284

Crucial
Posted on February 22, 2025 by David M Willis

284 thoughts on “Crucial”

  1. NGPZ

    so Raidah basically thinks she’s the ship gatekeeper, got it 9-9

    1. TrueVCU

      Raidah still thinks she’s in some kind of Disney Channel version of high school

      1. Doctor_Who

        I think Raidah thinks she’s one of the Heathers.

        1. James

          She’s right in everything except scale, honestly.

        2. RARD

          Next thing you know she’ll be stocking up on igloo-ger bullets!

      2. Nono

        How many musical numbers are we gonna get before the basketball finals?

        1. True Survivor

          Not enough. Dumbing of Age – the Musical is the theatrical tour de force needed to bring joy to a darkening world.

          Pitch it now, Mr. Willis. Make Winnie Holzman cry tears of envy.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Take my imaginary upvote. And you’re not the only one wanting DoA on the big or little screen. The big problem is going to be getting the right VAs for the speaking parts.

        3. TrueVCU

          The only correct answer is Jeffrey Combs

        4. Needfuldoer

          And/or Frank Welker.

        5. Aquila

          Next step : Dumbing on Ice.

        6. DJTsurugi

          your… OMG… your grav, saying this… with that face! ~<3

      3. Oatmeal Pie

        Right? Raidah comes off like Pizzazz trying to drop a lighting rig on the Holograms because that’s what the plot demands. It’s all too dumb to be realistic.

        And then I remember that “too dumb to be realistic” is kind of the timeline I’m living in.

    2. Thag Simmons

      I would compare this more to a Feudal Baroness trying to play the game of marriage alliances.

      1. TrueVCU

        When you play the game of thrones you win or you die

      2. Archieve

        That or a regular old stalker, Radiahs obsession with Sarah’s friends and now love life gets more creepy by the day.

    3. Jamie

      A port lock.

    4. anon

      i don’t think sarah even cares that he’s the dean’s son, not like it’d be ‘useful’ now other than putting in a good word but other than ‘needing’ connections or so in teh future i’d hope she’d wanna earn her own spot in the law school world or so

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Exactly. Sarah is enjoying his company for who Tony is as a person, not who he’s from. And likewise Tony with her.

        1. Vanessa Pinter

          This is why Sarah is a better person than Raidah even if they have both done some bad things. Raidah would have sabotaged her own relationship with her own hunk once he realized a) his family wouldn’t approve of someone who doesn’t go to their church b) his family would have instinctively recoiled from her naked social climbing and ass-kissing c) she didn’t actually know him or like him or enjoy his company.

        2. BBCC

          Why are we assuming Jacob’s family would care she’s Muslim?

        3. Mark

          Because “their church”, and in this comments section that’s what churches do: disapprove people.

        4. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Churches disapproving of people is hardly limited to this comment section. In fact they tend to be very VERY vocal about it.

        5. thejeff

          Some do, but not all. I mean, Jacob himself is Christian and didn’t disapprove of Raidah because she was Muslim. Why do we assume his family would?

    5. Adept

      I remember people defending Raidah, and thinking she’s not a bad person ”just ambitious”. I wonder if this is enough villainy for them finally.

      1. Vanessa Pinter

        Just looking at how happy her ex is with Lucy should have been a clue, Radiah didn’t make him happy at all.

        1. Phyllis

          Yeah, he probably thought he was happy with Raidah (I’m sure she was quite good at the physical side of the relationship), but as soon as Jacob’s brother complimented him on not being a carbon copy of himself (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/aslongas/), he realized that Raidah wasn’t really what he wanted.

        2. Adept

          I think there wasn’t much of a ”physical side” since Jacob wanted to take things much slower than Raidah.

      2. Joy

        I think Raidah is more immature than evil?

    6. Mark

      Jennifer: “Did somebody tell me I was supposed to stop Sarah from getting with Tony?”

  2. shadowcell

    petition for Raidah in panel 1 as a Gravatar

  3. Jude Deluca

    This is far more reserved than I expected for her, so I’m assuming there’s gonna be even more mess before this is over.

    1. Archieve

      Yeah, Radiah doesn’t listen to Jennifer so I assume she’s going to try something stupid.

    2. zee

      Raidahs not the type to march right up to them and start being messy. That’d make her look unequivocally in the wrong to Tony. She’s more slick than that, she needs a plan

      1. Archieve

        not march up but I could see her wasting time spying on them or trying to throw another girl at Tony or talking about the old Dana story again.

        1. Julez

          Telling the Dana story backfires, as Reasonable, Responsible Tony thinks that Sarah was right to call the girl’s family to get her help, and smoking (at the time at least) illegal substances on campus is bad.

  4. Nono

    Go on Raidah, tell the audience why this can’t happen.

    1. Strain of Thought

      Raidah knows she is the arbiter of reality. What she decides isn’t possible, isn’t possible. This is why she knew for certain that Sarah overreacted in contacting Dana’s father, because Raidah knew that Dana’s problems *couldn’t* be that bad.

      1. Charles Phipps

        We still don’t know that Dana going back to her dad wasn’t a bad thing.

        1. BBCC

          Maybe it was, but there weren’t really any great options there that anyone’s been able to suggest.

        2. Mr D

          Aight but, upon lack of evidence that Dana going back to her dad being bad, I will assume that it was just Raidah being a massive raging asswipe.

          Like, every single thing we’ve seen of Raidah for years now has shown that she doesn’t care about “friends”, she cares about connections. One of the very first things she told Sarah back when they were “friendly” was that being at university was more about building up their connections rather than getting a degree, that without connections, she’d just be an overqualified burger flipper.

        3. Axel

          Also all Sarah and Raidah exchanged was

          “Dana is in a better place.”
          “Not according to Dana, last I checked.”

