273

Unenviable
Posted on November 5, 2023 by David M Willis

273 thoughts on “Unenviable”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “yeah, my parents are totally the boner killers”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      I mean, idk what parents are boner GROWERS, I guess

      Ego from GotG2?

      1. Nono

        I mean if they have a hot tub and get you free tickets to baseball games, I guess?

      2. CallynD

        Stifler’s Mom. Depends whose boner though.

      3. Ryan

        For Mike, anybody’s mom and a nickel was all it took.

      4. TulipKitten

        Morticia and Gomez Addams.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          ooo, yes!

        2. Lars

          For all versions of Wednesday they were boner killers as well.

        3. Lars

          hmm. I’m Lyle now. Interesting.

      5. darkgloomie

        I hear Stacy’s mom has got it going on.

        1. Felian

          Cursed that i’m not the only one with that song stuck in my head.

      6. Furie

        Extensive research on your question has lef me to a lot of acronyms ending in I.L.F.

      7. Decidedly Orthogonal

        You may not like the answer, but the truth is:

        ALL OF THEM

        The proof is in the uh… pudding. ? They wouldn’t be parents otherwise.

        1. J.Gawain

          Adoptive parents would like a word about this.

        2. Decidedly Orthogonal

          True. And my intent was not to exclude adoptive, foster, etcetera parents. Love is love. While I am skeptical about how many of them don’t have sex, I’m even more skeptical that any have never either grown, or caused to grow, a

          bo – ner.

        3. Felian

          Foster parents
          Step parents
          Conception by Artificial Insemination (including the DIY cup method)

          We are in the future! Sex is no longer necessarily required to create children!

          And everyone who has children in some way or another (taking legal and/or factual social responsibility for them) is a parent 🙂

        4. Felis

          Well, one could argue that with the exception of Foster parents, all the other types have generally tried the natural method before going with those methods, so the bo-ner thing still applies…

    2. Angel

      i’m sure it’d be equally awkward in the other direction like “oh we want grandchildren immediately” but at least lucy cooling off could lead to them having a more serious discussion about whether she actually thinks it’ll work out long term

  2. DarkoNeko

    huh, i was sure there’d be a scene change but look like they’re talking about it after all

    1. Leorale

      The ship limps onwards.

    2. PB

      I for one am pleased that they’re choosing to talk this out even if I’m not sure this is going to last. Anyway, let’s see what my avatar is now.

      1. PB

        Hmmm. Let’s see what else I can get.

        1. PB

          Okay, one more try.

        2. PB

          There we go!

        3. clif

          Good choice.

          Having achieved Sal, I could quit, but I haven’t yet achieved Jennifer or BJ cat. So I’ll make 8 attempts today.

        4. clif

          one

        5. clif

          Ethan was a repeat from back on my 6th try, a few days back.

        6. clif

          Joyce again.

          Try 3

        7. clif

          Dorothy was a repeat of the 3rd gravitar in my list as well as being try 3 this time. If that repeated for 4 you would be looking at Danny, so probably not.

        8. clif

          Dina was my 16th gravitar acquired this time around, but no complaints. You can never have too many Dinas.

          On to the next one.

        9. clif

          Jennifer acquired (yay!) and so we’ll return to Sal and continue the search for BJ cat next time.

    3. Angel

      and then in comes jen to see whether or not she’ll make the situation worse or not lol

  3. elfroyalty

    Lucy i am so sorry honey but we all knew that a hairbrained scheme wasn’t going to solve racism :(((

    1. Vanessa

      Such a dumb idea, I hope they both learn something from its failure but doesn’t look like it.

      1. Warcodered

        The lesson is don’t involve them, nothing good will come of it. The only person who can fix that situation is his mom and she’s not even aware of it.

        1. Needfuldoer

          It doesn’t seem like she’s unaware, it’s more like vehement denial.

        2. Kelibath

          That or she’s perfectly happy with it as is.

    2. Nono

      But what about…. TWO hairbrained schemes?

      1. Chris Phoenix

        We had hairbrained scheme, but what about second hairbrained scheme? (Hobbit meme)

    3. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

      Or Narcissistic Personality Disorder

    4. eh, whatever

      hare-brained, like a jackrabbit

  4. NGPZ

    She’d be undesirable to Linda even if she were able to recite the whole constitution by heart.

    In truth, the only way to pass the Linda-cy Test is to show a white skin. (-_-)

    1. Nono

      Always wondered which Linda would disapprove less of; Walky dating a non-white woman, or a white man.

      And how much she’d explode if it was a non-white man.

      1. Jay

        We might still find out! Danny and Walky can’t date because they’d both just be thinking of Sal, and IIRC Walky burned his bridges with Ethan at Halloween… who else is left of the masc side of the non-heterosexuals?

        …Asking Linda to choose between Asher and Booster as a partner for Walky would be hilarious ?

        1. Nymphie

          I would go for Jacob and see if she backpedals once she learns his family background.

      2. NGPZ

        A non-white man? I will sacrifice a goat to Emperor Willis to make that happen!

      3. Ana Chronistic

        or if Walky transitioned…?

    2. Angel

      well, i know some younger ppl might date specific ppl just to spite their parents, but other than sitcoms and culture/social obligation, i don’t rly see walky to ever be the type to be enthusiastic like “youre so great i wanna introduce you to my parents”

  5. Mym

    Lucy is doing literally all of the lifting-heavy and light- in this relationship.

  6. Sirksome

    Why would you ever think a fake girlfriend plan would work though?

    1. UrsulaDavina

      Sitcom logic?

      1. Derek

        I hate sitcom logic so goddamn much

        1. Mym

          (Audience laughter)

    2. bwooom

      Walky and Lucy are very, very silly people.

    3. RassilonTDavros

      The only way to reason with someone as bullshitty as Linda is to use applied bullshit, maybe?

    4. NGPZ

      Because Dumbing of Age is slowly becoming an ecchi manga. :p

      1. DarkoNeko

        one word : slipshine

      2. Wraithy2773

        Slowly?

    5. Angel

      if amber was genuinely terrible it could’ve worked, but if anything it usually backfires irl i’d imagine if anyone’s ever done so, like “oh you are not old/responsible enough to be dating anyone” but usually as teens that’s a bit diff than being in college (well, being 18-19 still counts as a teen but if ur living in a dorm room parents would assumedly have less control of your day to day life)

    6. furubatsu

      As “mature” as Lucy is (relative to Walky), it’s been established she’s a lot like Jennifer in the sense that she seems to think TV is reflective of real life (Jennifer thinks that High School popularity is as important at it is portrayed, and Lucy sees herself as the awkward but not-like-other-girls-but-relateable-to-every-girl Heroine of a Disney Channel movie who just needs her time to shine at the Fundraiser for homeless orphans or whatever) mixed with Walky *also* using television as a guide to life, their plan could’ve been worse

      1. clif

        Details of the worse plan please.

        Takes notes for reasons.

        1. furubatsu

          Off the top of my head, trick Linda into admitting she’s a racist by having Lucy and/or Walky act more “stereotypically black” to egg her into saying something incriminating and then hvmave her face her prejudice by the end of her visit.
          B. Lock Linda and Lucy in a broken elevator for a day where by the end Linda learns that their not so different after all/Lucy’s alright etc.
          C. They have Lucy break the law for Walky to put her on the same level as Amber.

