Walky told Ethan he was gonna kill Mike on purpose. Amber shoved him into Dorothy, who was texting Joyce about macaroni and cheese, the text saying “It’s done”, and she accidentally sent it to Asher also (they share a class, it just hasn’t come up). During all the confusion, Mike was killed by an innocent cop.
Then on Halloween, Amber found out and called him a rude jerk for pwning Mike to death.
Walky wasn’t just being a flippant smartass. Like, “Y’know what’s silent? My fuckin’ dorm room.” seems like it came from a place of genuine anger about how he alone of the whole friend group is confronted with the reality that Mike is gone 24/7, and he can’t even have a moment away from that.
Dante
Yeah… That always struck me as “I’m in denial because it fucking hurts” instead of “I’m a conspiracy theorist”. The entire sequence, starting from Dorothy intruding into something she shouldn’t have, was horribly uncomfortable to watch. He shouldn’t have doubled down on it but it’s not strange he did.
TrueVCU
This is the correct take
Francoinblanco
I was looking for a comment like this. They started mentioning Mike during the halloween party and I can understand the frustration of Walky who came to the party not a wake
DashWallkick
He still messed up by bombing it on purpose with his immaturity rather than being honest and saying “can we please stop talking about Mike for one second.” Apologizing for sabotaging it is the right call.
TrueVCU
This is also the correct take
thejeff
Yeah, that’s fair, but remembering that it was his own trauma that led to it, rather than just him joking around should change how we see him.
Domestic abuse is what happened, but everyone in the comment section invariably tries to ignore the fact that Amber committed (legal) assault against Walky. Not defending Walky’s own behavior in the slightest, but I’m glad that the strip, unlike a good portion of the fanbase, finally looks like it might be addressing it with that last panel.
There’ve been a lot of legal assaults in the comic. Most of them, like that one, on the lower end of the scale. As is fairly common with young people, they get ignored as long as there’s no real injury and no pattern.
Not only the comment section, but the narrative itself didn’t treat it too seriously.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see it addressed a bit – with her apologizing or something. Probably going too deep into self-loathing over it, if anything. But still not treating it as seriously as “domestic abuse” implies.
Rectilinear Propagation
I’m half expecting Amber to also refer to it as domestic abuse; she’s always been worried about turning into her dad.
Freemage
The narrative not taking it too seriously is actually a big part of my issue with it.
Outside of that incident, for Amber in particular, violence has stemmed from one of two things:
1: Intervening in an ongoing criminal event. While vigilanteeism is illegal, and for good reasons, it doesn’t have the same sort of problematic baggage.
2: A direct fight-or-flight response in which she is responding to an actual threat. Again, sometimes she goes further than the law would like (see: Ryan, or even her fight with Sal). But again, it’s not, “I lost control of my temper and hit someone who was no threat to me, hard enough to knock them off their feet into a card table, which they hit hard enough to knock over on their way to the floor.”
That designation is Halloween-only. Amber is absolutely much stronger, more combat-capable and more dangerous than Walky. Her reaction to his misconduct pole-vaulted across the line.
Don’t get me wrong, here–Amber is one of my favorite characters in the strip. I want her well and happy, and I do think there are roads that get her there. But so long as she isn’t confronting that episode for what it was, she’s not going anyplace better.
Short version (too late, I know): Every abuser has a ‘first time’. And they always talk about how they were provoked into it. That’s a narrative that’s ugly as hell, and carries a lot of dark things with it.
thejeff
Every abuser has a first time. That’s true.
Not every “first time” is the start of a pattern of abuse.
Freemage
Yes, but Amber’s in a bad place, psychologically. She needs to address it, not ignore it, or else it could spiral. Again, I like Amber, she’s one of my faves in the strip. I wouldn’t feel that way about her if I was certain that she’d become like her father.
*DID* he get dumped by Lucy? The way she ended that conversation seemed ambiguous, sure, ending the relationship is A valid way to interpret what she said, but it’s not the only way, personally it seemed more like she was ending the moment and going off to think about what she wants and whether Walky can give it. Like, from the way that interaction ended, the relationship is DEFINITELY in rocky waters, but I don’t think it’s sunk.
She said they would see each other tomorrow…hmmm, I don’t want to sound too negative, but I have a feeling that this conversation and tomorrow’s episode, Walkerton will do something to make everything worse.
He did, there was nothing ambiguous about it. “Fuck you for leading me on and not defending me to your shitty racist parents, our whole relationship has been an unbalanced lie and I deserve so much better than this. I’m gonna start putting me first.” is pretty definitive.
thejeff
That’s a lot less ambiguous than her actual words.
Notably, after being kinda ambiguously dumped by Lucy. Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but what Lucy said to Walky didn’t really feel like a “We’re definitely over forever” goodbye, that was an “I’ve got a lot of intense and complicated feelings right now that I need to spend a few days away from you unpacking” goodbye.
It would be only natural for Walky to think they are broken up. She destroyed him. Of course he is going to go off to his ex-girlfriends for solace and probably get drunk too. Only …she might snap back from this insightful introspective mood to her usual twee fantasy land of make believe.