          Nothing about her being unsafe at home. I’d be fuckin miserable if I had to move back home from college and would complain like all hell, but it wouldn’t mean it was worse than being at suicide risk.

        4. Axel

          Just double checked that the ‘her home is not safe!’ line is about Ruth, not Dana

        5. Luminous Lead

          They’re both kind of right if we bend Radiah’s response to the metaphorical.

          It’s just that if Dana was “in a better place” (dead, in this metaphor) she wouldn’t be able to communicate this to Radiah.

        6. zee

          Are you running an MLP ttrpg? Because if so I wanna hear about it

        7. Amelie Wikström

          We literally only have Raidah’s word that Dana’s parents aren’t safe for her. Which, I’m willing to buy it, but it’s also entirely possible Dana’s private Hell is just not having access to powerful people and that’s Raidah’s worst nightmare.

          What’s funny is, I think Dana was Carl‘s friend, not Raidah’s. Carl is the one who’s confident Dana is going to just bounce back just like those other times her mom died; Raidah has no comment. Of course nobody but Sarah has any idea Dana is getting stoned around the clock, but Raidah seems especially clueless. She was never there when Dana needed help, she’s only ever been giving a shit when it comes to bothering Sarah.

          I mean, here we see her actively scheming against Dean Junior. Working with Jennifer Drama Hurricane Billingsworth to sabotage his relationship. This is extremely unlikely going to hurt Sarah but it’s guaranteed to torpedo Raidah’s social standing. Her grudge is actually more important to her than her much vaunted future career.

        8. Axel

          She also, as far as I can find, didn’t say it was unsafe, just that according to Dana, wasn’t in a better place being home with her dad. That can mean a lot of different things.

        9. Mark

          I have been reading down this thread and wondering where Raidah gets her information about Dana’s home situation. Like: is it all from a girl who is constantly complaining about how her parents are always at her about the drugs? Her information may be a teeny bit biased.

        10. thejeff

          And it was phrased as “last I heard”, which doesn’t suggest regular contact

        11. Vanessa Pinter

          Probably second-hand from Carl who misses his friend.

        12. thejeff

          Maybe, but I’m not sure there’s any reason to think Carl’s in regular contact.
          It’s also interesting that Raidah didn’t bring that up again at the lunch with Walky, where anything negative she knew about Dana’s current situation would have been good ammo.

        13. Comic.phile

          Raidah doesn’t have friends. She has assets and connections. Sarah cost her a connection- I’m sure Dana had some advantage Raidah wanted to exploit.

        14. thejeff

          But we don’t really have any reason to think it was a bad thing. Just hints from Raidah, who’s not exactly a reliable source. Who didn’t even acknowledge that Dana was having any serious trouble in school.

          If it comes to trusting Sarah or Raidah on this, I’m 100% behind Sarah.

    2. Doctor_Who

      Because it messes up her shipping chart.

      1. Arianod

        …is that the same episode from three days ago?

    3. Tofusmith

      Maybe because Sarah intentionally sabotaged Raidah’s last relationship, and she wants payback?

      1. Envy

        I don’t think Raidah has any confirmation Sarah was involved. Raidah just (rightfully) assumed Sarah was because Joyce is her roommate.

        1. Nono

          And even then, Jacob wasn’t blameless in all that.

        2. Archieve

          And Radiahs been wanting payback since before she got with Jacob.

  5. Charles Phipps

    Raidah saved the world from the Keener Presidency.

    She deserves the benefit of the doubt,

    1. Jamie

      Honestly, it was weirdly prescient of Willis to predict 2024 like this.

      1. NGPZ

        Given the impending monorail disaster and it’s devastating consequences in the coming years, there will be no going back to “”normal”” afterwards.

        I can only imagine how that’s gonna be reflected in the comic’s plot and setting given the sliding timescale. Like imagine being a first-time reader and basically watching decades worth of one of the most tumultuous periods in world history unfold within the span of a couple semesters ?

        1. Needfuldoer

          Monorail?

          I heard those things are awfully loud.

        2. purblebirb

          It glides as softly as a cloud!

    2. Freemage

      Yeah, we’re so much better off with old dudes who WANT to commit war crimes….

      1. Charles Phipps

        We need Justice Dorothy to oppose everything Presidential.

        Or as a Fallout-esque protagonist out to blow up the Enclave.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Several Justices Dorothy. We’re way behind on having moderate judges in SCOTUS. (let alone anyone progressive.)

  6. Karla Jean

    Jennifer’s not wrong…

    1. True Survivor

      Indeed. This relationship is either a dud or a timebomb. She make like Elitzur and Vaidman not directly interact.

  7. Reltzik

    Huh.

    …. Jennifer actually came up with the right solution for the problem.

    1. HueSatLight

      And she’s apparently still an asshole for it.

      1. Vanessa Pinter

        She looks sincerely angry but as a strategy to cool Raidah’s roll it works well. I like this new no-fucks-given Jennifer who didn’t bother combing her hair. Next, Kit Fistso T-Shirts and punching Raidah.

    2. Archieve

      Im getting the feeling that Radiah is going to now to watching Sarah even more from a distance.

  8. Joe Moose

    Love how Tony is all gentlemanly.

    Also, considering how things were in earlier strips, I really don’t think this will be [or can be?] sabotaged. I mean, Raidah didn’t know how they met after all.

  9. darkoneko

    Wow, you sure both are arseholes

    1. Coatl

      This strip proves it 100%

    2. Mr D

      Take note: Raidah’s first reaction is that Sarah is with the dean’s son. He isn’t a person to Raidah, he’s nothing but a networking tool.
      And looking back to her reaction to Walky back a few (YEARS??) ago, Raidah has had her eye on networking towards the Dean for some reason.

