Finally, the Kids Play Together
In today’s For Better or For Worse, we see for the very first time, Françoise Caine and Meredith and Robin Patterson playing together. I had wondered if we would ever see this moment. They’ve been together on a couple of occasions, but never interacted. In the case of Françoise, I am glad to see she is able to loosen up enough to play with other children.
From their heights, it seems like Lynn Johnston has resolved to make Françoise the age equivalent of Meredith. She towers over Robin, who is actually older than she is having been born November 1, 2004 compared to Françoise’s March 7, 2005 birthday. Either the Patterson kids are short, or Françoise is tall, or there is simply no talking to Lynn Johnston about how old Françoise is.
When I have had to prepare kids for moments where they have to sit for awhile, I usually let them run around a bit to blow off steam in a venue where they won’t get dirty and then 15-20 minutes in advance of the sitting-still event, I begin the process of calming them down. That works pretty well for me. I have no idea what Deanna is up to with her running about and yelling at the kids to stop running around when they are not even close to the wedding ceremony site.
As for Mira Sobinski, I consider her positive proof that Lynn Johnston is pulling situations from Mike and Deanna’s wedding, instead of coming up with unique new ones. Mira had her moment of candy evil today, but will they bring her back to complain about something about the wedding ceremony itself? All I can say is that Mira’s suggestion of a rose and powder blue colour scheme seems like wedding genius, after seeing lavender and teal for over a week.
From their heights, it seems like Lynn Johnston has resolved to make Françoise the age equivalent of Meredith. She towers over Robin, who is actually older than she is having been born November 1, 2004 compared to Françoise’s March 7, 2005 birthday. Either the Patterson kids are short, or Françoise is tall, or there is simply no talking to Lynn Johnston about how old Françoise is.
When I have had to prepare kids for moments where they have to sit for awhile, I usually let them run around a bit to blow off steam in a venue where they won’t get dirty and then 15-20 minutes in advance of the sitting-still event, I begin the process of calming them down. That works pretty well for me. I have no idea what Deanna is up to with her running about and yelling at the kids to stop running around when they are not even close to the wedding ceremony site.
As for Mira Sobinski, I consider her positive proof that Lynn Johnston is pulling situations from Mike and Deanna’s wedding, instead of coming up with unique new ones. Mira had her moment of candy evil today, but will they bring her back to complain about something about the wedding ceremony itself? All I can say is that Mira’s suggestion of a rose and powder blue colour scheme seems like wedding genius, after seeing lavender and teal for over a week.
posted by howard at 10:47 PM
17 Comments:
The two-tone flower girl dresses are the height of ugly.
Dee's been a mother for five years now (six?), but she still doesn't know anything about kids. Even I know that little children will not sit still and stay clean all day long. She should've left them in their play clothes until the last possible second, so they could ram around and burn off some energy. If they're just hanging around the house for big gobs of time, there's no reason they have to be dressed already.
Of course, even when it's not a big important day, and Dee is just fitting Liz's wedding dress, she still wants them to sit still and not do anything rowdy. As we saw on Sunday.
I'm glad to see Francie didn't get left out of the prewedding stuff entirely. But I'm starting to wonder if we're ever going to see her reaction to this marriage. We never did see her totally come around to the idea of Liz being in their lives, and definitely not full-time. But I'm thinking Lynn is going to leave that out due to time constraints. Or maybe she just doesn't think it's important. I know a lot of people subscribe to the philosophy that a single parent should feel free to remarry regardless of the feelings of their children about the matter.
Anyway, why have we been treated to two "Dee is a bad parent" strips in a week that could be filled with so many other important moments? Why is Dee so flipping important in the story of Anthony and Liz's wedding? I think that Lynn is just terrified of actually drawing Anthony/Liz/Francie moments where the three characters interact, because she is lazy and knows that she is not capable of pleasing her readers with the story she wants to tell. So she's avoiding those moments by giving us Evil Mira, Inept Dee, Gordo the Fat Old Married Advice-Giving Limo Driver, Lawrence the Grateful, Mike the Clueless, etc.
