Oh, my continuity goddess. You do not need to apologize to me. Please take some reassurance in large doses from me. The fact of the matter is that September and October have been pretty rough months as far as For Better or For Worse is concerned.
Let's see. The "conspiracy plan." I wanted to do a kind of "conspiracy" plan arc to fill the time during the hybrid, but I just couldn't get my mind around it. Most of that time, I was doing Michael Patterson trying to reinterpret the hybrid strips into something amusing, and I found that process to be unusually exhausting, which is to say, "I would expend my energy on him and after trying to make it funny, just didn't have any funny left." I would sit and try to think how the newly-heterosexual and family man Howard, would be able to work a conspiracy plot with April, which covered new ground and yet had something remotely to do with the strips of the day, so they could be snarked and I was coming up with nothing. Bubkiss. Zippo. Nada.
This week with April was godsend in some respects, because I did not fully comprehend how bad For Better or For Worse had gotten until this week. Suddenly there was new material and an actual plot of sorts and a wealth of ideas flowed into my head. I realized just how difficult it is to snark a strip about Grandpa Jim smoking, while at the same time Grandpa Jim is recovering from a stroke.
But I am wandering from your points. I think this week of strips was to tie up April's loose ends as well as they can be tied up for a character who is on the verge of never aging again. This is my view of things:
a. April and Gerald are broken up, but will probably end up married some day. For our purposes on April's Real Blog, they are done, and April should consider herself free to explore a relationship with other boys, just not marry them. b. Becky and Gerald hook up. Lynn Johnston has been leading this way for a long time and she may want to duplicate that "I can date other guys, but Anthony can't date other girls" thing she did before with Liz. On the other hand, April practically said Gerald could make it as a drummer because he played with Rebecca, so there is a possibility. If qnjones wants to play with it, then I wouldn't stand in her way. She's done a lot of funny stuff with Gerald and Becky in the past. However, if qnjones leaves them alone, then I would go with your idea that Gerald and Becky are not together. c. Becky and Gerald think April sucks. I think we are past this point in the strip. Gerald's departure from April was amicable, as was Becky's departure from April at the telethon. However, if they end up together, Becky has to know that Gerald is not going to be hers ultimately, and that could affect her. It might be fun to do some Therese snark, via this relationship.
I think a Jeremy Jones and April Patterson romance might be interesting to pursue, particularly if it can be made to be different / opposite from the way the April / Gerald romance played out. Think how Gerald and April were, and then do everything the opposite with Jeremy and April. That could be fun for awhile. What do you think?
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has found the strip dispiriting lately. I agree this recent April arc is LJ's weird attempt to wrap up the April arc even though April has another year and a half of high school left to go.
Jeremy/April could be fun. I think he could push her to be more direct and decisive. An amicable April/Gerald/Becky who are eerily aware of their eventual fate may have possibilities, too. . . .
Oh, my continuity goddess. You do not need to apologize to me. Please take some reassurance in large doses from me. The fact of the matter is that September and October have been pretty rough months as far as For Better or For Worse is concerned.
Let's see. The "conspiracy plan." I wanted to do a kind of "conspiracy" plan arc to fill the time during the hybrid, but I just couldn't get my mind around it. Most of that time, I was doing Michael Patterson trying to reinterpret the hybrid strips into something amusing, and I found that process to be unusually exhausting, which is to say, "I would expend my energy on him and after trying to make it funny, just didn't have any funny left." I would sit and try to think how the newly-heterosexual and family man Howard, would be able to work a conspiracy plot with April, which covered new ground and yet had something remotely to do with the strips of the day, so they could be snarked and I was coming up with nothing. Bubkiss. Zippo. Nada.
This week with April was godsend in some respects, because I did not fully comprehend how bad For Better or For Worse had gotten until this week. Suddenly there was new material and an actual plot of sorts and a wealth of ideas flowed into my head. I realized just how difficult it is to snark a strip about Grandpa Jim smoking, while at the same time Grandpa Jim is recovering from a stroke.
But I am wandering from your points. I think this week of strips was to tie up April's loose ends as well as they can be tied up for a character who is on the verge of never aging again. This is my view of things:
a. April and Gerald are broken up, but will probably end up married some day. For our purposes on April's Real Blog, they are done, and April should consider herself free to explore a relationship with other boys, just not marry them.
b. Becky and Gerald hook up. Lynn Johnston has been leading this way for a long time and she may want to duplicate that "I can date other guys, but Anthony can't date other girls" thing she did before with Liz. On the other hand, April practically said Gerald could make it as a drummer because he played with Rebecca, so there is a possibility. If qnjones wants to play with it, then I wouldn't stand in her way. She's done a lot of funny stuff with Gerald and Becky in the past. However, if qnjones leaves them alone, then I would go with your idea that Gerald and Becky are not together.
c. Becky and Gerald think April sucks. I think we are past this point in the strip. Gerald's departure from April was amicable, as was Becky's departure from April at the telethon. However, if they end up together, Becky has to know that Gerald is not going to be hers ultimately, and that could affect her. It might be fun to do some Therese snark, via this relationship.
I think a Jeremy Jones and April Patterson romance might be interesting to pursue, particularly if it can be made to be different / opposite from the way the April / Gerald romance played out. Think how Gerald and April were, and then do everything the opposite with Jeremy and April. That could be fun for awhile. What do you think?
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Jeremy/April could be fun. I think he could push her to be more direct and decisive. An amicable April/Gerald/Becky who are eerily aware of their eventual fate may have possibilities, too. . . .
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