Maybe if Walky puts on a long black wig and speaks with a Southern accent.
BBCC
Sal has brown hair, but otherwise yeah, pretty much.
….Huh, I just realized Sal and Leslie have never interacted in either universe. Can we fix that?
Kris
What would they possibly have to say to each other though? I guess they’re both tangentially involved in the hunt for Ryan?
emily
Maybe Sal will be in Leslie’s class next semester? I’m sure they’ll have something to talk about by 2025
zoelogical
maybe they’d have coffee and do a re-enactment of footloose
BBCC
Dude, I’d settle for a ‘Wheres X?” “Oh, over there.” “Cool, thanks.”
….Which is basically what happened at the riot, regarding Ryan, but Sal never spoke to Leslie so I refuse to count it.
BBCC
RALLY, not a riot.
MatthewTheLucky
Just barely.
BBCC
Yep. I was freaking out about the possibility of Sal getting Zimmerman’d by someone at that rally or AG escalating into a riot or the crowd getting amped up or JESUS that rally had me on the skin of my teeth.
They probably interacted at the multiple weddings that took place in Shortpacked! but none of that was on screen.
They may have interacted during the first incident with HA2 but I’ll never know because the idea of paying money to read a webcomic is ridiculous. (hides copy of volume 1 of Digger by Ursula Vernon beneath dinner table)
By “fix” I mean I assume Roz thought in addition to outing herself, Robin would instantly flip her positions on a bunch of issues.
…Holy crap, once again I wish I could edit comments. That was more than unfortunate.
Disloyal Subject
It seemed darkly fitting.
Rowen Morland
I assumed you meant fix everything that Roz disliked about her social-political stance. Sadly for Roz no mind wipes in this universe. so she can’t just blank slate people she doesn’t like.
HMH
As much as I commonly agree with Roz on most of her opinions surrounding her core gripes and issues, I wish this is something she would come to understand, someday.
This, definitely. Sure Leslie had a crush on Robin, but she wouldn’t have gotten any more involved with Robin if Roz hadn’t been trying to get them together.
Disparaging Leslie having an attraction to Robin is something Leslie herself did before * in the aftermath of the both of them mutually engineering this.
Roz has a little bit of Mike’s personality in her makeup. Cause trouble and think ot’s all for the best. That was originally going to be Roz has a bit of Mike in her, but …phrasing.
Because Roz has a bad habit of throwing folks under the bus to get what she wants. Or try and get what she wants, only to screw up and blame the person she used for her own plans failing
Between the Joe sex tape, pushing Robin and Leslie together (then blaming Leslie when that didn’t change robin’s sociopolitical agenda completely) and outright admitting and showing she was willing to manipulate everyone on the floor to get the RA position, Roz has pretty much used people and then thrown em aside for any gain she thinks she can get the whole comic then holding other people to account if she doesn’t get it
so do I think Roz would out becky’s status as not a student and have her kicked off campus if it could further any of her myriad goals? yes, because roz here is shaping up to be the perfect two-faced political bongo.
Leonou
As far as I remember, she didn’t threw anyone under the bus after the Sex Tape nor when she tried to convince the Beck Dorm girls she would make a great RA.
She hasn’t betrayed Leslie either, at least not until now, but I agree today’s strip is worrying.
Eldritch Gentleman
That’s because we know the whole story and all the subtle little tidbits. It looks very different from Becky’s point of view.
Beige
she released a sex tape online without asking her partners permission for the exact purpose of causing a scandal in her family. the same reason she outed the fact Leslie and Robin where together.
True, Joe didn’t mind the tape being released, but he also wasn’t consulted or asked. The same can’t be said for Leslie. and it’s not like she did it for any reason other than personal gain – to hopefully ruin her sisters political career so her sis would stop bugging her. nothing more, nothing less
so yeah, what happens if ros can get any advantage if she outs becky? based on how she’s acted so far, she’ll out becky
Joe consented the sex being filmed AND the tape being put online. She told him she was going to do so beforehand.
