Once Again, It’s All About Elly
Meanwhile, back in Milborough in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Elly Patterson finally reveals the true reason she is concerned about Connie and Phil. Check out the dialogue:
She’s one of my closest friends, John.
Notice that Elly does not mention the nature of her relationship to Phil. She does not say, “And he’s my only brother.” Her concern is based entirely on the relationship between her and Connie.
If my brother breaks her heart, …Where will that leave me?.- I would feel so responsible.
By bringing up the nature of her relationship with Connie, is Elly saying that it would be OK to set her brother up with a single woman she knew, if it wasn’t one of her closest friends, so she would not fear the outcome? Or is Elly saying that if things don’t work out between Connie and Phil, Connie may blame her, and then she would lose one of her closest friends? Or is this at a more basic level of “I have exposed my poor, innocent friend to a sinister evil, which may cause her great harm”? It seems like the last one, but it seems strange that Elly would consider her brother to be so terrible. What’s going to happen there? Connie and Phil have sex, and Phil says, “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean I plan to marry you.” That seems a little backward attitude to have about a woman who has been married before and had a child out of wedlock before.
By drawing a connection between introducing them and the ultimate outcome of their relationship, is Elly saying that she only set up her single friends with men where there is a guaranteed outcome, like “You should date my friend Joe. He will definitely marry you.” Look at the way Elly steered Mike away from Rhetta Blum and Martha McRae and Elizabeth away from Eric Chamberlain and Constable Paul Wright. She may honestly have the opinion that any recommendation she makes in romance should be absolutely correct, since she is the all-seeing, all-knowing Elly.
Unless Lynn Johnston makes some changes, in the upcoming strips, Elly will enable Connie to travel to Montreal to chase after Phil. In those strips, Elly will be a woman trying to help her friend seek romance, even if she doesn’t think it will work out. That Elly will be a lot more human than this bizarre new-run Elly, who is afraid to admit any imperfections.
My favourite part of the dialogue is this line from John:
Don't worry about Connie, El --- She can take care of herself.
Just how would John know that? It certainly does not reflect John's opinion of Connie in this strip. Moreover, Connie's history would seem to indicate the exact opposite of that. Ever since this strip and this strip, my running theory is that John and Connie have something going on the side. Plus Connie seemed a little too knowledgeable about John in this strip. Today's strip is just another addition to that running theory.
She’s one of my closest friends, John.
Notice that Elly does not mention the nature of her relationship to Phil. She does not say, “And he’s my only brother.” Her concern is based entirely on the relationship between her and Connie.
If my brother breaks her heart, …Where will that leave me?.- I would feel so responsible.
By bringing up the nature of her relationship with Connie, is Elly saying that it would be OK to set her brother up with a single woman she knew, if it wasn’t one of her closest friends, so she would not fear the outcome? Or is Elly saying that if things don’t work out between Connie and Phil, Connie may blame her, and then she would lose one of her closest friends? Or is this at a more basic level of “I have exposed my poor, innocent friend to a sinister evil, which may cause her great harm”? It seems like the last one, but it seems strange that Elly would consider her brother to be so terrible. What’s going to happen there? Connie and Phil have sex, and Phil says, “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean I plan to marry you.” That seems a little backward attitude to have about a woman who has been married before and had a child out of wedlock before.
By drawing a connection between introducing them and the ultimate outcome of their relationship, is Elly saying that she only set up her single friends with men where there is a guaranteed outcome, like “You should date my friend Joe. He will definitely marry you.” Look at the way Elly steered Mike away from Rhetta Blum and Martha McRae and Elizabeth away from Eric Chamberlain and Constable Paul Wright. She may honestly have the opinion that any recommendation she makes in romance should be absolutely correct, since she is the all-seeing, all-knowing Elly.
Unless Lynn Johnston makes some changes, in the upcoming strips, Elly will enable Connie to travel to Montreal to chase after Phil. In those strips, Elly will be a woman trying to help her friend seek romance, even if she doesn’t think it will work out. That Elly will be a lot more human than this bizarre new-run Elly, who is afraid to admit any imperfections.
My favourite part of the dialogue is this line from John:
Don't worry about Connie, El --- She can take care of herself.
Just how would John know that? It certainly does not reflect John's opinion of Connie in this strip. Moreover, Connie's history would seem to indicate the exact opposite of that. Ever since this strip and this strip, my running theory is that John and Connie have something going on the side. Plus Connie seemed a little too knowledgeable about John in this strip. Today's strip is just another addition to that running theory.
posted by howard at 10:07 PM
5 Comments:
howard:
She may honestly have the opinion that any recommendation she makes in romance should be absolutely correct, since she is the all-seeing, all-knowing Elly.
There is that; I liked the Elly who didn't know what she was doing and whose only stake in the outcome was to have something to gossip about with Annie.
At least we can take solace in the idea that Elly is blaming herself for something, instead of her usual martyr syndrome, where she would say, "I worked and slaved to get a man for Connie, but Phil is not cooperating by giving her a marriage proposal. And no one appreciates my efforts." Elly can feel guilt, even if it is stupid, self-centred guilt.
howard,
Elly can feel guilt, even if it is stupid, self-centred guilt.
That's sort of the problem; no matter what she does, she's always going to be stupid and self-centered. What would be funny is that if she were to find out that Therese had post-partum depression; knowing her, she'd blame herself for not getting Anthony and Liz married sooner.
Maybe. The one time we saw Elly in the same room with Therese, she did not speak to her, spoke only to Anthony, and made rude comments with April about how tacky Therese and her family were for asking for money gifts at a baby shower. There was plenty of bad behaviour there to legitimately feel guilt over.
This will have to be taken into account when I write my next blog entry.
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