I don’t think Raidah understands what friendship is. She want’s to sabotage a relationship she has no stake in just because she thinks it makes someone she dislikes too powerful. This is the kind of person who ruins lives.
That’s the easiest job in the world. All you have to do is hire a bunch of people who were doing something unrelated to your thing, work them to the bone, beat the fuck out of them, and then fire them all once their project is done, regardless of how much money they just made you. Randy Pitchford, Android Wilson, Bobby Kotick, they’re just three stellar examples of how to make bank being worthless.
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
On paper anyway. Just as Sarah’s self-sabotaging tendencies make it unlikely she’ll be able to do anything with her degree should she even get it, Raidah’s too busy majoring in Chasing Rich Peoples’ Families for Delusions of Social Climbing to even minor in Law…
Nymph
Sarah hasn’t shown a single instance of being self-sabotaging when it comes to her schoolwork. She is diligent and dedicated to that part of her life and I don’t see why she wouldn’t behave that way about her work once she has a degree, I think she’ll do fine. The social actions of a surly and defensive teenager aren’t good metrics of what they’ll be like years later with more at stake.
The protagonist of Hitman does not deserve this roundabout slander.
Norj
The protagonist of Claymore doesn’t either.
someone
I suggest using the moniker Krasnov, it’s a lot less ambiguous.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Unfortunately for the rest of us, there are **so many** leeches hoping to make gains by proximity that 47 has a functionally endless supply of sycophants.
Big Z
Also, the “why would you want to reconnect with a (random, non-influential) high school friend?” is the most teenager-pilled, “we’re GROWN UPS now so we CAN’T do kid stuff ever or *unspecified bad consequences!*” bullcrap.
Elsewise
“High school? That’s kid stuff!” -A college sophomore
Mark
“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” — C. S. Lewis
I think the problem is Jennifer is perhaps looking at this much like a job interview, a decision Alice will make based on logic and not heart. She thinks Alice liked being her friend, and is only avoiding Jennifer because Alice was scared of her alcoholism and more selfish and erratic tendencies. Therefore, Jennifer thinks, I just need to get Raidah to verify that she no longer have these draw back and she’ll be back in business. Jennifer may not get that Alice isn’t simply avoiding her out of pure cost/business analysis, but because Alice loved her and trusted her and then nearly watched Billie die through face full of bloody glass. Alice was hurt more than physically in that crash, she is likely suffering from feelings of betrayal and maybe a bit of trauma.
Also, Jennifer’s actions could have easily killed Alice. This always gets overlooked, but even though Alice didn’t get physically harmed permanently, she could have lost her life that might and it’s pure luck she didn’t. I would be shocked if Alice ever wanted to be around her again.
I also walked away technically unscathed when a man suffering a psychotic break attempted to break into my apartment to kill my husband and I. And I wish him all the help he needs, but I also want him to not be anywhere within 350 ft of me per the restraining order.
Charles Phipps
Jennifer just wants to be free from the worst night of her life and reinvent herself so she’s not “Billie the Alcoholic Fuck Up.” Which has been haunting her every step of the way.
THAT’S why she became Jennifer and ditched everyone else.
Needfuldoer
She rebooted her personality and tried to run away from her fuckups instead of admitting to and atoning for them.
A little accountability would probably go a lot further with Alice than anything Raidah would have to say.
Lokitsu
And, not surprisingly, Alice wants to be free of those memories too. By not seeing Billie ever again.
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
Turning to someone who coldly commits to attempting to escape that fact she’ll never be “Raidah Whom Has Never Made a Mistake or Bad Call in Her Life” at any cost, personal or to others, in order to do so, I can add.
Thag Simmons
Also from Alice’s description the thing that really got to her was how Billie handled the aftermath of the crash. Alice was traumatized and Billie seemed to just brush it off
And Alice said flat out that it wasn’t even the crash itself; she ghosted because Jennifer acted like the crash was NO BIG DEAL. Had Jennifer actually reacted, actually been scared and started to try and do better, Alice would have stayed.
This is just more of the same: Jennifer acting like something is no big deal when it is, actually, the entire deal.
Charles Phipps
It’s actually the reason for why she’s Jennifer.
Jennifer doesn’t want to be defined by the DUI for the rest of her life but it destroyed her relationship with Alice, her cheerleading squad membership, her prospects, and her self-respect.