She didn’t point out that she was the sister of a congresswoman, which she probably should have, but otherwise it was completely upfront and consensual.
HMH
It’s actually fitting that this is where Robin and Roz are incredibly similar as characters, given that they surely grew up with the same value-set. I never really thought about it before from that angle, but they’re both unbelievably cut-throat, self-centered, and purely goal-oriented. It’s just that they have fundamentally different desires (power and influence for Robin, freedom and autonomy for Roz) that drive them to use the exact same tactics to further fundamentally opposed causes.
I don’t think this comic gets enough credit for how strong and realistic its’ characters are.
Delicious Taffy
Identical tactics for opposite goals? Does this mean Robin is a Templar and Roz is an Assassin? Because I choose to believe that is what this means.
L!ghtn!ng
I like your point about Robin and Roz being similar but driven by different desires, but as an old Shortpacked! reader, I don’t really think Robin is driven by power and influence, I think she’s driven by other people’s approval and validation, and also by taking the easiest way out. When the loudest members of her constituency (aside from her sister) and colleagues are all urging her to take a particular political stance, then she’ll do it because it’s easiest and people like her when she does that. But if she comes to understand that people have been hurt and (perhaps more critical to Robin) disappointed by her actions, then she has the potential to change.
On the other hand, doing a 180 on ones’ political stances mid-election in a district that may not be supportive of her new stance is far from the easiest thing for Robin to do, so Robin’s got to be in a quandary right now. While we might not weigh factors the same way that she does, she is at the moment torn between her two most central drives, so it is very difficult for her. However, Robin has been known to act impulsively and deal with the fall-out later.
Or, she may just lock herself inside and eat Cadbury Cream eggs. Avoidance can be an irresistible response to conflict, and Robin’s preferred means of avoidance is easy, fun and delicious. So yeah, my money is 80% on Robin avoiding the whole thing (maybe even dropping out of the election so she doesn’t have to deal), 15% on Robin (possibly impulsively) publicly coming out and repudiating her old political stances, 5% on Robin staying with her same old political stances and denying the whole thing.
thejeff
I’m pretty sure that somewhere in this story arc, quite possibly years of our real time away, there’s a scene with Robin making out with Leslie on the stage at a campaign event.
Whether that destroys her political career or not is another question.
are you sure we’re reading the same comic? Roz is nowhere near this evil mastermind type figure you’re describing. She’s angry in this comic, and I’ve read it multiple times and I honestly think we’re missing some key info because her anger does not make sense given the info we’ve been shown so far.
Obviously she leans more towards self-serving than self-sacrificing, but I do believe she’s acting in what she believes to be everybody’s best interest.
Krys Brynhildr
Well, except for the best interests of anyone else who makes “a sacrifice for the cause” that she’s willing to live with, or at least that’s how it sounds to me when she jumps into this particular private conversation the way she does.
Being self-serving is hard to fault on its own. Volunteering to help others make ‘necessary sacrifices’ for any sort of ‘greater good’ while being able to easily wipe their own hands of any trouble that comes of it…. I’ll basically fault that every time. Especially when there’s a lot of hypotheticals in regards to which means actually achieve the best end result anyways.
Like, to posit forwards, Leslie with her own personal experience in the matter is probably one of the best potential resources for Becky to be able to get her life figured out and get to a better place currently. Roz successfully destroying any positive viewpoint of her that Becky might have could potentially have kept Becky from being willing enough to trust Leslie enough to find out about any resources that Leslie might know of that could help Becky out.
I mean, this is assuming that Leslie is actually going to live up to her self proclaimed standard of being better than most of those other adults and actually does care enough about Becky to not immediately report her for her situation, but I’m pretty sure thats not an actual worry. If it is, well, maybe Roz was in the right for trying to paint her in a poor light.