I don’t think he is trying to get with her, I think it’s maybe more the thing with Lucy is making him want to reexamine ways in which he has failed people, in his estimation, and put things to rest.
204 thoughts on “Crawl over”
Ana Chronistic
“WE CAN BE FAILURES TOGETHER… IN GARBAGE CAFETERIA”
clif
Five Stars. Would Garbage Here Again.
clif
But mainly because it’s heartwarming to see Walky following his father’s advice.
Svankensen
I don’t remember what happened in halloween. Any reminders?
Yumi
I was just rereading some of those strips earlier today!
Ruth was Kylo Ren.
Thag Simmons
Relevant section
Svankensen
And here I am, making the same mistake as Dorothy. I thought Thag Simmons was dead.
clif
More importantly, Thag’s link doesn’t reference Kylo Ren at all.
Thag Simmons
As a term of my parole I am not allowed to discuss the Sequel Trilogy on the internet in any form
Mr D phone posting
By saying that, you discussed the sequel trilogy.
The cops are en route to your location, please remain where you are.
Decidedly Orthogonal
And they’re equiped with Stegosaurs.
Opus the Poet
I understood that reference dot gif.
Svankensen
Also, thanks.
Jamie
Huh. I … completely forgot we saw all of that. Hoo boy.
Aimless Ranting
Walky made a couple of tasteless jokes about Mike having faked his death and still being alive somewhere.
Coatl
Jokes at the least appropriate time
Taffy
Walky told Ethan he was gonna kill Mike on purpose. Amber shoved him into Dorothy, who was texting Joyce about macaroni and cheese, the text saying “It’s done”, and she accidentally sent it to Asher also (they share a class, it just hasn’t come up). During all the confusion, Mike was killed by an innocent cop.
Then on Halloween, Amber found out and called him a rude jerk for pwning Mike to death.
clif
I like your universe. Let’s visit there once in a really great while.
a/snow/mous/e
i like how you specified the cop who killed Mike is innocent
anon
just walky being a flippant smartass
although weird for him to consider a ‘test’ b/c its not as if amber was the one that brought mike up versus dorothy suggesting a ‘moment of silence’
clif
Tests don’t have to be given by Amber. The universe can test you.
Yumi
No, no, Dorothy gives you the test. It’s always Dorothy.
clif
Dorothy was only acting in self defense. Her social media was full of Walky and Amber and she had to do something.
Pergola
The test NEVER STOPS
Jeremiah
I think he means it more like, a metaphorical test from the universe about his level of maturity and ability to handle difficult emotions.
Random832
Walky wasn’t just being a flippant smartass. Like, “Y’know what’s silent? My fuckin’ dorm room.” seems like it came from a place of genuine anger about how he alone of the whole friend group is confronted with the reality that Mike is gone 24/7, and he can’t even have a moment away from that.
Dante
Yeah… That always struck me as “I’m in denial because it fucking hurts” instead of “I’m a conspiracy theorist”. The entire sequence, starting from Dorothy intruding into something she shouldn’t have, was horribly uncomfortable to watch. He shouldn’t have doubled down on it but it’s not strange he did.
TrueVCU
This is the correct take
Francoinblanco
I was looking for a comment like this. They started mentioning Mike during the halloween party and I can understand the frustration of Walky who came to the party not a wake
DashWallkick
He still messed up by bombing it on purpose with his immaturity rather than being honest and saying “can we please stop talking about Mike for one second.” Apologizing for sabotaging it is the right call.
TrueVCU
This is also the correct take
thejeff
Yeah, that’s fair, but remembering that it was his own trauma that led to it, rather than just him joking around should change how we see him.
Yotomoe
Pumpkins screamed in the dead of night.
Some kids Trick or Treated until the neighbors all died of fright.
Needfuldoer
Pumpkins screaming in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
David DeLaney
hallowBEST
–Dave, don’t give Seanan McGuire any ideas
Freemage
Domestic abuse is what happened, but everyone in the comment section invariably tries to ignore the fact that Amber committed (legal) assault against Walky. Not defending Walky’s own behavior in the slightest, but I’m glad that the strip, unlike a good portion of the fanbase, finally looks like it might be addressing it with that last panel.
thejeff
There’ve been a lot of legal assaults in the comic. Most of them, like that one, on the lower end of the scale. As is fairly common with young people, they get ignored as long as there’s no real injury and no pattern.
Not only the comment section, but the narrative itself didn’t treat it too seriously.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see it addressed a bit – with her apologizing or something. Probably going too deep into self-loathing over it, if anything. But still not treating it as seriously as “domestic abuse” implies.
Rectilinear Propagation
I’m half expecting Amber to also refer to it as domestic abuse; she’s always been worried about turning into her dad.
Freemage
The narrative not taking it too seriously is actually a big part of my issue with it.
Outside of that incident, for Amber in particular, violence has stemmed from one of two things:
1: Intervening in an ongoing criminal event. While vigilanteeism is illegal, and for good reasons, it doesn’t have the same sort of problematic baggage.