Joy
Yeah, but… “The crash fucked me up immensely and I only acted like it was no big deal because I was completely numb to the whole situation afterwards, and I’m deeply sorry for what happened,” is a phrase that would probably??? Help?
Archieve
I think Jennifer needs someone to spell it all out for her, like how you don’t casually drop being in a suicide pac with a smile in a conversation.
Miri
Or maybe explain that “my life spiralled out of control after that car crash. I thought I was poison that destroyed everything I touched. I ended up in a lesbian love suicide pact with another alcoholic and we embraced the fact that we couldn’t hurt each other more than we were already hurting… We hit rock bottom together. And since then, I have been working hard at digging upwards and trying to make something meaningful of my life that I actually recognise as me… I really am sorry about that crash. I know I hurt you afterwards but I really didn’t know how to react and deal with the fact I could have killed us both. Not reacting and trying to make it not be a big deal by pretending it wasn’t one was, with hindsight, fucking stupid.”
If you put in all of those words, with an actual apology and taking accountability, and putting into words what you did wrong… It comes across as less deranged and more like you may have learnt something than whatever it was that she actually ended up doing…
Mano308gts
the problem is…
an apology/confession (both, actually) like that reads like a modern-day Young Adult novel character; it does not read at all like a real, living, breathing human being actually talks, nor like the typical amount of self-awareness that people have.
Basically- apologies are in order, yes- but they’re literally never going to be therapy-speech like this.
Joy
It sounds like a handwritten letter and not a spoken conversation to me. Also Jennifer has been to therapy and sometimes uses therapy speak, so, eh. I think it’s out of character because Jennifer isn’t that self pitying.
Mark
Well, it’s missing context.
Alice: Uuugh, okay, let’s do this. You almost killed both of us and you just tossed it off. Tell me why I should ever feel safe with you again.
Jennifer: [insert speech from above.]
Alice: [interjections during speech]
thejeff
“Go deeper”
The crash was not actually the inciting incident that started things spiraling for Jennifer. She was a self-destructive alcoholic long before then. It was the crash, and Jennifer’s lack of apparent reaction to it, that led to Alice realizing it, but what she realized was that Jennifer had been dragging her down for years.
“A bit of trauma”? Car wrecks are the #1 cause of PTSD in the US. Speaking from personal experience, even if you don’t get killed, the trauma of being in a wreck is about the worse thing a civilian can experience in the Divided States of America.
Lysbeth
I was surprised it’d be the #1 cause, considering the other things the USA does and have, but thinking more on how the culture emphasises cars everywhere, road safety barely exists, and 99% of vehicles are maximally damaging to anyone not inside them… I can see that.
That’s not true. Raidah cares about the utterly petty micromanagement she can perform upon any member of her ingroup. Satisfying the Worthington equation is a bonus and a crumple zone.
Again, Raidah isn’t willing to do you a tiny favor despite all the sucking up you’ve done.
So she’s not worthwhile to hang with.
Raidah is going to fail massively in lawyering AND politics. She can’t do basic quid pro quo.
Joy
When people are popular it’s usually because a large number of people decide that they like that person. Raidah is going to have that if she loses sight of how to be nice?
(That being said, I’m surprised the comments section as a whole is siding against Raidah, considering how much they criticized Jennifer for the whole thing with Asher? Like, I am too, but I was defending Jennifer at the time…) (Once again I’d like to remind everyone that Jennifer had a concussion during the breakup.) (She’s also handling it really well and seems happy for him and Ethan, so, good for her.) (She got therapy. :3 )
Tomn
“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
Whatever negative opinions people may have of Jennifer, Raidah is far more widely disliked so if the two are in conflict, she’s going to come worse off. Doesn’t necessarily speak for support for Jennifer mind – your phrase “siding againsnt Raidah” is probably accurate.
Joy
Actually yeah that makes sense. Thanks for explaining it.
Satan literally killed only 10 people in the Bible, far less than Hitler.
But even he didn’t break God’s biblical record of over 22 million
Archieve
in the the words of Rachel we can multitask and acknowledge more then one persons faults. Jennifers treatment of Asher was terrible towards Asher and Radiah trying to force Jennifer to get back with Asher is terrible towards both Asher and Jennifer.
adam Black
These are completely different.
Raidah is vindictive uses people
wants to destroy other people’s happiness for no good end.
She wants Jennifer with him to control him. If she was real friend she would directly to to him.about Ethan.