But, honestly, I’m more willing to bet that Roz didn’t even stop to consider whether Becky feeling able to speak to Leslie about her current issues would be a good thing or not. “Social change isn’t created from small, polite splashes.” after all. Thats why she “prefers the bigger ones”. And I’m not sure she really cares much about who those larger ones catch in their wake for the most part. Maybe she cares enough about Becky to not intentionally do anything that would end up with her being an acceptable loss, but I’m not sure she intended a lot of the bad thats come of her actions so far either.
If I’m reading the situation right, it seems like common knowledge on the dorm floor (probably because Roz was showing it off and told Dorothy that it gave her the trust of the LGBT ladies on the floor) that Roz was involved in some way with Robin’s news related incident with Leslie. ‘Collateral damage’ is either referring to Leslie being outed or her own sister being outed. Or maybe both. Either way, Becky’s not happy with the situation.
Roz pretty much threw Leslie under a bus in order to accomplish her goal. Hard to believe she won’t do the same to anyone else if she figures her goal is “noble” enough.
JessWitt
Is there a possibility of Leslie conducting some form of revenge (or a less extreme term) on Roz?
Disloyal Subject
Unlikely, knowing Leslie, but if she hears about Roz’s involvement in that hitting the news, she surely won’t be thrilled, and will likely make that abundantly clear to Roz.
JessWitt
That sounds about right. A pretty heated 1-on-1 talk.
zoelogical
honestly…i hope she doesn’t. i feel like making roz steep in guilt is probably the route that will change her behavior
i don’t really see how that follows? like, she was really happy that Robin got outed earlier? i haven’t seen how she’s blaming Leslie for anything? or what she’s blaming Leslie for?
idk like i guess i can see how you could read that, but like this strip goes: Becky is excited about getting to meet a fellow lesbian despite the recent controversy about her dating a homophobic conservative politician, Becky relates to that attraction while making a joke about her crush on Joyce, Roz not knowing what the joke is about asks how similar it was, Becky tells Roz to back off because she made Leslie collateral damage, and Roz gets defensive and jumpy.
i don’t really know precisely what Roz is feeling b/c that’s not really enough information to figure it out – she could be blaming Leslie for hooking up with Robin and destroying her reputation, or she could just be feeling edgy about it now that she’s seen what some of the consequences are. She was practically gloating about it earlier – she was really happy to see her sister embracing her gay side, and that that hypocrisy got exposed. And also like, as sisters-in-law go, Leslie is probably amazing. way to plan ahead, y’know?
i know that Roz may disagree with Leslie sometimes but she seems to come from a place of respect for her teacher. She hooked her up with her sister, which is not something I think she’d do with just anyone? A sister like Robin is going to hit that sweet spot of annoyance so strong you want to strangle her and a fierce protective streak where they’re genuinely vulnerable. and also public humiliation so everyone can see them the way you see them. and really strong anger where they’re really wrong, wrong, wrong.
………..i still don’t know what you’re blaming roz for here
CJ
Right here Roz is blaming Leslie for falling for Robin, who is in a political position of power and hurting people from that.
In a tone and stance that rather vilifies Leslie.
And Becky reads this clearly as Roz not being a reliable ally. I’m with her.
Minder
If I was 18 and my Gender Studies professor was head over heels for any of the shitbag congresspeople in our state, I’d frankly be disparaging as well sexuality of said attraction be damned.
zoelogical
@CJ: i guess i can see how you read that, but i feel like her body language is like. in between blaming, shutting herself off, and like. being upset with herself. her tone is pretty difficult to say since this is a visual medium! her timing is terrible, but that’s easy to screw up.
the choice to not trust someone is individual and imperative, and that’s a totally fair call for Becky to make. Leslie and Roz have a slightly different relationship, tho, and I’d think that Leslie’s…disappointment and hurt? would mean an actual lot to Roz.
meanwhile i really do hope that Leslie doesn’t take revenge on Roz for going along with Roz’ date setup because that would be petty and immature. and Leslie is better than that
thejeff
@Minder: Would you have also tried to set that professor up with said shitbag congresscritter who happened to be your sister?
