Sunday, December 03, 2006

FBORFW plot hole

General consensus is now that For Better or For Worse is pointing towards Elizabeth and Anthony ending up together. But there's a big question about that: why did Lynn Johnston introduce the Paul character if she wanted Liz and Anthony together? If Paul wasn't there, Liz could come back south and she and Anthony could end up together with hardly any contrived-ness (apart from the fact that Anthony was inexplicably married and had a kid and divorced all while he was allegedly still in love with Liz, which makes him look far less sympathetic. And Anthony's mustache which...the only time I've ever seen a mustache on a man his age is in the most wanted list.)

But with Paul around, the whole thing comes across as looking contrived. I've already blogged about how the set-up with Paul was completely contrived and borderline creepy. I've already blogged about how Liz coming back south doesn't look good on her. And now the recent strip where the parents dis Paul and try to push Liz towards Anthony just makes them look stupid. Anthony is there because he's a witness. Paul is not there because he lives over 1,000 km away, the trial has been stretching on for months, Paul is one of very few cops in a very small town so getting time off isn't that easy, and he just transferred there and has just applied to transfer again (because of Liz). Dissing him because he can't drop everything and come south makes the parents look clueless.

But if Paul didn't exist, Liz could be made lonely and that could be spun as a compelling excuse to come back south (rather than Paul being a compelling excuse to stay up north.) Anthony's presence could be spun into romance without making Liz into a cheater (or making Paul cheat on her). The parents wouldn't have to look totally clueless. All the characters would get to be far more sympathetic than they are now - now they look thoroughly unsympathetic.

I'm hoping Lynn Johnston will still surprise us and end the strip in a way I totally can't see coming. It would be a shame to see such a venerable comic strip end with all the characters looking like idiots.

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