jason might underestimate robin's prowess at teaching political science, honestly

Arrested
Posted on January 6, 2026 by David M Willis

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Tags: becky, dorothy, jason, joyce

182 thoughts on “Arrested”

  1. Tequila Mockingbird

    Becky calling them her moms… my heart. I love it.

    1. WillowD

      My heart loves it too.

    2. Yotomoe

      Ditto.

    3. NGPZ

      ?

    4. Pocky

      I mean; at this point they are lol

    5. Acher4

      +++

  2. Doctor_Who

    If Jason needs to get in the right mindset, Robin has a drawer of Skittles and Red Bull right there.

    1. AntithesisConundrum

      Knowing robin, it’d be a drawer full of loose skittles. (+ possibly a waterproofed drawer full of loose red bull with a big krazy straw sticking out)

  3. John

    Can’t wait for all the Becky/Dorathy time we’re about to get

    1. Nono

      Sarah and Roz are a part of this class, so maybe they’ll get some screentime as well.

      1. Stormtide Leviathan

        I’m interested in seeing Roz’s reaction to her sister getting arrested. They don’t have a great relationship, but they do still have one and Robin getting arrested is probably a bit of a worrying thing. And what she got arrested *for* is probably something Roz won’t know how to process

  4. NGPZ

    *plays “Alright” by Kendrik Lamar on hacked muzak*

    1. True Survivor

      Wait, if all those guys on the album cover are posing with the body of a judge, why are they on the front lawn of the White House? Shouldn’t they be in front of the Supreme Court? What happened to the separation of powers?

      Wait no, I get it. Its a clever commentary on cooperate capture of all branches of federal government. That’s why all those men are flaunting booze and dollar bills – they’re lobbyists and their shirtless because, it’s a naked power grab over the fundamental roles of state power and the judge is on the ground because the courts have gotten drunk on corruption and greed. Yeah, its all coming together.

      1. NGPZ

        hahaha maybe

        sometimes a cigar is just a cigar tho :P

      2. eh, whatever

        I just woke up and found myself looking for the upvote button.

    2. Amós Batista

      Oh, I love this song. And its video clip

  5. Bill Erak

    Jason I reckon you can do a better job, but first you need to wear fake glasses and be mildly inebriated.

    1. jeffepp

      He’s got one already done. Just got to run to the dollar store for the glasses.

      1. Effie

        No, we said mildly

  6. Nono

    I think Jason is underestimating the amount of whimsy you need to teach like Robin does.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Yeah, Robin is despite everything far from the worst polisci teacher you could have

      1. Lee

        I’m a big believer in “you need to know what the rules are before you decide that the best move is to break them (or so that you try to fix them)”, so I’m going to say Robin is the wOOOOOOooooOOOOrrrst Poly Sci 101 teacher but would be the BEST in an upperclass seminar.

        1. Lee

          what the rules *are supposed to be*, I guess that should’ve said.

        2. Nono

          Robin teaches the same way Sal plays Mario Kart.

        3. Clif

          Yeah, but Robin does everything the same way Sal plays Mario Kart.

        4. Effie

          Maybe Robin can be Sal’s mom too

      2. kdmw

        Robin’s teaching the wrong subject. She’s been telling them how to be a politician instead actual political science

    2. Xaeon

      He didn’t say like, he said as well as. For that he doesn’t need whimsy, he needs brain damage.

  7. Doribi

    The best buddy film has just dropped, I will pay to watch this.

    1. Steamweed

      Becky and Dorothy on a mission to bust Leslie and Robin outta The Joint!

      1. Byron Orpheus

        It’ll be on Willis’ Patron for top-tier members.

  8. RassilonTDavros

    I’m liking this new mask-off Becky.

  9. Grimeyville

    I feel like I prophecized that this would somehow make Becky and Dorothy closer.

    VINDICATION. VINDICATION.

    1. Bill Erak

      Plot twist: There does end up being a polycule but instead of Being Joe/Joyce/Dorothy with a very awkward Joe/Dorothy dynamic, it’s Becky/Dorothy/Joyce, with a very awkward Becky/Joyce dynamic.

      1. Stormtide Leviathan

        God, that’d be incredible

        1. Clif

          I feel that it’s necessary to point out that if we could somehow get a Dina/Becky/Dorothy/Joyce polycule that with the Becky/Joyce and Dina/Joyce dynamics, we’d get twice the awkward.

        2. deliverything

          I feel it’s necessary to point out there’s no reason we couldn’t have Joe in there too, so both Dorothy and Joyce can have very awkward dynamics.