      2. Bryy

        On the subject of Jennifer, I have zero sympathy for her whenever she talks about the Walkertons in a negative light because she actually loves being their “child”. Jennifer LOVES to play the “I have trauma because your racist parents love me” card, but in reality, she loves it.

  7. DailyBrad

    I am kind of glad people really jumped the gun yesterday. Not like I think these two are in for the long haul, exactly, even if I do like them, but it’d have been a really lame ending for things.

    1. HueSatLight

      with a crush that starts from an offhand comment an unpleasant situation like what she experienced can take all the shine off him. I didn’t expect her to dump him right away, but she may be rethinking everything over the next few days (all of 2024) and even him being fully communicative with her might not be enough.

      1. Kelibath

        And he’s in the weeds, shut down, and self-absorbed right now. As he would be, processing this amount of trauma and revelation. But he NEEDS to step up for her regardless for this to work. Can he?

  8. Schpoonman

    Willis, my god, that pun.

    1. True Survivor

      A geology pun in the alt-text? That took stones.

      1. Schpoonman

        How dare?

        1. Laura

          How dare he *soil* his own good name? I knew this relationship was *rocky*, but this is *core*-able!

      2. HueSatLight

        for peat’s sake

      3. Jon S.

        Such talent should mever be taken for granite, even if you think he’s full of schist.

        1. Kitschensyngk

          My sediments exactly.

      4. Reltzik

        Geology puns aren’t hard as long as you keep the pun train moving. As the old saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no Mohs.

      5. Kitschensyngk

        He’s got a lot of crust to make that gag.

        1. clif

          Come on, it’s not Willis’s fault.

        2. shanunu

          This is the worst one here, you almost took me out

        3. Ed Callahan

          It made me quake.

        4. Morleuca

          sounds like a job for Chert Debitage, Geology Mole!

  9. Grimey

    Is it…Weird that I’m a little perplexed by the fact that Lucy is talking to Walky in Panel 3 like she isn’t talking to herself, really? Walky at no point has ever pushed for them to have sex…So…Who is this ‘not tonight’ for? Really? Like it’s for Lucy herself, and that means she is literally talking to herself for a second there. Not tonight because things have become more complicated.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I don’t think it’s that weird for someone to say something mainly for their own benefit, especially in a story that doesn’t have internal monologues where you might still want to convey the specific thing a character is thinking.

      1. Vanessa

        But Walky and Lucy are very silky people. She has a LOT of internal dialog going on and barely registers other people sometimes.

        1. clif

          Walky and Lucy are very silky people? Underwear is not destiny.

          Or something.

      2. Jo_cubstar

        Yeah, I think that’s kind of the point… I think she needed to hear herself say that she wasn’t quite ready because of the circumstances

        1. Bryy

          Yup. Bingo.

          But I think she’s still using Walky as projection.

      3. Mym

        We see Lucy’s internal monologue. We did earlier in the day

    2. audkitten

      But also, I read her emphasizing “not tonight” as a lead-up to a break-up. The break-up won’t happen in this conversation, but it’s coming soon. Spending the night together was something she really really wanted, and in the face of Linda’s actions she’s realizing that as much as she likes Walky, his parents are more trouble than Walky is worth. Walky didn’t defend her, and she might not have picked up on it just yet — I personally would still be reeling from Linda’s words — but in the next few hours or days she’s going to realize he kept his mouth shut. That’s when the break-up will happen. “Not tonight” means something is very very wrong, she feels icky, and she’s starting to distance herself from him.

      1. Nathan

        Interesting! I don’t read it that way at all, kind of the opposite really.

      2. thejeff

        “Not tonight” seems clearly and obviously to mean “no sexytimes tonight”, not “I’m going to break up with you, but not tonight”. Maybe she’ll move in that direction but there’s no sign of it yet.

        Honestly I’m still kind of puzzled by how many people think that a) she’s upset he didn’t defend her rather than both of them being upset by Linda’s behavior and b) think that she’d be absolutely right to dump him over it.

        Like this is an entire abusive family dynamic and while that’s a thing it’s fair to walk away from if you can’t handle it, it really is blaming the victim to portray it as Walky’s fault.

        But somehow we can’t see Walky as the victim in any of this. Maybe because of how his coping strategies manifest?

        1. MM

          I don’t know. The delay before “yet” seems a little ominous when she was champing at the bit when they hung out with Danny.

        2. Li

          Seconding that “not tonight” by itself would have read very differently to me from “not tonight. Not… yet.”

          Dunno if Lucy is specifically thinking “not ever, because I’m going to break up with you”, but I’m not sure that’s what audkitten meant either.

          imho “not yet” is Lucy acknowledging that she doesn’t currently want to sleep with Walky at all, and that something will have to change before she does. Maybe she has a specific change in mind (Walky seems to have interpreted her “not yet” as being about his parents), but maybe not.

        3. Li

          I can see Walky as “the victim in this” while still recognizing that his actions are hurting Lucy and that that sucks for Lucy.

          It would be totally fair of Lucy to not enjoy not being stood up for to Walky’s parents, but imho it’s less that he didn’t stand up for her in the moment and more what’s happening in this scene right now, where his parents aren’t present and Walky is just not picking up on any of Lucy’s cues. He’s been very flat-affect for both this and the last strip, not offering either physical or verbal comfort, and his response to Lucy saying “I’m sorry, I know I was excited about sleeping with you before but not after today,” was “hey, I warned you about my parents.”

          Again: understandable that Walky isn’t handling any of this very well. But also understandable if Lucy doesn’t love that he protested about having warned her instead of, say, asking her if she’s okay.

        4. thejeff

          “Geez, Walky’s all flat-affect after a rough experience with his abusive parents. Guess that means he just doesn’t care about Lucy.” Couldn’t possibly be that he’s more hurt and bothered by it than she is, because he’s vulnerable to their tactics and he’s in no emotional state to offer comfort or anything but his basic coping mechanisms?

          This is what I mean when I talk about seeing Walky as the victim here. You say you can, but then immediately turn to critiquing him for not picking up her cues and offering her comfort. Why isn’t she seeing how it effected him and offering him comfort?

        5. Li

          Yikes, my dude, that is a lot of things I didn’t say.

          I “immediately turned” to critiquing Walky because I was responding to you complaining about people’s critiques of Walky. I was trying to explain the other side here: how it’s possible to recognize Walky as an abuse victim while still seeing his effective treatment of Lucy as not great for her.

          I’m not saying Walky is a terrible person??

        6. thejeff

          Sorry. I guess I read too much into it.

          I still don’t see how your response is actually showing that other side. I guess if you meant “Here’s how Lucy could be completely misreading what’s going on with Walky”?

        7. Li

          I mean, it’s not misreading him. Because it doesn’t have anything to do with Walky’s motivations. Something can be a valid, understandable trauma response and still suck for the people around you to experience.