That really does rob Roz of any moral highground here.
Minder
@thejeff If that professor asked me to?
Even after I raised my eyebrow and asked my professor, just to make sure, that she did understand the other end of the setup plan–my sister–was in fact the same shitbag congressman we were both currently referring to?
Sure I would. I’d think my professor was either out of her mind or had a lot of guts, and was willing to risk quite a bit on a gamble, but if she was up for it and I thought we had a mutual understanding then yeah I would.
Pablo360
@Minder so what you’re saying is you have no problem with hypocrisy when you’re just following orders, even when you’re not really following orders per se.
Minder
@Pablo360
I wouldn’t just be following orders, because in this scenario it’s assumed that (like Roz) I either proposed the idea myself, or else was an active participant in engineering it.
Roz asked Leslie twice to make sure she still wanted to do this and Leslie said yes. Even after their fight in class. Roz’s mistake was thinking she and Leslie were on the same page about ‘why.’
But my point is that you can’t call someone out for something you would be willing to arrange.
Minder
@Pablo360
Why not?
Valerie
Minder: It doesn’t make sense to criticize someone for something you helped them do.
Minder
@Valerie It’s not very nice, sure, but criticizing over intent / belief makes sense fine if you’re doing the same thing as someone you disagree with for different reasons.
Like, this is a really silly example and I hate using metaphors so far-removed they’re too ridiculous to be applicable, but its kind of like…a friend or an acquaintance notices I’m hungry and offers to buy me a meal. I know this friend isn’t doing well financially, but depending on how hungry I am and how much I think the meal is going to cost them personally, I might give different answers.
Minder
@Valerie -CONTINUED- (sorry) Because if I know they really, really can’t afford to be buying me food, and they’re offering me a steak dinner, I’m perfectly liable to tell them they’re a moron and still take them up on their offer if I can’t afford to buy my own dinner either.
Freemage
Minder: A better analogy would be, “Hey, you shouldn’t have burned down that house. Yes, I know I gave you the gasoline, and the matches, and I knew damn well what you were going to do with them, because you’d actually said, ‘I’m’a gonna burn down that house’, but I didn’t actually light the fire, you did, so I get to be morally superior to you, now.”
Minder
And this is why I hate analogies, because what I’d guess Roz is actually disparaging Leslie–for if she’s actually keeping Leslie in mind at all here–is Leslie turning out to have had a very different and illusory crush on Robin with different parameters than Roz assumed hatching this plan.
I can’t really dislike Roz, because she is many of us 5-10 years ago, all passion, no nuance, but goddamn if the girl doesn’t need to take a chill pill and sit down once in a while.
447 thoughts on “Smitten”
Ana Chronistic
careful, Walky, you can’t give this teach a beej
Power Stranger
Not with that attitude!
C.T Phipps
Maybe if Walky puts on a long black wig and speaks with a Southern accent.
BBCC
Sal has brown hair, but otherwise yeah, pretty much.
….Huh, I just realized Sal and Leslie have never interacted in either universe. Can we fix that?
Kris
What would they possibly have to say to each other though? I guess they’re both tangentially involved in the hunt for Ryan?
emily
Maybe Sal will be in Leslie’s class next semester? I’m sure they’ll have something to talk about by 2025
zoelogical
maybe they’d have coffee and do a re-enactment of footloose
BBCC
Dude, I’d settle for a ‘Wheres X?” “Oh, over there.” “Cool, thanks.”
….Which is basically what happened at the riot, regarding Ryan, but Sal never spoke to Leslie so I refuse to count it.
BBCC
RALLY, not a riot.
MatthewTheLucky
Just barely.
BBCC
Yep. I was freaking out about the possibility of Sal getting Zimmerman’d by someone at that rally or AG escalating into a riot or the crowd getting amped up or JESUS that rally had me on the skin of my teeth.