          …well, ok, Willis may know a reason we can’t have both, but I reserve the right to refuse to be convinced.

        3. Bill Erak

          Throw Walky, Amber, Danny, and Sal in there for good measure. We all know these kids are already halfway acting as though this was a giant polycule anyways.

        4. Mitzi B.

          They’ve already got the drama of a giant polycule, mind as well have the fun part too!

    2. QueenofSodor

      please becky and dorothy make out please please please please

      1. Clif

        While that would help us meet the cheating quota for this chapter, first Becky has to make with Dina so that they will both be cheating.

        1. Clif

          *make up with

  10. ClaudeLemieux

    I’m loving this side of Becky. It’s hard learning a relationship isn’t what you thought it was, or wanted it to be, but she seems to be going through some growth here. Hopefully said growth lands her back happily in Dina’s arms.

  11. C.T Phipps

    I wonder if the University’s lack of movement is due to the fact that since they were the ones who made it illegal to protest that both teachers were terminated with cause.

    1. Steamweed

      If they did that, supposedly by now they would have sent announcements and substitute instructors.

      1. Thing 2

        That would mean working at the weekend! That would mean caring whether students’ lectures get cancelled.

        1. eh, whatever

          butbut I was told if only students were paying customers, the customer would be king…

        2. Steamweed

          As more and more students become litigious about cancelled classes, yeah, supposedly they do have it set up. But gaps and fumbles do happen in the process. So I’m thinking they’re not auto-fired, and the system doesn’t know they’re gone.

  12. Svankensen

    They arrested a former congresswoman, she’s being held for days without audience, and it hasn’t showed up in the news? I’m not buying it.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Robin is the one who destroyed her own career and very thoroughly.

      1. Svankensen

        Yeah, but that’s besides the point. It would’ve made the news, if only for the scandal potential. Besides, these are cops we are talking about. They bow to influence, perceived or real, doesn’t matter, and “former congresswoman” is a big deal.

        1. Cimorene

          Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t and this is still the next day or two days after the protest? Two days yeah I’d suspect it to have broken and both Robin and Leslie to have gotten word out that they were being held/arrested.

          For cops not bowing to perceived influence just look at the crap Justine Wadsack pulled in Arizona.

        2. Rose by Any other Name

          It is also entirely possible that this is all a massive Red Herring and we’re eventually going to learn that something else entirely happened to them both.
          Like, they got married in Vegas or something.
          This is Robin – literally anything is possible.

        3. Byron Orpheus

          Context: Justine Wadsack’s Wikipedia entry.

      2. True Survivor

        Ture, but I feel like the arrest of even a former congress woman would get coverage by the Hill or some such news outlet, even if it was not top page news. Then again, if they have been denied a phone call or not used it on someone who would call a journalist about the matter, I can see how journalists may just not picking up on their arrest yet. After all, a lot of exciting things happened at that protest at the end. The police arresting a politician is honestly less news worthy than a genuine superheroine beating the snot out of the cops.

        1. True Survivor

          Of course, it could have been in the news and just nobody bothered to look at it. I feel that Jason is maybe phoning in on this particular job and thus does not remain update on current events, and the rest of the cast have been busy dealing with internal matters.

        2. Svankensen

          Yeah, but Robin NOT annoyingly repeating she’s a former congresswoman until a cop listens is completely out of character. Maybe if she was in a coma for two days?

        3. True Survivor

          Touché

        4. Holly

          Maybe Dorothy and Becky will help get them out by jointly making a media fuss about it for them. They have the power! (Dorothy as a news journalist for the school paper and Becky as Robin’s campaign assistant)

    2. Armadillo

      Might work to get her out if they point people’s attention to that, but yeah, like Phipps said, Robin worked very hard to make sure her old political allies really don’t want to acknowledge her existence anymore.

    3. Steamweed

      I guess it depends if the cops know that or not.

      1. Svankensen

        Robin isn’t one to shut up about herself.

        1. Steamweed

          This statement. It is true.

    4. Thag Simmons

      Have any of these people been reading the news.

      1. Svankensen

        This handful in particular? No. But someone in their classes in college must’ve. Or colleagues. Or anyone curious about the protests that happened in their own campus.

    5. Dot

      The Hill and Politico would definitely be running the story. Political gossip is catnip.

  13. Steamweed

    Jason, you got more teachin’ experience than Robin. But she got more real life political experience. So yeah, yer about equal.

  14. Alongcameaspider

    Is Leslie’s current (as in during this specific time) class the one Jennifer and Charlie are in?

    1. Nono

      It shouldn’t be because Becky would be in that class as well but she’s also in Robin’s class that’s happening right now.

