Elly Knows. When will Liz?
With the happy expressions on everyone’s faces in today’s For Better or For Worse, it appears that Lynn Johnston really is going to let the wedding go on, with everyone in attendance except Grandpa Jim and Iris, and also not telling Elizabeth about it in order to keep from spoiling her day. No one is going to say to stop or postpone this wedding because of Grandpa Jim and a little heart attack; and moreover, that’s the way Grandpa Jim wants it. I guess the question now is: How long will it take Elizabeth to notice?
a. She will notice it as soon as she walks down the aisle.
b. She will notice it as she is saying, “I do.”
c. She will notice it as she is kissing the groom.
d. She will notice it as she and Anthony are pronounced "husband and wife".
e. She will notice it at the reception.
f. She will notice it when she throws the bouquet and Iris is there to catch it.
g. She will notice it when Grandpa Jim dies, and she feels a disturbance in the Force.
h. She will notice it when Elly asks her if she plans to attend the funeral.
i. She will never notice it.
a. She will notice it as soon as she walks down the aisle.
b. She will notice it as she is saying, “I do.”
c. She will notice it as she is kissing the groom.
d. She will notice it as she and Anthony are pronounced "husband and wife".
e. She will notice it at the reception.
f. She will notice it when she throws the bouquet and Iris is there to catch it.
g. She will notice it when Grandpa Jim dies, and she feels a disturbance in the Force.
h. She will notice it when Elly asks her if she plans to attend the funeral.
i. She will never notice it.
posted by howard at 10:39 PM
17 Comments:
I think she's never going to notice. Some other person who doesn't know will say, "Hey, where's Grandpa?" within earshot of Liz.
And while I'd like to call that insensitive of Liz, that would be the most realistic thing. When you are having a big circus of a wedding, you are really only aware of your mom, your bridesmaids, your groom, and the officiant. (Usually in that order during the day.) Most of the rest is kind of a blur, especially the people in the audience who aren't in the wedding party. I know that the brides in the three weddings I was in wouldn't have noticed a missing grandparent from the audience, and they are genuinely nice, smart people.
Maybe by the time of the reception line, a normal bride might notice. Maybe. If she isn't too caught up in the romance of being newly married. At least Liz won't have that hindering her!
I'm actually kind of picturing our favorite Superhuman 80+ Year Old, Iris, barreling in at the last second before Liz and Anthony say "I do," wheeling Jim's gurney, all his equipment and IVs and tubes down the aisle, so he can see Liz get married. That way, the big fancy wedding wouldn't have to go to waste. And Anne Nichols can grind up some prime rib and shove it down his feeding tube at the Empire Hotel, allowing Lynn to get in one last prime rib joke.
I, too, think that Elizabeth will never notice his absence. What I also know is that she's not stupid enough to not figure out that these people thought she was so brittle and self-absorbed, she'd place a Kitsch Horror Wedding above saying good-bye to him. Therefore, we can expect the last week of the strip to be a tirade about What Really Matters delivered by a woman in a heavily modified Halloween costume.
She will notice it when Grandpa Jim dies, and she feels a disturbance in the Force.
This one is my favorite. We just saw Star Wars: Clone Wars yesterday. :)
qnjones,
I think she's never going to notice. Some other person who doesn't know will say, "Hey, where's Grandpa?" within earshot of Liz.
I am not so sure about this one. Lynn has made such a big deal about the dress and the reason why the ceremony is occurring so Grandpa Jim can see her get married in the dress, that I would be surprised if Liz does not specifically seek Grandpa Jim out to see what he thinks about seeing her in the dress.
I know that the brides in the three weddings I was in wouldn't have noticed a missing grandparent from the audience, and they are genuinely nice, smart people.
I will agree with you in principle on this one. I know when I got married, my wife and I examined the videotape that had been taken of the wedding very carefully and discovered quite a few who attended the wedding, who did not come through the receiving line for a personal greeting. However, there is one thing which will bring a missing relative to attention of the bride quite early, and that is the wedding photographs. My wife and I made up a big list of all the pictures we wanted and those pictures involved shots of the bride and the groom with all the relatives, especially the older ones who managed to come. Between the two of us, we had one living grandfather when we got married, and if he were not there at picture time, it would have been noticeable.
I'm actually kind of picturing our favorite Superhuman 80+ Year Old, Iris, barreling in at the last second before Liz and Anthony say "I do," wheeling Jim's gurney, all his equipment and IVs and tubes down the aisle, so he can see Liz get married.
I would love it, if that’s the way it happens. That would certainly make this wedding a little more interesting.
DreadedCandiru2,
Therefore, we can expect the last week of the strip to be a tirade about What Really Matters delivered by a woman in a heavily modified Halloween costume.
I would love for Liz to deliver such a tirade. However, it would be a tirade against Elly, who took the call, so we know that’s not happening. More likely, Liz will praise Elly for it, and then make a quick stop to the hospital to greet Grandpa Jim before she heads on her honeymoon to get impregnated with a baby boy, who will be named Jim.
aprilp_katje,
This one is my favorite. We just saw Star Wars: Clone Wars yesterday. :)
So did we. I took the kids. My wife was uninterested and declined to go. My kids enjoyed about the first hour of it, and then they started getting restless. How did your son do?
