Whoa! Keisha and Summer look like they’re stoned outta their gourds! And just a sec, Les: “No one else lives here?” Really? Get ready for tomorrow’s strip when the Ghost of Lisa comes flying out that screen door! Feets don’t fail me now!
Tag: Summer
Waste of Space
Speaking of painful digging into the past, I suspect a bit of revisionist history…as it would appear that Jessica was the popular cheerleader and not at all a member of the AV club.
Turns out our little Darling was both! I guess she gets the audiovisual gene from her Mom, Jan Murdoch Darling, the famous television producer whom we never met. I’m resorting to the bulleted list format to get through everything going on in today’s strip.
- Another tribute to another obscure comic. How ironic is that banner ALWAYS ALL NEW STORIES ? Nothing says “ALL NEW” like cutting and pasting your character’s head onto a half-century-old comic book cover. And would it have killed Batiuk to maybe Photoshop a suggestion of boobs onto that figure in the red spacesuit?
- The Three Faces of Jessica:
- Jessica’s disembodied head at the “top” of the panel has been lifted from the “model sheet” on the FW site’s Meet the Cast page.
- On the comic book cover: “she” is apparently diving to avoid raygun fire…why the hell is she smiling?
- In the inset, TB finally manages to make her look attractive…meanwhile Summer needs an eyebrow waxing, and Les resembles a Muppet with cleft palate.
- A little demeaning to cheerleaders, no? I guess unless a girl plays “real” sports, she’s not to be taken seriously.
Happy Easter everybody! — TFH
Home Inclusion
We’ve reached the payoff, the zenith, the apex, the…well, the conclusion of the storyline. Les offers his hospitality. It’s not like Darin has any REAL family left in Westivew (unless, y’know I missed the story arc where the Fairgoods left town and/or passed on). While we never did meet John Darling’s widow, it’s probably safe to say Jessica’s mother is still around. Oh well, who are we to nitpick? The fans of FW will nonetheless be treated to new sets of eyes watching Les’ awkward love triangle unfold…while Jessica picks through the Darling murder box and uncovers a horrible, horrible secret. Could it be his murderer was her biological father? One can only hope…
-Stuck Funky
Thanks to TFHackett for allowing me the opportunity to guest host! While it’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to keep the (father of) Stuckfunky torch burning on a daily basis I’m glad that fans have a place to trade barbs on a daily basis (I was thinking that final comment thread would hit 700 comments on the old SF site). To the readers of the old site (way back to the blogger years), thanks for your years of readership! Once the stats started going up, I figured it was only a matter of time before the C&D rolled in. (I sure wasn’t expecting the second one). If you’ve only been following this blog for the past year, thanks for putting up with my jibberish. You may hear from me again. Regular programming will resume tomorrow…I promise.
Alterior Motives
The exposition on awesome continues as we learn that the move back to Westview is more than just a broken dream…it’s two broken dreams. Why two? Well from the counter of Montoni’s, Darin will be financing Jessica’s documentary (an painful digging into the past)…and the second broken dream? It would appear that all the research Jessica needs conveniently sits in a small file box in Les’ office…for it was Les who wrote a book about the murder of John Darling in his first of many futile attempts to secure a book deal. I’d like to see the look on his face when his co-opted material gets Jessica the regional Oscar. Speaking of painful digging into the past, I suspect a bit of revisionist history…as it would appear that Jessica was the popular cheerleader and not at all a member of the AV club.
-Stuck Funky
Why Darin and Jessica made it back to the city in ohio called westview, thanks.
Like the way a screenwriter hits plot points like a grocery list, or how a baseball player touches all four bases while recording what is accepted as a run, our story arc checks all the fun boxes that make FW what it is. Smirk? Check. Thorough research? Check. ‘Cute’ punchlines? Not yet. Today’s milepost: exposition placed on stilts as high as the moon. In honor of such eloquence, this humble author will do the same…that is to say, put this post on stilts, too. Rather than succinctly say he saw the layoff coming and therefore took the lead parachute, Darin mentions that the writing on the wall was in fact done by hand; pausing in the middle to explain to us what he is doing with his jittery, withdrawal-addled hands. Such a scenario begs the observation: of course he took the offer, the handwriting on the wall said “we’re letting you go with this small severance – unless you go to rehab.” Would he have cleaned himself up? With that cocaine happy MBA degree of his? I think not. The encouragement is welcome, but also confusingly returned with nonsensical jibberish about how that won’t help feed his five dollar per day latte habit sold at starbucks. Speaking of which, thanks for feeding that habit, Les. Why not head over to Montoni’s with a box of rum balls next? Sure, Darin’s habit began innocently as a way to get face time with his boss and fit in at the office, but such efforts to parlay favor didn’t pay off…and now Darin is left holding the coffee bean bag…that sweet, sweet bag full of coffee.
Son of Stuck Funky 