  15. True Survivor

    Political Science 101: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter

  16. Hasufin

    For some reason my gut feeling is they did not get arrested nor detained and are in some other shenanigans – but in attempting to find them, somehow this will result in Dorothy or Becky being suspected as Amazi-Girl.

  17. IntangibleMatter

    Hurrah! Dorothy and Becky adventure! I see absolutely no personal drama whatsoever being explored here!

    Also moms <3

    1. Effie

      I see absolutely no moms being explored here… not even for a nickel

  18. Vivvav

    I’m not saying Dorothy going with Becky is the wrong call. But I’m really waiting for a moment to happen when Dorothy learns she doesn’t have to put herself into every crisis situation that presents itself. Because this nonstop “I’ve gotta do something” habit of hers is gonna get her in the DEEPEST shit at some point.

    1. Bill Erak

      I mean, she’s already been kidnapped for being friends with Amazi-Girl.

    2. Wraithy2773

      I think this is not a good example of that, because no one else is doing shit by the time Dorothy connects all the dots. She might not need to be the one taking the lead on this, but it ain’t like a lot of other people are doing it right now (Becky gets off like a shot, admittedly, but she doesn’t know where to go or what anyone else should do).

      Dorothy doesn’t have to take charge, but no one else is, so she might as well.

      1. JR

        She can take charge, sure, but she absolutely should not be going to the jail with Becky and interacting with cops. She’s the public face of the protest thanks to the newspaper and her/Joyce’s impulsivity. She should not be anywhere near protest crackdown authorities right now, as I worry we are about to find out.

        1. eh, whatever

          Apparently almost nobody recognizes her (or Joyce) on that photo.

        2. deliverything

          By my recollection: Daisy and Billifer didn’t but Joe, Raidah and Becky did. Admittedly, Joe and Becky know Joyce well enough to have an easier time of recognising her (and, by context, Dorothy too), and Raidah had recently been annoyed at the two “getting attention” at the protest, but it shows it’s not impossible for them to be recognised.

    3. Adam Black

      It already has. Going to the police station is the 2nd worst idea she’s had.
      They are looking for her and Joyce too.

  19. Yotomoe

    Moms. Plural.
    I feel so vindicated. Robin and Leslie are Becky’s moms confirmed.

    1. NGPZ

      Dina was right, they aint never gonna avoid the so-called allegations

      and right about now, that’s very much a good thing

      1. Effie

        It really does seem like a good thing. Do they not have anyone else trying to bail them out? Robin has a bunch of sisters, is she the only one of them over the age of 20? Does she have living parents, and do they know where she is? Leslie’s parents threw her out years ago, but she has a dentist girlfriend whose name I forget, could she be looking for her?

        1. Doopyboop

          Riley lives with their mother and a man I’m assuming is the step-dad so mom is definitely still alive. Their father, he’s up in the air. With Robin being… Robin, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mama Desanto is completely out of the loop and finds things out about her eldest daughter like 6 months after they occur.

  20. Dean

    Jason: Constitutional monarchy is superior to all other forms of government.

    1. Thing 2

      Except where it isn’t a form of government.

      1. Taffy

        Don’t argue with Jason, he’s fictional. And British.

        1. Thing 2

          I’m fictional. And once were Britishers.

    2. Wraithy2773

      ……….how much money does the UK Government waste on the Royal Family again for the service of doing *checks notes* fuck all?

      1. Thing 2

        The Royal Family inherited an enormous estate of weath. You could certainly argue that obtaining it was pretty criminal, but they did. At some point they decided to stop paying the govt to govern and simply turned the whole lot over to the Govt to use instead (minus the monarch’s personal wealth) on the condition that a. they pay the royal consort and b. they pay for ‘stuff’.

        1. Wraithy2773

          So, it would be wrong of us to steal back when their ancestors had rightly stolen?

      2. eh, whatever

        Tourism.

        1. Dot

          It’s a false premise that the royals must remain in their position in order to drive tourism.

      3. Lys

        Nothing, the amount of revenue the UK government gets from managing the royal family’s lands is massively more than the amount they spend on maintaining the royal family itself. The royals would have more money and the UK less if the monarchy was abolished. Frankly, they should just go ahead and give control of those lands back to the royals and let them sustain themselves on those revenues, so people will stop bongoing about them being a line item on the budget. It would be easier if you could just say that the monarchy directly pays for itself using its own income.

        1. Dot

          Who says the royals should get to keep their money after the monarchy is abolished?

