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Specifically, spite is the point of kissing somebody else.
If you’re not going to throw it in somebody’s face, you might as well just kiss your regular partner.
Reltzik has a point – when the set of probable changes includes “uncontrolled alcoholism leading to fatal car crash”, it’s pretty important to specify the type of change being requested.
My impression is that she did therapy and she’s not doing it anymore. We know she started before the timeskip and I think it’s only been mentioned in the past tense since then.
She has stopped drinking though, so something seems to have worked.
She has stopped drinking as far as we know! She also has a history of drinking in secret to hide her addiction from others, so we may just not have seen her doing it since the timeskip.
It’s not about money/influence. It’s about novelty for getting the condition in the first place, with naming being centered around the details of the condition.
The Billingsworths would probably try to use their influence to avoid getting the condition named after them (absolutely no 1%er wants a mental health condition named after them or someone they’re related to; they think it indicates weakness in the family), so the name has to come from somewhere else. And Billie complaining about Kit Fisto would do it.
Like, not to single you out, this comes up the moment any character does or says something maladjusted in the comic, which is often, but therapy can take a real long time to see meaningful changes, and even people who go to therapy can still think or do fucked up things.
She’d have begun therapy like a handful of months ago, tops, and possibly wouldn’t have even been going over winter break.
I’ve gotta second this one, I started seeing a therapist after my mom’s sudden death, and therapy definitely requires time. It’s been about… two years since I’ve started seeing her, and nowadays I mostly touch base once a month (other than my mom’s death there have been a lot of other things I’ve been talking to my therapist about, things that take more than one visit to dig into).
I’d say it took maybe… mmm, 6 months before I really started feeling much of a difference? Not because she wasn’t doing a great job, I felt very good after ever talk with her, but mostly because these things take time. Especially something like grief, just takes time. With her advice I found new things to do, new ways to think about my mom’s passing, and had someone who’s job it was to listen and confide in regarding the grieving process. It was things that took time and effort on my part to really put into action, and I imagine it’s the same for Billie. And keeping in mind she started going in October, she’s been going for about… 3 months? Ish?
On Jennifer’s dubious defense, indeed it took me years of therapy to un-break my sense of self. That said… Literally the main thing with therapy is, you have to WANT to get better.
Exactly this thank you Brad. Took me five years to sort out my life through both group and one on one counselling and at the end of it I’d say I was better but certainly not fixed. Sure, Jennifer’s life doesn’t appear to be as screwed up as mine was but to expect a huge change in such a short time is…unrealistic imo.
I think she liked him to a degree, but is VERY much not over Ruth, and misses their antagonism, even if she was the one who wanted to be more “domestic” with her in the first place, it was Ruth who ironically was more reluctant about it, only for Jennifer to be the resistant party with Asher.
I think she liked him for shallow reasons. He was cool and hot and made her look good by association. She lost interest pretty fast when he was being a bit of a dork.
She actively ignores Asher in favor of the cool melodramatic Asher she made up in her head who’s a bad boy with a troubled past who never does anything anyone asks, but when the real one does intrude on her life she’s only disappointed in him.
He seemed like the perfect, classic “bad boy” who could possibly have given her the trouble and drama that she enjoyed with Ruth and validated her self-loathing. Conveniently, he could also have been a neat project for her misguided new “fix-it” self which would fit into Raida’s little universe to which she desperately knows she doesn’t belong.
She didn’t want a bad boy so she could fix him; she wants a bad boy so he could break her. Just like her previous relationship with a bad girl broke her.
Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused…
I suspect their relationship was functional for a bit off-screen. She’s had to put in too much work to break it, IMO, for there to not have been anything before.
“OMG, so not only did he move on, he got a new toxic self-destructive romantic partner BEFORE ME?! THERE’S NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD!!!” -Jennifer, in the near future, probably
Right, Jennifer bullies for other selfish and petty reasons. She even harasses and picks on her childhood best friend for the sake of what she thinks will help her upward social mobility. She hurts people for her own selfish reasons and then gets mad at them when they forgive her for it.
At the very least, Mary’s crud personality is from religious indoctrination. Jennifer’s crud personality is from being mad she isn’t the center of attention and adoration. Mary’s brainwashed. Jennifer is just a fart sandwich.
Yep still not as bad as targeted bigoted harassment. Jens a highschool bully, whatever who cares, they’re a dime a dozen. Blackmailing a suicidal person so you can harass your trans floor mate and trying to stop people from stepping in when that suicidal person is about to go through with it is objectively much worse.
Frankly, I don’t hate any of the main character like the rest of the commenters do (except amazi girl, that’s been there since I was 13 and it ain’t goin no where). It rarely rises above annoyance. I don’t say anything usually but y’all are DRAMATIC about Jen. Probably because you know more Jens than Mary’s. But ffs she’s not as bad as someone who literally tried to get people to kill themselves
I had forgotten about the stuff in your first paragraph.
Call people dramatic for noting that a cartoon character is constantly a jerk making terrible choices… okay. This isn’t high stakes, I just think she’s an awful character. (Not the writing, but just like she is a heel.)
Mary lacks depth. She’s just around to be loathsome when the plot requires it. Nobody in the audience is supposed to like her. Jennifer, on the other hand, is a focus character.
Yes, but consider what made him decide on this course of action. Did he have anything left to retain/defend? Does Jennifer even care beyond the optics? Not defending Asher, but is there anyone to defend in this scenario?
I’ll defend Asher. By the way billies talking here, do either of them consider themselves still a couple? I mean I hate ambiguous breakups they’re fucking annoying but, “get him back” is how you talk about an ex, no? She’s not acting like she’s been cheated on, like she’s not pissed nor is she excited he’s doing something toxic. It just kinda sounds like she’s mildly annoyed her fresh ex moved on
I feel like, of the many people doing wrong things here, Asher is the least wrong? Ethan kissed him once, Asher stopped him and immediately told Jennifer, Jennifer’s actual words in response were, “Kiss a billion dudes, I don’t care.” Only after all that did Asher kiss Ethan.
Jennifer only said that because she assumed, incorrectly, that the purpose of kissing Ethan was to spite her, but I don’t think Jennifer’s bad assumptions are Asher’s fault. The guy did his due diligence and, for all he knows, got the green light from his girlfriend to kiss guys.
She wants pushback in a relationship, and she’s very frustrated. She misses being with Ruth, and Ruth not only broke up with her, but then had the audacity to try to act like the bigger person about it, something Jennifer correctly saw through and that Ruth has her own angst about once she cut through all the patronizing martyr bullshit Ruth was spouting.
