No Wrong Address, So Then What?
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston has Elly confirm that the wrong address theory from the original strip, where Phil lived on 271 Rue des Fèves and in the “’Allo?” girl strip that address is 114 Rue des Fèves, is no longer valid. This means that Lynn remembered Rue des Fèves was the street, but arbitrarily changed the address number.
The question of what happened to Phil’s pipe has been answered. The question of whether or not that was Phil’s apartment has been answered. The question of whether or not Phil was there in the apartment at the time Connie visited has been answered. The question of how Connie spent her week in Montreal since she wasn’t spending it with Phil has been answered. I know it seems a little whacko for a woman to spend a week weeping in her car, but this is Connie Poirier and all things are possible.
We still don’t know who the “’Allo?” girl is and what is her relationship to Phil. What we can tell about her from this strip is:
a. She seems to be completely unfazed by a strange woman with a shocked look on her face showing up on the doorstep carrying Phil’s pipe. If she were the jealous girlfriend type, you would think such a situation would raise her curiosity and would lead her to ask the question, “How did you get Phil’s pipe?” Instead she acts completely unthreatened by Connie and invites her to come in.
b. She is aware of Phil’s schedule, which implies a certain degree of intimacy, although a roommate or a personal secretary might know the same thing.
c. Whatever she does for a living, she appears to be home during the day.
Clearly from Connie’s weeping scene, she thinks Phil is romantically involved with the “’Allo?” girl. There is no longer any question as to whether or not Connie thought she was the housekeeper or a roommate. Consequently, there is no longer any question as to why Connie went to the Jazzy Club to see Phil. She is there to throw herself at Phil in spite of the fact she thinks Phil has a girlfriend living with him.
To summarize, Connie Poirier will leave Lawrence with the Pattersons and ignore his cry for his mother after he breaks his leg. She will throw herself at Phil in an attempt to break up his presumed relationship with “’Allo?” girl. After this is unsuccessful, she will not go home to her son, but instead gets her hair done and buys a lot of nice clothes.
Congratulations Lynn. You have actually made Connie Poirier even more reprehensible than she was before. I knew you could do it.
The question of what happened to Phil’s pipe has been answered. The question of whether or not that was Phil’s apartment has been answered. The question of whether or not Phil was there in the apartment at the time Connie visited has been answered. The question of how Connie spent her week in Montreal since she wasn’t spending it with Phil has been answered. I know it seems a little whacko for a woman to spend a week weeping in her car, but this is Connie Poirier and all things are possible.
We still don’t know who the “’Allo?” girl is and what is her relationship to Phil. What we can tell about her from this strip is:
a. She seems to be completely unfazed by a strange woman with a shocked look on her face showing up on the doorstep carrying Phil’s pipe. If she were the jealous girlfriend type, you would think such a situation would raise her curiosity and would lead her to ask the question, “How did you get Phil’s pipe?” Instead she acts completely unthreatened by Connie and invites her to come in.
b. She is aware of Phil’s schedule, which implies a certain degree of intimacy, although a roommate or a personal secretary might know the same thing.
c. Whatever she does for a living, she appears to be home during the day.
Clearly from Connie’s weeping scene, she thinks Phil is romantically involved with the “’Allo?” girl. There is no longer any question as to whether or not Connie thought she was the housekeeper or a roommate. Consequently, there is no longer any question as to why Connie went to the Jazzy Club to see Phil. She is there to throw herself at Phil in spite of the fact she thinks Phil has a girlfriend living with him.
To summarize, Connie Poirier will leave Lawrence with the Pattersons and ignore his cry for his mother after he breaks his leg. She will throw herself at Phil in an attempt to break up his presumed relationship with “’Allo?” girl. After this is unsuccessful, she will not go home to her son, but instead gets her hair done and buys a lot of nice clothes.
Congratulations Lynn. You have actually made Connie Poirier even more reprehensible than she was before. I knew you could do it.
posted by howard at 11:45 PM
13 Comments:
She is there to throw herself at Phil in spite of the fact she thinks Phil has a girlfriend living with him.
What a skank-ho.
You have actually made Connie Poirier even more reprehensible than she was before. I knew you could do it.
Congratulations, Lynn: you did manage to expand another storyline through the newruins. A little advice would be welcomed, though: are we to remember this new characterization of Connie throughout the rest of the strip? Did Greg's wife really vanish years before Connie met him, or did Connie seduce a married man and get him to leave his wife? It would explain the attitude of Gayle and Molly, and also the sudden return of Greg's first wife when, despite Connie telling Elly that no one had heard from her in years, one of the girls moves back in with her.
To summarize, Connie Poirier will leave Lawrence with the Pattersons and ignore his cry for his mother after he breaks his leg. She will throw herself at Phil in an attempt to break up his presumed relationship with “’Allo?” girl. After this is unsuccessful, she will not go home to her son, but instead gets her hair done and buys a lot of nice clothes.
And yet we are meant to sympathize with her because A Cheating-cheater-who-cheats broke-her-(alleged)-heart; this charming display of Lynn's biases and warped priorities, combined with the revolting travelogues, makes Lynn look stupider and more narrow-minded than I'd ever thought possible.