My prediction? The actual ceremony/reception will be handled in three strips or less.
The most annoying ting about these two strips is that hey indicate that Deanna has mutated into Elly. Like her idol, Deanna seems to think that children are supposed to sit downall day long with their hands folded in their laps, staring off into space for hours on end so that Mother can do whatever she wants without having to deal with them or their needs. This, of course, means that when they act like children really do, she interprets it as a malicious refusal to play by the rules. SInce Dee isn't as bright as Elly, she won't have the intermittent flashes of regret about how her constant yelling based on an papproach that might have been wrong after all made a somple job needlessly complex.
Either the Patterson kids are short, or Françoise is tall, or there is simply no talking to Lynn Johnston about how old Françoise is.
I think it's a flavorful combination of all of the above. I actually hadn't noticed this at first, but now that I see it, it pisses me off! >:-(
WTF is Mira even doing there? At her son-in-law's sister's wedding? She barely even knows Liz. Clearly she's just there to twirl her mustache and laugh evilly.
For a moment there, reading panel #3, I actually thought Mira would have a redeeming moment, showing some child-calming genius Deanna didn't realize she had. But alas. Of course not.
Even if everything else made sense, the fact is, Deanna asked Mira for help. Mira stepped up. She's raised kids of her own (though, as we see, she ended up a dumbo). If Mira is going to keep the kids quiet with candy, fine. What's she so afraid of? That they'll be all spazzy? Aren't they already? Deanna not only looks that gift horse in the mouth, she reaches down and pulls at it's tonsils. Get gone, already, Deanna.
qnjones,
I'm glad to see Francie didn't get left out of the prewedding stuff entirely. But I'm starting to wonder if we're ever going to see her reaction to this marriage.
We have seen some reactions to Liz. Francie had to be blackmailed by Anthony to let Liz go Christmas-shopping with them, where Francie got to be publicly rejected by her mother and turned to Liz for comfort. After Liz got engaged, she and Francie had their tea party together. Then we got to see Francie try to get a toy from Liz in the grocery store. That’s 3 reactions of sorts; although they do not directly address Liz being at Anthony’s all the time. I am surprised that there is not more than this because, by all Lynn’s accounts, her son Aaron had some real issues with Rod, when they got married. It should be a subject near and dear to her heart.
Anyway, why have we been treated to two "Dee is a bad parent" strips in a week that could be filled with so many other important moments?
I haven’t figured this out either; but for some reason, ever since Dee moved into the Sharon Park Drive house, Lynn seems to be obsessed with telling “Dee is an incompetent parent” stories.
I think that Lynn is just terrified of actually drawing Anthony/Liz/Francie moments where the three characters interact, because she is lazy and knows that she is not capable of pleasing her readers with the story she wants to tell.
The most recent Anthony/Liz/Francie was when Liz told Anthony she loved him and he responded by kissing her in front of Francie, as she looked gleefully on. After reading Lynn’s letter to the Coffee Talk, we know that scene only occurred because the Coffee Talk was fully of reader responses complaining about no love and no kissing with an engaged couple. In other words, Lynn really does not want to show the young couple in love and dealing with the child, and will only do so if she feels she absolutely has to.
My prediction? The actual ceremony/reception will be handled in three strips or less.
I am not with you on this one. Lawrence’s toast to Mike and Deanna took 3 strips during their wedding. Shannon Lake’s speech on the table took a week. Mike has a speech to give and it will not be short. Also, April has a song to do.
DreadedCandiru2
SInce Dee isn't as bright as Elly, she won't have the intermittent flashes of regret about how her constant yelling based on an papproach that might have been wrong after all made a somple job needlessly complex.