        2. Lys

          Same reason everyone other rich toff gets to keep their money? If you’re doing a full abolishment of private property to go with your abolishment of the monarchy, the sure, you can do that.

        3. Dot

          Don’t mind if I do!

        4. Thag Simmons

          I think it’s notable that even in the charitable take on the monarchy they still come off as rent-seeking parasites.

          Also it should go without saying that most people in favour of abolishing the monarchy would also be in favour of seizing the crown lands.

  21. zims

    England does not have freedom of speech/the press so he can teach them how to live with that

    1. eh, whatever

      …no, that’s not how it works. However, truth is not an absolute defense against its libel/slander laws.

      1. Dot

        Which is fucking insane and a clear chill on freedom of speech in its application. UK libel laws are atrocious.

      2. jflb96

        The truth is an absolute defence, but it’s on the defendant to prove that what they said is reasonable to have believed to be true, rather than being on the plaintiff to prove that it was unreasonable. In theory, that means that you have to bring receipts when you say something. In practice, that means that a rich enough plaintiff can shut down true comments that they don’t like by finagling the process of proving it to be true.

        Still better than ‘The truth is whatever the person with the better PR department says it is’ cough Depp v. Heard cough

    2. Adept

      The UK has a much more sane freedom of speech than the US.

      1. Lys

        I don’t consider this sane: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-make-30-arrests-a-day-for-offensive-online-messages-zbv886tqf

        My preferred standard is imminent lawless action which is used in the United States. It is much more clear and unambiguous than more subjective standards like hateful and offensive.

        1. thejeff

          There are good and bad things about both.
          “Imminent lawless action” allows an awful lot of hate and can lead to stochastic terrorism with no intervention. We know the internet is basically useless without moderation, but by having essentially no legal standards, we leave it up to every site’s ownership.
          The bigger problem with US free speech laws though is in politics. Money being speech and shutting any attempt to rein in campaign finance. Billionaires can basically set up anonymous PACs and pretty much run an entire campaign alongside the official one – anything else being an infringement on their free speech.

        2. jflb96

          What were those messages?

    3. Bittersweet

      I feel like I’ve never encountered someone from the UK who even hesitated to speak their mind on politics or a situation whether within their own country/government or others, I suspect their freedom of speech is currently intact. Or at least more intact than mine in the US is right now.

      1. Embe13

        +this. in england freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.

        and lets not rehash our pages and days long arguments over what “consequences” are

        1. Lys

          Freedom of speech is freedom from consequences though. The less consequences there the more freedom you have. You have the most freedom of speech where nobody can hear, and the least where saying the wrong thing will get you killed. The argument is which consequences for what speech.

        2. Lys

          I screwed up my italics tag >_<

        3. Embe13

          unfortunately there is no freedom from consequences, there will always be society imposed consequences of free speech. you are free to talk about how fun it would be to yell “FIRE” in a crowded movie theatre. the moment you yell fire in the theatre you are responsible for everything that happens in from that point. if people get trampled you are guilty of manslaughter, when the doors are smashed by the paniced crowd you are liable for vandalism/mischief/ destruction of property. these are the consequences of you exercising you freedom of speech. all rights have a limit,and that limit is when you exercising your right causes infringement on anothers rights. this is the 1st rule of a just society. I have the right to walk around shadow boxing the air, but the moment I strike another person I have violated their right to not be punched and would face the consequences of my actions. speech is no different. i have the right to privately discuss anything, to scream anything to the void, but if i do the same in public and what i say is a provable false statement about another person i am guilty of libel/slander/lying and would have to face the consequences of having done so.

          freedom of thought is a truely universal right, but freedom of speech will always have limits in it imposed by a just society.

        4. Embe13

          a part of what i had wanted to say but got lost in my organizing of my adhd addled brain was to say, there is a distinct difference between private life and public society. screaming fire in an empty theater is perfectly legal, free speech without consequence. screaming fire in a crowd, you are responsible to consider the right of the public to not be sent into a false panic, and justifiably you would face consequences.

          i think a lot of folk out there forget that online life is inherently public. now i grew up with an apple 2 in my school grade 1 and a windows 95nt lab grade 6. by grade 10 we had fully online comp labs. it was drilled into us that the online sphere was a public space and one should consider it as though you were in a food court/at the grocery store/at church. now in a direct message to someone you can expect privacy, but in say the comment section of a comic strip……….

        5. Lys

          There is no absolute freedom from consequences, which is why absolute free speech cannot exist, but the question of how much free speech to permit, and how to do so, is entirely about the consequences. “Freedom from speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences” is an incoherent statement because it is precisely the consequences which make speech unfree, and the absence of consequences that make it free. The term “free speech” itself is somewhat ambiguous because everyone imagines their own set of reasonable limitations. Even those who call themselves free speech absolutists rarely require much pressing before you find their limits, and such exceptions as you can find tend to be a bit unhinged.

