So, when (if?) is Ethan going to connect the dots to the whole Asher helped Blaine and now Mike is dead. How much do the non-4th-wall folks know about his involvement?
I think no one does in-universe. Characters like Sal know his criminal background somewhat, but probably not his connection to Blaine.
I’m guessing no one will figure it out until something happens like Amazi-Girl deciding to investigate him out of concern for Ethan, or maybe Faz showing up and it turns out he knew about them working together.
I don’t think almost any of them would have enough to go on. Like some characters may know about Asher’s family being Korean mob, or would know Blaine had Korean mob ties, they’d need to know both to have a meaningful chance of making a connection there.
Beyond that, well, Blaine got killed, either “he reached for the gun” if they want the official account, or he was killed for being a liability. Either way, it’d be pretty easy to assume Blaine acted largely alone since all of that whole business was for his own personal gain. The Korean mob themselves, whom Asher seems to try to maintain some distance from anyway, could not have possibly given less of a shit if Amber goes to college or not, so unless someone had anything more concrete, it’s easy to pin the blame on Blaine and Ross alone, plus the rando muscle they had on hand.
Icalasari
> they’d need to know both to have a meaningful chance of making a connection there.
So… Faz? His mom clearly has some ties to the gang (I mean hell, didn’t Blaine openly discuss plans around her without her flinching?) and he knows about Blaine, so it’s very possible
Freemage
I’m taking it as given that Faz’s mom is part of one of the families in the mob, hence Blaine getting inducted (if only as a flunky). Most organized crime operations tend to be ethnic monocultures; marrying in is one of the few ways you can get even an entry-level position if you’re not the right ethnicity.
So, yeah, Faz may be able to make the connections, or at least enable someone else to. It would be interesting for the suggestion made upthread about Amber investigating Asher to turn up the overall connection.
or Ethan Figures out Blaine and MIke were murdered, and Asher Knew.
if he didnt order both.
staszu13
Asher certainly didn’t order Mike’s death. Blaine, it’s pretty well established he did so, likely with Grandpa Park’s blessing. The one person who might suspect would be Amber, though she wouldn’t have a smoking gun in her dad’s case and, perhaps, wouldn’t be too inclined to pursue one.
LiamKav
Wait, was it established that Blaine ordered Mike’s death? I thought that he just died from his injuries. By the time he was in the hospital Blaine wasn’t in a position to give orders.
Smallmoon
Pretty sure Asher either delivered Grandpa Park’s order to silence Blaine, or issued it himself.
Michael Steamweed
Methinks he was the middle-man on the order. Does Asher have any reason himself to have had Blaine murdered?
Clif
Blane was blackmailing him into helping set up the abduction.
zee
For the love of- nobody killed Mike, where did this even come from? He jumped from like two – three stories up to tackle Blaine, Blaine passed the saving throw and Mike plummeted straight down. Based on the shot of him falling he landed on his head, or at least his neck. That’s enough to kill somebody just fine, no mob execution needed.
Seriously why is the idea that Mike was killed and/or Asher was involved in his death so widely accepted? Even just going by the text that was from before he was blackmailed into helping
thejeff
Amber speculated on him being a target right after Blaine was killed, but nothing seemed to come of it and it wasn’t until later that he actually died.
Icalasari
Honestly, I forgot and misremembered it as Blaine ensuring Mike would go down with him
Most reaction, and biggest surprise , would be Joyce.
Real Biggest Surprise would be Mike again.
He’s outside the window spying on his old life from witness protection and Sal or Amazigirl opens it to sneak out, knocking him dead.
Talk about Double dipping traumas. Walky would put his foot in his mouth with an “i told you so”
staszu13
Willis won’t do it twice? Oh you mean like feeding Mike to the Martians in the Walkyverse, then Blaine accidentally on purpose dropping Mike to his death?
Azhrei Vep
Yeah, but unlike Dina, most of Mike’s character happens after he dies, so it barely counts.
Adam Black
Deaths in “Its walky” dont count , as they are Undone.
Apparently “Parties by Becky” is a very potent trigger. Maybe when this time everyone’s still there the next day it’ll resolve his whole trauma! (Nah.)
SARAH IS DOING HER BEST and I’m glad she’s self-dealing because seriously sdgkjd I vote she carves out a corner for herself with the chillest. Let the others have their drama.