They were both violent. They were both into it. They weren’t good about explicitly getting consent, but it’s hard to paint either as the abuser in the relationship.
Though I agree her core issue is wanting an antagonistic relationship I also think Jennifer is having this monologe to try a convince herself that shes considering taking Asher back on her own terms and not just caving into Radiah demands.
She did for a little bit, but the relationship with Ruth crumbled and she went so far the other way trying to construct her “proper” mature self that it’s cracking majorly. At least she isn’t drinking, but it isn’t like this is entirely any better.
Oh, the Twitter embed actually updated and is showing a tweet from the 18th, but nothing else new since June of last year. I guess it decided to let the embed show the pinned tweet.
Now we have Maga Twitter helmed by a spite-addled sociopath which is basically broken with half the servers unplugged and the wires hanging out, and Facebook Twitter which is … fine? A functioning social network product helmed by a functioning sociopath.
I would like to see Jenifer realize Radiah needs her more then she needs Raidah, hopefully triggering a cascade that convinces Raidah that her overt social climbing is more harmful to her in the long run you’d think the breakup with Jacob would have triggered this sort of self reflection but alas no.
Why would her breakup with Jacob cause her to think that?
They broke up because Jacob realized he had feelings for Joyce (that he eventually rejected, but still didn’t feel right being with Raidah after realizing that), not because of Raidah’s social climbing.
Jacob’s breakup with Radiah was more him realizing he didn’t need someone goal driven like Radiah to gain his brother’s approval which had previously been his main motivator in the relationship which Radiah was happy to exploit. I think Radiahs only take away however was that Joyce ruined her well connected relationship.
No Mary is hate fueld bigot who is an asshole and bereft of decency hopefully one day she will look in the mirror and change for the better but I don’t think as readers will ever see that.
Jenifer is not bereft of decency she is just kind of an asshole who needs to do alot self reflection but is still capable of being decent, we’ve seen flashes of it.
I don’t get the comparisons with Mary. Yeah Jennifer’s toxic in a relationship but she’s been genuinely caring and trying-to-be-helpful, too. Sometimes actually helpful, even. “Head cheerleader, Problem Solver.”
Mary is just pure toxic apart from maybe her art (and her anime?)
If Mary has competition among the students, it’s Raidah.
Nah, Raidah’s not setting out to actively destroy people out of pure migotry the way Mary attempted to with Carla. Raidah’s definitely below Mary on the Toximeter and doesn’t look like she’ll be ramping up to that level any time soon.
I know she’s talking to herself, but I still don’t think she believes what she’s saying. She’s constructed a version of herself that believes these things, and she’s named that person “Jennifer” to separate it from the person she was before, “Billie”, a person who was capable of being hurt. If “Billie” had gotten with Asher, she might be sad about the breakup. “Jennifer” didn’t invest herself into the relationship enough for that. “Billie” is still in there somewhere, pining for Ruth, but too mad to let her win.
Hmm, I kind of second this. While she’s saying what she’s “supposed” to say in her head, she looks like her emotions don’t support it. Well, maybe that last part. i feel like we’ll have to wait for her actions to see if she’s actually learned something. Would be hilarious if the jennifer/asher breakup was like the least drama EVER.
Billie hit her partner and engaged in domestic violence, drunk driving, and other horrifying behavior. Jennifer isn’t violent so I’d say that she’s a definite improvement. This is backtracking to “Billie” behavior.
See, I think this is part of the problem. She has constructed a separate “self” that did these things, but she’s not actually a different person. She can’t heal if she doesn’t come to terms with that.
Interesting thought: She’s constructed a separate self, but she’s not actually dissociating. In other words, Billie/Jennifer is not equivalent to Amber/Amazi-Girl — however much InsertFirstNameHere Billingsworth might wish that were the case.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. It’s like Ethan said, that sometimes we construct a new version of ourselves just to have something fresh to burn. Whatever facade she’s built to separate herself from what she’s done, she’s going to punish herself because the wounds haven’t healed
She got therapy over the timeskip, and I honestly think that is part of the problem. She worked through the alcoholism and the worst of the depression, which makes her think all of the problems are in the past and she can’t possibly have unhealthy thought patterns now.
I agree and I suspect that her therapeutic focus was the alcoholism, the immediate problem, and when her therapist brought up things like her parents or her problems with affection she brushed it off.
i mean, other than it being like an alcoholics anonymous kinda therapist , i doubt she’d directly say to anyone something like “if someone doesn’t destroy themselves for me it means they don’t love me”
The last time someone else became better to prove her love, she left – she got “better enough” she realized their relationship was toxic and they weren’t ok as people either
(Addendum: This is correct, though Ruth also left because Ruth is desperately afraid of backsliding into self-destruction and taking Jen with her, and has pedestalized Jennifer just enough that she doesn’t really get that Jennifer is as self-destructive with Ruth as without.)
Ah, but if he REALLY loved her, he would get WORSE so that Jennifer could feel better about herself without actually putting in the work of self-improvement! Checkmate, friend!
Ow, I’ve been away for several days and this is what I come back to sdklgjsd Jennifer pls girlie YOU SAID you didn’t care and also, earlier, that you were addicted to drama??
If Ruth and her had done BDSM proper it would’ve saved them (?) but like this she’s just like. Super toxic instead of just a brat ™.
I think she knows ethan b/c joyce dated him for a bit like “rly, youre dating someone that hot, what’s wrong with him?” and ethan was at joyce’s party when dina and becky first kissed
Yes, when Joyce introduced him as her boyfriend, that’s the only time they spoke to each other on screen, and Joyce’s birthday party is the last time they were seen together in the same space at the same time.
So you can understand why I was unsure.
I appreciate the response, tho.
*Princess Bride music* You see, what Asher didn’t realize was that when Jennifer said “babe”, what she meant was “I need a partner whom I have internalized is poison, just like I am, so we can touch each other.”
Yeah, she used its ability to put things into organised boxes to put herself in the box labeled “Last Semester”, subtly convinced Ruth to go after Billie, and then she returned to the present. All of the clues are there, like none of Dorothy’s speech bubbles actually pointing at her during that first hall meeting.
This is making all the “Raidah is the worst” comments from yesterday pretty funny. I honestly would take her self-serving apathy about real relationships and career climbing over Jennifer’s total refusal to admit that she treats people like characters on TV and throws chaos when she’s grown bored.