          I will note the difference between private and public is not clear cut. Having a quiet discussion in a park bench is more public than doing it in your living room, but it is more private than a loud discussion, which is in turn more private than standing on the bench and giving a speech. Social media is different in that what starts more like a park bench discussion can turn into a national broadcast entirely due to the actions of others in boosting and rebroadcasting the contents. It’s not entirely different, a living room conversation can be recorded and broadcast, but it still occupies an ambiguous space that messes with human intuitions.

          By the way, while it is an excellent and illustrative turn of phrase, the analogy of yelling fire in a crowded theory was coined by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in his majority opinion for Schenck v. United States in 1919, which held that that passing out pamphlets opposing the draft during the First World War was not protected speech under the First Amendment. Be weary that reasonable arguments can and have been used to justify unreasonable suppression of political dissent.

        6. Embe13

          had not known the context beyond that it had come from a judge. but it has actually happened where someone yelled fire or something analogous in a crowded theatre and people died, and they were tried and convicted. something where it was a rival theatre owner who didso out of jealousy. it was 19th century europe but the article i read was 15+ years ago.

          but a quiet conversation on a park bench shoulld not be assumed to be free of possible interloping in same same way having the same conversation in your home. i am old enough to have been warned to avoid message boards online as they are not a private space. another way i can put my views on freedoms is that individual right to a safe life supersedes free speech, and therefor reasonable limits on free speech are except-able in a just society.

    4. jflb96

      England doesn’t even exist as an independent polity any more, so maybe he can commiserate with these Louisianans about that

  22. Pocky

    I’m still surprised Jason is even allowed to teach after the whole Sal thing

    1. Taffy

      I’m not, unfortunately. Before I dropped out of high school, there was a teacher who’d just openly do cocaine out of an antique poison ring and make inappropriate comments about the girls, and last I heard he’s still teaching there.

      1. deliverything

        I can’t help wondering how many people were tempted to sneakily replace the contents of his poison ring with something more contextually appropriate?

      2. Pocky

        gross, but I guess you have the right of it when you say its to be expected. Always feels like the good teachers lose their jobs at the drop of a hat, while the scumbag ones get to cling to them like shit to the bowl.

      3. Tequila Mockingbird

        Good lord… did this bloke have blackmail on somebody or something? I won’t pretend colleges have their students’ best interests at heart but I suspect that kind of conduct would give their legal team a heart attack. That’s a screaming liability over 9,000 decibels in volume!

    2. Thag Simmons

      He was fired for a few months.

      1. Thag Simmons

        This is, sadly, more consequences than normal.

        1. Pocky

          sounds about white.

        2. C.T Phipps

          The question also becomes how much authority does he have versus Ruth and their comparison as people who abused their positions.

    3. Lys

      The school doesn’t know about Sal. Penny got caught sleeping with students when Joe’s Do List leaked, and she vindictively accused Jason of doing the same. He was so ashamed of himself he chose not to show up at his tribunal, but neither did Sal or Penny. With no evidence, I think the school treated Jason not showing as a voluntary resignation, which makes him eligible to be rehired.

      1. Lys

        I should have said spitefully, not vindictively. It’s wasn’t revenge, Penny just doesn’t like Jason and wanted to ruin his life, so she made a false accusation not knowing it was actually true. When Jason admitted it, Penny was actually impressed because she is a terrible person. Jason was too ashamed of his actions to show up to the tribunal, Penny had probably already left the country, and Sal wasn’t even informed but she wouldn’t have shown anyway. So all Jason has on the record is an unsubstantiated accusation from Penny, whose testimony is suspect.

      2. C.T Phipps

        It was a Catch-22 accusation too because Jason could only defend himself by producing the student–which would require a student to exist.

  23. Thing 2

    OK, I love the drama and action. I esp like panel one with D in ascendancy. The various (and non harmonious) colours indicating, well, non harmony. B putting her coat on and dashing.

    1. Morhek

      I think “D in ascendancy” is my star sign 😛

  24. Jesse

    @ The hovertext:
    “Might”?

    1. Clif

      It’s open to debate.

      1. Clif

        I mean, I could make a case either way.

  25. Jay

    Happy new year everyone, I’m taking the new year to do better with staying with the flow and I’ve really enjoyed the last few strips.

    Loving becky here and tbh would love to see a panel of Jasons stale ass teaching.