He’s traumatized and he can’t let it go. Everything is going to come back to Mike’s death with him.
Mr.Morningstar
Which is fair, my problem with ethan is he also blames Amber and has treated her like absolute dogshit when she was hurt and traumatised just like him maybe even worse considering it was her dad who killed him.
honestly, at this point he’s in the “you’re getting disinvited” stage; there’s being a downer, then there’s being a PERPETUAL downer. This isn’t acceptable grief, it’s being obnoxious and hostile toward people that really don’t have a good reason to have you being that way towards.
I have to wonder if Jacob and/or Asher brought him to bring him out of the Emo Shell and are now regretting it. Is Jacob also discreetly looking for an exit?
To be fair, pretty much all the characters should by now, given how much crap has happened. If I’d experienced that amount of trauma in that small of a span of (in-universe) time, I’d put it in the “win” column if I managed not to end up catatonic.
I’m not convinced Booster is ‘better than nothing’. Booster’s motives for helping others are suspect, and Booster is nowhere near as good at this as Booster believes Booster to be.
I meant has anyone had that experience in real life.
Yumi
I’d guess most of us have been fortunate enough to not have had someone close to us be murdered. I have had some secondhand knowledge of it– when I was student teaching, one of my students (17 year old) was murdered by her stepfather. Her best friend was also in my class. Several months after, the topic of therapy came up in a class discussion, and the girl said that it had helped her.
Bash
Damn that’s sad, sorry 🙁
I wasn’t necessarily thinking of murder, I’m just curious about the ratio of helpful/unhelpful therapy that people here have experienced. I went for a while because I thought it was “the right way to handle shit” but I didn’t get a lot of utility out of it.
zee
If we’re talking therapy in general it helped with my garden variety chronic and occasionally suicidal depression and crippling anxiety, but the medication those appointments got me prescribed helped more. It’s not a cure all, things more complex than depression and anxiety require a specialist, and there are cases like Amber and her DID where education just hasn’t caught up to reality yet so it might do more harm than good. Maybe she could see a psychiatrist though about getting a prescription for her anxiety. I definitely think Ethan could benefit from seeing a grief specialist. Fortunate enough to have never required one yet (knock on wood) but I hear they’re helpful
Yumi
Therapy in general has been helpful to me with my various anxiety/depression/trauma struggles, but that’s with my current and previous therapist; with the therapist I had before my last one, I honestly felt she made things worse. I’m glad I ditched her and kept trying, but I understand it can be a stressful and expensive gamble for people.
193 thoughts on “Hosted”
darkoneko
just a bit
Needfuldoer
As a treat.
darkoneko
also …Ethan, what the fuck, seriously
Stevonnie
SERIOUSLY.
Thag Simmons
it isn’t unexpected, but still
Dante
He had to make the Goth Comment. He had to =_=
Wraithy2773
I mean, there’s Emo/Goth comments, and then there’s this. This is more screaming “get this man a fucking therapist”…
staszu13
And Asher reacts by discreetly looking for the exit
Azhrei Vep
Ethan communicates exclusively in cries for help and rejections of said help these days, what else did we expect?
Kyrros
So, when (if?) is Ethan going to connect the dots to the whole Asher helped Blaine and now Mike is dead. How much do the non-4th-wall folks know about his involvement?
ktbear
Its FINE! Blaines dead too and theres really no one else to rat Asher out. Hes just that kid who set the cops on Sal to everyone else.
Masumi
No one – except for drunk!Asher.
Icalasari
Oh
Oh god
The drama llama in me NEEDS this
Doctor_Who
I think no one does in-universe. Characters like Sal know his criminal background somewhat, but probably not his connection to Blaine.
I’m guessing no one will figure it out until something happens like Amazi-Girl deciding to investigate him out of concern for Ethan, or maybe Faz showing up and it turns out he knew about them working together.
DailyBrad
I don’t think almost any of them would have enough to go on. Like some characters may know about Asher’s family being Korean mob, or would know Blaine had Korean mob ties, they’d need to know both to have a meaningful chance of making a connection there.
Beyond that, well, Blaine got killed, either “he reached for the gun” if they want the official account, or he was killed for being a liability. Either way, it’d be pretty easy to assume Blaine acted largely alone since all of that whole business was for his own personal gain. The Korean mob themselves, whom Asher seems to try to maintain some distance from anyway, could not have possibly given less of a shit if Amber goes to college or not, so unless someone had anything more concrete, it’s easy to pin the blame on Blaine and Ross alone, plus the rando muscle they had on hand.