Pablo360
They probably interacted at the multiple weddings that took place in Shortpacked! but none of that was on screen.
They may have interacted during the first incident with HA2 but I’ll never know because the idea of paying money to read a webcomic is ridiculous. (hides copy of volume 1 of Digger by Ursula Vernon beneath dinner table)
Spaz
see? I TOLD You beheading would make a great word replacement for blowjob!
“careful, Walky, you can’t give this teach a beheading”
Eldritch Gentleman
Maybe if’ he’d put a Robin wig.
Flakky
I believe it was firmly established scant pages ago that the lesbian would grow a weenus for the hanky panky.
I wonder how Howard and Joyce would talk about sex.
Valerie
I really want to see this conversation.
Kris
Just watch the news. That’s the class.
UltraKyrie
Don’t think Roz is in a position to mock leslie for having a crush on Robin considering she tried to hook them up
rectilinearpropagation
SERIOUSLY!
Like, what the Hell? She’s gonna be mad at her now because she didn’t “fix” her sister?
rectilinearpropagation
By “fix” I mean I assume Roz thought in addition to outing herself, Robin would instantly flip her positions on a bunch of issues.
…Holy crap, once again I wish I could edit comments. That was more than unfortunate.
Disloyal Subject
It seemed darkly fitting.
Rowen Morland
I assumed you meant fix everything that Roz disliked about her social-political stance. Sadly for Roz no mind wipes in this universe. so she can’t just blank slate people she doesn’t like.
HMH
As much as I commonly agree with Roz on most of her opinions surrounding her core gripes and issues, I wish this is something she would come to understand, someday.
Keulan
This, definitely. Sure Leslie had a crush on Robin, but she wouldn’t have gotten any more involved with Robin if Roz hadn’t been trying to get them together.
Minder
Disparaging Leslie having an attraction to Robin is something Leslie herself did before * in the aftermath of the both of them mutually engineering this.
hof1991
Roz has a little bit of Mike’s personality in her makeup. Cause trouble and think ot’s all for the best. That was originally going to be Roz has a bit of Mike in her, but …phrasing.
Skater Girl (@syleegrrl)
Now I’m picturing Mike wearing Roz’s makeup
Hellespont
Gotta love Walky’s bravery in interrupting a mutual stink eye and taking both, for the team.
TheAnonymousGuy
why would roz consider Becky collateral damage? she actually has a point there (roz, not becky)
MatthewTheLucky
She considered Leslie collateral damage.
Beige
Because Roz has a bad habit of throwing folks under the bus to get what she wants. Or try and get what she wants, only to screw up and blame the person she used for her own plans failing
Between the Joe sex tape, pushing Robin and Leslie together (then blaming Leslie when that didn’t change robin’s sociopolitical agenda completely) and outright admitting and showing she was willing to manipulate everyone on the floor to get the RA position, Roz has pretty much used people and then thrown em aside for any gain she thinks she can get the whole comic then holding other people to account if she doesn’t get it
so do I think Roz would out becky’s status as not a student and have her kicked off campus if it could further any of her myriad goals? yes, because roz here is shaping up to be the perfect two-faced political bongo.
Leonou
As far as I remember, she didn’t threw anyone under the bus after the Sex Tape nor when she tried to convince the Beck Dorm girls she would make a great RA.
She hasn’t betrayed Leslie either, at least not until now, but I agree today’s strip is worrying.
Eldritch Gentleman
That’s because we know the whole story and all the subtle little tidbits. It looks very different from Becky’s point of view.
Beige
she released a sex tape online without asking her partners permission for the exact purpose of causing a scandal in her family. the same reason she outed the fact Leslie and Robin where together.