        8. Kelibath

          Fully agree with your reading and can attest from experience that being worried someone’s son can’t tell when their parent is being toxic or mistreating you is absolutely torment. Reacting appropriately to that treatment can cause pushback from the family very easily if your partner doesn’t stand up for you and point out their initial cause. Without that, you get to a point where, even if you can explain your own issues via new information – in my case ND diagnoses to the point I may not have been aware of how things impacted on the rest – they have never been taken to account or made to consider their own portion of causality and so the narrative of “you used to be so difficult” is just impossible to get away from. Lucy is managing to not rise to the occasion and knows what’s up so isn’t reacting out of pain and confusion in the same way, but she’s definitely still going to internalise the criticism if she’s around Linda too long, and with hindsight in her place I’d probably want to restrict contact or withdraw when Linda started up, at best. Which again, needs Walky to be on side to work. But I feel badly for Walky in this situation, too. He’s only just matured enough to realise his parents aren’t ideal in the first place; he almost certainly isn’t catching every aggression, whether micro or macro. And he’s pretty much guaranteed neurodivergent which can cause “inappropriate” effect replies all on its lonesome without also being shellshocked and on the back foot on top. But there’s nothing wrong with Lucy being concerned about where this is going.

        9. Kelibath

          I probably ought to add that, even if Walky’s not coming over appropriately for how Lucy absolutely needs, that doesn’t absolve him of letting her down, just because it might be partially ND related and definitely trauma and survival-cower related. He could still have *chosen* to show sympathy and regret for not being able to give her a better welcome to the family, and maybe talk about how he wants to do better by her in future. Certainly he didn’t need to object and go on the defensive when she pointed out how she’d been hurt. He’s acting as if it’s all impacting on him hardest, and while that’s an understandable first impulse with the load dropped on him in such a short space of time, it’s not true. Lucy’s been hurt just as well.

        10. Mark

          +1

      3. Morleuca

        Walky doesn’t really have the tools to defend her. He managed to barely defend Sal, which caused him to physically remove himself from the situation in terror, and his defence of Amber was part of a bit, so he could step back from himself a tiny bit. But he’s been conditioned not to cross his mother on certain things, and he is aware that there are consequences of crossing her. First goal is to survive, and do whatever you need to to survive. Once you are in a more secure situation and can escape, you escape. but until then, you have to keep your head down and swallow a lot of shit.

        1. audkitten

          That’s a fair assessment of Walky, and I agree with everyone saying that Walky is a victim. But that doesn’t change that Lucy deserves a boyfriend who will defend her, and Walky isn’t it.

  10. Opus the Poet

    Box-blocked by Walky’s mother, whodathunkit?

  11. UrsulaDavina

    Bellow rock bottom is a molten outer core?

  12. Kyrik Michalowski

    Huh, this is going surprisingly well considering how awful his mother is. For once Charles doesn’t get any of the blame; he tried to be nice even when Linda was being an ass. Though I guess not saying anything doesn’t really absolve him of past fuckups.

    What do y’all think?

    Also, more roulette!

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Nice, but not Sal.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Nope.

        1. Sirksome

          Oooh! Relevant!

        2. Kyrik Michalowski

          Relevant, but not Sal.

        3. Kyrik Michalowski

          One or two more tries tonight.

        4. Kyrik Michalowski

          No Joe, though that is a good shot of him.

        5. Kyrik Michalowski

          Once again, no.

        6. Kyrik Michalowski

          Acceptable for the evening.

        7. clif

          You’ll win eventually.

        8. Mym

          I ruined it for everyone except clif

        9. clif

          You certainly bent the odds.

    2. Mark

      Well, it’s not Walky’s mother Lucy is thirsty for. The Parents are a significant but temporary factor. How long do you figure it will take for her to work this around to thinking of marriage, not as joining Walky’s family, but as rescuing him from them? Sooo romantic!

      1. AK

        The problem is I suspect she wants the experience of joining his family and being loved by everyone, the same way that she really wants the experience of joining a friend group and being universally loved. And it has become crystal clear that that is never going to happen, so she has to figure out what to do with it.

    3. Wraithy2773

      I think that Charles shares more of Linda’s worldview than most people think, he just is happy to let her be the bad cop and be blunt. He’s the sort that thinks she should be more polite and diplomatic in what she says, but not that she’s wrong.

  13. sdrainbow

    man I was really rooting for these two, but not any more.

    y’all need single time.

    1. Mym

      I desperately want Walky to be single for awhile

  14. BBCC

    Yeah, Lucy has a different characteristic that they don’t like.

    1. clif

      It’s the eyes, isn’t it?

      1. Mym

        I bet it’s her jacket

  15. Jo_Cubstar

    Let’s hope this is better

  16. Nono

    I guess ‘not yet’ is better than ‘not ever’…?

    1. Angel

      i think lucy still wants it more than walky so that’s def another convo they need to have (although he hasn’t said anything yet about her grabbing him by the collar comment so maybe he’d be ok with being passive/her taking the lead in the moment but i can imagine it being disappointing if they’re both notequally into it)

  17. Jo_Cubstar

    Am I doing roulette wrong?

  18. Jo_Cubstar

    Oh good. That’s better. I was capitalizing the wrong field lol

  19. VolticEXE

    Glad to see they’re talking about it. Can’t blame Walky for being so non-chalant about this, considering he’s already had to confront alot in the past few years & he also knows they’re at the point where he can’t change his mom.
    Hoping Lucy doesn’t blame Walky for this & we get an outcome down the line that involves Walky cutting himself off from his mother, maybe with screaming her down for the shit she’s done.

    1. clif

      Wait till she’s hired on as his academic advisor.

    2. thejeff

      Not so much really nonchalant as falling back on his deeply ingrained defense mechanism of humor and refusing to let on that it bothers him.

      Like him joking around and “refusing to be traumatized” during the kidnapping.

    3. Bryy

      Lucy is 1000% blaming Walky for this.

  20. Nono

    Wonder how this is going to go down in Lucy’s Twitter feed which had been full of excited Tweets about Walky (and probably including excited tweets about going to meet his parents).

    1. NGPZ

      Given the sliding timescale, Lucy might not even be on Twitter/X anymore for reasons I need not list here 0_0

      1. Needfuldoer

        I like to think Ruttech owns and operates the Dumbiverse equivalents of Clyde’s businesses.

  21. reed

    Lucy, set yourself free of Walky girl. You deserve so much more than a man who’s heart isn’t in it.

    1. audkitten

      Dude, he didn’t even defend her. There’s no coming back from that.

      1. Mym

        And then he just followed up with an “I told you so” instead of an apology

        1. HueSatLight

          instead of even sympathizing

      2. Angel

        dick move but imagine if he was doing ‘4d chess’ as using his parents as an excuse/opportunity to end things lol

        tho i can imagine there’d be couples who’d make it work that rly are into each other like “hey, my parents are terrible ppl but we don’t need to ever all be in the same room together”

  22. Derek

    Walky presenting Amber as his girlfriend with no explanation and then returning with Lucy with equally no explanation is him threatening his parents? in what world? what kind of insane logic is that??

    1. Mym

      I mean, he did dump Amber in front of them, but it was still stupid

      Gravatar twinsies

    2. Bash

      I think Lucy was supposed to look better by comparison.

    3. Angel

      to be fair, it didn’t work out either way, but i imagine he’d still have to deal with tension if linda decided to badmouth sal all night

  23. Schpoonman

    You grabbed him by the shirt and put your mouth on him once before, Lucy, you’ll do it again yet.