      1. Archieve

        Yeah and that’s why Tony would never want to socialize with Radiah and Jennifer, he’s got enough people circling him because of his father already I’d guess.

        1. Comic.phile

          Yep. And Sarah doesn’t care who his dad is, she just likes him for who he is. Which is why I ship them hard.

  10. Taffy

    “Need” to sabotage this, as if there’s anything at stake for anyone but this useless crybaby child. Stupid ladder-climbing creep doesn’t want other people to have floors, because you can put a ladder on a floor and that means people might use those floors to put ladders up, and then what if they climb the ladder faster than her?

    1. Archieve

      some people just cant feel powerful if their not tearing someone else down.

    2. Steamweed

      Cursed lovecraftian gravatar is cursed. :O

  11. Alongcameaspider

    This is going to backfire on Raidah isn’t it?

    1. Davus

      Not if she takes jennefier’s advice and does nothing.

      1. Dark_T_Zeratul

        Which practically guarantees she won’t, and that it subsequently will.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Why should she listen to the lowest-ranking member of her clique?

      2. AGV/Ruby

        Sorry, reported this by accident while scrolling

    2. Needfuldoer

      Hopefully!

  12. Rachel

    God Raidah you are just awful

  13. True Survivor

    Yikes, its not even jealousy or Machiavellian schemes to acquire his heart and influence for herself. Raidah just hates the idea of Sarah having good relationship (or maybe just being happy).

    1. Steamweed

      Both, I think. The emotional need to make Sarah lose, and the power need to get the Dean’s son in her group.

  14. Charles Phipps

    Raidah is every bit as immature as Jennifer about high school versus college.

    The Dean isn’t going to be important in 3-4 years.

    1. BBCC

      I guess he could be good for networking later on, depending who he knows and what Raidah wants to do. He’d be a hell of a recommendation letter for law school.

      1. Yumi

        He could also be good for networking while in college– what professors could be good for her to work with, recommending her to professors considering students for their research or such.
        Now, would he actually do that? Hard to say.

    2. Sirksome

      Are deans known to be well connected and powerful? I’m not big on academic society or culture. I imagine he’s maybe somewhat wealthy but I am really confused why Raidah has such a hard on for the dean. I guess for a letter of recommendation?

      1. Jade

        Yeah, I was kind of wondering this too.

        My college has a President, and he has a lot of connections with the local community because you want to make sure the community goes to the college, and that those college graduates have a place to go to work to in the community.

        I don’t know if Deans are at that same level, but maybe if Raidah is planning on staying within the state, those local community connections might be useful? Then again, you never know who people know, so if she has higher aspirations (which it sounds like she does), maybe a Dean would know someone who could help her?

        I would think though, aiming for the Dean of the Law Department would be a better goal, as they would have the knowledge, resources, and connections for what Raidah’s career path is? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        1. Steamweed

          Dean McHenry might be Dean of the Law College or the Political Science College. IU has both, and both would be good fits for hosting (and hiring) politician Roz Desanto. With Raidah blatantly aiming to get into law school, I’m guessing one of those departments for Dean McHenry.

      2. Steamweed

        There are 2 kinds of Dean position at a public American university: the Academic(think department or subject)-type Dean and the executive(think corporate or financial)-type Dean. Dean McHenry could be either. The Academic Dean will absolutely know the professors in the department and make recommendations and introductions. The executive Dean may or may not know the professors.

        1. HueSatLight

          Plus the guy named Dean who works for the engineering school’s computing center, and has in his sig “not an academic dean”

      3. Mark

        Public universities do a lot of fundraising. That means that senior administrators hobnob with a lot of people who have great influence and have or control a lot of money.

      4. Big Z

        It really depends, honestly. My FIL was an academic dean for a long while and being on his good side was definitely a supercharger for one’s academic career if they were interested in his specific area of interest/fame.

  15. IntangibleMatter

    In 2010 DoA, this would’ve been setup for some wild Hijinx that reveal character drama.

    This is 2025, though, and as such we’re just going to get a gut punch accompanied with most people who are involved looking like assholes. I hope Sarah comes out looking like less of one.

  16. DiDi

    Oh, right. I forgot that part. Him being the Dean’s son.

    Yeah, that *would* upset Raidah with her elitist ass.

  17. RassilonTDavros

    …are we pooositively certain that Jennifer isn’t Mike?

    1. clif

      To the contrary, we have word of Willis that Jennifer is Mike.

  18. jeffepp

    “Wanna make out while we do?”

    “Shure,why not.”

    Alice walks by.

    “Nope, nope, no, no, nope.”

  19. HueSatLight

    If there was cosmic balance, Raidah would be standing in panel 1 pose for an hour or so, having the first part of a realization.

  20. BBCC

    Jesus, Raidah, there’s more to life than connections!

    1. Jeremiah

      “Sounds fake but okay”

  21. Suet

    What kind of self-sabotage? Telegraphing the height difference? Her past? Joyce?

    “Who let this happen” Who didn’t? Paul, Walky, Amazi-Girl, Joyce… Paul.

    1. Mr D

      (In the same tone that Doom screams about Richards:) PAAAAAULLLLLL!!!

    2. Mark

      Why, you let this happen, Raidah.

  22. peng

    its cute that theyre on the same page at least

    1. Dana

      I don’t think they are. That felt to me like Jennifer blowing off Raidah’s ploy without making it obvious to Raidah.

      1. Freemage

        I’m not sure it’s that well-intentioned (much as I’d like to see Billifer get some of her actual good traits back, rather than this Flanderized version of her). I think here, though, she’s mostly just, “I really don’t give a damn about the people I used to hang out with, and I don’t know why you would, either.”