    There’s a nibbling disappointment but I’m just going to keep that to myself. I woulda felt wrong not acknowledging it exist in any comment i did make tho.

    Also dot if you’re reading this love the new pfp but it made me think you went MIA

  26. C.T Phipps

    Darn, Dorothy missed her chance to take the class for herself.

    LEADERSHIP!

  27. cbwroses

    What are the chances that they’re not actually arrested and so Joyce telling their classes that they are would be big deal?

    I think it’s slim to none, but I don’t think it’s 0.

  28. Wraithy2773

    See, stuff like this is why I think Dorothy actually is well suited for a leadership position of some sort. She know how to take authority and give instructions, she has that kind of confidence that gets people to stop asking questions or theorizing or otherwise stalling and actually get to work.

    Being a major political leader requires additional skills that she doesn’t quite have, that’s absolutely true, but this is the sort of leadership that isn’t common and is super useful.

  29. HueSatLight

    Robin hasn’t had sex with a student, and yelled at a different student for having ADHD.

    1. anonymsly

      Robin has, however, criminally trespassed on a near-stranger’s home to spend several days holding said near-stranger hostage and sexually harassing her constantly. Later, she took a job at the same university as this same near-stranger (a job which she treats as 100% a joke) in order to low-key stalk and harass her from a different position of power. And Jason hasn’t done any of that, much of which involves actual crime.

      Jason hasn’t done any also never voted against or introduced legislation against the existence of the person he’s been harassing.

      So I guess I’m not sure what your point is? If it’s ‘he’s too scummy to teach as well as Robin’ I think Robin’s much worse than he is so we’re good. If the point is ‘he’s a much worse teacher than Robin’ I would note that both of them are genuinely terrible teachers, at least in part because they are both wholly untrained for said profession. Jason’s a decent mathematician probably, and Robin’s a pretty good clown.

      If the point is somehow ‘Jason’s not as fun or good at clowning as Robin’ I agree, that’s 100% true.

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        Don’t forget about the restraining order from… Oscar Isaacs, I think it was? Or some celeb she mistook for him. Something about camping outside their house, IIRC.

    2. Yotomoe

      The Jason situation has always been weird to me.

      Cuz just going off of the first encounter, Sal asks for tutoring and Jason tells her it is not his designated tutoring hours and to come back tomorrow. Sal does not respect this boundary and drags him by the shirt for 1 on 1 tutoring while he protests.

      Then when all the rooms are booked they go into a one on one room that has no AC I guess and when Sal gets hot and bothered she starts stripping off clothes and hopping on top of him.

      Now in the slipshine Jason probably consents but it always felt off to me that after the fact people tend to treat Jason as if he was preying on his students when the setup puts Sal in the driver’s seat for almost the entire interaction. She basically physically strong arms Jason into it. And you could argue he let her drag him around but now we get into assumptions and if the narrative says that sal is overpowering Jason I’m gonna just assume she’s strong enough to do that.

      Then once she has him alone she starts stripping and putting him in a very incriminating position. Now he COULD say no at this point but its crazy it even got this far and that Sal isnt seen as the instigator. And you could say he’s got the power cuz he’s a man but again, Sal dragging him around all day makes me doubt he overpowers her significantly. If Walky had forced Jason into this situation I would feel the same.

      OK but he’s a teacher’s assistant and she’s a student so he has a power dynamic in that way. And yknow what? Yeah thats true. I would never say he’s blameless. He has direct control over her grades and not only could he be bribed to making her pass he could theoretically fail her for not cooperating. Worst case scenario is she kicked out of school. That said Sal also kinda has him in an awkward position. See if Jason is caught fraternizing with a student he could/would be fired. And since he is in a work visa being fired means being deported from the country. As well as a red mark on his record forever for this. So honestly sal and Jason kinda have a “mutually assured destruction” thing going on. Which is further evidenced by Jason being fired despite having no proof against him based merely on Heresay from Penny.

      Now he definitely shouldn’t have continued having sex with Sal but if I’m being honest once he did it the first time he’s basically already fucked. Theres no “oh at least it was only once” clause so in for a penny in for a pound. (This idiom is very apt for this scenario specifically). In all honestly I feel like sal and Jason were supposed to be a saucy “hot for teacher type love story but as the comic ran alongside the #metro era it recontextualized a lot of those types of narratives and makes Jason’s intentions seem more sinister.

  30. C.T Phipps

    But how will Jason teach them about the PM without a head of lettuce?