    1. Nono

      She’s also put her mouth on his shirt, so really that was just splitting it into two parts.

      1. Schpoonman

        I was actually referring to Lucy sucking off Walky(‘s shirt), I don’t think they’ve even kissed on-screen or at all yet. Does make me wonder why Lucy is so focused on having sex as opposed to that first.

        1. Nono

          Ah right, I got that confused with Lucy jumping on top of Danny and grabbing his shirt. Danny’s gotten more physical action than Walky has from his girlfriend.

  24. Vanessa

    Apparently Amber is not the poison child, the total loser, that Lucy obviously thinks she is! Amazing. That Lucy thought she could manipulate her way into Wally’s parents’ hearts by exploiting and shaming Amber is such red flag. She’s a worse person than all the snooty cool kids she envies so much. And same to Walky for going along with it. That stuffed-down fury Lucy keeps showing … it’s like a supervillain origin story.

    Will Lucy mature from this lesson or double down on the manipulative social climbing? And will it ever work for her?

    1. Mym

      I love your takes on Lucy. Sincerely.
      I foresee a double down

      1. Vanessa

        That would be the funniest option!

        1. Mym

          Truly it will be a comedy of errors. My inner Sarah is so excited

        2. Bryy

          The next Raidah Breakfast is going to be super interesting.

          I predict Raidah will drop Lucy like a stone once Lucy says the Walkertons are bad people. I do not see racism being a dealbreaker for Raidah.

        3. thejeff

          Was there going to be another Raidah breakfast?

          Not like she ever had any interest in Lucy anyway.

        4. Bryy

          I assume there will be another Recruitment Session, yes.

    2. Synnerman

      The lions did indeed eat her face… but she will NOT be deterred!

    3. Daibhid C

      So, when Lucy says “Who’s the absolute worst white girl you could introduce to your parents?” Walky says “I know exactly who!” and we cut to Amber, we’re assuming that in the cut, Lucy says “You mean Amber, right? You had better be thinking about Amber, because I sure am!” and Walky just “went along with it”?

      And I’d take “shaming” Amber more seriously if Amber was even slightly shamed by this, rather than being “Yeah, I’ll piss off Walky’s parents for a free meal, I hate them!”

      1. clif

        Not only did she get a free meal, she got to expound on transformers to a captive audience. WIN-WIN.

      2. Kelibath

        Amber actively dislikes herself. She also sees herself as broken, rather than divergent but equal in various ways. The fact she went along with it wasn’t necessarily a sign of good self image and resilience.

    4. zee

      I mean as a parent I’d take eager over transformers mpreg talk any day. This is a pretty crazy read but I am curious what comic you’re reading. It’s clearly not what I’m reading but it sounds interesting

    5. Wraithy2773

      Except that Amber was in on it and okay with it. It wasn’t a situation where they were exploiting Amber, it was a situation where they went to Amber, laid things out for her, and asked if she was in on it.

  25. Yotomoe

    Amber does have a rockin’ bottom, to be fair.

    1. NGPZ

      And a rockin top!!! ^_^

      1. Yotomoe

        Her middle is pretty rockin’ too now that I think about it.

        1. NGPZ

          That is also true ??

        2. Reltzik

          I wonder if her body type has anything to do with her being so sedentary.

          (No, not a seriously, just going for the pun.)

        3. clif

          No-one who plays roller ball and/or accosts criminals is sedentary. Amazigirl does both, successfully. And yet, by some coincidence, Amazigirl and Amber have similar body types.

        4. Miri

          It’s almost as if there’s something metamorphic going on there…

          (To build on Reltzic’s pun)

        5. clif

          I think we call that a metamorphor in the biz.

  26. Sirksome

    Honestly this whole romance has felt so inorganic. As if Lucy’s marking dating points off a checklist. The whole “threatening your parents with Amber” thing reads as manipulative. I get why Walky feels like even nothing is something with Lucy because it is. Why would you even want to meet his parents after only dating a week? Why would you care about impressing them? You’re not getting married here. You’re not even going halfsies on a Nintendo together. I wish this couple could just relax on this a bit.

    1. Otl1973

      I would agree – I don’t think this has been Willis’s best story. Little of the relationship seems to flow or make sense, and I don’t see where he might be going with it.

      Of course, just like some other relationship issues the commentariat raise, part of the problem is that while their relationship (whatever it may be) has been going on for years for us, in-universe it has only been some weeks. College relationships can proceed pretty quickly and pretty shallowly – at least that was what I remember from quite a few decades ago – so commenters who are expecting depth, especially in a few week relationship seem to be unrealistic.

      But even given that, it does seem that Willis is using this relationship almost entirely to make points about Walky’s parents rather than (also) standing on its own.

      1. Sirksome

        I don’t think it’s a pacing thing. We conveniently have another new relationship to compare them to in Joyce and Joe. Not even a week old, barely past hand holding, and yet each step forward feels organically earned. It doesn’t feel like a check off a list to when they smash. Joe met Joyce’s mom but ultimately dating her was more important than impressing Carol. Because ultimately what’s most important to them is they just enjoy being together.

        Walky x Lucy isn’t just about them just being together. It’s about when will they fuck? It’s about everyone knowing they’re dating immediately after it’s started. It’s about already saying “I love you” after 3 days. It’s about meeting the family and impressing them, or going on group dates with the popular kids.

    2. Angel

      well, she does get all her romance from fiction/fanfics, and had a similar upbringing to joyces but just not as isolated, joyce and walky were together in another iteration so who knows, maybe they’ll be together in a diff time line ;P

    3. Mark

      Maybe that’s the point (or, one of them): the whole relationship is happening because Lucy wants it, and Walky is going along with this because Lucy is pretty and fun and into him and, well, why not?

      Now she’s getting to see that real relationships are hard, not because dragons and evil wizards keep interfering (even when they do), but because of things internal to the relationship. Who knows? she may take a little time to reflect on what she wants and why, and what it costs to get that.

      Not that I think they’re going to completely align, even if they do have a serious talk about Us. The tension is too valuable to the story. But the relationship may become a little more balanced, more “real”.

    4. MM

      To be fair, I ended up meeting my husband’s parents before we were actually dating (although apparently he’d said enough to them for them to know he liked me), and I still wanted to make a good impression. I think it’s a natural instinct when you meet people who are important to other people that matter to you.

      1. Sirksome

        That’s natural yes. The thing here is it seems to matter to Lucy more than spending time with Walky. We know from the start that Walky said his parents were racist and warned Lucy multiple times, yet she insisted on this, concocted a dumb plan with him to try and lower the bar. It’s hard to articulate my thoughts here but it feels like Walky wasn’t nearly as invested in impressing his parents as Lucy is. He just wants a friend to chill with and Lucy wants something else. I don’t know if that’s just sex or a fiancé, or both, but it’s a red flag to me.

        1. thejeff

          At the very least, Walky wasn’t invested in impressing his parents because his parents aren’t worth impressing. And on some level he knows that.

  27. HueSatLight

    Jennifer was right too.

    1. Vanessa

      Yup, he’s an idiot. Got that smug look completely crushed too, poor child.

    2. Bryy

      Ironicallly, she is most like Jennifer here.