This is an aspect of the modern strip story-telling style. One of the things I did like about the strips from the first year, was that the lead character did feel regret about her poor parenting moments. Of the modern day Pattersons, the only one to say “I’m sorry” is April, and then only after she is berated to do it.
aprilp_katje
WTF is Mira even doing there? At her son-in-law's sister's wedding? She barely even knows Liz. Clearly she's just there to twirl her mustache and laugh evilly.
That is unfortunately true. In Mira’s Sunday strip mention, she got the “evil” moniker when Deanna said she wanted to change the wedding colours. Lynn was thinking “selfish Mira wants to control everything”; while the readers are thinking, “rose and powder blue would be so much better than teal and lavender”. As for the real reason for her appearance, it is because Lynn does not want to introduce any new characters, like Anthony’s mom for instance, and so she turns to an old one, who made Mike and Deanna’s wedding story interesting. That’s not a real excuse though. Mike and Deanna both got stories where Mike had a dinner with the Sobinskis and vice-versa. We never got that with Anthony and Liz, and considering how little we know of Anthony, we really needed it.
Thursday Next
If Mira is going to keep the kids quiet with candy, fine. What's she so afraid of? That they'll be all spazzy?
Spazzy and messy, depending on the candy. However, I must confess that I too have kept children quiet with candy. It keeps their mouths busy.
Oh, memories. Chewing gum---my mom (and then myself) used to have a purse FULL of chewing gum for the children during church services! (And then we had to take napkins to wrap the used gum in--horrible when I forgot to empty the purse later..)
I REALLY have a headache with Francoise' age--to be the age of Merrie Anthony would need to be in the age group of Mike (of course Mike and Gordon seem to be his only male acquaintances, anyway) or have had Francoise when he was still in college.
It seemed weird in the "bio" on Paul that he was made out to be 30; he seemed much younger (even than Liz) and it would have made more sense to have Anthony that age and Mike's peer, considering how he has appeared in the last few years.
Of course, that totally is impossible to do now with all the strips dealing with Anthony being in the same grade as Liz. Oh....wait. Lynn could do that anyway.
Why was Mira invited? Contrary to what Lynn says this is actually Elly's day and she wants to rub Mira's nose in it as much as possible i.e. look at all this free stuff people just gave us. I don't know why Mira puts up with this crap.
I too am also dissappointed with the Elly-ification of Dee. I actually always liked her. it seems to me that incompetant parenting is the only style of parenting that Lynn is familiar with so that's what she writes everyone else as.
On the plus side I was happy to see the kids playing togehter. Perhaps Mira made back up dresses in powder blue and rose colors so she's feeding the kids candy in hopes they will mess up their cllothes and everyone will have to change into the more tasteful dresses.
I guess I am surprised to see all the surprise about Mira being invited. Around here (the upper Midwest), people who have huge weddings definitely invite all the assorted in-laws of all their brothers and sisters, if they are close to the family. And, Mira meets that definition. She was at Christmas dinner, she comes around to visit/meddle. Also, from a practical aspect, these people tend to get invited to serve as child care so the people who really care about the wedding aren't bothered.
Howard, I misspoke myself. I think actual Liz and Anthony strips, together at the ceremony and reception, will be three or less. But you are right, a lot of time will get spent on other people, like April the Musical Pre-Vet Student, Lawrence the Gay Guy Who Hired a Thug So These Two Could Get Back Together, etc.
debjyn,
I REALLY have a headache with Francoise' age--to be the age of Merrie Anthony would need to be in the age group of Mike (of course Mike and Gordon seem to be his only male acquaintances, anyway) or have had Francoise when he was still in college.
I have gotten the impression from when Lynn did the redo of the Anthony and Thérèse story, and had them moving into Gordon’s house well before they had Françoise instead of the other way around as it was in the strip; and Thérèse taking Anthony for all he was worth, when the strip originally had her giving him the house and child free and clear; she cared little for the details of the story she had already told. It’s easier for Françoise to be Meredith’s playmate, than to develop a playmate character.