        1. Joy

          Yeah, she’s not using therapy jargon, but it feels very much like the mindset of someone who’s had cognitive behavioral therapy. If Sarah’s as toxic as they both believe she is, she’ll ruin the relationship herself, no need to intervene.

  23. Mr. Random

    … but like…
    Why?
    I know Raidah’s a social climber and hates Sarah, but it was not a full on grudge match.

    1. ZombieKyrik

      Sarah being happy upsets Raidah because Sarah “deserves to be sad all the time,” and the thought of Sarah happily dating someone who is “connected” makes Raidah go full psycho. We can only hope that Raidah suffers more than the people around her.

      1. Coatl

        If things improve for Sarah, Raidah will most likely become an ultimate monster, the true final villain of the story.

      2. Mr. Random

        That’s the thing, her reaction here scans more like “This fucks up my future networking plans!” And not “My arch nemesis is taking a positive step. I MUST destroy her lest she vatch up to me!”

        1. Archieve

          It only hurts Radiahs networking If she insists on remaining hostile to Sarah though, from what we’ve seen of the timeskip Sarah doesn’t care for Radiah but she also doesn’t go out of her way to think of her, it’s still possible for Radiah to go about her networking up to the Dean though other people unhindered but she insists on making Sarah her enemy.

        2. Mark

          It occurs to me that Raidah is a networking wannabee — she’s picked up the easy connections and her “network” is as big as it’s going to get.

        3. Mr. Random

          Maybe that’s it though.
          Maybe she thinks that Sarah is going to bad-mouth her to the Dean if she remains attached to Tony.

        4. Archieve

          Probably but that could easily be remedied with an apology and a request for a truce if not friendship. Radiah refuses to acknowledge her own flaws so she will continue to assume that Sarah will badmouth her like she’s been doing to Sarah.

    2. HueSatLight

      You know how it is, she’s gotten carried away with her hobby. In this case, her hobby is a shitlist.

      1. Coatl

        Just thinking about how that would explode for her.

    3. Thag Simmons

      This is sort of the intersection of Raidah’s hate for Sarah and her social climbing aspirations, which haven’t really collided like this before.

    4. Nymphie

      Raidah can’t control the narrative about the conflict between her and Sarah if Sarah can whisper things jn the Dean’s ear, is what I gather.

      As in, any chance of getting a good connection with the Dean and his network is gonna be shot if Sarah ever voices her opinion on Raidah’s character.

      1. Mark

        Point.

  24. Pocky

    I kinda feel like they’re right, but I don’t like that

    1. Jeremiah

      In what way is Raidah right here?

  25. Thing2

    Aaaaand, those who wanna hate Raidah, here’s the perfect excuse. ‘We want Billifer to get Walky, we want Walky for his mother’s connections. We don’t want Billifer any more, she hasn’t got Asher. We certainly don’t want Sarah…’

    1. Steamweed

      Raidah might now be thinking that she needs Billifer again, to help sink the SarahTonyn ship. Raidah thinks of people in terms of their usefulness.

      1. purblebirb

        SarahTonyn is an amazing pun, kudos

  26. Sporky

    Is this the first time where Jennifer’s plan is to do nothing? Usually she’s all about action for action’s sake. Is she actually sort of kind of learning? A little bit?

    Probably not, but I can hope. It’s been like 15 years and I would like to see her actually experience growth instead of going in circles forever.

    1. Dana

      I don’t think she sees Sarah and Tony as her or Raidah’s business. She’s just savvy enough not to tell Raidah to leave them alone.

      1. Sporky

        Now that you mention it, yeah. Beyond being in a friend group that hates Sarah, she has no reason to hate Sarah. Actually, she has all the reason in the world to like her, since Sarah has been there for Joyce so often and Jennifer actually has a good relationship with Joyce. (Jennifer having a good relationship with anyone? That can’t be right, can it? :P)

        I guess I’m just surprised because for Jennifer, fitting in with her peers is usually a good enough excuse for almost anything. Especially to hate somebody, which is her natural inclination anyway.

        1. Dana

          She does direct a little pissiness at them in the second to last panel, but that’s just because Sarah got Tony when Jennifer “should have” gotten Tony’s attention instead of Sarah in their interaction where Sarah and Tony met. It’s water under the bridge though, even if it doesn’t fit Jennifer’s worldview that Tony would prefer Sarah. I’m feeling good because Jennifer is one of my favorite characters and has been doing everything she can to lose that status for a long time. Maybe this will be a change to that trend, maybe not.

        2. Niklarean

          I don’t even think it’s jealousy. Jennifer and Sarah just don’t really get along in general, so I think this is more of a basic dig at someone she doesn’t get along with rather than something more complex.

    2. Mturtle7

      No, bizarre as it may seem in context, this is actually pretty par for the course for Jennifer. She likes to be active when she thinks she sees a problem that she’s destined to fix, but she’s also wholly convinced that MOST of the world’s problems will just work themselves out without any of her interference. For instance, I seem to recall that when she first moved into the other dorm building, she immediately clocked a lot of complex romantic drama going on between her neighbors, and then dismissed it just as quickly.

  27. Rabid Rabbit

    I can’t help but feel that Jennifer’s last panel expression is her realizing just how petty Raidah is, and proposing to do nothing because she’s really doesn’t want to get involved with this.

    1. Dana

      Yup. And she doesn’t want to piss off Raidah by telling her to chill directly.

      1. Grimey

        It’s strange to think about but after getting a glimpse of high school era Billie…That version of Jennifer would have picked her teeth clean of Raidah’s shit behavior.

        1. thejeff

          Only because when we see her Jennifer was on top of the heap.