Jennifer can’t really “backslide” into Billie because they are not different people that do different things. They are the same person who keep doing what she always been doing, but she decided that she is different and good now. It’s like putting a new coat of paint on something and calling it new.
To be honest, I think that messed up as they were, they were good for each other. They both made a lot of progress over that first semester and then regressed afterwards.
They’ve obviously got unresolved feelings. I don’t know if they’ll actually get back together, but we’re definitely not done with their arc yet.
Neither of them are even remotely over each other. Honestly, breaking up and pretending to move on seems like just even more goddamn flirting for those two.
They are so BEAUTIFULLY toxic and kind of destined for each other at the same time.
I would say it’s ‘for the viewers’ but i believe willis has made panels where they have ‘inner thought bubbles’ versus just out loud but yeah other than a younger person/college campus setting if i saw a random adult talking to themselves that weren’t on their phone i’d prolly keep my distance esp if they’re yelling about relationship drama lol
I understand Jennifer, coming up abandoned in her parents home. I told a shrink about myself, my seven sisters, and my brother. She said, “It sounds like you were nine only children.”
Billy needs to move onwards. ( from Raidah toxic friend group ) . I dont see what Networking benefits she gets.
and his seems to prove that she was spite being with Asher
She should be writing articles about her wild friend group, to advance her Journalism career. ( this is so screamingly obvious , that Billy out to drop Journalism if she doesnt want to do it ). She should have a an Insiders Blog . Her ex roommate rescued a group of kidnapped teens. Her former floormates worked for a congresswoman and were kidnapped multiple times. She could be interviewing ppl saved by amazigirl. She has a techttitan daughter on her former floor. She ought to have a column in the paper just because her own journalism star power of Proximity.
Otherwise Billy should be figuring out her major so she can Network around it or for it
or Billie should be training go be an RA since she wants to be AlphaB.
who? that was a september sophmore delusion. Theres Raidah, Asher ( who shes over ) The guy no one notoces. Raidah.
Raidah and Asher were rebound friendships she is over.
Chan and Charls are long long. Jacob is out. Dana isnt coming back. She could easily be popular without Raidah. I think the magic was gone the moment Raidah pushed walky to go to breakfast. Next step is Raidah-Lucy and watch a fight for control. if she keeps pulling in sarah, she’ll be extra attractive to Raidah. Maybe Raidah will push lucy onto jacob for revenge on Sarah.
You may be majoring in comms and not give an iota of a shit about but but gdi you stick with it because you’re an imbecile teenager and all of the other majors seem hard, scary, and have lab fees
I’m not sure she does think it’s fine. It’s possible the panels where she’s quiet are her “hearing herself,” before she finally throws her hands up at the end and leans into the dysfunction.
In the words of Dr Perry Cox, “Do you hear yourself talk or do you find you drift in and out?”
Like I’m not sure if it has not occurred to her that Asher “I thought I was your boyfriend until you got allergic to basic humanity” Nolastname did in fact break up with her, and is not kissing someone “else” but just kissing someone, or if she recognizes that but just thinks she’s literally the center of everyone else’s lives and can’t imagine his actions not relating to her somehow.
I’m gonna say it. I love Jennifer and I love Raidah, too. They’re both such difficult characters that kick up so much dust whenever they appear. Raidah is a challenging antagonist who never does anything violent or illegal, but is nevertheless despicable. Jennifer is so fabulously complex, and her flaws drive such emotionally charged storylines. It’s all such delectable drama. You’re doing amazing, sweeties. Keep up the terrible work. I support women’s wrongs.
Wow the toxic sludge is just pouring out, no wonder she fit so well with Raidah’s group.
It’s kind of funny that a mob kid who was involved in offing his enemy is the least toxic person in that group. He is better off with Ethan.
fu once is the first two letters of a store name.
fu twice is a standing shot keeping the Speaker and the store front in frame.
fu three times is starting to suggest something.
FU four times is Willis trying to tell us something.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: She is the WORST character and least likable person in the entire cast outside the straight-up villains. I hope she eventually get thru this terrible take on how to have a relationship like we’re all hoping but DANG is it painful to read.
An interesting thing about her is that unlike most other bad characters she doesn’t really hurt anyone. Most of her negative actions are aimed inwardly and she is just sadly self-destructive.
Jennifer stands out to me in the context of the cast because she does have a good heart underneath the 16 layers of Hexxus, but despite learning the right lessons over and over she just keeps doing what she’s done her whole life.
She’s different from Raidah (malicious with zero self-illusions, but mostly petty), Mary (malicious but indoctrinated, and she’s so far gone that she has little chance of ever pulling out of the red), and Mike (aware that he was a terrible person, but rather than trying to improve himself at all he spent his entire life trying to lower everyone around him to his level) in that she’s often self-are about how toxic she is but seems to forget it between strips and sometimes panels.
“Mike (aware that he was a terrible person, but rather than trying to improve himself at all he spent his entire life trying to lower everyone around him to his level)”
Huh. It turns out that after literally years of fighting the “Mike Warner: Master psychologist trying to improve everyone” narrative on the basis there’s no evidence he was trying to do anything of the kind, I don’t really agree with the exact opposite viewpoint either. Interesting.
Mike was often defended as a “hard truth” guy in Shortpacked! Dumbing of Age liked to deconstruct some of those ideas, though. In DOA, they had Mike realize that his bullying people so they’d learn to defend themselves was exactly what Blaine thought he was doing with Amber.
And thus Mike committed suicide by self-sacrifice.
Something something “lies in the middle” something.
Mike’s “I find I can deal more damage with the truth” schtick (I may have that quote wrong, I’m on mobile and not spending the energy looking for it) always fell flat because Mike himself admits that he isn’t righteous either. I suppose by virtue of not interacting with people except to point out what he thought was a flaw or someone lying to themselves he wasn’t being too hypocritical, except all the times someone said “Mike, what the fuck? Why are you even HERE?” and his only response was “The truth hurts,” I lost my train of thought and I’m just happy such a malicious plot device is gone. Booster’s method is so much more colorful and pleasant that I promise I’m not just speaking from the trauma of living with a real life Mike when I say the story and cast are better for Mike’s absence.
Booster usually asks if someone wants their opinion. Mike gaslit Walky into thinking Dexter and Monkey Master were canceled, then recorded the subsequent crying for use at a later date.
In the context of Dumbing of Age’s realism? Fuck Mike.