True, Joe didn’t mind the tape being released, but he also wasn’t consulted or asked. The same can’t be said for Leslie. and it’s not like she did it for any reason other than personal gain – to hopefully ruin her sisters political career so her sis would stop bugging her. nothing more, nothing less
so yeah, what happens if ros can get any advantage if she outs becky? based on how she’s acted so far, she’ll out becky
Fart Captor
Joe consented the sex being filmed AND the tape being put online. She told him she was going to do so beforehand.
She didn’t point out that she was the sister of a congresswoman, which she probably should have, but otherwise it was completely upfront and consensual.
HMH
It’s actually fitting that this is where Robin and Roz are incredibly similar as characters, given that they surely grew up with the same value-set. I never really thought about it before from that angle, but they’re both unbelievably cut-throat, self-centered, and purely goal-oriented. It’s just that they have fundamentally different desires (power and influence for Robin, freedom and autonomy for Roz) that drive them to use the exact same tactics to further fundamentally opposed causes.
I don’t think this comic gets enough credit for how strong and realistic its’ characters are.
Delicious Taffy
Identical tactics for opposite goals? Does this mean Robin is a Templar and Roz is an Assassin? Because I choose to believe that is what this means.
L!ghtn!ng
I like your point about Robin and Roz being similar but driven by different desires, but as an old Shortpacked! reader, I don’t really think Robin is driven by power and influence, I think she’s driven by other people’s approval and validation, and also by taking the easiest way out. When the loudest members of her constituency (aside from her sister) and colleagues are all urging her to take a particular political stance, then she’ll do it because it’s easiest and people like her when she does that. But if she comes to understand that people have been hurt and (perhaps more critical to Robin) disappointed by her actions, then she has the potential to change.
On the other hand, doing a 180 on ones’ political stances mid-election in a district that may not be supportive of her new stance is far from the easiest thing for Robin to do, so Robin’s got to be in a quandary right now. While we might not weigh factors the same way that she does, she is at the moment torn between her two most central drives, so it is very difficult for her. However, Robin has been known to act impulsively and deal with the fall-out later.
Or, she may just lock herself inside and eat Cadbury Cream eggs. Avoidance can be an irresistible response to conflict, and Robin’s preferred means of avoidance is easy, fun and delicious. So yeah, my money is 80% on Robin avoiding the whole thing (maybe even dropping out of the election so she doesn’t have to deal), 15% on Robin (possibly impulsively) publicly coming out and repudiating her old political stances, 5% on Robin staying with her same old political stances and denying the whole thing.
thejeff
I’m pretty sure that somewhere in this story arc, quite possibly years of our real time away, there’s a scene with Robin making out with Leslie on the stage at a campaign event.
Whether that destroys her political career or not is another question.
Rezby
are you sure we’re reading the same comic? Roz is nowhere near this evil mastermind type figure you’re describing. She’s angry in this comic, and I’ve read it multiple times and I honestly think we’re missing some key info because her anger does not make sense given the info we’ve been shown so far.
Obviously she leans more towards self-serving than self-sacrificing, but I do believe she’s acting in what she believes to be everybody’s best interest.
Krys Brynhildr
Well, except for the best interests of anyone else who makes “a sacrifice for the cause” that she’s willing to live with, or at least that’s how it sounds to me when she jumps into this particular private conversation the way she does.
Being self-serving is hard to fault on its own. Volunteering to help others make ‘necessary sacrifices’ for any sort of ‘greater good’ while being able to easily wipe their own hands of any trouble that comes of it…. I’ll basically fault that every time. Especially when there’s a lot of hypotheticals in regards to which means actually achieve the best end result anyways.
Like, to posit forwards, Leslie with her own personal experience in the matter is probably one of the best potential resources for Becky to be able to get her life figured out and get to a better place currently. Roz successfully destroying any positive viewpoint of her that Becky might have could potentially have kept Becky from being willing enough to trust Leslie enough to find out about any resources that Leslie might know of that could help Becky out.
I mean, this is assuming that Leslie is actually going to live up to her self proclaimed standard of being better than most of those other adults and actually does care enough about Becky to not immediately report her for her situation, but I’m pretty sure thats not an actual worry. If it is, well, maybe Roz was in the right for trying to paint her in a poor light.