  28. Jon

    Genuine question: what is the most actual, enthusiastic interest Walky has ever shown in Lucy?

    We know Lucy has been constantly crazy about him, but the ONLY things I can think of him saying are things like “hey Lucy you’re kind of neat I GUESS we can date, right?”

    Genuinely, what is the most interest Walky has ever shown in Lucy, either emotionally or sexually? Because it feels like he’s been coasting this entire time.

    1. Coatl

      I also keep wondering the same thing, although they share the same hobbies, that is not synonymous with them being perfect for each other, but Walky, although he is a debatable idiot, has not been such a perverse idiot to want to look bad. to Lucy.

      The only thing I can think of is that he is only with her so he doesn’t have to deal with his recent problems.

      1. Mym

        Joyce and Walky also have the same hobbies, yet they get along like oil and water.
        Disturbingly, Joyce /does/ have more chemistry with Walky than Lucy. I don’t ship them, it’s just Lucy and Walky react like noble gases.

        1. Coatl

          The truth is that it is crazy

        2. Vukodlak

          In another universe they’re married with kids.

        3. Coatl

          I suppose that being the multiverse, variants exist but with different results.

        4. Nono

          Attraction, just like many things, can often be contextual.

        5. Needfuldoer

          That Walky could also be a doofus manchild, but he matured and stepped up like Dumbiverse!Walky so far has not.

          Dumbiverse!Walky also hasn’t had to endure the horrors that Walkyverse!Walky did, though.

    2. Bittersweet

      She sucked on his shirt once and he got a bit excited from that. That’s the height of enthusiasm we’ve seen from him lol. That and that one time during their food outing with Raidah, I remember that interaction pleasing me even if I don’t remember what they actually did or said.

      1. Coatl

        The only thing I remember about that outing with Raidah is that Lucy believed her nonsense and that’s why she sees Sarah as something bad, if she’s not a saint, but we’re talking about Raidah and her disgusting poison.

    3. Schpoonman

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/01-sister-christian/solution/

      They have more chemistry than a lot of commenters say, it’s just that Lucy being so intense makes it look like Walky is uninterested. Does anyone reading this comic really think he’d bother dealing with his parents’ garbage if he weren’t invested in the relationship? There’s some doublethink going on, Walky is extremely lazy and unmotivated, but simultaneously is willing to go to such lengths as the Amber scheme in order to make his relationship with Lucy work.

      1. Vukodlak

        The main issue is she’s moving too fast for him. At first I thought she wanted to rush to sex out of the mistaken belief it was necessary to maintain Walkys interest. Thankfully Lucy is just really horny. Hopefully this experience has convinced her to take things slower.

      2. Bash

        He’s mostly responding to the shirt-licking situation being vaguely sexual. That’s not the same as having romantic chemistry with someone. And yes, he’s done all the good boyfriend things like standing up to Lucy’s brother, dealing with his parents, and turning down an ex he really liked. But is he doing that because of his own feelings for Lucy, or because he thinks he ought to act that way? Lucy has built him up in a big way, and in his mind it would be a jerk move to let her down. Even though he has dated people before he’s never had to break up with someone who still liked him. I don’t think it’s something a conflict-avoidant person would handle well.

        1. Schpoonman

          His dialogue when Dorothy suggests he ask Lucy out and his last line in the above link both suggest to me he is attracted to her beyond “She’s pretty and will be into foodplay.” He likely didn’t act on it in part because he wasn’t sure Lucy was into him and because he had two rather whirlwind romances in the last six months and is taking the opportunity to make a friend.

      3. Chubsius

        I’ve been thinking that part Walky’s problem hasn’t been a lack of interest in Lucy, but rather/also feeling unlovable. I believe he’s still has some feelings for Dorothy, but he also definitely thinks their break up was his fault. Or at least, it was because he wasn’t good enough. Walky doesn’t want to be the reason she fails. I also have a distant memory of garbage roof, where Walky and Amber connected through their individual garbage-ness. I remember when they broke up, and Walky said he was more garbage than Amber. And that was before even the kidnapping went down, and before the awfulness at the Halloween party. It would be easier to tell if Walky didn’t deal with his feelings with a ten foot pole, but do feel like that level of deflection and avoidance kind of validates my lack of self-esteem theory. How much of this is Walky just being afraid to be close to someone again? How much of it is the feeling that anyone who loves him will eventually be driven away by his personal or parental baggage anyways? Is he too busy bracing himself for rejection to let himself feel feelings? Is he self sabotaging? Hard to say. More strips will tell. I will say that he’s done his best when Dorothy gave him that pep talk to be confident and a little cocky again.

      4. Mark

        Hear, hear!

    4. HueSatLight

      It feels like he got more distant the more he realized how enamored she was. Some of it is him realizing he doesn’t know how he should be in that situation. That’s the advice he was asking Dorothy for.

      He didn’t feel a spark beforehand, but it’s not unreasonable to give that a little time to see.

      anyways, panel 4 might be the most enthusiastic he’s been with Lucy.

      1. Angel

        i think they’d make better friends, lots of time unrequited/one sided crushes happen in ur friend group, but my friends were fairly affectionate and like hugging and sitting on each others laps, so teenage hormones aside i would’ve been happy just to be friends with a ‘crush’ and not necessarily want to go on a date with them

    5. Bash

      When they first met Lucy said Joyce was “a bisexual version of me” and he found that very funny and endearing because it confirms his pet theory.

    6. Miri

      He broke things off with Amber because he realised he wasn’t over Dorothy and couldn’t therefore commit to her wholeheartedly. He was nice but veeeery firm in shutting Dorothy down when she asked him to come back to her.

      He definitely wants to be a good boyfriend to her. His main concern when she thought he was saying the “L” word and he was being light-hearted about her doing something endearing was that he doesn’t want to hurt her. He recognises that as the “more experienced” relationship partner the expectation is that the onus is kinda on him to not mess things up – not pressurise her, but also not be so passive/checked out she thinks he’s not actually interested.
      …
      For a goof who refuses to acknowledge he has emotions, Walky does actually generally consciously try pretty hard to be a decent, considerate person!! (A sarcastic, irreverent one who will tease people he feels comfortable doing so even if it annoys them – but not somebody who wishes to cause actual distress to another individual.)

      (Which makes the current strip, where he seems to imply that Lucy is near-rock-bottom quality as a girlfriend, all the more frustrating. PLEASE THINK ABOUT THESE MOUTH SOUNDS YOU ARE MAKING!!)

      1. Mr D

        I’m uh-
        I’m pretty sure *Amber* broke things off with Walky when she punched him into a table.

    7. Mark

      He’s had two painful breakups in quick succession, not that long ago. I’d not be surprised if he’s become wary, or is just a bit burnt out by it all.

  29. Cmasta1992

    I want the Lucy slipshine and the gods continue to forsake me

    Should I pray to the false Yoto god?

    1. Schpoonman

      I like to think of fan art less as false deities and more of a pantheon.

    2. Reltzik

      Prayer is a not-infrequent resort to people looking to get Lucky.

      1. Nono

        That tends to result in someone on their knees.

