Friday, August 15, 2008

Questions and Answers

chl over on the Comics Curmudgeon spoiled the fact Jim ends up in hospital, but pegged it as Monday and not in today’s For Better or For Worse. Although the strip ends with Jim telling Phil to tell Elly not to tell Elizabeth, because he doesn’t want to spoil her day, we know that Elizabeth will end up at the hospital. I am a little embarrassed I didn’t see this one coming. The clues are all there:

a. Why is it that Gordon Mayes is providing 6 limousines when there cannot possibly be enough members of Anthony’s family and the Pattersons to fill that number?

Answer: To carry the wedding guests to the hospital so the ceremony can be performed there.

b. Why did we get to see the wedding ceremony location and the reception location well before they became important to the wedding day?

Answer: We would not get to see them otherwise.

c. Why did we have the nonsensical strips with Gordon and Anthony, and the “BFF forever” strips?

Answer: To set up the idea that everyone is at the very point where they are ready to be transported to the wedding ceremony, so they can be taken to the hospital instead.

d. Why have we not seen Anthony’s mother or any other relatives?

Answer: It would be a waste of time. There will not be enough room in the hospital for the Patterson clan and them too.

e. Why have we not seen Elizabeth with Grandpa Jim at any point after showing off the dress to him?

Answer: We are going to see Elizabeth with Grandpa Jim at the hospital, so those extra times are not needed.

f. Why is Grandpa Jim having a heart attack and not another stroke?

Answer: We need Grandpa Jim to be able to think coherent thought balloons for the wedding, and a stroke will mess up his head.

g. Why have there been so many strips showing the various places people are (Anthony and Gordon in a car, Michael ushering at the ceremony location, the kids at Deanna’s place, etc.)?

Answer: To accommodate a plot point that every one learned about the change in location and come from different places, which is something they would not have to do, if Grandpa Jim had his heart attack during the ceremony.

17 Comments:

Blogger ninevah said...

My question is, how the hell did Grandpa Jim manage to tell Phil not to tell Liz about his heart attack on her wedding day, when he can't even communicate with his own wife, bar thoughtbubbles and nonsensical 'boxcar!' outbursts?!

12:21 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

It would be like Lynn to be that heavy-handed and obvious a story-teller. I really should have seen this coming because the last few weeks have looked like the part of a disaster movie where they introduce the people threatened by whatever mind-blowing weirdness the script-writer subjects them to.

12:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Heavy-handed* is clearly the operating cliche her.

...Just sayin'. Heh.

3:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"d. Why have we not seen Anthony’s mother or any other relatives?"

Who'd claim him?

7:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know. I'll be surprised if these vapid, materialistic jerks ruin their oh-so-perfect expensive wedding by moving it to the hospital. I'm not sure that's part of their value system. But maybe I'll be surprised. I think they'll go to the hospital, but after the wedding.

What I'm hoping for is the following:

1) Lynn finally lets Jim die and puts him out of his obvious misery.

2) Elizabeth realizes that she was only getting married to run Warren off and so Jim could see her. The former is accomplished and the latter is impossible, so she dumps Anthony.

I know, I know. It will never happen.

8:16 AM  
Blogger howard said...

ninevah

My question is, how the hell did Grandpa Jim manage to tell Phil not to tell Liz about his heart attack on her wedding day, when he can't even communicate with his own wife, bar thoughtbubbles and nonsensical 'boxcar!' outbursts?!

The answer to this one is a little more obvious. Iris has been shown repeatedly knowing what it is that Jim wants to say in great detail without him being able to say it. My guess is it is another Iris interpretation.

8:22 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

the last few weeks have looked like the part of a disaster movie where they introduce the people threatened by whatever mind-blowing weirdness the script-writer subjects them to.

It does that have feel to it. Of course, Lynn Johnston used the same kind of progression as the lead up to the Christmas dinner in 2007, too. Was the Christmas dinner considered to be a disaster because of the Mira Sobinski overly-long prayer? I am beginning to think it is.

8:22 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Anonymous,

"d. Why have we not seen Anthony’s mother or any other relatives?"
Who'd claim him?


If the previewed Anthony biography is correct, then no one, as you say.

8:23 AM  
Blogger howard said...

qnjones,

I'll be surprised if these vapid, materialistic jerks ruin their oh-so-perfect expensive wedding by moving it to the hospital. I'm not sure that's part of their value system.

Value system, maybe not. But I can definitely see Lynn Johnston eating this idea up as a sloppy, sentimental plot point, especially given how she has made such a big deal about Grandma Marian's dress and has shown it off again and again and again.

8:24 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard,

Was the Christmas dinner considered to be a disaster because of the Mira Sobinski overly-long prayer? I am beginning to think it is.

I think so too. Although Mira is useful as a sewer of brides-maid dresses, her religiosity delayed the Sacred Tradition of Pattersnarfing so long that their food was not blazing hot. To the Foobs, this was a catastrophe.

9:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I too share qnjones wish that Liz will realize thewedding is no longer neccessary and will announce at the hospital that the wedding is off that way when Elly goes completely over the dge they'll have a room ready for her. If Lynn did choose to go this way I really think showing an understanding Anthony might help improve his image slightly. By the way why does Phil look like a glazed over drunk in panel four?

10:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And just like Anthony's oh-so-romantic hitting on Liz who had just been assaulted, bonding with Liz over rape trial, and proposing because Liz was being pressured from another guy, we can add "married over a death-bed" to this wonderful, beautiful romance.

Lynn is officially wacko, at this point.

1:20 PM  
Blogger howard said...

debjyn,

we can add "married over a death-bed" to this wonderful, beautiful romance.

Let's not forget picking out a wedding ring over the lunch break. Anthony is class all the way.

5:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh the drama! Lynn seems to think that she is making the story more exciting, but she is once again screwing up what could have been a beautiful wedding. I totally agree with Debjyn. Lynn is officially wacko, at this point.

Why am I still reading this strip?

Anon NYC

6:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And, of course, one other Q&A:

Q: Why did Jim have the heart attack before the wedding?

A: The same reason April was thrown into the water, Liz was almost raped and St. Michael ran into a burning house to save his book: Our Favorite Marionettist can't put together a major plot point without throwing us a misdirection.

Think of it: Farley could have died in his sleep, Liz could have embraced Anthony after waiting for him to come, and the Patterblimps could have found that other house on their own good time in time for Michael and Dee to move in just as the "bonus check" came in.

But no. Our Favorite Marionettist has felt the need over the past decade-and-a-half to throw in some unnecessary side action to force our attention onto the strip before the real stuff happens. While understandable with Farley's Death (overexertion adds a kick to old age), it has become an irritating habit of someone who has lost her sense of what makes good drama.

The fact is, Our Favorite Marionettist (tm) doesn't feel confident enough in the power of a wedding (no matter how slap-dash and forced) to hold people's attention. It shows how far down she's fallen in her art.

OK, enough of my rantings.

10:20 PM  
Blogger howard said...

Anon NYC

Why am I still reading this strip?

For me it is the train wreck theory. You want to turn away, but the desire to watch the wreck is overwhelming.

11:07 PM  
Blogger howard said...

godozo,

The fact is, Our Favorite Marionettist (tm) doesn't feel confident enough in the power of a wedding (no matter how slap-dash and forced) to hold people's attention. It shows how far down she's fallen in her art.

I think you are onto something here. When I think about the past week, where I started to doze off during the long litanies of "Who is providing what for free?", the idea of a cheap heart attack has indeed gained my attention. But if the prior week had not been so boring, it wouldn't have been necessary to wake me.

11:11 PM  

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