Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Lizzie Walks (At Last!!)

In today’s For Better or For Worse, we get to relive the excitement of the Patterson parents as little Lizzie learns to walk. See Elly take pictures to commemorate the moment (not really). See John Patterson elated that another of his children can walk. See John express this excitement by pointing out that walking Lizzie can get into everything, whereas crawling Lizzie would not. See John show his enthusiasm for his walking daughter by picking her up so she can’t walk.

I remember when my kids started to walk. Instead of taking a step or two and falling down, they stepped 4 or 5 times and then fell down. Little Lizzie though, has gone straight from a few steps and falling down to being able to adjust her direction from heading toward the ball to heading toward John Patterson, even as he rises from his knees to his feet. She has gone from crawling to little Lizzie, super walker. If John let her go, she would probably start running circles around the room.

What is the purpose behind this story line? I have no idea why Lynn Johnston is focusing on, of all things, Lizzie’s ability to walk. I thought it might be tied into the return of Farley, but it obviously doesn’t. Anyone have any ideas?

4 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

The original strips show Farley interacting with a walking Lizzie, not a crawling one. Perhaps we'll told that Elly doesn't want a dog because she feared what one would do to a child on all fours. Now that she thinks that Liz can outrun a dog, she'd be more likely to allow Mike to have one. I'm well aware that that doesn't make a lick of sense but not much in the strip does.

2:48 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

Now that she thinks that Liz can outrun a dog, she'd be more likely to allow Mike to have one. I'm well aware that that doesn't make a lick of sense but not much in the strip does.

That's as good an excuse as any. And you are certainly right it wouldn't make a lick of sense. After all, she could have just started the new-runs with Lizzie able to walk. Or she could have mentioned this as a reason for not getting a dog, since it was the reason that Lynn listed in the website that they got rid of the original Farley.

However, I cannot help but feel that you are right. In September, Lynn had Elly predict Lizzie would not even try walking again until a month had passed. Sure enough, a month later and she's walking. This could very well be the segue into the Farley adoption strips promised for October. It would make about as much sense as anything else Lynn has put in the new-runs.

6:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think John picking her up so she can't walk when she really wants to is the best unintentional retroactive foreshadowing ever. It's the first step on a long road of John and Elly stomping on Liz's desire for personal freedom ... a road that will, in the end, lead to the clammy wedding-day embrace of Granthony.

7:14 AM  
Blogger howard said...

dlauthor

If you add into that the whole idea that Elly would say that she's not going to try to walk again for another month, and then show scene after scene with Elly carrying or strollering Lizzie for the next month, we can give Elly some of that freedom-stomping.

10:11 AM  

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