    3. Angel

      it’d prolly be outta character but it’d be amusing if lucy decided it wasn’t worth it and did a one night stand/started hooking up with random strangers to get it outta her system before doing another serious relationship

      1. Mym

        Lucy makes the next “Do-List”

  30. Doopyboop

    Walky, you barely did anything to warn her. Even Jennifer said way more to warn Lucy of what was going to happen. The most Walky did was tell her to run away, and I couldn’t blame her if she thought he was just joking. Also, unfortunately in Linda’s eyes, even the failure-girlfriend who stabbed her daughter’s hand and who’s dad took her baby boy hostage, is better than Lucy, by sheer virtue of skin color. Not better by much since she still hated Amber, but she didn’t exactly tell Walky he was ‘slumming it’ by being with Amber.

    1. Reltzik

      Well, there was also this exchange…

      1. sdrainbow

        huh, going back and reading that…

        that little exchange and the following four or so strips is the most chemistry lucy and walky have ever had

    2. HueSatLight

      also, is “I warned you multiple times” really an appropriate thing to be saying here?

      1. Doopyboop

        I would definitely say it isn’t. Not that Walky necessarily needs to apologize for the fact that his mother is trash (and his dad just enables it), but there’s definitely no sense that Walky recognizes how his girlfriend’s feelings might be hurt by what his mother said. Saying ‘eh I told you so’ is a shitty thing to say, especially because even in the comic linked above by Reltzik, Walky never really verbalizes to Lucy “hey my mom’s a racist”, and then there’s the fact that both of them think the racism can be fixed with shenanigans… the only winning move is not to play, the better thing would have been snubbing Linda and refusing to meet with her. Fuck Linda, man.

        1. HueSatLight

          “I get it, I feel pretty crappy too.” instead of “my dad had to have cum at least once, hur hur hur. … I warned you about them.”

        2. thejeff

          Sure, it would be great if Walky could be open about his feelings instead of retreating behind his defense mechanisms, but that’s a hell of an ask for an 18 year old kid just starting to get free from an abusive family.

        3. Doopyboop

          I’m sensing that you see a lot of yourself in Walky, and that’s great, I see a lot of him too, but you need to remember that people can criticize the actions of a character in a story. Walky is indeed an 18 year old starting to recognize that his family is dysfunctional. He’s also in a relationship and if he wants it to continue, will need to learn how to communicate. I don’t think it’s a hell of an ask for him to ask Lucy how she feels, or verbalize that what his mom said is bullcrap. He did that much for Amber, after all.

      2. Bash

        I think he’s a bit defensive about Lucy implying that today went much worse than expected. It’s probably not the tactful thing but I see where it’s coming from. He tried to set expectations and Lucy was overly optimistic anyway. He didn’t use the word racism but obviously Lucy understood what he was getting at when she said “your dad is…”

        1. Nono

          I wonder if there will be a point where Walky gets tired of needing to ‘defend’ his girlfriend choices to his mom and just goes with the whitest, smartest girl that will also put out without declaring they love them within a week.

        2. Mark

          Indeed. They both have things to apologize for.

    3. Angel

      there are prolly ppl in the extreme sides, like “yeah my parents are a bit racist despite being in an interracial marriage but i don’t think they’re terrible enough ppl to cut them off’, i’m sure sal would def be happier not ever being with her parents again but walky probably would never ‘rock the boat’ that way without something huge pushing him unless he somehow lucked into a successful job like “woops, it seems like it’s halfway around the world, gonna be too hard/costly to visit, sorry about that”

      1. thejeff

        Even Sal hasn’t cut ties with them completely – partly because up to just now she still craved their approval on some level.
        The idea that either of them would or could cut ties in the middle of their first year of college is insane unless things get far worse than we’ve seen. Like, they’d both be not only giving up on college, but homeless as well. With just a few more years until they can realistically be independent and somewhat secure.

        And by the course they’ve both been taking, I can’t see either of them having much contact once they don’t have to. Whether that’s a full confrontational “no contact” approach or just one of finding excuses to drastically limit it.

    4. Chubsius

      In the mildest of defenses, I don’t think Walky truly knew how just bad it would be or feel like. I don’t think he was prepared for it himself. On top of being the golden child all these years, he’d never had a girlfriend before college, and his description of high school mostly involves being shoved into lockers by Jennifer, so I’m not sure he even had any friends for his parents to judge. It’s all unfamiliar ground, and he’s muddling his way through it. The mistakes will be lessons for later. For example, maybe this will eventually lead to him realizing that his dad is not a good/cool dad after all, and that keeping quiet is not the way to deal with Linda.

      1. thejeff

        Nope. If he doesn’t instantly overcome an entire childhood of conditioning from his abusive parents to defend his girlfriend from collateral damage that’s mostly aimed at him, he’s obviously not only worthless but doesn’t care about her at all.

        1. Doopyboop

          I just wanna make it clear that I don’t think Walky is wrong to have not defended Lucy in the moment. It might hurt Lucy’s feelings, but like others have said, this is unfamiliar ground and I can admit perhaps Walky really did underestimate how bad this would be. His failing grades being outted definitely don’t help as suddenly Linda is up and down his ass about grades.

          But from your comment, TheJeff, I just feel the need to reiterate that I don’t think he is worthless, nor that he doesn’t care about her at all. I just agree with HueSatLight that it’s kinda shitty to respond to this situation with ‘well I did warn you’. But hardly worthless. That’s thinking more along the lines of Linda, frankly.

        2. HueSatLight

          you’re putting words in people’s mouths.

        3. Mym

          Sometimes people get way too into the ships they have

  31. Doom Shepherd

    The critical analyses of this relationship entertain me to no end.

    You know, a week after we started dating, my girlfriend threw the TPB of The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes I had loaned her at my head, having found the subject matter offensive. Two weeks after that, she stormed out of my house in a fury after my dad related an anecdote from his youth regarding the necessity of keeping promises to your children, good AND bad, because the story ended in violence done to a teenage boy.

    In two weeks we’ll have been together 26 years. Relationships take work and you WILL make a hash of it at times. What matters is what you do AFTER that. And sometimes you don’t figure that out instantly.

    1. Schpoonman

      I take this comic too seriously at times, but I do think readers go “Are they as instantly in-sync as Becky and Dina? Then they’re destined for failure” a little much.

      1. clif

        so you’re saying Joyce and Walky ARE endgame?

        1. Nono

          No, endgame is Mike/Amber.

          Don’t ask how it works.

    2. Bash

      To be fair that sounds like a more colorful relationship than most folks have.

    3. Mark

      +1

  32. Suet

    Well Boys, We Did It. Racism Is Still Here

    But of course it wouldn’t work, this ain’t a sitcom with an episodic plot.

    1. Bryy

      I’m impressed that Lucy is projecting this hard on to Walky. “Is it because love can’t conquer racism? No, it is because my boyfriend did not fuck his ex on the table”.

    2. Angel

      Even if linda ‘approved’ it’d never be ‘unconditional’, if she can’t do it for her own *daughter*, she’d never do it for her son’s partner, even if he was the ‘golden child’

      1. Mym

        Let’s all be honest: Jennifer is the golden child

  33. DashWallkick

    Lucy: I just thought we could get into some wacky sitcom hijinks and solve the problem.