Jennifer was clueless self destructive and expected her bf to come running back for her self worth. She was holding him back.
Raidah is just being a monster telling Jennifer they will shun her without her bf. Expecting her to break up Tony’s relationship. And she points out she doesn’t value old friendships not new ones. Jennifers self destructive streak seems to have come from imitating Raidah.
Here’s the breakup. I think that Jennifer was trying to communicate that the walkerton parents are essentially her parents moreso than her birth parents. If Asher didn’t decide to interpret it that way, they probably wouldn’t have broken up. I don’t blame him for that, but I want to remind everyone who reads this that how you interpret what someone says to you is your choice. Jennifer could have taken what Asher said as a prompt to apologize for recent behavior.
The reason why the concussion is relevant to the scene is that a concussion can cause unclear communication, as well as irritability and impaired judgment. If she didn’t have a recent concussion, the conversation might have gone differently.
I honestly don’t really want them together anyway, so whatever.
Joy
While I do say that how someone interprets what someone else says is a choice, I don’t think it’s a choice whether or not you personally find a statement made about you to be hurtful. I think Jennifer just has too much self respect to allow herself to be spoken to that way, and I think that’s a good thing.
thejeff
Didn’t Willis say, a couple days ago when you (or someone else?) brought this up, that there was no concussion?
Joy
Oh, yeah, someone else pointed it out to me. I didn’t see Willis’s response until earlier today. I’m going to stop insisting that there was a concussion, don’t worry.
Jeremiah
I think you might be mixing up the car crash with the break up if you are meaning a literal concussion. And also almost all the commenters already disliked Raidah this strip just cements what we already knew about her.
Jennifer started it and it could be considered arguably cheating with the way she acted, but like… Doesn’t make a concussion not a concussion, you know?
Doopyboop
Honestly I’d say unless the author confirms that Jennifer got a concussion here, then definitively saying she had a concussion that affected the breakup is more of a headcanon/fanfiction than actual text on the comic. But, I mean, if that’s how you prefer to interpret it and it does something for you, that’s cool. Just consider that that might not be the interpretation we’re meant to take away from that strip.
Doopyboop
Just wanna add onto this before I go to sleep but obviously if the comic was taking place in real life than being thrown to the floor would indeed cause a concussion. However, injuries in this comic aren’t always true to life. Consider the fact that Walky was hurled out of Jennifer’s room, and then later Jennifer hurled out in a similar way. Both were thrown in a way that, in real life, would probably broke a bone but clearly they didn’t.
While the situation in that comic is a bit different due to it not being played for laughs, I just wouldn’t definitively say that she absolutely had a concussion unless she displayed other symptoms and commented on them.
Mark
IIRC the author denied yesterday that Jennifer’s head hit the floor, pointing to the impact marks solely at her shoulders.
Mark
Let me add two things:
1. I can confirm from personal experience that one can unexpectedly fall on one’s shoulders and not hit one’s head.
2. Jennifer’s a (former) athelete, and likely has trained on how to fall safely.
330 thoughts on “Coupling”
Thag Simmons
Jennifer I don’t know if this is the sort of character witness you want to have.
Michael Steamweed
1. No, it’s definitely not the sort of character witness Billifer wants.
2. Thag, how did you get to first comment?? :O
Decidedly Orthogonal
Sometimes Ana takes a day off, and it looks like NGPZ wasn’t gunning for it today either.
Thag Simmons
Yeah, not the first time I’ve been first, just rare
Joe Moose
Wow.
She really is desperate for this, isn’t she?
Sirksome
Well clearly Raidah’s not one of them.
Rachel McCall
Raidah doesn’t have friends. She has networking contacts.
M!a
nods. Raidah amasses assets.
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
She deludes herself into thinking she does, at least.
Zaxares
I think she sees them as less “networking contacts” and more like “pawns”. 😛
Hexx
I don’t think Raidah understands what friendship is. She want’s to sabotage a relationship she has no stake in just because she thinks it makes someone she dislikes too powerful. This is the kind of person who ruins lives.
Thomaskattus
Well she is studying to be a lawyer.
someone
If you really want to turn sociopathy into your career, you shouldn’t study to become a lawyer. You should study to become a CEO.
Decidedly Orthogonal
CEO of a law firm specializing in equities/holdings take-overs.