2: A direct fight-or-flight response in which she is responding to an actual threat. Again, sometimes she goes further than the law would like (see: Ryan, or even her fight with Sal). But again, it’s not, “I lost control of my temper and hit someone who was no threat to me, hard enough to knock them off their feet into a card table, which they hit hard enough to knock over on their way to the floor.”
That designation is Halloween-only. Amber is absolutely much stronger, more combat-capable and more dangerous than Walky. Her reaction to his misconduct pole-vaulted across the line.
Don’t get me wrong, here–Amber is one of my favorite characters in the strip. I want her well and happy, and I do think there are roads that get her there. But so long as she isn’t confronting that episode for what it was, she’s not going anyplace better.
Short version (too late, I know): Every abuser has a ‘first time’. And they always talk about how they were provoked into it. That’s a narrative that’s ugly as hell, and carries a lot of dark things with it.
thejeff
Every abuser has a first time. That’s true.
Not every “first time” is the start of a pattern of abuse.
Freemage
Yes, but Amber’s in a bad place, psychologically. She needs to address it, not ignore it, or else it could spiral. Again, I like Amber, she’s one of my faves in the strip. I wouldn’t feel that way about her if I was certain that she’d become like her father.
Thag Simmons
Is Walky dumb enough to start dating Amber less than an hour after getting dumped by Lucy? Inquiring minds want to know
Yumi
If they have sex today, I will find it so funny. Go to church –> get laid will have taken a rather indirect path.
Rose by Any Other Name
… I’d be okay with it.
**whispers**
Garbage skow rides again…
Dante
Like garbage, we ride along, following it in its blazing glory.
(Very willingly, too ;33c)
Thag Simmons
Let it’s name not be lost to the knowledge of men
StClair
all those who loved her best, and were with her till the end
Leorale
will make the Merry Scow of Garbage rise again
David DeLaney
fom the wreck of the Gar-bage Fitz-geraaald
Yotomoe
-Go to church
-Hate it
-Immediately commit Adultery
Vanessa
Would be pretty funny. And very college.
Skater Girl
I’m no expert on religion, I was raised heathen, but I believe technically it would be fornication not adultery since neither if them is married.
Jamie
It’s okay, it’s a legally defined term in America, too.
And … Google says it was enforced until 2003.
Why did I google this.
Queezle
Wait, are we talking adultery or fornication here?
bemisawa
So that you’d be prepared if you ever find / build a time machine? (That’s why I’d be looking it up.)
Opus the Poet
I’m with Queezle, adultery is something you have to be married to do, pre-marital sex is fornication.
/pedant mode
Yotomoe
The real question is, is Amber dumb enough to accept him dating her an hour after getting dumped by Lucy? Inquiring minds want to know.
Coatl
All these guys have done stupid things, but I think that at this point, they should reconsider a little and I think Amber wouldn’t do such a thing.
clif
Well, I’m certainly hoping she will, and I have all my “Damn You Willis”‘s ready in case it doesn’t work out.
Mark
We can’t know until Lucy actually dumps him. Couples have gone through worse incidents than this and turned out to be long-term stable.
Dante
[Points at the title of the webcomic (?)]
Nah, it’s a great question. I certainly hope so, because it’d be a disaster, but it’d also… be a huger damn disaster, if that makes sense?
Psychie
*DID* he get dumped by Lucy? The way she ended that conversation seemed ambiguous, sure, ending the relationship is A valid way to interpret what she said, but it’s not the only way, personally it seemed more like she was ending the moment and going off to think about what she wants and whether Walky can give it. Like, from the way that interaction ended, the relationship is DEFINITELY in rocky waters, but I don’t think it’s sunk.
Coatl
She said they would see each other tomorrow…hmmm, I don’t want to sound too negative, but I have a feeling that this conversation and tomorrow’s episode, Walkerton will do something to make everything worse.
Opus the Poet
Ah, so you have read the comic and the title before.
TrueVCU
Oh god are we about to get the WE WERE ON A BREAK of DoA?
Steve C
Cue Walky’s “WE WERE ON A BREAK!” protests.
Seriously, though, “I need to be brave enough to know when I deserve better” sounds pretty final to me.
zee
He did, there was nothing ambiguous about it. “Fuck you for leading me on and not defending me to your shitty racist parents, our whole relationship has been an unbalanced lie and I deserve so much better than this. I’m gonna start putting me first.” is pretty definitive.
thejeff
That’s a lot less ambiguous than her actual words.
thakoru
Notably, after being kinda ambiguously dumped by Lucy. Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but what Lucy said to Walky didn’t really feel like a “We’re definitely over forever” goodbye, that was an “I’ve got a lot of intense and complicated feelings right now that I need to spend a few days away from you unpacking” goodbye.
Vanessa
It would be only natural for Walky to think they are broken up. She destroyed him. Of course he is going to go off to his ex-girlfriends for solace and probably get drunk too. Only …she might snap back from this insightful introspective mood to her usual twee fantasy land of make believe.
DailyBrad
I don’t think he is trying to get with her, I think it’s maybe more the thing with Lucy is making him want to reexamine ways in which he has failed people, in his estimation, and put things to rest.
Vanessa