    Walky: Tchyea, it’s real stupid that racism doesn’t work like that huh.

    1. Angel

      makes me wonderi f walky ever did ‘sitcom hijinks’ during his childhood that ‘worked out’f or him or parents just let it slide as a goofy funny little kid

      1. DashWallkick

        I feel like the whole comic has taught us that Walky could do no wrong up until this story arc.

  34. Nono

    Maybe Lucy can get with someone who’s just as obsessive about their crush as she is.

    Like Carla.

    1. Angel

      the onesided-ness would be a problem, but if anyone else is still single it’d be good for her to have more experience under her belt whether it doesn’t necessarily work out next time too

      (and lol ,everyone seems to like charlie/find her endearing, which is fine as a chara but it’d be kinda hilariously messed up if they did start dating and showed that she was a terrible partner or carla just being disappointed that it was a ‘normal’ relationship versus carla getting a ton of attention, personally i’d rather see a friendship versus anything romantic)

  35. eskimolos

    So I get why many commenters predict the end of Lucy/walky, because it’s the most one sided and cerebral (as in, thought about) of relationships seen so far. I’ll be real that I hadn’t been into amber/walky, that might’ve been from being a reader since roomies and not having considered the characters together because they hadn’t really existed together before DoA.

    The dynamic in most of their plotlines is Lucy has unrealistic expectations, walky is either unaware or goes along with it. I don’t want to generalize as I am too lazy to go back and check all other relationships, but pretty much every other relationship shown in comic has involved clear reciprocal feelings and no imbalance of expectations, as far as I’ve seen? Even Becky and Dina learning how to manage their differing sex drives felt authentic and balanced in both people’s feelings and expectations. The reason people predict walky/Lucy will fail is because Lucy always seems Way More Invested while Walky doesn’t really get it but feels like he should be, this is honestly his effort to be more than he expects of himself and it has been since the start, which is why chilling with amber was his reprieve from this.

    1. Angel

      other than lucy feeling bold and making the ‘first move’ i don’t think walky would’ve asked her out if dorothy hadn’t given him a bit of a push, nothing wrong with friends setting each other up but i don’t think walky ever planned/thought about anything too serious/long term even if he did seem to have ‘stronger’ feelings for dorothy/amber

    2. Lanie

      I really agree with you. I haven’t felt like Walky and Lucy have any chemistry at all, and it makes me uncomfortable how mismatched the feelings are. I really hope they don’t sleep together either, at least not while the two of them are on such different pages emotionally. Their whole dynamic just gives me a mild case of the ick…

      1. HueSatLight

        Does water repelling oil count as chemistry? https://www.dumbingofage.com/count/

        1. Li

          Aw jeez. That is just NOT the reaction you want from your romantic partner when you try to be seductive.

        2. Mym

          Ah yes, that must be the chemical reaction all of the Lucy/Walky diehards are screaming about

        3. Lanie

          If that’s not chemistry then it’s at least magnetism. The negative to negative kind.

    3. Li

      Yep. And it’s been that way since Day 1. The Taco Bell sauce licking and their mutual love of planning a Hijinx (the way they talked about going to have breakfast with Raidah, the initial planning of the plot to introduce Amber to his parents) are kind of all we’ve gotten in terms of “moments where Walky and Lucy seem to be anywhere near the same page relationship-wise”.

      Whatever other ship folks want to assume we are comparing Walky/Lucy to and finding it lacking — most of us aren’t, from what I can tell. There are a few people who liked him better with Amber and a few people who liked him better with Dorothy, but like. I’m comparing this ship to itself. It is failing for me on its own merits. (I’m not invested enough in who Walky or Lucy dates to want them to break up for any reason beyond “Walky doesn’t seem that into her and Lucy deserves better”.)

      I don’t especially care for slow burns tbqh but I can still recognize them, and this isn’t a slow burn so much as “only one of them is even burning”.

      1. Mym

        Exactly this. People accuse me of being desperate for Amber/Walky (I’m WalkyXA study guide) because I want to point out: it is super inappropriate that he hung out with Amber while she was in just a short nightgown while ignoring Lucy’s texts. Like, it doesn’t matter that it’s not sexual, it matters what Lucy’s opinion would be in a monogamous relationship with Walky. We don’t get to see that because Walky likely never told her. This was also immediately after he took Amber to dinner in their ridiculous scheme…but the optics are rough.

        Idk, I know this is called “dumbing of age,” but it feels like Walky is dropping the ball.

        They have had about 2 moments of actual chemistry, but a girl licking a heterosexual teen boy’s shirt is going to get a rise out of him. The other example we have is them both being excited to have Amber go to dinner with his parents

        Maybe this seems rambly, but it is lol. If they end up together, it’s likely because Lucy is too desperate to get laid, but then what?

        1. Li

          Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

          Man, it’s been two full years since that Taco Bell moment. Two full years in which we have not only not seen any other displays of spontaneous sexual interest in Lucy from Walky, we’ve seen him literally thank Jennifer for cockblocking them.

          I think the best possible interpretation here is that Walky’s just very demisexual, which — as a gray-ace person myself — I could get behind? It would be pretty consistent with his previous two relationships. But… well… even if that IS how Walky’s sexuality works, I’d say signs so far are pointing to it not working here. Just like a hypothetical bisexual Joyce could still not be attracted to Becky, a hypothetical demisexual Walky could still just not be attracted to Lucy.

          In Part II of my response, I’m gonna dig into Walky’s ill-spent morning with Amber, because you raise a good point and I wanna ramble more about it haha but this is already long.

        2. Adam Black

          Or he could just be Not that into her.

          I dont think shes into him either, merely an idea of him. which oddly wasnt pierced by hanging out woth him for months.

        3. Li

          I mean, I literally said he’s not that into her. Him being demi would not preclude him not being into Lucy. There’s been a fair bit of “Walky could come to love Lucy over time”, and I was trying to allow for that, but even in the middle of it I pretty much argued myself out of it. In terms of a written narrative, I think we’ve just spent too much time watching Walky not be into Lucy with no real sign of his feelings even starting to change. It took two years to get from Taco Bell Sauce Lick to telling his dad he “really does like her”; and in that time, Lucy got to “I love you, too.”

          I also said on yesterday’s comic that I think Lucy is more in love the idea of being in love than with Walky specifically. Can’t be emphasized enough that this is her first relationship and she’s been very excited about Having A Boyfriend. She’s attracted to Walky, sure, but I think she’d be just as happy dating any halfway decent boy.

        4. Li

          So: Walky’s morning with Amber.

          There are definitely layers to this, imho. Unfortunately, most of those layers are pretty bad for the Lucy/Walky ship.

          First: There’s the perspective Dorothy expresses, that Walky spent the morning in his underwear with an ex-girlfriend.

          We, the audience, know that they were playing Mario Kart. We know they weren’t making out. We know that Dorothy’s description of the situation makes it sound worse than it really was.

          At the same time: I agree, Lucy would’ve been upset, and I agree that Walky probably didn’t tell her. If true, that’d be… kind of bad? Still being friends with your ex is totally fine and normal, but hanging out with your ex behind your current partner’s back is… just not great? As a general rule? Everything gets worse once you’re doing it behind your partner’s back.

