Good News Is Trouble-Free

Well, the mystery of Skip Farrow wrapped up pretty quickly. Speaking of, Skip sure does have an interesting take on the situation. Since everybody except the Cane is graduating, there shouldn’t be any issues… And, since graduation should’ve happened about a month ago, we really should be in the clear.

Bonus points:

The ‘leader’ of the ‘protest’ is almost as tall as Skip.

I love the clock on the window in panel one.

Bonus questions:

What is on the back of that student’s shirt?

Why does Skip have to call Gil from a wall phone?

What is supposed to be displayed over the window in panel two? I’m thinking worst drawing of the solar system ever.

Truly, Madly, Reluctantly, Unfortunately

Good thing I went with the color version of the strip today. These fair-haired women with prop glasses are all starting to look alike. Today it’s Ms. Rizk, not Dr. Pearl; we know this as Gil is the summoner, not the summoned. (Not that it’s clear Dr. Pearl summoned Gil but, you know, pecking order and all.)

Ever since the Central game the strip has been playing a huge game of connect-the-dots. Great leaps ever forward – from Kaz’s near telepathic understanding of what Gil wants to Gil’s visit to the Van Aukens to Gil’s chat with Dr. Pearl to today – with a lot of gaps to fill. Is it clear that Gil spoke with Ryan at his home? (The “genuinely remorseful” comment to Dr. Pearl might lead us to believe he did.) Whether he did or didn’t, what prompted Gil to speak with Dr. Pearl next? (To get the green light from the Doctor to lean on Ms. Rizk to quash Daftpunk’s article?)

And now, what leads Ms. Rizk to add the “unfortunately” tag to her statement implying that Dafunk’s article has already been quashed? Is it meant for us to deduce that, even though she’s been against Daffy’s hit piece on the ‘Cane from the get-go, she secretly wants to run the article? As our astute readers commented yesterday, this spring arc has turned into another of Rubin’s classic Bechdel Test fails. Girls’ sports have taken a back seat not only to boys’ sports but also to high school journalism which, by maintaining its integrity, may end up protecting a male athlete at the expense of his female victim and accusers. Ms. Rizk’s “unfortunately” may be her subtle form of protest against the Milford jockocracy.

Gil won’t give that a moment’s thought, ’cause sarcastically, he’s in charge.

One Other Problem?

Wait, the Van Aukens wanted a fresh start so they moved to the next tank town over which is actually closer to Ma Van Auken’s work?

Like many TWIM commenters, I’m not even sure what the heck Gil is talking to Dr. Pearl about. So far as we’ve seen, aside from losing control, not his temper mind you, while being the subject of a protest of sorts, Ryan has mostly been OK.

Except that…. there’s one other problem. Sure, why not, it’s mid-June, we have practically no feel for any of the character’s in this season’s plot nor any sense of what’s at stake, but let’s introduce another thread to the plot. As they say, tune in tomorrow…

Maybe, But Does Ryan Have a Super Bowl Ring?

Today’s big highlight is getting to watch Papa Van Auken morph from Dabney Coleman into Carl Brutananadilewski. Holy crap where did his eyelids go? Between Pop’s chest slap and summoned rage and Mom’s agitated temple rubbing, the Van Aukens are starting to pile it on in defense of their son. Granted the Valley is full of gossips with nothing better to do than play telephone and potentially ruin some kid’s life, but dad’s overreacting a bit himself. It’s not like Alyssa and Ryan got married or anything.

is Gil gonna buy their version of the “Ryan hit Alyssa” story? Will he wait to get straight from the ‘Cane’s mouth? Or is a road trip to Central City to meet Alyssa in order? Those don’t often work out well for Milfordians…

Alyssa? Explains It All

Many years ago I lived inside the Beltway, and a running joke at that time was that when people moved to Great Falls, Virginia, they were automatically issued a Range Rover. My initial observation of Mother Van Auken led me to believe that when women move to Milford, they are issued the same huge earrings and chunky bracelets that native Milfordian girls are issued at birth. (The Van Auken digs wouldn’t look out of place in Great Falls, either; I’m guessing on the opposite side of town from McShanes Hardware.) Then I noticed the chunky bracelet on the wrist of one of the Fun Girls from Central and realized that this is the way of the Valley.

A week ago I questioned how Dafunk reached the conclusion that the girl Ryan hit was his girlfriend, since that had yet to be explicitly stated. Well now it has. The next exposition should be how the Central girls learned about what happened between two Kingsbrook students and made it their business to let one of them not forget about it.

Misadventures In Plot Advancement

Man, our bespectacled Dafne summoner is about as useful as Rubin when it comes to advancing the plot. At least we got a score. Do you suppose any of the kids on the Central team know what’s going on?

Bonus point: As pointed out in the comments, it is awesome that the Valley Conference is old school and uses wooden bats.

In Another Time and Another Place

I’m not going to try and parse the crimes of the volcano as interpreted by Dafne. I will say that Ms. Rizik seems to have a pretty tenuous grasp on her role as an advisor but that’s par for the course at Milford High.

Follow The Moron

I’m not buying Dafne Dafonte as some bulldog investigative reporter if it’s that easy to brush her off.

However, based on that flipper in panel three, I am absolutely buying that the volcano has some wicked movement on his pitches.