A sad listless joke, built on sad tired tropes, at the expense of a sad beaten man. This is one of those stealthily depressing FW strips, one that appears harmless enough on the surface but which reveals all kinds of terrible truths about the strip in general. Most “writers” probably would have skipped over this part of the story and jumped ahead to the part where Melinda is all moved in already, but not BatYak. He obviously saw some moving trucks outside and had another “and I thought it’d be very, very funny if…” moment and yadda yadda yadda here we are, with six days of watching Funky watching people putting boxes into a truck. Sigh.
Sisyphunkian Task
In case you missed it, yesterday’s actual strip featured Crazy, Holly, a Flash T shirt and a really dumb menopause gag. The fake one was way better, quite frankly. Anyhow, Funky is down in Florida, supervising Melinda’s looming move back to the mid-central Ohio valley and all heck is apparently breaking loose, as Funky is already completely overwhelmed by having to put some Hummel figurines and Franklin Mint collector plates in a box. Can’t these idiots EVER just do something without bellyaching about it for six days at a time?
I’m not sure which is funnier, Holly’s brutally fractured syntax or Melinda’s vintage 1925 parlor. Sometimes I just don’t understand Batiuk’s world at all, man. On top of that, Melinda is Holly’s mother, so why isn’t SHE down there doing this? I’m sure Wally and Adeela can hold down the fort, provided there aren’t any air raid drills scheduled this week.
Well Manored
The sight of a relaxed, grinning Funky instantly piques Holly’s curiosity. Funky’s got reason to smile: he’s managed to avoid having to deal with his cranky mother-in-law and with his formerly senile father. Hopefully the start of a new calendar year means that Mort can once again get “those little purple pills.” Said arrangements have been made “off camera.” so we don’t know what Elvis–uh, Melinda thinks about the whole thing. Neither do we know if, since he’s not technically Melinda’s next of kin, he’s even authorized to not only consign Melinda to Bedside Manor but also have her bunk with his old man. Although in a nursing home where the receptionist is allowed to discuss sensitive information with family, I guess anything goes!
Pills A Go-Go
At first glance I didn’t recognize the old crone Morty was arguing with and I had no idea who Eluis was either. Then it all came together. Let’s face it people, we may have dodged a bullet here, as “Holly’s mother annoys Funky” has two-week arc written all over it. Better to get it over and done with on a Sunday, as no one cares about the Sunday strips anyway.
Coming tomorrow: the return of SoSF founder TFH!
But Who Is The Dreamer?
Bull and Linda share an inside CTE joke today, or so it appears. It’s nice to see a Very Serious prestige arc end on such a light-hearted note, unlike that mousy woman that got the cancer that time. Blech, what a downer THAT was. Anyway, it’s sort of tough to believe they drove all the way to North Carolina for the cone of uncertainty diagnosis, as they probably could have gotten that in Ohio, but whatever. Hopefully Batiuk gives us some sort of “heads up” when Bull actually starts declining, as otherwise it’ll be impossible to tell, what with all the wryness and all.