Did Greg's wife really vanish years before Connie met him, or did Connie seduce a married man and get him to leave his wife?
And can I use that in the second part of Elly's failed travelogue?
I see Elly left off the part of her recap where the confused "Allo?" girl asked Connie why she had not phoned ahead, you know, like a sensible person would have?
Oh, right, Connie.
Neither Elly nor Annie think it's at all odd that Connie didn't ask the Evil French Canadian Woman any questions beyond "When is my MAN coming home?!?"
Like a sensible person would have?
....right. Connie.
This strip is ludicrous.
If the "Allo?" girl were Phil's girlfriend, she'd no doubt ask Connie how she happened to have Phil's pipe in her possession and would have done *something* more than politely invite Connie to stay until Phil returned. Yet Connie somehow concludes that Phil's been two-timing her.
Furthermore, Phil is Elly's brother, and Elly has even said that they have talked about Connie's visit. You would think that the subject of the "Allo?" girl would have come up in that conversation, especially given that Connie's version (as shown in today's strip) makes no sense. And if the "Allo?" girl *were* Phil's girlfriend, then surely Elly would be telling the story at least partly from *Phil's* perspective, rather than entirely from Connie's.
forworse,
Did Greg's wife really vanish years before Connie met him, or did Connie seduce a married man and get him to leave his wife?
Let’s look at the evidence:
In this strip, Greg says Connie proposed and he accepted. The implication is that he is single at the time of the proposal because Connie says, “We just ran off and got married.” How do you do that exactly, when both parents have kids at home? In this strip, Connie describes the proposal. This doesn’t tell us much of anything about their relationship before the marriage; however, it does imply that Greg was not the aggressor in the relationship. In this strip, Lawrence and Michael are talking about the marriage and I note that Greg and his daughters are moving in with Connie and Lawrence, and not the other way around. You would think that a man with 2 daughters would have more space where he lives than Connie and Lawrence would have. From this you can infer there might have been a reason why Greg was moving out, i.e. having to sell his house as a part of the divorce, or someone else might still be living there. After all, he and Connie simply elope without respect to either of them having any kids, so maybe someone was there to look after the girls. In this strip, Molly talks about why they moved to Milborough, “It’s her fault that we’re here. Dad didn’t have to get transferred…We moved ‘cause she wanted to come here!” This gives you an idea of the degree of control Connie had over Greg. She proposes. Greg and the girls move in with her. She makes them all move to Milborough. I get the impression that with Connie and Greg, it might less a case of seduction and more a case of Connie telling Greg to leave his wife.
It would explain the attitude of Gayle and Molly, and also the sudden return of Greg's first wife when, despite Connie telling Elly that no one had heard from her in years, one of the girls moves back in with her.
This strip is the one where Connie talks about Greg’s ex-wife not being seen in 2 years. The joke is supposedly that Molly and Gayle see their mom as “the perfect parent. She’s their ideal.” and yet the woman hasn’t been seen in two years. Ergo, Connie is really the better mom in spite of what the kids say. It was Connie’s biography that put the girls with the ex-wife after living with Connie for a little less than 2 years. Molly and Gayle are never mentioned again after 1988. That was probably just a reason to explain why Lynn arbitrarily took them out of the strip. However, look at the date. This strip is dated November 3, 1988. 2 years before this is November, 1986. Connie and Greg are married by December, 1986 from this strip. In other words, Connie is saying that none of them have seen or heard from Greg’s ex ever since Connie and Greg got married. Plus Connie and Greg moved to Milborough in June, 1987. Is it the fault of the mom, or is someone keeping the daughters from her? After all, it doesn’t seem very likely that Molly and Gayle would consider their mom to be the perfect parent, if she abandoned them. Besides we see enough of Molly and Gayle to realize they are pretty nice girls.
DreadedCandiru2,
And yet we are meant to sympathize with her because A Cheating-cheater-who-cheats broke-her-(alleged)-heart;
That seems to be the direction we are going. Phil tells Elly that there is nothing between him and Connie, because he has a girl at home. Connie, in the meantime, falls for Phil, because he has the temerity to spend time with her.
Anonymous,
Neither Elly nor Annie think it's at all odd that Connie didn't ask the Evil French Canadian Woman any questions beyond "When is my MAN coming home?!?"
Like a sensible person would have?
....right. Connie.
You got it. It seems like Annie and Elly both know not to ask those kinds of questions because the story is about Connie, who doesn’t do sensible things.
Furthermore, Phil is Elly's brother, and Elly has even said that they have talked about Connie's visit…. And if the "Allo?" girl *were* Phil's girlfriend, then surely Elly would be telling the story at least partly from *Phil's* perspective, rather than entirely from Connie's.
As far as I am concerned, this is simply more proof that Elly never talked to Phil about the matter, so when Connie asked her if she was lying to her about what Phil said about her visit, Elly was lying.
I think it's a bit much to assume that Elly's account to Connie was a lie. I think it's much more likely that Lynn Johnston hasn't thought through the details of her story and the implications of what she shows us.