  28. Dara

    Past performance may not be a guarantee of future results its often indicative and in that context? Jennifer is not wrong.

  29. Newlland(Henryvolt)

    No weapons or nefarious deed forged against Sarah and Joyce may prosper. Granted yes Sarah did device a scheme of her own to break apart Raidahs last relationship so there can’t be that much complaining if Raidah tries to return the favor…but she doesn’t seem to be all that good at it so tough nuts for her.

    Also Jennifer should probably consider Raidah isn’t trying to be her friend she’s trying to be her boss that has her on a unpaid internship.

    1. Archieve

      Sarah barley did anything besides give Joyce and jacob a chance to talk, if Radiah tried something similar here I’m optimistic it wouldn’t work because Sarah and Tony are dating because they click with each other not because they each thought “this person is a good look for me” unfortunately, it might take a while to realize because hating Sarah is something she thinks they have in common.

  30. UrsulaDavina

    What does Radiah think the metaphorical fallout and personal damage to her will be as a result of Sarah dating Tony, beyond just her outright denial of Sarah’s happiness?

    1. Coatl

      The only thing that is certain is that no matter what kind of consequence it is, Raidah won’t like it.

    2. Big Z

      That’s really just it — in Radiah’s world, “I forced my roommate to get help for severe depression and drug abuse by calling her surviving parent” is actually “I’m a vicious backstabber who’ll get rid of anyone who gets in my way”, and therefore Sarah deserves no happiness ever because she’s a vicious backstabber.

      And Sarah ESPECIALLY doesn’t deserve to be in relationships that could be interpreted as “marrying up” or “gaining political influence”, because that reduces the pool of people Radiah could be getting political influence by dating/befriending, and that would be wrong because Radiah called dibs in her own head.

      1. Mark

        When one is a vicious backstabber, it’s dangerous to allow “another vicious backstabber” to get too close.

      2. thejeff

        But she doesn’t accept the “severe depression and drug abuse” since Dana was mostly able to mask around her (And Raidah probably wasn’t very perceptive about it.)

  31. All-Purpose Guru

    Raidah proving yet again that she is a total shitwad. Between her and Mary I’m not sure who I would throw into a fire first.

    1. Sporky

      I can help you with that. It’s Mary.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Mary. Definitely Mary.

    3. Dana

      Yeah… Mary. Imagine Mary condescending to Dina. When Raidah did it at least she was trying to be decent even if she was missing the mark.

    4. Steamweed

      You have some people telling you to torch Mary first. But allow me to clarify:

      It’s Mary.

    5. dalniente

      I’m with you. Raidah is a malicious social climber and Mary is a malicious bible thumper but it’s the same flavor of disgusting nonsense either way. The world isn’t what they want and they will manipulate and lie and try to control the people around them based on what they think should be allowed to happen. Yuck.

  32. Sirksome

    I’m a bit late and a lot confused by the Raidah agenda. Like what exactly can you or Jen even do here? Why? Like you can still be friends with Tony platonically if connections matter that much.

    1. Dana

      I think Raidah is mostly upset to see Sarah happy. Tony being above Sarah’s station or whatever is just twisting the knife, not the main issue.

      1. Sirksome

        Above her station how? Maybe his family has more money? Also what is Raidah’s family’s position in the social and economic hierarchy? What the eff are these rules to this game only she is playing? Her hate boner for Sarah can’t be that big.

        1. Dana

          Above her station because Raidah doesn’t like her. It’s not that complicated.

        2. Dana

          I jotted that off too quick to fully process what you said about her “hate boner” and don’t feel like I did you justice. Raidah takes her own judgement about what is serious and grown up and such far too seriously. Also, Sarah has literally assaulted Raidah. It’s not a situation that needs to make sense rationally.

        3. Queezle

          And Sarah also tried to sabotage Raidah’s relationship with Jacob.
          I do not think that Raidah knows about that through.

        4. Niklarean

          The knives are certainly out between these two.

        5. thejeff

          Wouldn’t surprise me if she did. Jennifer knew about it.

          She might also just have assumed, knowing Joyce was Sarah’s roommate.

        6. Jeremiah

          It can be and it is. It doesn’t make sense but it is in character for her.

        7. Shade

          See because his father is the dean Tony is more important to Raidah. Not because of who he is, but because of the connection you could make by knowing him. Its not even actually about Tony but his father’s influence.

          Same reason why she deemed Walky as having value to her because his mother knows the dean.

  33. Fireprincesslily

    One day in her 40s about 15 years into a passionless marriage, Raidah is gonna realize she was extremely gay for Sarah.

    1. HueSatLight

      oh, that’s what Jennifer’s thinking.

  34. Rolf of Many Doors

    OH
    MY GOD
    RAIDAH
    MIND YA OWN DAMN BUSINESS

  35. Leaflet Erin

    Jennifer, in the way she always does, has done good for someone else, by attempting to join in doing something bad. Since We know Tony and Sarah actually have a legit interest beyond romantic/sexual attraction and they’ve been interacting in conventional manner. Jennifer telling Raidah to just sit and let Sarah and Tony Cook is the best thing she’s done since the new semester started.

    1. Niklarean

      I don’t think she’s attempting to join in as much as she’s just firing a couple zingers about Sarah. Not like Jennifer and Sarah get along well.

      1. Leaflet Erin

        This is fair. They mostly (barely) tolerated each other because of Joyce and shared half bath.

  36. Serendipity

    Your regular reminder that Raidah is awful.

  37. Yumi

    “Why didn’t you stop it?”
    To be fair, she tried.

    1. Jeremiah

      Though she succeeded in making Sarah look better in comparison.

  38. AbacusWizard

    Whoa, those turquoise “?!?” balloons are even better than yesterday’s fire speech bubble!

