Saturday, March 06, 2010

A Miracle Occurs

I am not sure what to make of today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse. I was sure I had seen Lynn use the line, “Dear God …the next time something bad happens, please…let it happen to me.” in a strip before; but I could not find it. Nevertheless, I find it interesting that Elizabeth had enough body weight on her to injure her fingers by a drawer closing so severely that it required her hands to be completely bound in bandages like a mummy. However, in looking for other strips which showed a similar situation happening, I have come to a startling discovery: Elly shows more sympathy and care for Elizabeth than Mike and Deanna ever did for Meredith in the same or similar situations. Let’s look at them:

This strip is the closest match to what happened in today’s strip. In fact it makes a little more sense for Meredith to be hurt by this than in today’s strip with Elizabeth, since her brother slams her fingers in a door. No medical care is shown, but Michael does give Meredith a hug, after he does a bizarre “Wait for it” sequence before he gets to that point.

In this strip, you see Meredith step on a toy car and fall. Michael reaches out for her while thinking, “We’re close to the breaking point.” He is not thinking about Meredith at this point, but making a pun off something he was saying prior to Meredith’s accident.

In this strip, you see Meredith hurt after falling off a chair and pouring a pot of carrot coins on herself. To this scene Deanna thinks, “Momeeee!”

In the strip immediately following that, Meredith is crying and is comforted by Deanna who uses the method of (a) cleaning up the carrot coin mess and (b) telling her crying daughter to “Shush! You’ll wake up your brother.”

The one time Meredith gets medical attention following an accident was in this strip, where I see now it was the involvement of Lovey Saltzman which caused it to happen as she says, “Take her to a doctor.”

Even so, as Meredith explains she broke her arm, Deanna feels the need to correct her by saying, “It’s just a fracture, Lovey.”

There you have it. Today is a miraculous occasion. A parent in this strip actually comforts a child and gets medical treatment for a child without making a bad pun or worrying more about themselves than the child. Of course, Elly’s behaviour back when Lawrence Poirier got hurt was the exact opposite. Today, at least, Elly has a rare good parent moment.

6 Comments:

Blogger Holly said...

Today, at least, Elly has a rare good parent moment.

I do think her reaction was a bit over the top, though. Sore fingers tend to recover with a bit of cuddling and maybe a cold compress. Perhaps Elly has a finite amount of good parenting moments, so by using up "medical attention" on Lizzie this time meant she was unable to offer the same to April when she nearly drowned and April had to settle for the cuddles and bag of frozen peas which likely would have been sufficient for Lizzie's fingers.

10:45 PM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

The problem I have is not the reaction but the series of events leading up to it. It would have taken any random idiot with time to kill about fifteen minutes to kid proof the drawers and avoid this; since the preacher said he now declared them "incredibly average numbskull and nitwit wife both of whom have plenty of time to waste", the absence of such things does not gladden my eyes.

11:38 PM  
Blogger howard said...

forworse,

Perhaps Elly has a finite amount of good parenting moments, so by using up "medical attention" on Lizzie this time meant she was unable to offer the same to April when she nearly drowned and April had to settle for the cuddles and bag of frozen peas which likely would have been sufficient for Lizzie's fingers.

Possibly the case. However, the strip has all the earmarks of a Lynn Johnston reaction strip. My guess would be the backlash about the way she had Elly handle Lawrence’s injury back in 1981 managed to make it to her ears, and she decided to do this strip contrary to her usual method and show that Elly really is a good person in that situation. Comparing to Mike and Deanna dealing with Meredith’s accidents, you can tell Lynn’s natural tendency is to focus on the poor, put-upon parent dealing with the accident rather than the victim.

6:11 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

It would have taken any random idiot with time to kill about fifteen minutes to kid proof the drawers and avoid this; since the preacher said he now declared them "incredibly average numbskull and nitwit wife both of whom have plenty of time to waste", the absence of such things does not gladden my eyes.

I had less of an issue with this. The big push towards childproofing and childproofing products occurred in the 1990s, after 1981 (supposedly when this story is taking place). Aside from which, having the open drawer with the “safe” (cheese grater aside) items in it for kids to get at, is considered a recommended method by childproofers of letting kids get at something in the kitchen to keep their curiosity from other more dangerous items.

6:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No comment on today's strip. I just wanted to say that Lovey Saltzman was UGLY!!! Good Lord, I had forgotten that!

5:07 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Yes,that she is, and as I recollect, she was modeled after Liuba Liamzini on Lynn's staff.

10:10 AM  

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