Friday, January 08, 2010

This is Phil’s Pipe?

You are not going to get any better example of how Connie Poirier placed the importance of chasing after a man over good parenting than in today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse. Connie goes instantly from an accusing mother to a woman in love with any little thing owned by her potential husband Phil. Mike points out that Lawrence said a magic word, but the fun comes when you consider other possibilities for “pipe”:

1. Mike and Lawrence find Phil’s old condoms and use them to make water balloons to throw at passing cars. This is Phil’s condom?
2. Mike and Lawrence find Phil’s girlie magazine and sell the pictures inside to their friends. This is Phil’s porn?
3. Mike and Lawrence find the liquor Phil purchased to drink on the side when he discovered his sister had nothing in the house for him but a kick in the pants and get hammered. This is Phil’s liquor bottle?
4. Mike and Lawrence find Phil’s fingernail trimmings and so on…

The part that is the most fun about the strip though, is the way Lawrence immediately turns on Mike after they are caught. Look at the panel 2 body language. Lawrence has handed the pipe to his mom and appears to have grabbed Mike with his right hand, while pointing at him with his left hand says, “It’s not my fault! – It’s Mike’s” Clearly Lawrence has far more fear of his mother than he has fear of losing his friendship with Mike. We have not really seen Connie discipline Lawrence before; but clearly he is showing more fear of her than Michael does of Elly.

Years later when Lawrence is thrown out of his house for announcing he is gay seemed like a parent overreacting and doing something they wouldn’t normally do. Looking at the fear on Lawrence’s face in this strip, I am not so sure anymore.

6 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

Clearly Lawrence has far more fear of his mother than he has fear of losing his friendship with Mike. We have not really seen Connie discipline Lawrence before; but clearly he is showing more fear of her than Michael does of Elly.

Since we see that John and Elly are firm believers in physical discipline in their own right; this says something about Connie that I'd rather not want to know. It also puts the strip that had her and Elly talk about how loving, firm, fair, understanding they were in a disturbing new perspective. Between you and me and the grand piano, I sort of prefer Annie's more laissez-faire style of parenthood.

10:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Remember: Connie is someone who saw her stepdaughter's anger over an unexpected major move and desperate missing of their biological mother as evidence that they were just spoiled brats who wanted to get between her and Greg.

She has never established a reputation of compassion or empathy when it comes to young people. Quite the opposite.

5:54 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

Between you and me and the grand piano, I sort of prefer Annie's more laissez-faire style of parenthood.

I agree with you there. Connie is clearly the best mom of the 3 women. She has a devotion to family that is unmatched by Elly or Connie.

10:58 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Anonymous,

Remember: Connie is someone who saw her stepdaughter's anger over an unexpected major move and desperate missing of their biological mother as evidence that they were just spoiled brats who wanted to get between her and Greg.

The sequence with the stepdaughters was interesting. When I looked back at them on the Comic Strip Catalog, the adult who was reaching out to them was Elly Patterson and only the youngest of the two.

She has never established a reputation of compassion or empathy when it comes to young people. Quite the opposite.

It is telling that when Lawrence Poirier graduated from high school, we never again saw a strip of him together with his mother, even at occasions where it would make sense, like the weddings. It is as if, once Lawrence was turned into the gay character, Lynn stopped associating the 2 characters with each other. The effect when you examine the character is Connie turned into a woman estranged from her children.

10:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And yet, she's the one most vocal about wanting biological kids. Right up to her weird rant prior to the Liz n' Anthony extravaganza.

It's probably for the best that this desire was doomed.

11:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Molly and Gayle are nice girls- But they're a handful!"

Oh, gawd. No wonder she never connected with them. She talked about teenaged girls as if they were three years old!

11:33 AM  

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