  31. Ray Radlein

    Not entirely sure that Ms. Front Page “I was at the protest when the tear gas flew and in close proximity to Amazi-Girl, whom I might well know” going to the police station in person to rescue other protestors is a completely flawless plan, tbh

  32. darkoneko

    Becky said the thing !

    1. Clif

      It’s okay, Becky. I, all too frequently, don’t know where I’m goin’ either.

      Oh! You meant the other thing.

  33. Morrison

    Dorothy’s gloves are missing in panel 3, Sensei Willis.

    1. Taffy

      How’s she gonna feel Joyce’s face properly with gloves on?

      1. deliverything

        It’d be like typing with boxing gloves on, probably.

    2. Morrison

      They ARE fingerless.

  34. Dark_T_Zeratul

    I can’t help but feel like Dorothy is jumping to conclusions here. There are any number of reasons why they might not be there, but she’s picking the worst possible one without any evidence and not only acting as though it must be true, but directing others to spread it as fact rather than speculation.

    1. Embe13

      i believe dorothy is acting on the ‘leslie would have informed the school of the absence if it was within her control” meaning the fact that the last place she saw both of them is at the protest, making their possible detention a very real possibility. now it could be that they are being held by someone else (Incellerator, the church) but they have no evidence to lean that way. also with the polices record of detainment implyed by the protest scenes it is absolutely sensible to operate as “the cops have them” is the most likely scenario needing to be acted apon

  35. Kyulen

    Assuming Robin and Leslie were arrested at the protest and are being held in a nearby jail, I kinda wonder why it’s up to 3 college students to try to get them out. Were the protest organizers not prepared for the possibility of some protesters getting arrested and needing to be bailed out of jail? I’m just saying if Robin and Leslie are in jail right now, it’s gonna seem pretty odd to me if the only people around who can help them get out turn out to be Becky, Joyce, and Dorothy.

    1. kdmw

      This is a good point. I’d forgotten about it until you mentioned it, but the one time I went to an illegal protest organized by a student group, there was a lawyer on call and everyone had their business card. Some people even wrote the number on themselves in permanent marker in case the card was taken away.

      1. Bittersweet

        Also, Robin should have a lawyer of her own simply by virtue of having been a politician and reasonably wealthy lol, even my parents have lawyers. And Anna is the literal worst, but you’d think she’d go to a bail bondsman on behalf of her girlfriend (and Robin obviously has the capital to foot the bill.)

        Tbh, I don’t mind Becky going and handling things, I don’t understand why Dorothy has to go (not a meta criticism, I mean Dorothy as a person would definitely insert herself into this and I would not understand it.)

        1. Embe13

          very simple, dorothy wants to help. the desire to help is a very hard one to resist.

    2. thejeff

      It’s possible there is already legal stuff going on that our cast doesn’t know about, but they’re worried. Becky’s panicking about her moms.

      At least finding out what’s going on is reasonable, even in the real world.

      This being a comic, it’s likely that the protagonists will actually have to take some action, but we don’t yet know what’ll happen.

  36. Acher4

    Dotty getting her groove on by becoming a leader again.
    *chef’s kiss*

  37. Bob

    Okay Joyce, even though its officially unconfirmed and deniable,
    I want you to tell everyone that the teachers infact participated in the “illegal”* protest and were arrested.
    Meanwhile I, the frontpage protestor and lesbian icon, will go with Becky and demand the cops release them.

    ** athours note: not saying it is illegal, just that it will be spun that way by the corrupt.

    1. Needfuldoer

      They know Leslie and Robin were there, without concrete evidence or more eyewitness accounts it’s just hearsay.

      “They must have been arrested” is a plausible theory, but it’s currently without proof. Dorothy treats this conclusion as fact, but it shouldn’t be spread around as such until it’s verified.

      1. Embe13

        i argue oppiosite. they also have known these women for months. leslie’s behavior makes it very unlikely that she wouldnt be missing without notifying the school, they no the cops swept up and arrested a lot pf protestors. using abductive reasoning it is very likely based on the information they have, that robin and leslie are being held by the cops and acting to confirm said status is the prudent net step.

  38. Fail Earnhardt

    Dorothy’s confident, so I can only assume she’s missing the full picture and the girlkisser sidequest will go horribly wrong.

  39. KM

    How is it possible Jason or the University admin not know if this is the case. Are you telling me state police “disappeared” them? This isn’t like some cia blacksite stuff yea?

    1. Sharizard

      Erm… have you- have you not been seeing this in the news? ICE is the key offender in disappearing people, but there have been cases of State police doing it too. For a quick example lookup police civil rights violations in Lexington Mississippi on justice.gov. DOJ has publicly acknowledged this has been happening.