Taffy
That’s the easiest job in the world. All you have to do is hire a bunch of people who were doing something unrelated to your thing, work them to the bone, beat the fuck out of them, and then fire them all once their project is done, regardless of how much money they just made you. Randy Pitchford, Android Wilson, Bobby Kotick, they’re just three stellar examples of how to make bank being worthless.
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
On paper anyway. Just as Sarah’s self-sabotaging tendencies make it unlikely she’ll be able to do anything with her degree should she even get it, Raidah’s too busy majoring in Chasing Rich Peoples’ Families for Delusions of Social Climbing to even minor in Law…
Nymph
Sarah hasn’t shown a single instance of being self-sabotaging when it comes to her schoolwork. She is diligent and dedicated to that part of her life and I don’t see why she wouldn’t behave that way about her work once she has a degree, I think she’ll do fine. The social actions of a surly and defensive teenager aren’t good metrics of what they’ll be like years later with more at stake.
Rikunda
She only cares about influence… Not happiness.
Charles Phipps
Except this shows she’s not got anything of value to offer for influence.
Because if she won’t do favors for her allies, then they don’t have to do favors for her.
Raidah has misunderstood how building a network of allies works.
anonymsly
She’s very much a teenager. This is a very young attitude, mostly… ‘I am the boss, so you do what I say, no further discussion’.
Relationships being a two way street is frequently a realization that comes later, and sometimes it never comes at all.
Charles Phipps
Yeah, it may be shocking to her if Asher says to fuck off because he was only friends with Raidah because of JENNIFER.
Opus the Poet
It’s something 47 still doesn’t know.
Taffy
The protagonist of Hitman does not deserve this roundabout slander.
Norj
The protagonist of Claymore doesn’t either.
someone
I suggest using the moniker Krasnov, it’s a lot less ambiguous.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Unfortunately for the rest of us, there are **so many** leeches hoping to make gains by proximity that 47 has a functionally endless supply of sycophants.
Big Z
Also, the “why would you want to reconnect with a (random, non-influential) high school friend?” is the most teenager-pilled, “we’re GROWN UPS now so we CAN’T do kid stuff ever or *unspecified bad consequences!*” bullcrap.
Elsewise
“High school? That’s kid stuff!” -A college sophomore
Mark
“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” — C. S. Lewis
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
Amazing how NPD can thrive even amongst School Wallflower #68432105, huh?
M!a
Raidah’s giving some real What Have You Done For Me Lately here.
NGPZ
… “character witness”, wat bruh?
that kinda shit may give ya an edge in our broke ass system, but not with an actual fuckin person
like tryin to use Chuck E Cheese tokens at a Dave N Busters (-_-)
Archieve
If anything it would probably creep Alice out more that Jennifer is sending people to convince her to re-engage.
True Survivor
I think the problem is Jennifer is perhaps looking at this much like a job interview, a decision Alice will make based on logic and not heart. She thinks Alice liked being her friend, and is only avoiding Jennifer because Alice was scared of her alcoholism and more selfish and erratic tendencies. Therefore, Jennifer thinks, I just need to get Raidah to verify that she no longer have these draw back and she’ll be back in business. Jennifer may not get that Alice isn’t simply avoiding her out of pure cost/business analysis, but because Alice loved her and trusted her and then nearly watched Billie die through face full of bloody glass. Alice was hurt more than physically in that crash, she is likely suffering from feelings of betrayal and maybe a bit of trauma.
Suzi
Also, Jennifer’s actions could have easily killed Alice. This always gets overlooked, but even though Alice didn’t get physically harmed permanently, she could have lost her life that might and it’s pure luck she didn’t. I would be shocked if Alice ever wanted to be around her again.
I also walked away technically unscathed when a man suffering a psychotic break attempted to break into my apartment to kill my husband and I. And I wish him all the help he needs, but I also want him to not be anywhere within 350 ft of me per the restraining order.
Charles Phipps
Jennifer just wants to be free from the worst night of her life and reinvent herself so she’s not “Billie the Alcoholic Fuck Up.” Which has been haunting her every step of the way.
THAT’S why she became Jennifer and ditched everyone else.
Needfuldoer
She rebooted her personality and tried to run away from her fuckups instead of admitting to and atoning for them.
A little accountability would probably go a lot further with Alice than anything Raidah would have to say.
Lokitsu
And, not surprisingly, Alice wants to be free of those memories too. By not seeing Billie ever again.
DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
Turning to someone who coldly commits to attempting to escape that fact she’ll never be “Raidah Whom Has Never Made a Mistake or Bad Call in Her Life” at any cost, personal or to others, in order to do so, I can add.
Thag Simmons
Also from Alice’s description the thing that really got to her was how Billie handled the aftermath of the crash. Alice was traumatized and Billie seemed to just brush it off
Adept
I’m glad you’re ok Suzi.
True Survivor
Me too.
anonymsly
And Alice said flat out that it wasn’t even the crash itself; she ghosted because Jennifer acted like the crash was NO BIG DEAL. Had Jennifer actually reacted, actually been scared and started to try and do better, Alice would have stayed.
This is just more of the same: Jennifer acting like something is no big deal when it is, actually, the entire deal.
Charles Phipps
It’s actually the reason for why she’s Jennifer.
Jennifer doesn’t want to be defined by the DUI for the rest of her life but it destroyed her relationship with Alice, her cheerleading squad membership, her prospects, and her self-respect.
Joy
Yeah, but… “The crash fucked me up immensely and I only acted like it was no big deal because I was completely numb to the whole situation afterwards, and I’m deeply sorry for what happened,” is a phrase that would probably??? Help?
Archieve
I think Jennifer needs someone to spell it all out for her, like how you don’t casually drop being in a suicide pac with a smile in a conversation.
Miri
Or maybe explain that “my life spiralled out of control after that car crash. I thought I was poison that destroyed everything I touched. I ended up in a lesbian love suicide pact with another alcoholic and we embraced the fact that we couldn’t hurt each other more than we were already hurting… We hit rock bottom together. And since then, I have been working hard at digging upwards and trying to make something meaningful of my life that I actually recognise as me… I really am sorry about that crash. I know I hurt you afterwards but I really didn’t know how to react and deal with the fact I could have killed us both. Not reacting and trying to make it not be a big deal by pretending it wasn’t one was, with hindsight, fucking stupid.”
If you put in all of those words, with an actual apology and taking accountability, and putting into words what you did wrong… It comes across as less deranged and more like you may have learnt something than whatever it was that she actually ended up doing…
Mano308gts
the problem is…
an apology/confession (both, actually) like that reads like a modern-day Young Adult novel character; it does not read at all like a real, living, breathing human being actually talks, nor like the typical amount of self-awareness that people have.
Basically- apologies are in order, yes- but they’re literally never going to be therapy-speech like this.
Joy
It sounds like a handwritten letter and not a spoken conversation to me. Also Jennifer has been to therapy and sometimes uses therapy speak, so, eh. I think it’s out of character because Jennifer isn’t that self pitying.
Mark
Well, it’s missing context.
Alice: Uuugh, okay, let’s do this. You almost killed both of us and you just tossed it off. Tell me why I should ever feel safe with you again.
Jennifer: [insert speech from above.]
Alice: [interjections during speech]
thejeff
“Go deeper”
The crash was not actually the inciting incident that started things spiraling for Jennifer. She was a self-destructive alcoholic long before then. It was the crash, and Jennifer’s lack of apparent reaction to it, that led to Alice realizing it, but what she realized was that Jennifer had been dragging her down for years.
RARD
Yes, this
Opus the Poet
“A bit of trauma”? Car wrecks are the #1 cause of PTSD in the US. Speaking from personal experience, even if you don’t get killed, the trauma of being in a wreck is about the worse thing a civilian can experience in the Divided States of America.
Lysbeth
I was surprised it’d be the #1 cause, considering the other things the USA does and have, but thinking more on how the culture emphasises cars everywhere, road safety barely exists, and 99% of vehicles are maximally damaging to anyone not inside them… I can see that.
Doopyboop
Sorry, Jennifer. Raidah doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you, only about the money your father has.
mindbleach
That’s not true. Raidah cares about the utterly petty micromanagement she can perform upon any member of her ingroup. Satisfying the Worthington equation is a bonus and a crumple zone.
Charles Phipps
Again, Raidah isn’t willing to do you a tiny favor despite all the sucking up you’ve done.
So she’s not worthwhile to hang with.
Raidah is going to fail massively in lawyering AND politics. She can’t do basic quid pro quo.
Joy
When people are popular it’s usually because a large number of people decide that they like that person. Raidah is going to have that if she loses sight of how to be nice?