    1. Steamweed

      She was holding them in panel 1. But we don’t see them anymore. I guess she let them go, and they’re now floating up to the atrium ceiling.

  39. Chaucer59

    No, Jennifer. Let that vile witch try to sabotage the Sarah/Tony ship. It’ll run her over.

  40. M!a

    I don’t give two tin shits how hot Billifer is. If she’s still Team Raidah, then I’m Team Fuck That bongo.

    1. M!a

      I very definitely did not type ‘bongo’. Nice one, Willis.

      1. Shade

        Yeah that’s one of the autochanged words. Mostly just shit with sexist or bigoted connotations. Swearing in general is fine.

        1. Gigafreak

          As well as the name of the trope relevant to Sal being oblivious to the defining history she has with Amber, as expressed by the day before Wednesday! Mostly because people just would not stop saying it.

        2. M!a

          Wait what? You mean Tuesday?

        3. HueSatLight

          Maybe they mean congo replacing “See You Next Tuesday”.

        4. HueSatLight

          conga. the one that’s the dance, not the country where tech corporations use human suffering to make a new phone every year and hardware for the enshittification engines.

        5. Steamweed

          “But for me, it was a Tuesday.”

        6. Steamweed

          Nope, that phrase seems to work fine. You mean something else?

        7. thejeff

          It was filtered at one point, I forget exactly what led to it.

      2. Steamweed

        Did you mean “beach”?
        Or “birch”?
        Or “beech”?
        How about the voiced bilabial plosive version of “pitch”?

  41. Puppeteer Nessus

    Hey! Don’t be evil!

  42. APW

    Crushing on Tony more and more by the strip. Where were all those rule-follower boys in *my* student years?
    (Okay, okay, I married one)

    1. Nono

      Flair… checks out?

    2. Mark

      Going un-noticed, if my experience means anything.

  43. Nenja

    I like Sarah and Tony together, it’s cute. I really hope they don’t manage to sabotage them.

  44. Professional asexual

    This is great, I’m having fun

  45. Rabisch

    Love the “it’s a compelling argument” face Raidah has in the last panel. I hope they leave them alone for a few days before trying to destroy Sarah’s happiness.

    1. Archieve

      Can hope but Radiah seems so obsessed with Sarah still I cam see her using binoculars stalker style .

  46. Skellig

    …sigh yeah I guess this was gonna happen. I held out hope that Raidah would turn out to be a normally bad person. I wanted her to have a grudge against Sarah and be judgmental and shortsighted from time to time, but like, if she was the main character of the story those would be framed as humanizing flaws, and the only reason we don’t like her is because Sarah is framed as the protagonist in their interactions. People can dislike or even hate each other without necessarily being bad people.

    But it seems like Raidah is just gonna be evil, I can get on board with that.

    1. Jeremiah

      Glad to see you are not jumping to “ahh this character isn’t what I thought it was this is bad writing!”.

    2. Archieve

      everything radiah does ultimately seems yp revolve around Sarah, this is an obsessive degree.

    3. Chubseus

      Hmm, it’s not just because Sarah is a protagonist. In a fair number of Raidah’s strips without Sarah she still insults people behind their back, even those she’s trying to “befriend,” like Walky and Jennifer. She’s just plain mean and petty about people. Unfortunately, mean cliques are a normal, real thing.

      Raidah was introduced to us

      1. Archieve

        she’s definitely got a toxic personality to all but Carl thougj she doesn’t appear to have a long running plan to turn everyone against others like she is Sarah though.

  47. Amelie Wikström

    These two losers.

    Okay I have spent three hours on this post and that’s all I’ve got.

    1. Jeremiah

      Your effort will be remembered. (For like a few minutes).

  48. Liliet

    I hope Raidah fully utilizes this opportunity to make herself look bad, sabotage all her own relationships with non-flunkies, and I hope Billie ends up crawling back to the main friendgroup like “I would literally rather hang out with Walky than with THAT”

  49. Grayfinity

    Oh, Jenny, Raidah…

    You both need anvils to the face, STAT.

    1. Jeremiah

      In this economy?!

  50. CJ

    Anyone still saying Raidah was legitimate in her hate for Sarah, can you see that her hatred is self-perpetuating?
    Also hope Tony tells them off when he notices, it’s the kind of game he hates.

    1. Axel

      [she isn’t] legitimate in her reasoning, you mean, right? because I do think this is even more evidence that she legit hates her

      1. Arianod

        I think “legitimate” in this case is meant as “(partly) justified”

        1. Axel

          yes, this is what I was struggling to ask

    2. Archieve

      If Brunch is anything to go by it will be pretty obvious to anyone if Radiah tries to directly interfere because she can’t go one meeting without bringing Sarah and a very editited version of the Dana story up.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Raidah has a legitimate grudge with Sarah and Joyce for breaking up her relationship with Jacob. Everything else is her projecting herself onto Sarah (“getting rid of” Dana for being inconvenient and getting with a dean’s son for social climbing reasons).

      Hopefully her so-called “friends” can see that. Maybe Jennifer will, and she’ll have to choose between her old friends and Raidah’s clique. (Maybe that’s where we’re going? This chapter started with a flashback of her airing dirty laundry and calling someone out.)

      1. Archieve

        by that train of logic Sarah had a legitimate reason to retaliate from the year of harassment and sabatoge to her own social life. not that it was much of a retaliation. yep she projects hard. think Jennifer’s is subconsciously seeking out her old friend group, even Sarah since there was no reason to pick her out of a whole room of people to ask about amazi girl.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Did Raidah even speak with Sarah inbetween the time they ended their friendship?

        2. Nobby Nobbs

          In between the time they ended their friendship and what? The time she walked up to Sarah unprompted in the dining hall and told her to choke?

