Well, this…this is just damned stupid.
For those of you new to the strip, Funky ‘s dad is in “Bedside Manor,” an assisted living facility.
In other words, it’s a place to administer health care to seniors.
They’re not going to allow anyone to smoke. Even if they’re on fire, they’re supposed to douse them. The receptionist might just as well have said, “He’s out bending steel girders with his teeth.” Or “He’s on the roof, getting ready to jump into a dumpster full of broken glass.” This is senseless.
I just can’t figure out what the hell is supposed to be going on here. It’s not funny, except in a “Wha–?” kind of way…the way the strip sometimes was back in the 70’s.
Is that it? Has Tom Batiuk decided after all the years of angst, whining, smirks and weak word-play, that it’s time to reboot into a wacky fun-time strip?
Well…if that’s the case, that’s certainly a good thing…I guess…I just hope he kind of gets better at it.
Unless this is going to be some kind of ham-handed treatise on medical marijuana. If that’s the case, then this episode becomes evidence that there are a whole lot of people not giving a damn about what goes into Funky Winkerbean, starting with Tom Baituk.
Son of Stuck Funky 
It’s a real head-scratcher all right. I guess he could be going for a “role reversal” thing here with the father and son element, but smoking? And I thought the same thing re: this Bedside Manor place. Isn’t Pa Bean an Alzheimer’s patient? Is leaving him out on the gazebo (in winter, no less) unsupervised with a lighter and a pack of smokes advisable? Although I suppose the folks at Bedside Manor are probably just as grumpy and nonchalant about their jobs as everyone else in Westview is, so the standards are probably pretty lax there. And it’s the “medical profession” and you know how THEY are.
Pa Bean actually ranks fairly high on my short list of FW characters I have nothing against. Buddy, Le Chat, Pa, Rachel’s kid, the green pitcher…and probably (possibly) a few more I’m forgetting. That’s still pretty good though, highest ranking human character too.
Then again, it makes sense that Funky would entrust his father to people who show about as much attention and care to him as Funky himself does.
“Hah, just kidding. He’s dead, we had the body removed an hour ago. Maybe if you visited more often than once a month you would have noticed his rapid decline.” (Note to critics, my mom is currently living in a convalescent home and will likely die there, so if my observation troubles you, blow it out your ass).
Wait a minute, where’s Wally, Batiuk’s most recent very important issue? I guess he has spent his perfunctory yearly mention of his issues, time to move on. Couldn’t see that coming.
Medical Marijuana joke, maybe?….. I dunno…..This shift from ‘Corey Winkerbean is in Peril” to “Pa Winkerbean is still technically alive” is the kind of story change we come to expect from Batiuk….the kind that makes no goddamn sense!!!
Many Assisted Living Facilities have a smoking area. but Bedside Manor is not an assisted living facility, it is a nursing home. I am stating this based on how the place has been described over the years. But still, many nursing homes have designated smoking hours for the residents, and the cigarettes and lighters are controlled by the nursing aide staff. But still!
What’s with the sudden switch of storyline? I thought we would be seeing Wally having seizures this week!
@GPTA – I didn’t know that, that some nursing homes have designated smoking areas/hours…and I suspect my ignorance is not limited to me–I think if I asked random people on the street, most would say smoking isn’t allowed. I guess this is a rare case of Tom Batiuk actually doing some research; good for him.
Still doesn’t make it funny, though.
In a recent government study, researchers were astounded to learn that in Westview, cancer actually causes smoking. Westview is the only town in the USA where the cigarette packs carry a warning that simply says, “F*ck It”.
Coming next week: Wally is forced to confront Buddy about his two tin a day Skoal habit with touching consequences.
I thought I’d copy my reply for the benefit of “The Seizures Boys”
Epicus Doomus, you have addressed Wally’s PTSD trigger very neatly, concisely, and correctly. It was both a poor way to end an already badly-written script, and a poor way to show Wally reliving his own experiences. This storyline, like so many others, seems to have trailed off when Batiuk lost interest or focus. If Batiuk actually knew how to draw, something akin to a 1000-yard stare with unblinking eyes would have said it much better.
Rusty, that you think because no storyline involving Wally in a helicopter crash was ever shown means he never saw one, or was part of one, is very short-sighted. Equally short-sighted is that you are under the impression that only replays of exact incidents should trigger PTSD, while others simply “don’t count.”
GPTA, get off your own high horse. I worked in the system myself, and my clients much more often than not didn’t see you or any other VAMC personnel – or even know they were eligible for any VA treatment – until they went through people in my position, which is why by the time you saw them, they had already shit, shaved, showered and douched, put on clean clothes, and had lost some of that clinging stench of the street. And if you really feel the need for “time served” credits, I’ll take my own as a just-turning sixty-four year old man who lives with PTSD. Yes, the story wasa badly written and poorly drawn, and I also find Batiuc’s treatment of the subject via Wally crass and self-serving. So we see eye to eye on that one.
But I make it a point not to go “more veteran than thou” with any other brother in arms, or wave what I’ve done as a certificate of qualification – unless it suddenly becomes necessary.
And that’s my take on your lecture.
Don’t mean nothin’…
@beckoningchasm, “I guess this is a rare case of Tom Batiuk actually doing some research; good for him.”
I think this is more likely:
Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn or
(Old version) Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
(New version) Even a flashing microwave clock is correct twice a day.
A couple of years ago, Batiuk was interviewed on the local public radio station and I e-mailed a question for him to the host asking if he would ever consider doing a story arc about medical marijuana involving Crazy Harry. Batiuk laughed it off saying he’d write one just before he retired.so now I’m on tenterhooks to see just what Pa WInkerbean is smoking.
Oh for pities sake. I just found out that this week’s ( I hope it is only a week) “Crankshaft” is about comic books. TB you have a problem, comic books while enjoyable are not, repeat not the only form of entertainment known to mankind.
Not too long ago there was a similar story in FW–“Funky is supposed to be cleaning the attic, but gets distracted by…” (was it comic books? Something). Then The Wife comes upstairs and yells at him for not doing the job, which Pmmm will obviously do by about Wednesday.
My point is, Tomboy is really out of ideas.
“Batiuk laughed it off saying he’d write one just before he retired.”
Don’t go getting our hopes up.
This facility appears to be a place where folks are just sitting around waiting to die (not unlike Westview itself), so why not let them have a smoke? Presumably, if Papa Winkerbean was a smoker, Funky would be well aware of that fact, so it would have to be a habit he just developed, or of course it might be a medical marijuana arc. But you would think the son would be notified if they were going to start doing something like that, unless he plays the “time jump” card and suddenly marijuana is legal in all 50 states.
We’ll see where this arc goes. I would be happy if it went in the direction of, “Yes, we allow your dying father this one little bit of personal autonomy, we do it out of compassion. So get off your high horse.”
Knowing Batom Inc., I’m gonna guess that Pa Winkerbean will die of spontaneous combustion.