Not much to say about this one, although I thought Pa Winkerbean was already in a nursing home. Live and learn, I guess.
The visuals in panel three are pretty good, though it’s kind of an odd choice–Funky’s supposed to be thinking about what to do with his dad, and yet there are his own faces looking back at him. I suppose it represents his self-centered nature. To be more effective, in a character sense, I’d think lots of Pa’s faces looking back at him would be more thoughtful–of course, I’ve never been nominated for a Pulitzer, so what do I know?
Son of Stuck Funky 
Reflection Chapel is merely a chance at a visual pun.
Although folks in wheelchairs can be in assisted living, ones with advanced Alzheimer’s (as Funky’s dad has been depicted) are already in long term convalescent care.
I guess the ever-upbeat TomBat felt that things were getting a little too zany there with Pa Bean, so it was time to depress things up (down?) a bit. And there’s nothing more depressing that seeing Funky’s reflection from multiple angles…unless of course it’s yet another reminder that Funky’s life is nothing more than an endless series of personal defeats and emotional disappointments steeped in sadness. But everyone already knew that, so what is the f*cking point other than to beat on Funky some more? He almost dies at the gym, he spends a week hoping that Cory isn’t dead and now this…just in the last month alone.
I thought Pa Winkerbean was already in full-time care? Shows how much I’ve been paying attention (or how much Batiuk has bothered to clarify the situation, either one….).
I think Funky’s reflections in panel three are supposed to indicate that he’s considering the possibility that he might be in his father’s situation one day, and wondering what how he would want that situation handled. Or maybe it’s just that Funky realized he looks old enough to be his own father and is considering trying to get a group rate on full-time care.
Hey, maybe Funky is now considering his OWN demise.. as are we all!
Or else he’s now praying for wisdom on how to pay for his father’s nursing home bills.
I think Rusty is correct, he saw a “reflection chapel” somewhere once, dreamed up this gag and finally found a place to use it. In fact I would go as far as to say there’s a fair chance that he wrote the entire arc just to use this gag. Amazing how he so consistently refuses to allow Funky even one smidgen of happiness or light, isn’t it?
Regardless of whatever the “joke” is supposed to be here, it all ties in neatly with the “it’s all downhill from here” theme of FW in general. I do, however, find it a little hard to believe that he’s actually going to have Pa Bean be WORSE off than he already is, as it seems unusually cruel even for FW. What did these poor Winkerbeans DO in a past act to deserve this steady, constant misery?
It would be better if Les were staring back at him from the mirrors.
Great. With a nurse around, Funky will have another young attractive woman to uncomfortably leer at.
Meh, not bad. But like others I thought Pa was in nursing care because of some form of dementia. Guess he was just stupid.
Anyway not half bad by ACT III standards. Which means it is about the same as the typical Brown-Walker amalgamated comic.
I’m glad that others have brought up the obvious hole – Funky put his Dad in care because of *Alzheimer’s*, which implies he was already in full-time nursing care. However, given how Winkerbean Père has been acting all week, I think it’s entirely possible that Batiuk actually *forgot* that the character has Alheimer’s. Which is impressive. You’d think he’d have a misery rolodex.