Icalasari
> they’d need to know both to have a meaningful chance of making a connection there.
So… Faz? His mom clearly has some ties to the gang (I mean hell, didn’t Blaine openly discuss plans around her without her flinching?) and he knows about Blaine, so it’s very possible
Freemage
I’m taking it as given that Faz’s mom is part of one of the families in the mob, hence Blaine getting inducted (if only as a flunky). Most organized crime operations tend to be ethnic monocultures; marrying in is one of the few ways you can get even an entry-level position if you’re not the right ethnicity.
So, yeah, Faz may be able to make the connections, or at least enable someone else to. It would be interesting for the suggestion made upthread about Amber investigating Asher to turn up the overall connection.
Adam Black
or Ethan Figures out Blaine and MIke were murdered, and Asher Knew.
if he didnt order both.
staszu13
Asher certainly didn’t order Mike’s death. Blaine, it’s pretty well established he did so, likely with Grandpa Park’s blessing. The one person who might suspect would be Amber, though she wouldn’t have a smoking gun in her dad’s case and, perhaps, wouldn’t be too inclined to pursue one.
LiamKav
Wait, was it established that Blaine ordered Mike’s death? I thought that he just died from his injuries. By the time he was in the hospital Blaine wasn’t in a position to give orders.
Smallmoon
Pretty sure Asher either delivered Grandpa Park’s order to silence Blaine, or issued it himself.
Michael Steamweed
Methinks he was the middle-man on the order. Does Asher have any reason himself to have had Blaine murdered?
Clif
Blane was blackmailing him into helping set up the abduction.
zee
For the love of- nobody killed Mike, where did this even come from? He jumped from like two – three stories up to tackle Blaine, Blaine passed the saving throw and Mike plummeted straight down. Based on the shot of him falling he landed on his head, or at least his neck. That’s enough to kill somebody just fine, no mob execution needed.
Seriously why is the idea that Mike was killed and/or Asher was involved in his death so widely accepted? Even just going by the text that was from before he was blackmailed into helping
thejeff
Amber speculated on him being a target right after Blaine was killed, but nothing seemed to come of it and it wasn’t until later that he actually died.
Icalasari
Honestly, I forgot and misremembered it as Blaine ensuring Mike would go down with him
Mr.Morningstar
To be fair, Asher also called a hit on Blaine so maybe it balances out???
Kim
Haha! ETHAN! xD
Reltzik
Ethangst strikes again.
someone
Ethan bringing in the Chekhov’s gun question. Who’s gonna die this time?
Based purely on who’d cause the most reactions in the comments, I’m gonna go with Dina. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Adam Black
that means Willis wont do it twice.
Most reaction, and biggest surprise , would be Joyce.
Real Biggest Surprise would be Mike again.
He’s outside the window spying on his old life from witness protection and Sal or Amazigirl opens it to sneak out, knocking him dead.
Talk about Double dipping traumas. Walky would put his foot in his mouth with an “i told you so”
staszu13
Willis won’t do it twice? Oh you mean like feeding Mike to the Martians in the Walkyverse, then Blaine accidentally on purpose dropping Mike to his death?
Azhrei Vep
Yeah, but unlike Dina, most of Mike’s character happens after he dies, so it barely counts.
Adam Black
Deaths in “Its walky” dont count , as they are Undone.
NGPZ
I mean we see saw more than one preview of Dina in future storylines, so no.
darkoneko
…huh. Dina is one year older than me
Amós Batista
Hope that Joyce doesn’t suffer his bitterness so much…
anon
@amos: maybe he’ll be too taken aback by joyce saying fuck to register anything else lol/go blank minded
Amelie Wikström
Apparently “Parties by Becky” is a very potent trigger. Maybe when this time everyone’s still there the next day it’ll resolve his whole trauma! (Nah.)
Adam Black
Maybe the alcohol is poisoned and its a surprise ending for the comic.
anon
well, he’s coping, tho asher doesn’t seem to react, you’d think he’d be concerned about his new bf, guilt aside
Nono
Sarah is trying SO HARD to be cheery and a good host and these TEENAGERS are harshing her vibe
Dara
Strong “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” in Panel 2
Dante
SARAH IS DOING HER BEST and I’m glad she’s self-dealing because seriously sdgkjd I vote she carves out a corner for herself with the chillest. Let the others have their drama.