The news is growing in Jennifer’s head and soon her annoyance will turn to anger. I wonder how Asher will react if Jennifer tries to beat him up. I don’t think he would hit her back, but she hits hard, the marks will remain and Ethan will see them.
Yep, shes struggling to find the motivation to want Asher back because their breakup was so boringly nontoxic and now he’s not even trying to make her jealous, the nerve.
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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Throwing them in other people’s face is the POINT of kissing!
Gravatar is appropriate?
Wait, so I’ve been doing it all wrong then?
Jennifer should try biting people. “Biting’s excellent! It’s like kissing, only there’s a winner!”
(I refuse to explain the context of this quote)
But its such a great episode, best to share it.
Dammit, this is why I should read other comments before I post my first thoughts.
Jen Aside’s back? Cool. Or we’re you Ana Chronistic before?
Anyway,
I KISSED SOMEONE AND I LIKED IT
I thought the point of kissing was that kisses were rad and you get to do it with someone cute.
Spite is a bonus.
Excellent choice of Gravatar, sir
Very in character, A+++
I also love that addition of “spite is a bonus”. It’s like a positive development but cooked spicy.
Specifically, spite is the point of kissing somebody else.
If you’re not going to throw it in somebody’s face, you might as well just kiss your regular partner.
Ah Jennifer, never change. Never change…
She keeps saying she has, and yet
Jennifer, please change.
Maybe before we ask for a change we should first ask which direction the change would be in.
No.
(just because gravitar xD )
Instructions unclear, joined Scientology.
Please change indeed. Billie remains truly terrible. One of the most unlikeable characters in the comic.
Aw, I love Billie. Even though — maybe because — she’s terrible. Maybe it’s because she’s even terrible at being terrible.
Not a big fan of Jennifer, though.
Reltzik has a point – when the set of probable changes includes “uncontrolled alcoholism leading to fatal car crash”, it’s pretty important to specify the type of change being requested.
me yesterday: god Jennifer pls friend-dump this toxic asshole
me today: nvm you are perfect for each other
Last panel has Lucy Van Pelt vibes.
So is Jennifer still not in therapy or…?
She is, but we don’t know what for. Main thing seems to be alcoholism and maybe the codependency from her last relationship.
So maybe they haven’t addressed her ego (which is funny, you think it’d be hard to miss).
My impression is that she did therapy and she’s not doing it anymore. We know she started before the timeskip and I think it’s only been mentioned in the past tense since then.
She has stopped drinking though, so something seems to have worked.
She has stopped drinking as far as we know! She also has a history of drinking in secret to hide her addiction from others, so we may just not have seen her doing it since the timeskip.
Theoretically possible, but we’ve had no clues since before the timeskip and we were usually shown pretty quickly when she was drinking and hiding it.
Most of the time she wasn’t even particularly hiding it.
Oh she is.
But only really to rub it into people’s faces (-_-)
She tried. Didn’t go great.
But in the plus column, the DSM-6 is going to have a new condition named in honor of Kit Fisto.
her parents probably aren’t rich enough to have THAT much influence, thank Satan
It’s not about money/influence. It’s about novelty for getting the condition in the first place, with naming being centered around the details of the condition.
The Billingsworths would probably try to use their influence to avoid getting the condition named after them (absolutely no 1%er wants a mental health condition named after them or someone they’re related to; they think it indicates weakness in the family), so the name has to come from somewhere else. And Billie complaining about Kit Fisto would do it.
How fast do you think therapy works?
Like, not to single you out, this comes up the moment any character does or says something maladjusted in the comic, which is often, but therapy can take a real long time to see meaningful changes, and even people who go to therapy can still think or do fucked up things.
She’d have begun therapy like a handful of months ago, tops, and possibly wouldn’t have even been going over winter break.
I’ve gotta second this one, I started seeing a therapist after my mom’s sudden death, and therapy definitely requires time. It’s been about… two years since I’ve started seeing her, and nowadays I mostly touch base once a month (other than my mom’s death there have been a lot of other things I’ve been talking to my therapist about, things that take more than one visit to dig into).
I’d say it took maybe… mmm, 6 months before I really started feeling much of a difference? Not because she wasn’t doing a great job, I felt very good after ever talk with her, but mostly because these things take time. Especially something like grief, just takes time. With her advice I found new things to do, new ways to think about my mom’s passing, and had someone who’s job it was to listen and confide in regarding the grieving process. It was things that took time and effort on my part to really put into action, and I imagine it’s the same for Billie. And keeping in mind she started going in October, she’s been going for about… 3 months? Ish?
On Jennifer’s dubious defense, indeed it took me years of therapy to un-break my sense of self. That said… Literally the main thing with therapy is, you have to WANT to get better.
Exactly this thank you Brad. Took me five years to sort out my life through both group and one on one counselling and at the end of it I’d say I was better but certainly not fixed. Sure, Jennifer’s life doesn’t appear to be as screwed up as mine was but to expect a huge change in such a short time is…unrealistic imo.
My personal experience physical therapy works pretty quick, psychotherapy sometimes doesn’t work or works so slowly it may not seem to work at all.
I think therapy can’t resolve everthing.
Real question: Does Jennifer even like Asher?
I think she liked him to a degree, but is VERY much not over Ruth, and misses their antagonism, even if she was the one who wanted to be more “domestic” with her in the first place, it was Ruth who ironically was more reluctant about it, only for Jennifer to be the resistant party with Asher.
The most obvious thing would be that Raidah intervened and “motivated” Jennifer to have him by her side.
I think she liked him for shallow reasons. He was cool and hot and made her look good by association. She lost interest pretty fast when he was being a bit of a dork.
She actively ignores Asher in favor of the cool melodramatic Asher she made up in her head who’s a bad boy with a troubled past who never does anything anyone asks, but when the real one does intrude on her life she’s only disappointed in him.
He seemed like the perfect, classic “bad boy” who could possibly have given her the trouble and drama that she enjoyed with Ruth and validated her self-loathing. Conveniently, he could also have been a neat project for her misguided new “fix-it” self which would fit into Raida’s little universe to which she desperately knows she doesn’t belong.
She didn’t want a bad boy so she could fix him; she wants a bad boy so he could break her. Just like her previous relationship with a bad girl broke her.
Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused…
If this is still the same kind of thinking she had last semester, she wants a bad boy because she can’t hurt someone who’s already broken.
I suspect their relationship was functional for a bit off-screen. She’s had to put in too much work to break it, IMO, for there to not have been anything before.
tbf, the guy he’s kissing might be trying to destroy himself
Kiss Of Death?