I'm just surprised that they haven't put Anthony's bio up yet.
howtheduck, he did really well. For the first hour, he was sitting on the edge of his seat and whispering whenever he noticed a character he recognized. (I was proud that he got that he needed to be quiet to not disrupt others.) Then he got a bit restless and squirmy--he was still watching, but had some trouble staying still. Then he yawned a lot for maybe the last quarter. Over all, he did well for a five-year-old. Almost as soon as we got home, he let us know that he wanted us to buy Clone Wars, and we had to explain that it's not on DVD yet, but might be in time for Santa. :)
Yes, Liz SHOULD notice since he was specifically named as the reason she was getting married--but, like the "wait!" sequence only meant Liz was "homesick" and meant NOTHING about the fact she had just been told Granthony was finally getting his divorce, Lynn will probably try to glide over that little fact too. I gave up trying to think that LJ really is thinking about plot development--things are just thrown around randomly to justify some action.
But it all boils down to this for me--how on earth can it be a "wonderful day" if it is the day you find out your supposedly beloved grandfather died and you weren't told? Wouldn't a death disrupt the honeymoon? Isn't this all just sick, right up there with the "romance over an attempted rape" storyline.
Ellie,
I'm just surprised that they haven't put Anthony's bio up yet.
Well, you can’t rush perfection.
debjyn,
But it all boils down to this for me--how on earth can it be a "wonderful day" if it is the day you find out your supposedly beloved grandfather died and you weren't told?
It would, except Grandpa Jim is unlikely to die. Lynn Johnston promised no deaths, and frankly she does not have anywhere near the time to devote to Grandpa Jim’s death. Grandpa Jim is a much bigger character in the strip than Grandma Marian ever was, and Lynn spent weeks on her death story. Grandpa Jim is having a heart attack for dramatic effect, same as his second “I recovered almost immediately from it” stroke. This is why it is perfectly OK for the family to treat it as something that can be handled after the wedding is over, or mentioned to Liz after the honeymoon is over.
Isn't this all just sick, right up there with the "romance over an attempted rape" storyline.
This is very similar to that. They are both stories written for dramatic effect by a person who has not researched or thought about the ramifications of the story.
When Lynn wrote the "romance over an attempted rape" storyline, I am pretty sure she had in her mind that Howard was no more of a villain than an old-style kissing bandit. He was like the guy who ties the girl to the train tracks, so the hero could rescue her and there was no real threat of harm to the girl. But then, someone pointed out to Lynn that there had to be charges pressed and a trial, and over a year later, Lynn finally relented and wrote a trial scene. She even researched it, but couldn’t be bothered to follow her own research.
The same thing happened when Grandpa Jim had his first stroke. Lynn had Dr. Elly say all kinds of things which showed Lynn’s lack of research on strokes. But then someone pointed out to Lynn that a stroke was not like getting whacked in the head with crowbar, and she had to go and do proper research.
aprilp_katje,
It sounds like your 5-year-old son did great for the Clone Wars animated movie. My 10-year-old started squirming after an hour, and if it is a good picture, she will hardly move a muscle.
howard,
It would, except Grandpa Jim is unlikely to die. Lynn Johnston promised no deaths, and frankly she does not have anywhere near the time to devote to Grandpa Jim’s death.
I should have seen that. Odds are, he might be home slowly fading away when Liz and Anthony get back from their honeymoon. She might later on realize that the heart attack that forced hgis move to Icefloe Acres happened around the same time as her wedding but that would be about it.
I am pretty sure she had in her mind that Howard was no more of a villain than an old-style kissing bandit.
I think this is exactly right. There was even a regular at RACS who kept insisting that Howard's attack was not an attempted rape, but merely someone "trying to steal a kiss." This, I think, was Lynn's intended reaction from readers. As if Howard's "coming after" Liz was merely a bout of bad manners, and Anthony forcing him to apologize was all that was needed to right the wrongs and get us all to cheer for the Antman.
I suspect that Lynn was genuinely astonished at all the negative reactions she got--hence Liz's letters in September and October of 2005.
howtheduck, I am poking around UGuelph's pages for ARB purposes, and couldn't help noticing that this page contains the words "major" and "honours." In case you had any lingering doubts on the Canadian spelling of the former. ;)
DreadedCandiru2,
She might later on realize that the heart attack that forced hgis move to Icefloe Acres happened around the same time as her wedding but that would be about it.
Exactly. I think this heart attack might as well be titled “A Move to Sunset Manor”.
aprilp_katje,
This, I think, was Lynn's intended reaction from readers. As if Howard's "coming after" Liz was merely a bout of bad manners, and Anthony forcing him to apologize was all that was needed to right the wrongs and get us all to cheer for the Antman.
The ear-tweaking defense and the forced apology are the giveaway to Lynn’s intent. It’s hard to imagine any possible way that Lynn could have written that story and have it come off as a bout of bad manners. Howard was stalking her, he attacked her when she was alone, and she was screaming for help as he tore at her clothes. It’s hard to understand how a woman who has enough sensibility to write the “Lawrence coming out” story would write a story that would only have worked prior to WWII, when the prevailing thought was woman were not supposed to be in the workforce because men couldn’t control themselves around them. It astonishes me even to this day.
I suspect that Lynn was genuinely astonished at all the negative reactions she got--hence Liz's letters in September and October of 2005.
Even in the letters, it sounds like she doesn’t understand the full consequences, that Liz will have to testify in a trial. She keeps talking about how, because she pressed charges and other people stepped forward, and she made a video tape, that will be enough to take care of Howard in his trial.
"major" and "honours."
Got it, in case it comes up again, as I am sure it will.
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