        3. Charles Phipps

          Yes. That’s not harassment.

        4. thejeff

          Yeah. It absolutely is. And it’s heavily implied to be a continuation of a long term campaign. Note that Sarah isn’t at all surprised by it.
          Just walking up out of nowhere to insult and hassle someone, repeatedly? That’s harassment.

        5. Archieve

          it was definatly a continuation in another strip Sarah leaves the cafeteria because they curse at her also. that’s literally every instance where they see Sarah alone or worse with someone they saw as an easy target like Dina as an opportunity to act like high-school bullies and it was affecting Sarah’s mental state. aside from the punch which she apologized for she almost scared off Dorothy thinking she was another bully when they first met.

        6. thejeff

          My feeling is the mall encounter with Dina (and then Joyce and Jennifer) was aimed at cutting Sarah off from new people she might be making friends with. Not just random drive-by harassment.

        7. Chubseus

          Raidah’s first appearances are very much bullying, and it’s an easy inference that it’s a continuation from freshman year. Sarah even makes a sad, wry comment that she’s going to gain a, “sophomore fifteen,” pounds because of the bullying.

          The bullying gives context to Sarah later punching her for trying to take her first new friends. This also gives context to Sarah wanting to break up Raidah and Jacob, as I think Sarah became friends with Jacob before he started dating Raidah. Might’ve felt too much like a repeat.

        8. Shade

          I mean Willis has made it as clear as possible this harassment has been ongoing short of showing us flashbacks.

    4. Joy

      I think Raidah is actively choosing to be miserable, in general, but she has legit reasons to hate Sarah.

      The easiest way to sabotage Sarah’s relationship to Tony is to bring up the cheating arc regarding Jacob and Joyce and claim that Sarah has a connection to it, which is true, and also delegitimizes any of the praise that Joyce or Jacob could share with Tony with regards to Sarah, since they cheated. Sarah doesn’t have that many people outside of those two who even like her besides Tony.

      If the strategy I just detailed doesn’t work, I can’t think of anything.

  51. RocketRelm

    Every strip about both Sarah and Tony, and the people around them, is making me more and more want this ship to just work with no hitches or bumps and for everyone to get salty about it.

  52. William

    Ok, if there is anything done to hinder this relationship between Sarah and Tony, I’m honestly going to be upset. Just for the sake of watching Billie and Raidah lose their shit.
    Tony telling them both to go fuck themselves would be a nice bonus too btw.

    1. thejeff

      Another reason I’m sad the Sarah/Jacob ship hasn’t sailed. That would absolutely make Raidah lose it.

    2. crys

      echoing this. I want them to work out so bad. I don’t need tony to become a main character. I just want to see her being in a nice relationship with a nice, athletic, studious man who likes her for who she is and for raidah to be pissed

  53. Archieve

    Telling choice of wording “who let this happen?” like she thinks the whole campus is as invested in keeping Sarah single as her, Radiah trielu has no outside perspective.

  54. Maddie B

    Raidah can/should go sit on a cactus.

  55. Vukodlak

    Okay so now we need Sarah to twist her ankle and Tony to carry her to class bridal style and I think Raidah’s head may explode.

  56. Zamperla

    Yanno I really like Tony out and out going no lets get you to your class, this is important. We know a lot of what motivates Sarah is she has incredibly thin margins to be able to go to college on. It’s keep her scholarship or bust. I like seeing immediately that Tony would be nothing but supportive about that priority.

  57. Buck Ripsnort

    Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but someone wanna explain why Raidah gives a shit about all this? Like, does she have her own head-canon about who’s supposed to be with who, or does she just hate joy?

    1. Charles Phipps

      Because Sarah broke up her relationship with Jacob.

      She genuinely hates Sarah.

      1. thejeff

        She hated Sarah long before Jacob.

      2. Daibhid C

        Doe Radiah actuallly know Sarah was involved in Jacob breaking up with her? I remember her associating it much more with Joyce, what with Joyce being the one who directly (if mostly inadvertantly) talked Jacob into breaking up with her. And if she knew she had a reason to blame Sarah, she would. She’s hated Sarah since before the strip started.

        1. thejeff

          It’s not really inadvertent if Joyce was actually trying, even if things didn’t play out the way she wanted.

          But anyway, Sarah gets the blame by the transitive property of blame. She’s associated with Joyce, so it’s at least partly her fault. Which is kind of true.

        2. Needfuldoer

          You say that like she wouldn’t blame Sarah anyway.

      3. Jeremiah

        You keep saying that despite multiple people telling you it’s not very accurate.

    2. Queezle

      She just hates Sarah. And to be fair to Raidah, Sarah also plotted to have Jacob get together with Joyce while he was with Raidah.

      1. Comic.phile

        Raidah doesn’t know that though.

    3. Thing2

      Tony is the Dean’s son, therefore a resource in Raidah’s world. She wants him going out with someone in her clique, not ‘wasted’ on Sarah.

    4. Big Z

      Radiah blames Sarah for Sarah’s first-year roommate Dana (part of Radiah’s crowd) dropping out of school, because Sarah called Dana’s father after (in her opinion) Dana had gotten too deep into trying to combat depression with drugs, and it was interfering with Sarah’s ability to sleep/study/maintain her scholarship.

      1. Chubseus

        This. Raidah held such a grudge that her very first strips are her bullying Sarah in the lunchroom. In those strips (that predate the fight at the mall) both Sarah and Raidah are alone. There’s no one there to perform for. Raidah just held onto that grudge all summer and into sophomore year and wants Sarah to be miserable.

      2. Comic.phile

        Honestly I feel like Tony would respect Sarah for getting Dana help and not wanting to risk her scholarship. He isn’t going to be turned off by that revelation.