“OMG, so not only did he move on, he got a new toxic self-destructive romantic partner BEFORE ME?! THERE’S NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD!!!” -Jennifer, in the near future, probably
i think he’s destroying someone else as an act of love or something, if you get my drift…
Building someone else up, as he destroys something else – It’s Equivalent Exchange. It’s a Law of New Relationship Energy.
Asher isn’t coming back
Christ how is Mary having competition for “worst”
She’s not. Jennifer has not asked to “have” anyone to bully based on bigotry, so she is not anywhere close to as bad as Mary.
Right, Jennifer bullies for other selfish and petty reasons. She even harasses and picks on her childhood best friend for the sake of what she thinks will help her upward social mobility. She hurts people for her own selfish reasons and then gets mad at them when they forgive her for it.
At the very least, Mary’s crud personality is from religious indoctrination. Jennifer’s crud personality is from being mad she isn’t the center of attention and adoration. Mary’s brainwashed. Jennifer is just a fart sandwich.
Yep still not as bad as targeted bigoted harassment. Jens a highschool bully, whatever who cares, they’re a dime a dozen. Blackmailing a suicidal person so you can harass your trans floor mate and trying to stop people from stepping in when that suicidal person is about to go through with it is objectively much worse.
Frankly, I don’t hate any of the main character like the rest of the commenters do (except amazi girl, that’s been there since I was 13 and it ain’t goin no where). It rarely rises above annoyance. I don’t say anything usually but y’all are DRAMATIC about Jen. Probably because you know more Jens than Mary’s. But ffs she’s not as bad as someone who literally tried to get people to kill themselves
I had forgotten about the stuff in your first paragraph.
Call people dramatic for noting that a cartoon character is constantly a jerk making terrible choices… okay.
This isn’t high stakes, I just think she’s an awful character. (Not the writing, but just like she is a heel.)
Well, Ryan’s not dead yet….
… oh, you mean Jennifer. Nah. Mary is A-tier awful and Jennifer is low B- or high C-tier awful.
Mary lacks depth. She’s just around to be loathsome when the plot requires it. Nobody in the audience is supposed to like her. Jennifer, on the other hand, is a focus character.
F U ASHER
Yes, but consider what made him decide on this course of action. Did he have anything left to retain/defend? Does Jennifer even care beyond the optics? Not defending Asher, but is there anyone to defend in this scenario?
I feel like Asher would’ve stayed, had he sensed Jennifer actually wanted him. Dude looks committed to his “let’s heal together”s
I’ll defend Asher. By the way billies talking here, do either of them consider themselves still a couple? I mean I hate ambiguous breakups they’re fucking annoying but, “get him back” is how you talk about an ex, no? She’s not acting like she’s been cheated on, like she’s not pissed nor is she excited he’s doing something toxic. It just kinda sounds like she’s mildly annoyed her fresh ex moved on
Excellent use of shot framing in that last panel.
well I mean… she did
I feel like, of the many people doing wrong things here, Asher is the least wrong? Ethan kissed him once, Asher stopped him and immediately told Jennifer, Jennifer’s actual words in response were, “Kiss a billion dudes, I don’t care.” Only after all that did Asher kiss Ethan.
Jennifer only said that because she assumed, incorrectly, that the purpose of kissing Ethan was to spite her, but I don’t think Jennifer’s bad assumptions are Asher’s fault. The guy did his due diligence and, for all he knows, got the green light from his girlfriend to kiss guys.
Annnd I am now realizing this was a joke about the letters in the background of the last panel, carry on.
Starting to sound like Ruth was the healthiest unhealthy relationship she’s been in
At least there the unhealthinest was mutual.
“Mostly that he’s no longer telling me about it so I can’t get mad.”
Jennifer…What?
She wants pushback in a relationship, and she’s very frustrated. She misses being with Ruth, and Ruth not only broke up with her, but then had the audacity to try to act like the bigger person about it, something Jennifer correctly saw through and that Ruth has her own angst about once she cut through all the patronizing martyr bullshit Ruth was spouting.
Jennifer didn’t see through it. She literally punched Ruth because she couldn’t have her way.
We all show our love in different ways.
Abuse is abuse, if you want to play hard you get consent.
They were both violent. They were both into it. They weren’t good about explicitly getting consent, but it’s hard to paint either as the abuser in the relationship.
Though I agree her core issue is wanting an antagonistic relationship I also think Jennifer is having this monologe to try a convince herself that shes considering taking Asher back on her own terms and not just caving into Radiah demands.
Someone miss Ruth
Jennifer is really just high school cheerleader again, huh
Has she ever really stopped?
Unfortunately not
She did for a little bit, but the relationship with Ruth crumbled and she went so far the other way trying to construct her “proper” mature self that it’s cracking majorly. At least she isn’t drinking, but it isn’t like this is entirely any better.
It’s all she’s ever wanted to be. She was important and popular. What else is there?
Spite? I think spite is part of her schema.
High school cheerleader problem causer. I mean solver. No I don’t.
Oh, the Twitter embed actually updated and is showing a tweet from the 18th, but nothing else new since June of last year. I guess it decided to let the embed show the pinned tweet.
I think all Twitter embeds now show the tweet that got the most reactions because Phony Stark is being a dick.
Remember when Twitter embeds actually showed up to date info? God dammit Apartheid Clyde.
Now we have Maga Twitter helmed by a spite-addled sociopath which is basically broken with half the servers unplugged and the wires hanging out, and Facebook Twitter which is … fine? A functioning social network product helmed by a functioning sociopath.
Jennifer I think you might have some serious psychological problems to work through.
i’d be surprised to learn that there’d be anyone on this staff who’d graduate without a few psych problems, worked through or not
I don’t think Jenifer should be I’m any romantic relationship at the moment.
With Raidah lurking, it seems difficult.
I would like to see Jenifer realize Radiah needs her more then she needs Raidah, hopefully triggering a cascade that convinces Raidah that her overt social climbing is more harmful to her in the long run you’d think the breakup with Jacob would have triggered this sort of self reflection but alas no.
Why would her breakup with Jacob cause her to think that?
They broke up because Jacob realized he had feelings for Joyce (that he eventually rejected, but still didn’t feel right being with Raidah after realizing that), not because of Raidah’s social climbing.
Jacob’s breakup with Radiah was more him realizing he didn’t need someone goal driven like Radiah to gain his brother’s approval which had previously been his main motivator in the relationship which Radiah was happy to exploit. I think Radiahs only take away however was that Joyce ruined her well connected relationship.