The fact of the matter is that this re-run/new-run hybrid isn't working, and if anyone is telling Johnston this, she obviously isn't listening.
I'd go further than anyone has yet and say that this doesn't just make Connie look like a foolish skank-ho; it makes utter nonsense out of what was a revolting yet mildly coherent story.
1. As everyone points out, the Allo Girl doesn't behave in any way like a girlfriend or lover. It would make more sense for her to calmly take one of Phil's personal items and invite the bearer in if she were a band member's girlfriend over to use Phil's PC while hers is being repaired or a casual friend picking up some of her stuff. Rather than explaining things, Lynn has made the situation less sensible.
2. For a woman who is supposed to have wanted to write, the narration in Panel 3 is a complete mess. The comma fault would have embarassed a fourth-grader while the inane plethora of "she"s manage to make a 22 word sentence as clear as mud. Which "she" is which? Who invites who in? Who has things to do? Jesus, Lynn, my FIRST grader writes as clear as this!
3. And the last panel turns the entire sequence from merely irritatingly moronic (needy idiot makes fool of self) into complete and utter fail.
We're supposed to believe that Connie completely loses it; falls apart, weeping so hard that the tears are squirting like an anime character's and her mouth is open in a horrified rictus of pain.
And then...
She toddles off to the Jazzy Club in her granny suit, sits around for an hour (or two..?), leans against the Cheating Cheater in some sort of Lynnesque parody of granny-lust and is "brushed off" because the salty-mustachioed horndog has no idea he's being seduced.
Not even a fool of Connie's dimension would act this way in any sort of sane world. IF she didn't just blow off the guy completely after her meltdown you'd suppose she'd head to the Jazzy Club with either a clenched fist or her panties in her pocket; either raging, or determined to seduce her Mayn away from the little grenouille would make sense. But with this panel Lynn completely blows ANY sense remaining out of the entire Jazzy Club sequence.
Damn, Lynn. That's epic. Even Sparky would have had trouble destroying work he completed twenty years ago. You gotta take some sort of bow for this...
Anonymous,
I think it's a bit much to assume that Elly's account to Connie was a lie. I think it's much more likely that Lynn Johnston hasn't thought through the details of her story and the implications of what she shows us.
If Elly does not reveal the relationship between the “’Allo?” girl and Phil, then I have my doubts. She would need to say something indicating she has had contact with Phil, and so far that hasn’t appeared.
The fact of the matter is that this re-run/new-run hybrid isn't working, and if anyone is telling Johnston this, she obviously isn't listening.
I think Lynn Johnston is aware the new-run isn’t working and she has been told so, although it is for different reasons. A few years back Lynn Johnston was saying things like, “If you think you can do a better job than I am, then knock me off the comics page.” When she went to the new-runs, my impression was that she thought so long as she was doing some new material, she would keep all her newspapers and she would get much more vacation time while still making the same money. What I saw from her in interviews after she went to new-runs was her attempt to dispel the idea that the strip was over and that she was doing no new material. Even when she was supposed to be pushing Farley Follows His Nose, she would start talking about new material in the comic strip. It didn’t work. Eventually, someone has told her that newspapers continue to drop her strip and doing new material makes no difference. I suspect this is the real reason she is going to go to straight reprints.
FDChief,
As everyone points out, the Allo Girl doesn't behave in any way like a girlfriend or lover.
The dialogue specifically points out that the girl is pretty and, as we know, Lynn has issues with appearance. Possibly she was thinking the girl wouldn’t have been threatened by Connie, because she was so much more attractive than Connie. We saw similar thinking on Lynn’s part with Anthony Caine’s wedding date, Julia, who was drawn short and fat. Elizabeth considered Anthony’s date to be a threat until she met her. The opposite was the case with Thérèse who was more attractive and dressed better than Elizabeth. In other words, Lynn’s thinking may be, “The girl is pretty, so of course Phil has a relationship with her.”
We're supposed to believe that Connie completely loses it; falls apart, weeping so hard that the tears are squirting like an anime character's and her mouth is open in a horrified rictus of pain.
Unfortunately, almost everyone in the comic strip cries like this. Connie’s crying is nothing special in that regard.
But with this panel Lynn completely blows ANY sense remaining out of the entire Jazzy Club sequence.
I agree. Lynn has placed her entire focus on the “’Allo?” girl sequence for making the story work, and it is a focus on Phil leading Connie on. The Jazzy Club sequence doesn’t work with that at all.
Nice catch on the November 1986 and November 1988 reference. I think your analysis points to Lynn's storytelling abilities creating the unintentional backstory of Connie breaking up a marriage. This actually fits nicely in character with newruin Connie believing that Phil and Allo Girl are a couple, so heading off to Jazzy Club to seduce him, even staying in a hotel instead of with a cousin so she can have some privacy with him if she can get him to come back with her.
It could be that the real reason Connie and Ted never worked out was because, although she hasn't any problem stealing someone else's husband or boyfriend, she has no idea how to get someone to leave his mother, and Ted's relationship with her mother confuses her because the only mother-son relationship she knows is hers with Lawrence and she'd love to be able to get rid of him.
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