’s status as being a better mother than Thérèse is based solely on her ability to hang around Anthony. I could even go on about the bizarre apology Thérèse makes at the beginning of the strip. Those are weaknesses, but the worst part is writing a strip with just the emotional payoff of the climax of the story, without writing all the stuff that has to go before it to make that climax work.
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse strip, I was reminded of that moment in my life, when I had to watch my father trying to be a good step-father to those girls. Based on that experience, the one person Françoise would avoid after Thérèse left, would be Elizabeth, particularly with Anthony there. It makes no sense to me whatsoever, that after Françoise is making a scene by hanging on her mother and saying, “Mama!” she would even consider going to the person whom she just last week was afraid was replacing her mother.
Françoise’s affections for her mother can’t just be moved from mom to daddy’s girlfriend. There is no basis for it. I have been railing on about this ever since Elizabeth and Anthony got together. There has to be at least one scene with Elizabeth and Françoise together, enjoying each other’s company, with Françoise accepting Elizabeth on her own merits. Without that scene, this story simply does not work.
I could go on about how the story is cheapened with the pun Liz makes at the end. I could prattle on about how Liz’s status as being a better mother than Thérèse is based solely on her ability to hang around Anthony. I could even go on about the bizarre apology Thérèse makes at the beginning of the strip. Those are weaknesses, but the worst part is writing a strip with just the emotional payoff of the climax of the story, without writing all the stuff that has to go before it to make that climax work.
posted by howard at 12:59 AM
4 Comments:
What cheapens it for me is something wrapped up in Thérèse's confounding apology: we know nothing at all about her that isn't horribly biased. Or, far that matter, true. All we know is that she stood in the way of Lizthony and that's all we know. We don't even know if she's allowed to be near her child without paying some sort of penalty because we only have Anthony's word about their marriage and its collapse.
To Anon NYC and your comment that FBoFW time "is not 100% real time" and that Françoise is now 4-5 years old. No. Lynn has made it a major point to age her characters in real time--at least once the strip hit its stride. For Francie's age to be adjusted up, it would also be necessary to adjust back the age at which Anthony became a father. For example, a five-year-old Francie would mean Anthony became a father at age 21 and impregnated Thérèse at age 20--when both were in university and not yet engaged. OR Anthony and Liz would also have to have their ages adjusted forward, which would make a mess of a bunch of other Patterson continuity.
So, no. Françoise is 2.75 years old and being portrayed very unrealistically, to suit whatever storytelling needs Lynn feels she has at the moment.
howtheduck, I feel really cheated by today's strip, not only for the reasons that you point out, but also because Lynn has skipped over an opportunity to show Liz and Thérèse having a real, adult conversation. Though I suppose it's possible we'll get the conversation in flashback form next week as Liz relays it to Anthony--but that would be an inferior choice, as we would be stuck with Liz as a filter.
DreadedCandiru2,
The apology makes little sense for a host of reasons, not the least of which she is apologizing to Elizabeth who has no official relationship with Françoise. The worst case scenario is that Anthony has some kind of court order which prevents Thérèse from coming anywhere near Françoise, and something that strict requires some kind of explanation. The way it comes off is like Thérèse is apologizing to Elizabeth for stirring up trouble between her and Françoise, her potential future step-daughter; but I can’t make that work logically in my head with the material the strip has presented thus far. After all, Elizabeth is not a relation, or engaged to Anthony, or has any official relationship with Françoise of any kind; and even if she did, what kind of situation would require that Thérèse only shop in particular places or stay away from Françoise, when that’s exactly what Françoise does not want? Maybe it makes sense in Lynn Johnston’s head; but not in mine.
aprilp_katje,
So, no. Françoise is 2.75 years old and being portrayed very unrealistically, to suit whatever storytelling needs Lynn feels she has at the moment.
As you know there have been a few instances in the course of For Better or For Worse, where Lynn Johnston has adjusted people’s ages. The one which matches the closest to this alteration for Françoise is cousin Laura, who used to be the same as Mike, but now is about Liz’s age, if I recollect correctly. However, the story that Lynn is telling only works if we have an older Françoise, who can remember Thérèse, and whom Thérèse has completely abandoned and tries to avoid since she got divorced. Why Lynn cannot work within the confines of the situation she has created I don’t know. Maybe, she’s thinking back to a time when Aaron did the same thing to his dad, and she wants to tell that story and character ages or proper setup for the situation be damned.
but also because Lynn has skipped over an opportunity to show Liz and Thérèse having a real, adult conversation.
Absolutely and especially with Françoise there. One of the better parts of this sequence is that Lynn never drew a picture with Thérèse pushing away Françoise. There was a clear body language of a familial relationship between the two. I was sure, when Thérèse did not outright reject Françoise and wanted to find a quiet place to talk and Liz did not make a single smart ass comment about how Thérèse threw Françoise away, Lynn Johnston had decided not to play to the lowest common denominator for a change. I had hoped for a heart-to-heart between Elizabeth and Thérèse and Françoise, with Anthony walking in on the tail end of it. Instead I suspect you are quite right about the flashback conversation, in a sort Becky/April confrontation redux. And by the way, I hated the "April talks to her dad about Becky said" sequence. It was such a letdown after years of April / Becky dueling.
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