And, more importantly, nobody should be in a romantic relationship with her.
I wanna get her a stack of ceramic tiles to break while she works through her emotions.
So is Billy just like, agnostic Mary now?
No Mary is hate fueld bigot who is an asshole and bereft of decency hopefully one day she will look in the mirror and change for the better but I don’t think as readers will ever see that.
Jenifer is not bereft of decency she is just kind of an asshole who needs to do alot self reflection but is still capable of being decent, we’ve seen flashes of it.
I’m still waiting for the Epiphany Shoe to drop on Mary.
She’s had way too many strips dedicated to her humiliation for it not to happen.
Regrettably I feel like this grossly underestimates the power of a persecution complex.
In addition, Jennifer isn’t agnostic. Jennifer is Christian. She just doesn’t go to church.
Not doing it out of spite just genuinely found some that makes him happy?
I don’t get the comparisons with Mary. Yeah Jennifer’s toxic in a relationship but she’s been genuinely caring and trying-to-be-helpful, too. Sometimes actually helpful, even. “Head cheerleader, Problem Solver.”
Mary is just pure toxic apart from maybe her art (and her anime?)
If Mary has competition among the students, it’s Raidah.
Nah, Raidah’s not setting out to actively destroy people out of pure migotry the way Mary attempted to with Carla. Raidah’s definitely below Mary on the Toximeter and doesn’t look like she’ll be ramping up to that level any time soon.
…. just pretend I know how to spell. We’re here for a work of fiction, we know how to suspend disbelief, so just pretend with me, okay?
Sure. Until we get an “Edit comment” feature, at least.
The mavity of her migotry knows no mounds
Mary has the most transgressive kink we’ve seen of the whole cast.
It makes her more interesting. Litigating which 19 year old woman is history’s greatest monster because they’ve acted like a dick isn’t for me.
Your reminder that, while Raidah is a manipulative climber, Jennifer is INCREDIBLY toxic
They’re both toxic, they should kiss.
Now THIS is the kind of hard-hitting commentary we need more of in this comments section
/gen
too soon … (?)
I know she’s talking to herself, but I still don’t think she believes what she’s saying. She’s constructed a version of herself that believes these things, and she’s named that person “Jennifer” to separate it from the person she was before, “Billie”, a person who was capable of being hurt. If “Billie” had gotten with Asher, she might be sad about the breakup. “Jennifer” didn’t invest herself into the relationship enough for that. “Billie” is still in there somewhere, pining for Ruth, but too mad to let her win.
Hmm, I kind of second this. While she’s saying what she’s “supposed” to say in her head, she looks like her emotions don’t support it. Well, maybe that last part. i feel like we’ll have to wait for her actions to see if she’s actually learned something. Would be hilarious if the jennifer/asher breakup was like the least drama EVER.
Replying to myself to clarify that by “supposed to say” i mean “what Jennifer thinks is normal” not “what is actually healthy” XP
Billie hit her partner and engaged in domestic violence, drunk driving, and other horrifying behavior. Jennifer isn’t violent so I’d say that she’s a definite improvement. This is backtracking to “Billie” behavior.
Let Billie stay dead.
See, I think this is part of the problem. She has constructed a separate “self” that did these things, but she’s not actually a different person. She can’t heal if she doesn’t come to terms with that.
Interesting thought: She’s constructed a separate self, but she’s not actually dissociating. In other words, Billie/Jennifer is not equivalent to Amber/Amazi-Girl — however much InsertFirstNameHere Billingsworth might wish that were the case.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. It’s like Ethan said, that sometimes we construct a new version of ourselves just to have something fresh to burn. Whatever facade she’s built to separate herself from what she’s done, she’s going to punish herself because the wounds haven’t healed
Kissing strangers, na na na na na na na, but Raidah didn’t talk about who Asher kissed…
I present to you… fu
Huh, this… Is a very good summary of Billie’s character
For most people, I think therapy is something that helps, but isn’t necessarily needed.
Jennifer might need it.
She got therapy over the timeskip, and I honestly think that is part of the problem. She worked through the alcoholism and the worst of the depression, which makes her think all of the problems are in the past and she can’t possibly have unhealthy thought patterns now.
I agree and I suspect that her therapeutic focus was the alcoholism, the immediate problem, and when her therapist brought up things like her parents or her problems with affection she brushed it off.
i mean, other than it being like an alcoholics anonymous kinda therapist , i doubt she’d directly say to anyone something like “if someone doesn’t destroy themselves for me it means they don’t love me”
No Jennifer he just became better to prove he loves you. You know nerd shit like that.
The last time someone else became better to prove her love, she left – she got “better enough” she realized their relationship was toxic and they weren’t ok as people either
(Addendum: This is correct, though Ruth also left because Ruth is desperately afraid of backsliding into self-destruction and taking Jen with her, and has pedestalized Jennifer just enough that she doesn’t really get that Jennifer is as self-destructive with Ruth as without.)
*without Ruth as with her. lol. Lmao.
Ah, but if he REALLY loved her, he would get WORSE so that Jennifer could feel better about herself without actually putting in the work of self-improvement! Checkmate, friend!
this is a very Ned Flanders character arc huh
Ow, I’ve been away for several days and this is what I come back to sdklgjsd Jennifer pls girlie YOU SAID you didn’t care and also, earlier, that you were addicted to drama??
If Ruth and her had done BDSM proper it would’ve saved them (?) but like this she’s just like. Super toxic instead of just a brat ™.
Wow Billie just keeps getting worse and worse as a person lol
You know, if Raidah had lied and told Jennifer that Asher had kissed Walky, Jennifer would have teleported over to him like Joyce does to Dorothy.
But Raidah didn’t specify who Asher was kissing, and I’m not sure Jennifer knows who Ethan is even if Raidah did.
I think she knows ethan b/c joyce dated him for a bit like “rly, youre dating someone that hot, what’s wrong with him?” and ethan was at joyce’s party when dina and becky first kissed
Yes, when Joyce introduced him as her boyfriend, that’s the only time they spoke to each other on screen, and Joyce’s birthday party is the last time they were seen together in the same space at the same time.
So you can understand why I was unsure.
I appreciate the response, tho.
Oh Billie you’re so close to getting it.
I dunno Jen maybe because it feels good?
Old Billie wouldn’t have had the beat panels. She would have just gotten mad and kicked Ruth’s door in.
It’s progress.
