Set up the Conflict and then Jump Away
The key ingredient of this whole For Better or For Worse storyline is the reaction of Anthony Caine to learning Warren Blackwood is at Liz’s apartment late at night. And yet, what is the one ingredient left out of the storyline? Anthony’s reaction. Maybe Lynn will touch on Anthony’s reaction in next week’s strips, but given her history, Monday will be a set of strips with a completely different change in focus.
Lynn Johnston likes nothing better in Liz’s romances to get us a point where Liz absolutely has to say something in response to a situation, and then says absolutely nothing, as the strip jumps to something completely different. It isn’t as though there is conflict and a lack of a resolution; it is that we don’t get to see the resolution. Not only that, but we don’t even get to find out what the resolution was through any other source. It is one of the most frustrating parts about Lynn Johnston’s writing. I fear we have just gotten another one in today's strip.
Lynn Johnston likes nothing better in Liz’s romances to get us a point where Liz absolutely has to say something in response to a situation, and then says absolutely nothing, as the strip jumps to something completely different. It isn’t as though there is conflict and a lack of a resolution; it is that we don’t get to see the resolution. Not only that, but we don’t even get to find out what the resolution was through any other source. It is one of the most frustrating parts about Lynn Johnston’s writing. I fear we have just gotten another one in today's strip.
posted by howard at 11:12 PM
10 Comments:
The infuriating thing is that we know why it keeps happening. Lynn seems to not realize that we don't know what she does about the characters. When we resume with the Settlepocalypse later on, she'll know what Anthony's reaction to Warren's visit and Liz's response to it are and write her strip accordingly without realizing that we have to see what they were to make sense of what we're seeing.
I just realized that the strip you linked in this entry is yet another example of Warren having taken "seeing is believing" to heart. "I didn't think you'd believe me if I told you."
I agree--Lynn has this aggravating pattern of approach and avoid. If she continues this pattern by cutting to something else on Monday, she'll have many frustrated readers (again).
april patterson:
That being said, the question that faces us it what next week will bring us. Will we be made to look at Jim's wretched condition and how it's made worse by his family's witless neglect, Elly shrieking about nothing, Mike and Dee's being made of fail as parents or April and Gerald taking themselves far too seriously.
I was curious how Lynn was going to go with this strip. Yep, just like the two strips you linked; good ol' gobsmack Patterson look.
Lynn does need to retire; she has totally run out of anything new. For casual readers, fine; however I doubt the ones who buy her books are going to spend money just to see the same thing over and over. Much like the consistent readers are the ones who are scratching their heads, thinking "haven't I seen this before?"
There are so many great stories waiting to be told but Lynn continues to recycle hot air. On the bright side, her "official" retirement will be a relief.
Anon NYC
DreadedCandiru2,
When we resume with the Settlepocalypse later on, she'll know what Anthony's reaction to Warren's visit and Liz's response to it are and write her strip accordingly without realizing that we have to see what they were to make sense of what we're seeing.
Except in the case of Anthony’s “Wait for me” strip, when the strip resumed with Liz, it was as if Anthony’s conversation with her had never occurred.
aprilp_katje
I just realized that the strip you linked in this entry is yet another example of Warren having taken "seeing is believing" to heart. "I didn't think you'd believe me if I told you."
Good catch on this one. I had not even made the connection.
debjyn,
Lynn does need to retire; she has totally run out of anything new.
I don’t know if she has run out, or is simply running the same kind of story based on the idea that the readers are accustomed to seeing this kind of love story with Liz, and this familiar repetition will cause them to feel warm and toasty all over.
Anon NYC
On the bright side, her "official" retirement will be a relief.
I hate to contradict, but the more I see Lynn Johnston talking about her retirement, the more I get the feeling it will be like a Barbra Streisand or Cher farewell tout. We will barely have recovered from her retirement, before she decides to retire again.
I wonder if Lynn finally realized the "wait for me!" strip was god-awful and set up Granthony as not planning to work on his marriage and Liz's tacit approval to do so.
The main thing that floored me was Elly's response to finding out Granthony propositioned Liz right after the attack. If that had been done to one of my daughters, Anthony would definitely be considered a terrible person.
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