It seemed weird in the "bio" on Paul that he was made out to be 30; he seemed much younger (even than Liz) and it would have made more sense to have Anthony that age and Mike's peer, considering how he has appeared in the last few years.
I agree completely about Paul Wright. He seemed way too innocent around girls to be that age. Plus it didn’t make any sense that Susan Dokis would have always loved Paul Wright and not done anything about it until she was 28. It made a lot more sense if she were a fresh university graduate at 22, with Paul being 24.
ruth,
Why was Mira invited? Contrary to what Lynn says this is actually Elly's day and she wants to rub Mira's nose in it as much as possible i.e. look at all this free stuff people just gave us. I don't know why Mira puts up with this crap.
This is nothing compared to previous abuse Mira has taken from the Pattersons. There is a long list:
a. Mira didn’t know about Deanna and Mike’s first marriage and dropped $50K on their second fake marriage. Both Deanna and Mira have a moral code that said Deanna living with Mike before marriage was wrong, and yet Deanna had no problem with letting her mother think she was "living in sin" and paying for that second wedding ceremony.
b. Mira was the last to know about the birth of her grandchildren.
c. Deanna called a hidden Elly “mom” right in front of Mira.
d. Mira and Wilf were thrown out of Mike and Deanna’s Toronto apartment no less than 3 times.
And there are dozens of other slights that have occurred. Mike compares Mira to a witch, etc.
qnjones,
Around here (the upper Midwest), people who have huge weddings definitely invite all the assorted in-laws of all their brothers and sisters, if they are close to the family.
I have seen this happen before also. You have a definite contrast. Usually those assorted in-laws are well-loved by their family and they are very close. The fact that Deanna would ask her mother to do the flower girl dresses tells us that, despite all the complaining about Mira, Deanna is still very close to her mother. That’s simply not something you ask of a woman you can’t stand to be around. It would be nice to have had at least one strip in the last few years, where Mira Sobinski was not played out as an annoyance.
Howard, I misspoke myself. I think actual Liz and Anthony strips, together at the ceremony and reception, will be three or less.
You could be right about that. Lynn has hardly had them together. When you think about 2008 with Liz, there are almost as many strips of Liz with Warren Blackwood as there are with Liz and Anthony Caine alone.
Howard:
Usually those assorted in-laws are well-loved by their family and they are very close. The fact that Deanna would ask her mother to do the flower girl dresses tells us that, despite all the complaining about Mira, Deanna is still very close to her mother. That’s simply not something you ask of a woman you can’t stand to be around.
Unfortunately, in my experience, people who are having a big wedding will use and abuse relatives, even the ones that they cannot stand. In every wedding I was a bridesmaid in, the bride took major help or money from some relative or in-law that she could not stand. Often, there was little to no gratitude given for this help. This is part of the reason I have so much dislike for big weddings. They seem to bring out the worst in people.
I think you are right that Dee and Mira are still close, but I think it is probably in that bickering, sniping way that some mothers and daughters are close. I find that sort of relationship tiresome, so I'm not sorry we didn't see more of it.
qnjones
I think you are right that Dee and Mira are still close, but I think it is probably in that bickering, sniping way that some mothers and daughters are close. I find that sort of relationship tiresome, so I'm not sorry we didn't see more of it.
Now that I think more on it, Deanna has not had a problem taking money from her mother with one hand, while giving her the finger with the other. It does seem to be that kind of relationship, and they are tiresome. I guess I had hoped to see some aspect of it which was not so unpleasant, if any existed, to justify why Mira would continue to be so generous with her daughter. Maybe there aren’t any, and Mira continues to support her daughter out of a belief that this is what mothers do for the daughters, even if they are ungrateful.
Howard:
I think you have hit the nail on the head here, and it makes Mira look like the generous and forgiving one, IMHO. I wish I could say this sort of relationship is unrealistic. However, I think a lot of mothers (or people who have a maternal-type relationship with a younger person) will often be generous to a fault, regardless of how the person in the child role treats them.
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