*Princess Bride music* You see, what Asher didn’t realize was that when Jennifer said “babe”, what she meant was “I need a partner whom I have internalized is poison, just like I am, so we can touch each other.”
“As you wish.”
You good, Jenny?
I genuinely don’t think she knows how to be.
In unrelated (yet related) comic universe news, Jeph over at QC referred to a ‘double mac & cheese plate with no veggies’ as the ‘Joyce Special’
… it’s nice to be in the ‘in’ crowd when it comes to references.
Nice!!!! ^^
(69th comment BTW, count them if bored something something you know)
I saw that too! It made me grin, lol.
This so much more self destructive than I was hoping. Honey please.
she needs destruction, she craves destruction, she has a CamelBak full of destruction she is constantly sipping on
LOVE those beat panels. Things sure do sound different when you say ’em out loud!
Jennifer, you really need to learn what a healthy relationship is…
Implying she would *want* one if she knew…
def not healthy (figuratively and literally) for thinking it’s a bad thing that asher’s quitting smoking
Somehow this is Dorothy’s fault
Fucking Dorothy, traveling back in time and using her Stand to set up the events that lead to Ruth and Jennifer hooking up. What a bongo.
Yeah, she used its ability to put things into organised boxes to put herself in the box labeled “Last Semester”, subtly convinced Ruth to go after Billie, and then she returned to the present. All of the clues are there, like none of Dorothy’s speech bubbles actually pointing at her during that first hall meeting.
This is her inceptioning Ruth dumping Billie. https://www.dumbingofage.com/answer/
I did zoom in on your avatar.
What did I do??
This is making all the “Raidah is the worst” comments from yesterday pretty funny. I honestly would take her self-serving apathy about real relationships and career climbing over Jennifer’s total refusal to admit that she treats people like characters on TV and throws chaos when she’s grown bored.
They’re both terrible.
I mean uh counterpoint:
Jennifer is, textually, a complex and deeply broken person
Raidah has just been shown to be a dickhead
Jennifer sadly backslid into Billie in she wanted Asher to be angry with her and cruel, but he instead just dumped her.
Except she dumped him first and it backfired.
Jennifer can’t really “backslide” into Billie because they are not different people that do different things. They are the same person who keep doing what she always been doing, but she decided that she is different and good now. It’s like putting a new coat of paint on something and calling it new.
Well she managed to not be an abusive girlfriend and got off drinking.
Ruth did backslide into drinking.
…is it bad that I’m hoping the she gets back with Ruth…?
I mean, she kind of just admitted that what she wanted was a redux of Ruth with a hot guy, and the two are desperately in love so no
I mean, i dont expect ruth and jason to last but i don’t expect ruth would go back to jen unless she also has a self hatred spiral
To be honest, I think that messed up as they were, they were good for each other. They both made a lot of progress over that first semester and then regressed afterwards.
They’ve obviously got unresolved feelings. I don’t know if they’ll actually get back together, but we’re definitely not done with their arc yet.
Neither of them are even remotely over each other. Honestly, breaking up and pretending to move on seems like just even more goddamn flirting for those two.
They are so BEAUTIFULLY toxic and kind of destined for each other at the same time.
Yes, expecially for Ruth.
I mean, Asher’s literally throwing (well, literally pushing) his kissing into ETHAN’s face. Does that count?
Kind of weird to hear her say these things out loud. Usually people think them but don’t say them.
it would be entertaining for anyone else listening, i half expect booster to be within earshot and ‘psychoanalyze’ her thoughts lol
She’s basically talking to herself, so it’s not that different.
I’m not sure people usually think these things though.
I would say it’s ‘for the viewers’ but i believe willis has made panels where they have ‘inner thought bubbles’ versus just out loud but yeah other than a younger person/college campus setting if i saw a random adult talking to themselves that weren’t on their phone i’d prolly keep my distance esp if they’re yelling about relationship drama lol
Jenny.
You literally directly pushed Asher to go back to smoking for you.
THAT’S *not* destroying himself?
If she was being honest what she really wanted was arguments and fighting.
Not *fast* enough.
Jennifer needs to record these little monologues so that she can listen to what she’s saying and maybe shake herself into reality.
That.
Best function of talking to yourself: Hearing what you are saying.
yes. When she doesn’t think she’s involved in a situation, she has a significantly better understanding of it.
He literally did tell you, though.
You know, I’m starting to think that Jennifer may have some issues.
Issues? She’s at full-on volumes at this point.
Subscriptions.
In the words of C-3PO, she is not entirely stable!
I’m more and more convinced that Jennifer just thinks she was a big shot in high school
Jennifer what the fuck.
We kind of knew these things about Billie, but it’s still weird to see her say them out loud ^^u
“The consequences of my own actions? No, that only happens to non-cheerleaders and other uncools.”
“ma’am this is a wendy’s.” …but rly i imagine this is gonna cut to her talking to a cashier lol
I understand Jennifer, coming up abandoned in her parents home. I told a shrink about myself, my seven sisters, and my brother. She said, “It sounds like you were nine only children.”
Billy needs to move onwards. ( from Raidah toxic friend group ) . I dont see what Networking benefits she gets.
and his seems to prove that she was spite being with Asher
She should be writing articles about her wild friend group, to advance her Journalism career. ( this is so screamingly obvious , that Billy out to drop Journalism if she doesnt want to do it ). She should have a an Insiders Blog . Her ex roommate rescued a group of kidnapped teens. Her former floormates worked for a congresswoman and were kidnapped multiple times. She could be interviewing ppl saved by amazigirl. She has a techttitan daughter on her former floor. She ought to have a column in the paper just because her own journalism star power of Proximity.
Otherwise Billy should be figuring out her major so she can Network around it or for it
or Billie should be training go be an RA since she wants to be AlphaB.
She gets to be with The Cool People with an air of superiority about them again, that’s what she gets.
who? that was a september sophmore delusion. Theres Raidah, Asher ( who shes over ) The guy no one notoces. Raidah.
Raidah and Asher were rebound friendships she is over.
Chan and Charls are long long. Jacob is out. Dana isnt coming back. She could easily be popular without Raidah. I think the magic was gone the moment Raidah pushed walky to go to breakfast. Next step is Raidah-Lucy and watch a fight for control. if she keeps pulling in sarah, she’ll be extra attractive to Raidah. Maybe Raidah will push lucy onto jacob for revenge on Sarah.