        1. Shade

          Yeah I said something similar in a previous comic’s comments.

          Probably something like “So you’re mad that Sarah did something to help when you wouldn’t?”

    5. Joy

      At this point she has like two separate legitimate reasons to actively hate Sarah as a person. I don’t think it’s healthy for her, and if she cared about Tony Jr she’d try to let him be happy… But I understand where she’s coming from.

      That said this does feel like an extension of her overall mindset of bullying and manipulation.

  58. Rose Red

    Sarah must really like him, if she’s willing to skip a class to spend more time with him, given her scholarship and all.

    Love Tony for not taking her up on it.

  59. Kyulen

    They could just not meddle in other people’s relationships. But I guess that’s too much to ask from Raidah and Jennifer. Nice to see Tony encouraging Sarah to go to her classes, hopefully that’s a good sign for the future of their relationship.

    1. Heavensrun

      To be fair, Jennifer is explicitly advocating *not* meddling.

      Yeah, she’s doing it in a way that doesn’t explicitly call out how egotistical Raidah is being, but still.

  60. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

    Listen to Jennifer, Fake Lost Cause Sarah. What she’s saying is true…….But no. You NEED Sarah as an excuse. When’s the last time you spoke to Dana, by the way?

    1. Astariel

      Why would she speak to Dana? Dana’s not useful anymore.

  61. Heavensrun

    Maybe because it’s not her fuckin’ business, Raidah? Nor is it yours.

  62. NickG

    Now Raidah I want you listen carefullly. Fuck right off, keep fucking right off until you think you can’t fuck off any further, and then fuck off some more.

  63. Comic.phile

    Raidah meddling will only drive Sarah and Tony closer together as they bond over hating drama and Raidah’s bullshit.

    I look forward to seeing her attempts explode in her face.

    1. Comic.phile

      Yesss perfect gravitation for this!

      1. Comic.phile

        *gravatar

  64. Marrow

    Shut up Billie, you and Raidah leave other people alone

    1. HueSatLight

      That’s what Jennifer’s saying.

  65. Felian

    Raidah. Just stop. Other peoples lives are not your puppets. Those weird little power plays are awful.

  66. SpongegirlCircleskirt

    Raidiah, you are a real bongo.

    1. SpongegirlCircleskirt

      I actually wrote bongo. This was not the swear bot coreccting me. ?

  67. Shadow Dreamer

    I think I actually actively hate Raidah!

  68. Caro

    I like Raidah’s face in panel 2 so much, she looks like a Flipline character somehow

  69. Cmd1095

    Here’s hoping Raidah’s obsession with Sarah causes her to self-destruct here. She is unhealthily fixated on making sure Sarah is miserable, and unfortunately for her, her usual tactics are going to have the opposite effect on Tony. His no-bullshit attitude is kryptonite to her manipulative nature so I can totally see her efforts resulting in exposing herself and burning a bunch of bridges.

    If it happens, I’ll bring the marshmallows, there’s a lot of us though so I’m gonna need the rest of you to pitch in to get the crackers and chocolate. We’ll have a good ol burning bridge party

  70. Asky

    This is going to lead to comeuppance flavoured schadenfreude. Prepare the popcorn!

  71. Plaaaaaa

    Doing nothing and expecting full credit is a reoccurring theme for Jennifer.

  72. Rikunda

    Raidah really needs to stop… Sarah is allowed to be happy. She earned it.

  73. AnonGrouch

    I really dont understand the Raidah Jennifer relationship like, at all. Can someone explain to me how it even works. They seem really incompatible personalities.

    1. Taffy

      Billie thinks Raidah is a cool, connected Big Girl Friend who likes her, and Raidah is only associating with Billie because of her rich dad and actively shit-talks her behind her back. That’s the dynamic.

    2. Joy

      They’re both the same kind of immature social climbers. Also Raidah acts fake nice to Jennifer and Jennifer hasn’t realized that yet. Plus they’re both Asian if I’m not mistaken, which means that Jennifer has an easier time connecting to Raidah.

      1. Jeremiah

        That is kind of a weird thing to say, by that logic she should has gotten along great with Dina.

        1. Joy

          Raidah or Dina?

    3. GholaHalleck

      Billie respects the totem pole, and *to her* Raidah is higher then her in the rank chart. She would eventually try to topple raidah once she’s strong enough.

      Raidah is Megatron, Jennifer is Starscream.

  74. Joy

    My favorite part of this is that they both have legitimate reasons to dislike Sarah. Sarah’s been a total dick to Jennifer in every single panel they’ve shared and she made the executive decision to fuck over Dana, who’s apparently still in contact with Raidah but not Sarah. I still like Sarah a lot it’s just funny to me.

    1. Joy

      Like omg!!! Sarah! You’re one of my favorite characters and no I don’t take your side in either conflict and setting Joyce up with Jacob was also a dick move. I love you girlypop <3

    2. Jeremiah

      She don’t know yet if Dana is actually worse that’s she was before going back home, we only have Raidah word for it and she has show that she is pretty damn biased. Sarah did the best she could given the circumstances.

      1. Joy

        I don’t disagree. The whole situation seems like a big hot mess with no easy way to resolve it.

  75. JessWitt

    If Sarah knew how much dating Tony was driving Raidah crazy, she’d rub it in her face constantly, which by all means please do Sarah.

  76. Athedia

    Dana fucked herself over. Raidah enabled her so of course Dana would still talk to her.

  77. Synnerman

    Ah Raidah, my least favorite character.

  78. SarahTerra

    Just, Tony… HOW IS THIS SO ROMANTIC??

  79. Big Steve

    Don’t let the haters win, Sarah!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.