Sorry I’m late, folks! One of our clients had a server crash, and–and you probably won’t believe this–I forgot all about Funky Winkerbean! I know, right?
Anyway, those of you who had your bets on the “Bull Gets A Heart Attack” slot, please report to the cashier to collect your winnings.
…however. Those of you who bet on “Nothing Will Change,” I’d advise you to hold on your ticket stubs. The only seriously incapacitated person in the strip was Fred Fairgood, and he rarely appears now. I think Tom Batiuk enjoys torturing Bull too much to just fade him into Bedside Manors.
Besides, remember Dinkle. (Ugh.) First he was deaf, and now he isn’t. Admittedly, Batiuk loves Dinkle….
I guess we’ll all wait and see.
Good Things Watch: this episode was actually pretty well told. I assume that next week, or whenever, we’ll get the walls of unnecessary text, but for now, a really good example of “show, don’t tell.”
Son of Stuck Funky 
My money’s on “Bull’s so angry his hand’s shaking and he dropped a glass”.
DOWN GOES BUSHKA! DOWN GOES BUSHKA! I have to admit, I figured he’d take the weasely way out as usual, but it looks like he’s going full-on Act II this time around (or close enough to it). Man, it sure has been a while, I was beginning to think BanTom (snicker) lost his (chortle) edge. But seriously folks, I’m still standing behind my “Bull takes up jogging” theory here, as Batom just doesn’t have it in him anymore to really ramp up the pathos like he used to. Somehow, some way, it’ll all be played for cheap laughs (you know what I mean), you betcha. But still, something appears to be happening and by FW standards that’s a modest step up.
Are you trying to make us jealous?
Called it! This strip is way too predictable to NOT have called it! Out of a list of other options that have also been “called” (killed off, exercising, nothing), we’d have been proven right either way.
Also, observe the “dramatic” broken glass complete with a “CRASH!” sound effect. Maybe I’m being too picky today, but shouldn’t that actually be a styrofoam, plastic, or paper Dixie cup? Surely there aren’t any glasses out on the field.
Although speculating on this strip is like telling the dog not to bark at the mailman, I could definitely see a future arc where Les gets to mock and berate Bull for being so fat and stupid under the guise of “helping him”. BanTom can do some shitty retcon strips featuring Bull abusing the puny high school Les followed by Dick Facey smirking wildly as a gasping sweaty Bull can’t keep up on their run around that f*cking gazebo. You know you just visualized the whole thing too, right? Sorry about that.
But wouldn’t it just be awesome if he killed Bull off right here? He never does stuff like that anymore. In Act III people overcome PTSD, exploding knees and Alzheimer’s, no one suddenly loses an arm or their hearing or takes many years to finally die anymore. Back in Act II you have a character in a car crash and they lose a limb, in Act III they go into a nice restful coma and make sound comic book investments. Everything’s all topsy-turvy. IMO a nice kill or two would add a little pizzazz and cull the herd a bit too. Win-win situation.
Great. Watch Dick Facey not admit that he should have seen this coming. It goes so well with his inability to understand that he comes across as being a snotty jackhole and it’ll go just as well with his looking down at someone for having a pacemaker and quadruple bypass.
It’s been many a moon since I’ve commented here, but my guess is it’s MS. I kinda hope I am wrong. *Dun dun dun.*
As long as Bull’s in pain I’m good with it.
I’m guessing Parkinson’s
As long as we’re betting, what are the odds Les admits he was a dick for ignoring-indeed, gloating-over Bull’s incipient heart attack? I’m guessing they’re somewhere between “winning the lotto” and “colonizing another planet in our lifetime.”
Is Batiuk trying to stay modern by introducing a very special episode about the effects of CTE on former football players?
Tommy Boy has never completed a full story arch…. many “hints” of something major about to happen have all faded into an evaporating mist…gone forever….and all against the face of any sort of reality check because they are all in the inner Munchhausen mind of Tom Batiuk.
This broken glass weekend cliff hanger is much to do about nothing.
@TheDiva: Probably the latter.
So, who haven’t we seen in a while that’s going to become the new football coach?
Bull is also the girls basketball coach. So now he steps down to create an opening for the return of his protege, who should have graduated college by now and ready to join her dad on the Westview faculty.
And somewhere, Les smirks.
“By Tony Montoni’s beard! These glasses sure are slippery! I guess I better sit down and read the new Starbuck Jones comic.”
Now we know why he wasn’t a receiver or running back on the hs football team…
I have to admit I laughed my ass off at this simply because of Batiuk’s presumption that his audience would find this compelling. What a cliffhanger! Why did Bull drop his glass of water? Did Bull just have an anxiety attack? Or a… heart attack?? And why does he use a fragile glass cup to drink from the water cooler??
“Hey Louise! I just broke the last glass! Call Waterford and order another case!”
You know. We could have this all wrong. Maybe Bull dropped the glass because Westview water is that bad. This isn’t heart attack angle, it’s a Flint, Michigan water taint storyline. How relevant!