(That being said, I’m surprised the comments section as a whole is siding against Raidah, considering how much they criticized Jennifer for the whole thing with Asher? Like, I am too, but I was defending Jennifer at the time…) (Once again I’d like to remind everyone that Jennifer had a concussion during the breakup.) (She’s also handling it really well and seems happy for him and Ethan, so, good for her.) (She got therapy. :3 )
Tomn
“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
Whatever negative opinions people may have of Jennifer, Raidah is far more widely disliked so if the two are in conflict, she’s going to come worse off. Doesn’t necessarily speak for support for Jennifer mind – your phrase “siding againsnt Raidah” is probably accurate.
Joy
Actually yeah that makes sense. Thanks for explaining it.
NGPZ
Satan literally killed only 10 people in the Bible, far less than Hitler.
But even he didn’t break God’s biblical record of over 22 million
Archieve
in the the words of Rachel we can multitask and acknowledge more then one persons faults. Jennifers treatment of Asher was terrible towards Asher and Radiah trying to force Jennifer to get back with Asher is terrible towards both Asher and Jennifer.
adam Black
These are completely different.
Raidah is vindictive uses people
wants to destroy other people’s happiness for no good end.
She wants Jennifer with him to control him. If she was real friend she would directly to to him.about Ethan.
Jennifer was clueless self destructive and expected her bf to come running back for her self worth. She was holding him back.
Raidah is just being a monster telling Jennifer they will shun her without her bf. Expecting her to break up Tony’s relationship. And she points out she doesn’t value old friendships not new ones. Jennifers self destructive streak seems to have come from imitating Raidah.
Joy
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/02-its-the-love-i-havent-got/stockmarket/
Here’s the breakup. I think that Jennifer was trying to communicate that the walkerton parents are essentially her parents moreso than her birth parents. If Asher didn’t decide to interpret it that way, they probably wouldn’t have broken up. I don’t blame him for that, but I want to remind everyone who reads this that how you interpret what someone says to you is your choice. Jennifer could have taken what Asher said as a prompt to apologize for recent behavior.
The reason why the concussion is relevant to the scene is that a concussion can cause unclear communication, as well as irritability and impaired judgment. If she didn’t have a recent concussion, the conversation might have gone differently.
I honestly don’t really want them together anyway, so whatever.
Joy
While I do say that how someone interprets what someone else says is a choice, I don’t think it’s a choice whether or not you personally find a statement made about you to be hurtful. I think Jennifer just has too much self respect to allow herself to be spoken to that way, and I think that’s a good thing.
thejeff
Didn’t Willis say, a couple days ago when you (or someone else?) brought this up, that there was no concussion?
Joy
Oh, yeah, someone else pointed it out to me. I didn’t see Willis’s response until earlier today. I’m going to stop insisting that there was a concussion, don’t worry.
Jeremiah
I think you might be mixing up the car crash with the break up if you are meaning a literal concussion. And also almost all the commenters already disliked Raidah this strip just cements what we already knew about her.
Joy
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/beautiful/
This strip. Happened just before the breakup.
Joy
Jennifer started it and it could be considered arguably cheating with the way she acted, but like… Doesn’t make a concussion not a concussion, you know?
Doopyboop
Honestly I’d say unless the author confirms that Jennifer got a concussion here, then definitively saying she had a concussion that affected the breakup is more of a headcanon/fanfiction than actual text on the comic. But, I mean, if that’s how you prefer to interpret it and it does something for you, that’s cool. Just consider that that might not be the interpretation we’re meant to take away from that strip.
Doopyboop
Just wanna add onto this before I go to sleep but obviously if the comic was taking place in real life than being thrown to the floor would indeed cause a concussion. However, injuries in this comic aren’t always true to life. Consider the fact that Walky was hurled out of Jennifer’s room, and then later Jennifer hurled out in a similar way. Both were thrown in a way that, in real life, would probably broke a bone but clearly they didn’t.
While the situation in that comic is a bit different due to it not being played for laughs, I just wouldn’t definitively say that she absolutely had a concussion unless she displayed other symptoms and commented on them.
Mark
IIRC the author denied yesterday that Jennifer’s head hit the floor, pointing to the impact marks solely at her shoulders.
Mark
Let me add two things:
1. I can confirm from personal experience that one can unexpectedly fall on one’s shoulders and not hit one’s head.
2. Jennifer’s a (former) athelete, and likely has trained on how to fall safely.