So it comes to this: the huge Frankie Date Rape Mega Retcon arc dies a limp, soggy death. Frankie stomps away sneeringly, defeated by Saint Lisa’s magical powers and unimpeachable veracity, while his sidekick/accomplice/henchman/back-up White Lenny off-handedly offers Jessica a possible paying gig. Which she of course sarcastically mocks in the Westviewian way these obnoxious people have. What a debacle this turned out to be. Good riddance to bad garbage, I say re: Frankie…the last thing that town needs is more sneering. Such a disappointment.
So, where does this one rank with Act III’s most epic disasters? I have it a close third, right behind Funky’s car crash/time travel arc and Les’ book-tour-launch, still the gold standard in annoyingly long, ponderous irritating mega-arcs. Although they all kind of suck equally when you really stop to think about it.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Reality check, Jessica: if somebody offers you a foot in the door, you take it. Not everybody in Westview can support themselves on the back of Lisa’s corpse.
who that muppet in d window ,batty,this arc was just horrible from start to finish
A common theme just occurred to me: if, in the Batiukverse, people clamor to buy a book about an ordinary woman dying in a fairly standard manner from a fairly common disease, and the story is being turned into a movie, then it makes perfect sense that millions of people will view a YouTube video of a teenage girl reading a diary entry by another teenage girl, discussing her fairly ordinary sexual relationship with a teenage boy.
Funny how we’re all supposed to find Frankie a rude scumbag, while it’s Darin and Jessica who actually act like rude scumbags. It’s called writing, Mr. Batiuk, and you might want to study it a bit.
Psst, Jessica! Lenny’s pretending to be impressed right back at ya’. “Your video was nicely lit”? Come on, we both know Les would never spring for anything more expensive than a 20-watt bulb in that pathetic excuse for a lamp he has in his living room. Good luck continuing to make documentaries no one ever sees — or wants to see.
Nicely Lit?
That 1940’s lamp?
Oh never mind…. This stuff continues to get worse and worse.
There actually could have been a story here and told in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.
Batiuk failed in writing bazooka bubble gum comics and he just doesn’t get it.
So, the best Lenny could say about Jess’ video was “it was nicely lit,” but he takes pity on the poor wannabe director and offers her a way into the business–not the best of jobs, sure, but everybody has to start somewhere. Maybe she can learn the ropes there, make something out of herself. Jess responds to this generous gesture by, in effect, spitting in his face and saying “Screw your offer of gainful employment, I don’t need you because I’m an artist!”
….Why are we supposed to like the protagonists again?
“Not everybody in Westview can support themselves on the back of Lisa’s corpse.” Nicely done.
I don’t know, but directors don’t usually get involved with lighting a shot. Unless it’s one person manning a tripod set in front of a chair. At any rate, as others above me have noted, show some manners missy. He’s the only man who smacked Frankie down. And go kick Les in the balls, who couldn’t bring himself to look at Lisa’s diary (with both hands visible).
Tom: “Best Hollywood satire EVER.”
Reader: “Um, what exactly are you satirizing?”
Tom: “Well, see, Lenny only paid attention to the lighting, not the incredibly deep and meaningful message! Plus, he still likes evil, filthy GENRE fiction! Icky doody!”
Reader: “…that’s not a satire at all. 1) The light you had was kind of bright was probably the ONLY good thing he could say about Summer droning away, reading the nonsensical retcons in the diary. 2) Tom…you REALLY need to stop bashing genre fiction for cheap laughs, as you stuff is more lost in fantasyland by this point than a monster mash-up could EVER be.”
Tom: “Hmmph! I guess there WERE some children left behind!”
“We might need a DP! I mean, director. Surely no one who reads this will know what a director of photography is.”
“….Why are we supposed to like the protagonists again?”
This strip has protagonists?
Wow, the talk of “white Lenny” makes me remember Lenny White, drummer for the most popular version of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever! Which I uh, you know mostly remember because they did a lot of “jazz-rock-fusion” stuff that I thought was over-indulgent mini-moog flatulence, but hey! Jazz musician. Am I right? Guys? Over-indulgent flatulence doesn’t ring a bell here?
As a former photographer, I often notice the composition and lighting rather than the subject.
As a reader, Get Bent, Jessica!
Jinx! They forgot all about Assistant Producer Jinx!
Well, at least Summer didn’t read the part of the diary which said, “And lately I have been staring at Les Moore’s butt. He is so hot.” Then after a good laugh they would all say, “Les has been writing fake diaries for his dead wife again.”
“you video was nicely lit” Which is sort of like saying “your story was neatly typed”
If you watch any amount of youtube, comments like “nicely lit” or “way to keep it in focus” or, “this actually makes sense” are actually legitimate praise.
Still, this storyline was preposterous horseshit.
This arc would have been much better if Frankie blew into town threatening to expose Lisa as a wanton trollop and Les as the ego-maniacal, semi-literate douchebag who has exploited his dead wife for fortune and fame. And I use the term “better” knowing full well the fear and loathing in generates since it implies some underlying quality that can be improved. Yes, the story was sufficiently worthless to render terms like “better” and “improve” meaningless..
Instead of a serious threat, Frankie is now seen as another strawman, another Roberta Blackburn, who succumbs like the Wicked Witch of the West to a bucket a water thrown at her.
Oops, “Of water.” I’m starting to sound like Batiuk.
Would be too much to hope for that Frankie is going to his car to get his Glock pistol?
I sure Jessica will just toss the card. After all, she will never leave Westview for L.A. She will die (a) in childbirth or; (b) of cancer or (3) at the hands of the murderer of John Darling, her father (who was murdered). Far be it for her to try to make a better life for herself that doesn’t involved carrying pizzas and asking, “Can I take your order?”
WUD.
You know Jess, James Cameron’s first film was a sequel to a Jaws knockoff about flying Piranhas. Don’t be afraid to swallow your dignity for B-Movies that could really get you started.
It’s not like you have any, anyways.
We’re supposed to hate Lenny because he’s a sleazy exploitative low-budget TV producer, and we’re suppose to love the characters who read a dead woman’s private journal on camera and threaten to upload it to the internet. The whole thing boggles the mind.
“So, where does this one rank with Act III’s most epic disasters? I have it a close third, right behind Funky’s car crash/time travel arc and Les’ book-tour-launch, still the gold standard in annoyingly long, ponderous irritating mega-arcs. ”
I rank this one second: ahead of the book tour. The worst Act III arc IMO is the gay prom arc. It had all of Batuicks’s crappy writing on display:
Two gay characters who we never saw before and will never see again. Roberta Blackburn, a volunteer attempting to disrupt something that is none of her business, the deux in the machina that consisted of the principal reading from the student handbook (at least make the deux a bit interesting–the student handbook?), Summer in a hoodie in late spring and the character coming out from behind the ice sculpture.