      1. KM

        Afaik the ice arrests are quite “public”. I’m disputing that a high profile ex congresswoman can be arrested by state police on such a way that no one knows they were arrested.

      2. KM

        I skimmed the DOJ report, where does it say they are “dissappeared” as opposed to being arrested and denied civil rights? or are you saying the manner they are arrested precludes anyone knowing? and again, Robin is quite a public figure vis a vis the people arrested by the lexington PD

        1. NGPZ

          its police in the states, what you expect? 9-9

        2. KM

          I expect that even in trumps america, if state police arrest an ex congressperson at a protest, people would know about it.

  40. Willoughby Chase

    Take Sal with you!

  41. Dr. T

    I am concerned it could be something darker. They went straight to “we have military grade equipment, so we should use it” mode. One could be hurt (probably Leslie( and the other stayed by her side.

  42. UrsulaDavina

    I wonder where Barry is Robins ither TA, He is more qualified to teach the class then Jason given that he is an actual political science grad student.

    1. Astariel

      He was only there for the bit.

      1. thejeff

        Give us Barry Bus!

  43. Needfuldoer

    Dorothy, don’t tell Joyce to spread unverified information like that.

    1. Dot

      Dorothy’s habit of immediately taking control of a situation and giving orders (here telling Joyce to go spread information that she hasn’t actually verified!) is annoying, but kind of in a “takes one to know one” way. I can be the same way (and my name’s also Dorothy… hm).

      1. Big Z

        My partner and I have joked that there are two kinds of people: they, like Dorothy here, get everything going immediately as they’re reacting almost before events happen. And then about five seconds to five minutes later, depending on urgency and how much looking up I had to do, I start offering amendments that benefit from the fact I had extra time to think while someone else is doing the immediate reaction stuff.

  44. UrsulaDavina

    This is what leaders do! Taking command of the situation with very little to no authority, in order to act on unverfied information. Then appointing folks with dubious creditentails to spread said unverfied information, and guide the public!

  45. crepuscularkid

    You gotta have someone on jail support monitoring arrest records

    1. Taffy

      My bleary just-woke-up brain put “jail support” in the same category as “life support”, and now I’m wondering what that would look like.

      (I get the idea for what jail support actually is, don’t explain the real version)

      1. Embe13

        real world answer i could see that as a rebranding for ankle monitors and the like.

        fun time answer is a helicopter dropping a bigger cage around the prison

  46. BorkBorkBork

    “Hey, Indiana arrest records are public per Indiana’s APRA act, and they have a portal on their website, so we can just pull out our phones and see if they have, in fact, been arrested,” said Dorothy, who, as an aspiring lawmaker and politician, knew what she was doing.

    “Um, I’m looking here, and I don’t see them anywhere,” said Becky, who was trying desperately not to panic when her friend jumped to a terrifying conclusion with little evidence.

    “You know what that means, right?” said Joyce. “They’re hiding the arrest info. Who knows where they’re hidden? Or how long they’ll be there! They may even be tortured! For info on Amazi-Girl!”

    Everyone nodded. “This is exactly how police behave,” said Walky. “This is why Amazi-Girl had to assault multiple police officers when they tried to break up a protest that knew since early morning that they were trespassing and waited until the last five minutes to leave. That was totally worth the multiple felonies that she’s actually 100% guilty for.”

    “I’m going to go do something outrageously stupid because I’m very emotional that my childhood crush didnt fall for me,” said Becky, “which will undoubtedly cause be to be attacked or kidnapped or receive police brutality of some sort, which will be captured by the media and used to expose the corruption of our local police force.

    “And I’ll make out with Alice to bring attention to the genocide!” said Asma, who was a cast member since like the second strip and always secretly a lesbian.

    “Great plan!” said Dorothy, who wasn’t listening because Joyce was grabbing her butt. “Let’s move out!”

    —

    Robin and Leslie wake up next to each other, the bed covered in Skittles and Froot Loops. “When do you think this’ll hit the Other Patreon?” asked Leslie.

    “June, probably,” said Robin, eating a piece of Fruit by the Foot that was stuck to Leslie’s thigh. “Let’s give ’em some more content.”

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      absolute_cinema.gif

  47. Morrison

    I like how Dorothy touches Joyce’s face in concern and protection. She doesn’t want Joyce near the dangerous corruption of this precinct.

  48. ResRam

    Okay, who is with me?
    Betting Leslie and Robin FINALLY got that ship sailing and landed in a hotel room, all glowy with adrenaline and boundary-violating excitement.
    And forgot the time, lets say.

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