Agemegos
Why? It’s Amber’s room and Dina’s booze. Why is Sarah in charge?
Needfuldoer
She can pour out of that huge bottle without spilling.
Adam Black
Shes good with a Bat.
Dina appointed Sarah as a Hostess for a party for Becky.
Amber would kick everyone out, if in charge, and Dina is wasted and fucking behind the dinosaur.
Throwatron
she’s just like me fr fr
Clif
You’re wasted and busy behind the dinosaur?
zee
Stronk arms
Amós Batista
I’m impressed, not gonna lie.
Dara
Goddamn, Ethan, rein it in a bit holy crow
I presume there has been no (0) therapy at this point now?
Lumino
Ethan is in the “I’m suffering so everybody else must suffer” phase of pushing people away from him.
Bash
He’s traumatized and he can’t let it go. Everything is going to come back to Mike’s death with him.
Mr.Morningstar
Which is fair, my problem with ethan is he also blames Amber and has treated her like absolute dogshit when she was hurt and traumatised just like him maybe even worse considering it was her dad who killed him.
What’s more he treats everyone like ass too
Clif
It’s part of his charm.
Thag Simmons
That’s a pretty safe assumption.
Mano308gts
honestly, at this point he’s in the “you’re getting disinvited” stage; there’s being a downer, then there’s being a PERPETUAL downer. This isn’t acceptable grief, it’s being obnoxious and hostile toward people that really don’t have a good reason to have you being that way towards.
staszu13
I have to wonder if Jacob and/or Asher brought him to bring him out of the Emo Shell and are now regretting it. Is Jacob also discreetly looking for an exit?
NGPZ
Hosted:
An earthling word used to decribe both parties, and alien parasites such as myself. ^^
True Survivor
Also computer servers – which are, strangely, not the people at Apple Stores who bring you that new device you just ordered.
PS.
I looked but could not find a bean bag or plushie matching Dina’s. Sorry.
Queezle
Ethan needs all the therapy.
Durandal_1707
To be fair, pretty much all the characters should by now, given how much crap has happened. If I’d experienced that amount of trauma in that small of a span of (in-universe) time, I’d put it in the “win” column if I managed not to end up catatonic.
Dante
Closest thing he’s had is Booster. It’s better than nothing but my god, babyboy needs an Actual Pro, stat.
Freemage
I’m not convinced Booster is ‘better than nothing’. Booster’s motives for helping others are suspect, and Booster is nowhere near as good at this as Booster believes Booster to be.
Bash
Question: who here has gotten therapy that actually helped with something like this?
Adam Black
Dorothy did for a Bit. Post witnessing stabbing.
Bash
I meant has anyone had that experience in real life.
Yumi
I’d guess most of us have been fortunate enough to not have had someone close to us be murdered. I have had some secondhand knowledge of it– when I was student teaching, one of my students (17 year old) was murdered by her stepfather. Her best friend was also in my class. Several months after, the topic of therapy came up in a class discussion, and the girl said that it had helped her.
Bash
Damn that’s sad, sorry 🙁
I wasn’t necessarily thinking of murder, I’m just curious about the ratio of helpful/unhelpful therapy that people here have experienced. I went for a while because I thought it was “the right way to handle shit” but I didn’t get a lot of utility out of it.
zee
If we’re talking therapy in general it helped with my garden variety chronic and occasionally suicidal depression and crippling anxiety, but the medication those appointments got me prescribed helped more. It’s not a cure all, things more complex than depression and anxiety require a specialist, and there are cases like Amber and her DID where education just hasn’t caught up to reality yet so it might do more harm than good. Maybe she could see a psychiatrist though about getting a prescription for her anxiety. I definitely think Ethan could benefit from seeing a grief specialist. Fortunate enough to have never required one yet (knock on wood) but I hear they’re helpful
Yumi
Therapy in general has been helpful to me with my various anxiety/depression/trauma struggles, but that’s with my current and previous therapist; with the therapist I had before my last one, I honestly felt she made things worse. I’m glad I ditched her and kept trying, but I understand it can be a stressful and expensive gamble for people.