Predictable? Anthony. I was just thinking that he was extremely unpredictable in how tall he was going to be and what his hair color is. Just look at his last several appearances. The hair color and the height relative to Dawn and Elizabeth change in every single one.
What I notice going through all these is that Elizabeth almost never spends time with Anthony without Dawn. He is more like a buddy than a boyfriend. If you did not know they were supposed to be dating, you would think that he could just as easily be dating Dawn for as much attention as Elizabeth gives him. Also the idea of Elizabeth wanting to break up with him seems to be a common theme. I am surprised how often this came up, now that we going through these.
What's equally common is her inability to understand that he has a mind. She expects him to be this passive thing waiting for her to decide How Life Should Be and when he acts according to his own internal gyroscope:
she cannot deal with his refusal to passively accept her bullshit at all well.
In real life, Liz would learn that people aren't play toys who can only act if she wills it. She never does figure this out. When it gets back to Eric that he's just someone to occupy her time with while she and her real boyfriend are on break and he pursues someone who doesn't lie to herself or expect things of him that she would not want expected of her:
, she turns into a blubbering mess wondering why people didn't warn her about something that she made them afraid to bring up.
When Paul does the same thing for the same reason,
she declared that she only thought she was in love with him in order not to admit having screwed him over for a low-class and stupid reason: being a shit to a woman who wanted her to admit something that clashes with a wildly inaccurate self concept. Liz is so full of shit about who she is and what she wants, the dumbest fucking guy on the planet can see it:
"And then what? A year from now I'd still want to move home."
Paul, this is as close as you are going to get to Liz honestly tell you that your relationship with her has no future. She's saying as straight-out as her snivelling, manipulative mouth can that no matter how long she hangs around, she's still Just Visiting and Home will always be near her parents. You will never represent Home.
He'll be better for it. He will no longer be around a person terrified of being honest about herself and her motivations. She will always be the freaked out two year old who, when told that she is big enough to be responsible for her actions, shrieked I little!
There's a joke in the breakroom at my school that every time someone leaves for a new opportunity, it's a Better opportunity in terms of salary. I think it's perfectly fair to assume that no matter what happens to people who break off relations with a Patterson, their lives are improved in every respect.
Martha told him that she had a very successful career, was in a loving relationship, and had two beautiful children.
Michael heard that she was divorced and noticed that her fingers were pudgy.
Michael told Martha that he was married and was writing what would certainly be a best-seller but did not mention Dee's career. He told her he had two children, but did not mention that they all live in his sister's bedroom and he had quit his job.
Michael must walk away elevated from the experience, with Martha as the "loser." Nobody in their right mind buys any of this. Martha walked away thinking "he stared at my fingers, talked about himself nonstop, and was too cheap to buy his own sandwich. He's still the awful little boy I was well rid of."
I wish people would not go on about how good looking their kids are. It's not psychologically healthy, especially for a parent, to put that much emphasis on appearances over more important qualities.
when I say I have beautiful godchildren, I mean that I have two godchildren who bring joy to my life. I am certain that when Lynn uses the word "beautiful" in her work, she always means surface-level, since pretty much all of her characters are actually quite hideous in all other respects.
what is with all the weird old people language? "seeing" instead of dating or having sex? "old flame"? "gee"???
"it wasn't sweet" sounds so awkward it doesn't even qualify as weird old people talk, it's just strange, like a bad translation or all the "well, and"s at the beginning of half the lines of dialogue in The Good Earth.
and Michael being the voice of reason here is just spooky.
Predictable? Anthony. I was just thinking that he was extremely unpredictable in how tall he was going to be and what his hair color is. Just look at his last several appearances. The hair color and the height relative to Dawn and Elizabeth change in every single one.
What I notice going through all these is that Elizabeth almost never spends time with Anthony without Dawn. He is more like a buddy than a boyfriend. If you did not know they were supposed to be dating, you would think that he could just as easily be dating Dawn for as much attention as Elizabeth gives him. Also the idea of Elizabeth wanting to break up with him seems to be a common theme. I am surprised how often this came up, now that we going through these.
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What's equally common is her inability to understand that he has a mind. She expects him to be this passive thing waiting for her to decide How Life Should Be and when he acts according to his own internal gyroscope:
she cannot deal with his refusal to passively accept her bullshit at all well.
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why does Liz have stink lines coming off of her in the last panel?!
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True. Usually flames over the head work in this situation.
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In real life, Liz would learn that people aren't play toys who can only act if she wills it. She never does figure this out. When it gets back to Eric that he's just someone to occupy her time with while she and her real boyfriend are on break and he pursues someone who doesn't lie to herself or expect things of him that she would not want expected of her:
, she turns into a blubbering mess wondering why people didn't warn her about something that she made them afraid to bring up.
When Paul does the same thing for the same reason,
she declared that she only thought she was in love with him in order not to admit having screwed him over for a low-class and stupid reason: being a shit to a woman who wanted her to admit something that clashes with a wildly inaccurate self concept. Liz is so full of shit about who she is and what she wants, the dumbest fucking guy on the planet can see it:
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"And then what? A year from now I'd still want to move home."
Paul, this is as close as you are going to get to Liz honestly tell you that your relationship with her has no future. She's saying as straight-out as her snivelling, manipulative mouth can that no matter how long she hangs around, she's still Just Visiting and Home will always be near her parents. You will never represent Home.
Time to stop begging, take the hint, and move on.
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There's a joke in the breakroom at my school that every time someone leaves for a new opportunity, it's a Better opportunity in terms of salary. I think it's perfectly fair to assume that no matter what happens to people who break off relations with a Patterson, their lives are improved in every respect.
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Martha told him that she had a very successful career, was in a loving relationship, and had two beautiful children.
Michael heard that she was divorced and noticed that her fingers were pudgy.
Michael told Martha that he was married and was writing what would certainly be a best-seller but did not mention Dee's career. He told her he had two children, but did not mention that they all live in his sister's bedroom and he had quit his job.
Michael must walk away elevated from the experience, with Martha as the "loser." Nobody in their right mind buys any of this. Martha walked away thinking "he stared at my fingers, talked about himself nonstop, and was too cheap to buy his own sandwich. He's still the awful little boy I was well rid of."
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I wish people would not go on about how good looking their kids are. It's not psychologically healthy, especially for a parent, to put that much emphasis on appearances over more important qualities.
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when I say I have beautiful godchildren, I mean that I have two godchildren who bring joy to my life. I am certain that when Lynn uses the word "beautiful" in her work, she always means surface-level, since pretty much all of her characters are actually quite hideous in all other respects.
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what is with all the weird old people language? "seeing" instead of dating or having sex? "old flame"? "gee"???
"it wasn't sweet" sounds so awkward it doesn't even qualify as weird old people talk, it's just strange, like a bad translation or all the "well, and"s at the beginning of half the lines of dialogue in The Good Earth.
and Michael being the voice of reason here is just spooky.
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I'm not buying it. Those old movies had snappy dialogue, that was part of the fun of them.
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