          Second: Even with omniscient knowledge of the situation, Lucy wouldn’t exactly be wrong to be upset.

          Did Walky go to Amber to cheat on her? No, of course not. But he sure did go to Amber to pretty explicitly avoid her.

          One of the features of toxic monogamy is the belief, pretty deeply rooted in American culture at least, that your romantic partner always needs to be not only your best friend, but basically your only friend; that every bit of your emotional intimacy should be reserved for one person, and that having friends you’re just as close to in a different way is automatically a form of emotional cheating.

          I don’t think it’s necessarily terrible that Walky went to someone else* to decompress after having dinner with Linda and Charles. I just think it’s… kind of a bad sign for his relationship with Lucy that he considered going to her, but apparently didn’t feel like he could get the kind of support he needed from her.

          Like, if Lucy could have heard Amber ask Walky “Can’t you go do nothing with Lucy?” — well — I think she would have been hurt.

          Third: Walky didn’t just spend the morning with an ex. He spent the morning ignoring Lucy’s texts.

          And I dunno, maybe I’m pulling this out of my butt, but Lucy strikes me as the kind of person for whom The Silent Treatment would be a pretty severe form of punishment. You know? She’s a people-pleaser. If she knew Walky had been ignoring her texts on purpose instead of just being busy or forgetting his phone at home, I feel like that would probably reinforce existing anxieties. If you’ve ever worried that people might secretly not like you very much, one incident like that can seemingly confirm your fears.

          * NOTE: while writing this sentence, it sure did occur to me that Walky is pretty low on friends right now. A few months ago, maybe he would’ve gone to Billie (because she would’ve been Billie, not Jennifer) instead of Amber, and maybe he would’ve actually talked through his feelings instead of playing Mario Kart in silence — but he doesn’t have that kind of relationship with Jennifer. And, of course, Dorothy very recently hit on him, so she was obviously not an option. It’s easy to say “Walky should’ve gone to a truly platonic friend instead of an ex”, but the boy really doesn’t have any right now, does he.

          And I guess in Part III, I’m gonna expound on this last bit, and how it IS genuinely understandable for Walky to have sought out someone Not Lucy to deal with (or not deal with) his feelings after that dinner, even though it’s also sad and not a great sign of the health of their relationship right now??

        5. Li

          Because it IS understandable, and part of WHY it’s understandable is because this is also hurting Lucy.

          Like. Shades of Joyce reaching out to Joe through texts when she went home to her parents for the weekend with Becky, right? Joyce didn’t feel like she could complain about her parents to Becky. She reached out to Joe instead because Joe had been through a divorce recently enough to remember how it felt but long enough ago that Joyce felt like she could ask without causing him additional pain.

          If Walky feels similarly like he can’t really complain about his parents to Lucy… yeah, that would be fair. If he feels like he can’t ask Lucy for comfort because he needs to give her comfort — well, I think that’s a not-uncommon problem for men, and we’ve certainly seen that Walky struggles with emotional intimacy even under the best circumstances. You could even argue that it’s what ended his last relationship, and it definitely didn’t help his relationship with Dorothy.

          It’s just… also not a great sign for this relationship, no matter how understandable it is? It sucks for Lucy that Walky sought out emotional intimacy with an ex instead of seeking it out with her. It sucks for Walky that when he tried to imagine decompressing with his girlfriend, instead of behind her back, he couldn’t.

          Like. I think there’s a very real aspect to Walky’s half of this relationship that is performative. He’s playing the role of the Good Boyfriend with and for Lucy. And that role was too much for him on the day in question. He went to Amber because the idea of being with Lucy was fundamentally exhausting.

    4. HueSatLight

      There was imbalance in attraction between Walky and Dorothy. And Walky probably feels kind of messed up about how things went, and hasn’t figured out why. But that experience is shaping how he’s approaching his relationship with Lucy.
      At least best I can guess. Walky jokes more than being earnest with anyone, so it’s hard to be certain.

      1. eskimolos

        It’s true that walky was to Dorothy what Lucy is now to walky, the difference is that Dorothy did actually still have a lot of physical attraction towards Walky, and it was her maturity and reserved, studious nature that explained a lot of the difference in their attitudes. Most importantly, it established what Walky does when he -is- deeply into somebody, both Amber and Lucy have felt more casual, trying things out by comparison, but Lucy still most of all.

        Personally I have still lost my head throwing-toys-at-my-crush level of no chill, even after having around a dozen love interests in my 25 years of meaningful romantic encounters.

      2. Bittersweet

        Dorothy was way more reciprocal to having a toy yeeted at her than Walky is to anything Lucy does.

        Also, Walky/Dorothy is over and in the ground. I firmly believe he’s over her, hence their last interaction (the way he let her down), so using it as an example of a ship surviving endgame isn’t the best argument.

        1. Coatl

          I’m still angry at Walky for allowing Raidah to insult Dorothy and reject her in that carefree way and the blonde was looking for help (I know it wasn’t intentional, but it really pisses me off)

          And despite this,
          Walky/Dorothy is a whim that has not completely disappeared in me as one of my favorites and it really hurts that it is already ancient history.

          I just would like there to still be a healthy interaction between them, despite everything.

  36. WAhydrohead

    I hope Walky realizes that eloping is always an option. The inlaws can always be invited to wherever they end up actually tying the knot. Unless they are horrible too and his fiancee doesn’t want them coming either.

    1. The Jighole Man

      he can always cut the sc*&^ags out of his life the first chance he gets.
      That’s what i did with my mother, and I’m better off for it. (Not doing great, but certainly better than if she was around.)

    2. Bittersweet

      Option #787 for Wally/Lucy ending

      Walky makes a joke about eloping

      Lucy considers it a proposal

      Walky dies immediately from stress

  37. Big Z

    Ah, it’s great watching these two actually developing a relationship where they talk with each other and come to adult(-ish) conclusions.

    1. Bryy

      Sarcasm?

  38. Crytter

    I’ve learned better than try to predict Willis. He’s usually three steps ahead on where the story is going. I’m enjoying the ride.

  39. Becca

    …have Lucy and Walky even kissed? I feel like Lucy has been thinking about jumping straight into going “all the way” when we haven’t seen them engage in any sort of physical intimacy, like, at all.

    1. Yeet

      that’s a good point actually
      I don’t think they’ve done anything other than hold hands

    2. Doopyboop

      I’ve gone through their combined tags and there’s been no kissing, not even a peck on the lips or cheek. The closest we’ve seen is when Lucy was licking his shirt. It is an interesting thing to consider, especially since Lucy is a ‘good Christian’ woman. You’d think she’d be more giddy about their first kiss then their first… making love/having sex/dicky-dooing/what have you.

      1. DailyBrad

        She is also openly horny, going by how she acted towards Danny’s not-entirely-unreasonable cock-blocking. The lick moment shows that feeling is significantly more mutual than a lot of people seem to notice.

        1. Mym

          I mentioned this above, find me a heterosexual teen boy who doesn’t react to that.

  40. David DeLaney

    so this conversation is slowly getting … rock-hard

    –Dave, and yeah, Lucy’s not exactly spathic. compared to, say, Amber

  41. Dot

    Lucy, if his parents are there, it’s not a date

  42. elebenty

    Battery Hens: Unenviable Layers

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