You may be majoring in comms and not give an iota of a shit about but but gdi you stick with it because you’re an imbecile teenager and all of the other majors seem hard, scary, and have lab fees
How can she say that out loud and think its fine
Right? Every panel I kept expecting her to realise how ridiculously toxic this sounds.
She has abandoned what self awareness she had after her “Transformation”. And it wasn’t a lot to beging with.
She embraced her inner Principal Skinner.
I’m not sure she does think it’s fine. It’s possible the panels where she’s quiet are her “hearing herself,” before she finally throws her hands up at the end and leans into the dysfunction.
I guess we’ll find out!
panel2 : not true
he took up smoking again for you.
Now hes acting like you and trying to save a depressed almost suicidal Gay with sex.
In the words of Dr Perry Cox, “Do you hear yourself talk or do you find you drift in and out?”
Like I’m not sure if it has not occurred to her that Asher “I thought I was your boyfriend until you got allergic to basic humanity” Nolastname did in fact break up with her, and is not kissing someone “else” but just kissing someone, or if she recognizes that but just thinks she’s literally the center of everyone else’s lives and can’t imagine his actions not relating to her somehow.
Asherʻs last name is Park.
Huh, the wiki didn’t have that.
I believe it’s in the cast section.
I think she was keeping herself open for someone else ( Ruth ) .
There’s a lot to unpack there, Jennifer, but knowing her, she’s just gonna throw away the whole suitcase.
Fufufufu indeed, Jennifer.
Get help, Jennifer.
Pfft, only lame, not alpha bongo cheerleaders people need help!
Yay, Billie’s back!
She never really left, just put on a fake mustache and moved across the street.
More drama here than in the course catalog at Julliard…
I’m gonna say it. I love Jennifer and I love Raidah, too. They’re both such difficult characters that kick up so much dust whenever they appear. Raidah is a challenging antagonist who never does anything violent or illegal, but is nevertheless despicable. Jennifer is so fabulously complex, and her flaws drive such emotionally charged storylines. It’s all such delectable drama. You’re doing amazing, sweeties. Keep up the terrible work. I support women’s wrongs.
Need more of both of them like I need a root canal, or a spoonful of fish oil
Wow the toxic sludge is just pouring out, no wonder she fit so well with Raidah’s group.
It’s kind of funny that a mob kid who was involved in offing his enemy is the least toxic person in that group. He is better off with Ethan.
fu once is the first two letters of a store name.
fu twice is a standing shot keeping the Speaker and the store front in frame.
fu three times is starting to suggest something.
FU four times is Willis trying to tell us something.
OH MY GOD GO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND ALREADY
This is why Ruth broke up with you, dumbass.
It’s like the internal monologue of the Wicked Witch of the West; I’m loving it X)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: She is the WORST character and least likable person in the entire cast outside the straight-up villains. I hope she eventually get thru this terrible take on how to have a relationship like we’re all hoping but DANG is it painful to read.
She’s working on it, that’s for sure.
An interesting thing about her is that unlike most other bad characters she doesn’t really hurt anyone. Most of her negative actions are aimed inwardly and she is just sadly self-destructive.
Jennifer stands out to me in the context of the cast because she does have a good heart underneath the 16 layers of Hexxus, but despite learning the right lessons over and over she just keeps doing what she’s done her whole life.
She’s different from Raidah (malicious with zero self-illusions, but mostly petty), Mary (malicious but indoctrinated, and she’s so far gone that she has little chance of ever pulling out of the red), and Mike (aware that he was a terrible person, but rather than trying to improve himself at all he spent his entire life trying to lower everyone around him to his level) in that she’s often self-are about how toxic she is but seems to forget it between strips and sometimes panels.
She tries so hard
And gets so far
But in the end, it doesn’t even matter
No for real though, girl is absolutely mired in her coping mechanisms and bad habits and she falls back on them every time!!
“Mike (aware that he was a terrible person, but rather than trying to improve himself at all he spent his entire life trying to lower everyone around him to his level)”
Huh. It turns out that after literally years of fighting the “Mike Warner: Master psychologist trying to improve everyone” narrative on the basis there’s no evidence he was trying to do anything of the kind, I don’t really agree with the exact opposite viewpoint either. Interesting.
Mike was often defended as a “hard truth” guy in Shortpacked! Dumbing of Age liked to deconstruct some of those ideas, though. In DOA, they had Mike realize that his bullying people so they’d learn to defend themselves was exactly what Blaine thought he was doing with Amber.
And thus Mike committed suicide by self-sacrifice.
Something something “lies in the middle” something.
Mike’s “I find I can deal more damage with the truth” schtick (I may have that quote wrong, I’m on mobile and not spending the energy looking for it) always fell flat because Mike himself admits that he isn’t righteous either. I suppose by virtue of not interacting with people except to point out what he thought was a flaw or someone lying to themselves he wasn’t being too hypocritical, except all the times someone said “Mike, what the fuck? Why are you even HERE?” and his only response was “The truth hurts,” I lost my train of thought and I’m just happy such a malicious plot device is gone. Booster’s method is so much more colorful and pleasant that I promise I’m not just speaking from the trauma of living with a real life Mike when I say the story and cast are better for Mike’s absence.
Booster usually asks if someone wants their opinion. Mike gaslit Walky into thinking Dexter and Monkey Master were canceled, then recorded the subsequent crying for use at a later date.
In the context of Dumbing of Age’s realism? Fuck Mike.
so she’s just plain toxic, she’s gonna be the antagonist of A LOT of reddit stories in the coming years
imagine “falling in love” with someone, hoping they will destroy themselves.
I imagine she must’ve loved reading Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Ah. Okay. There’s some of Jennifer’s mom’s influence on her.
Dumbing of Age book I lost count: What’s Even The Point Of Kissing Somebody Else If You Don’t Throw It In Anybody’s Face?
She just needs all sorts of therapy, don’t she.
GIRL
Jennifer fell back into her relationship with Ruth with Asher and now we’re seeing why Ruth and she are horrible as well as abusive.
BEING SELF-DESTRUCTIVE IS NOT LOVE
That’s (co)dependancy. GTFO
The news is growing in Jennifer’s head and soon her annoyance will turn to anger. I wonder how Asher will react if Jennifer tries to beat him up. I don’t think he would hit her back, but she hits hard, the marks will remain and Ethan will see them.
well, at least she seems to only be attracted to toxicity that matches hers
Yep, shes struggling to find the motivation to want Asher back because their breakup was so boringly nontoxic and now he’s not even trying to make her jealous, the nerve.
Raidah’s going to be irresistible soon