But, honestly, I’m more willing to bet that Roz didn’t even stop to consider whether Becky feeling able to speak to Leslie about her current issues would be a good thing or not. “Social change isn’t created from small, polite splashes.” after all. Thats why she “prefers the bigger ones”. And I’m not sure she really cares much about who those larger ones catch in their wake for the most part. Maybe she cares enough about Becky to not intentionally do anything that would end up with her being an acceptable loss, but I’m not sure she intended a lot of the bad thats come of her actions so far either.
Siddlaw
Shit, I can’t remember what Becky’s calling out Roz for can someone link me a reminder?
Doopyboop
If I’m reading the situation right, it seems like common knowledge on the dorm floor (probably because Roz was showing it off and told Dorothy that it gave her the trust of the LGBT ladies on the floor) that Roz was involved in some way with Robin’s news related incident with Leslie. ‘Collateral damage’ is either referring to Leslie being outed or her own sister being outed. Or maybe both. Either way, Becky’s not happy with the situation.
Showler
Roz pretty much threw Leslie under a bus in order to accomplish her goal. Hard to believe she won’t do the same to anyone else if she figures her goal is “noble” enough.
JessWitt
Is there a possibility of Leslie conducting some form of revenge (or a less extreme term) on Roz?
Disloyal Subject
Unlikely, knowing Leslie, but if she hears about Roz’s involvement in that hitting the news, she surely won’t be thrilled, and will likely make that abundantly clear to Roz.
JessWitt
That sounds about right. A pretty heated 1-on-1 talk.
zoelogical
honestly…i hope she doesn’t. i feel like making roz steep in guilt is probably the route that will change her behavior
MatthewTheLucky
Roz doesn’t feel guilty, though. She’s blaming Leslie, here.
zoelogical
i don’t really see how that follows? like, she was really happy that Robin got outed earlier? i haven’t seen how she’s blaming Leslie for anything? or what she’s blaming Leslie for?
idk like i guess i can see how you could read that, but like this strip goes: Becky is excited about getting to meet a fellow lesbian despite the recent controversy about her dating a homophobic conservative politician, Becky relates to that attraction while making a joke about her crush on Joyce, Roz not knowing what the joke is about asks how similar it was, Becky tells Roz to back off because she made Leslie collateral damage, and Roz gets defensive and jumpy.
i don’t really know precisely what Roz is feeling b/c that’s not really enough information to figure it out – she could be blaming Leslie for hooking up with Robin and destroying her reputation, or she could just be feeling edgy about it now that she’s seen what some of the consequences are. She was practically gloating about it earlier – she was really happy to see her sister embracing her gay side, and that that hypocrisy got exposed. And also like, as sisters-in-law go, Leslie is probably amazing. way to plan ahead, y’know?
i know that Roz may disagree with Leslie sometimes but she seems to come from a place of respect for her teacher. She hooked her up with her sister, which is not something I think she’d do with just anyone? A sister like Robin is going to hit that sweet spot of annoyance so strong you want to strangle her and a fierce protective streak where they’re genuinely vulnerable. and also public humiliation so everyone can see them the way you see them. and really strong anger where they’re really wrong, wrong, wrong.
………..i still don’t know what you’re blaming roz for here
CJ
Right here Roz is blaming Leslie for falling for Robin, who is in a political position of power and hurting people from that.
In a tone and stance that rather vilifies Leslie.
And Becky reads this clearly as Roz not being a reliable ally. I’m with her.
Minder
If I was 18 and my Gender Studies professor was head over heels for any of the shitbag congresspeople in our state, I’d frankly be disparaging as well sexuality of said attraction be damned.
zoelogical
@CJ: i guess i can see how you read that, but i feel like her body language is like. in between blaming, shutting herself off, and like. being upset with herself. her tone is pretty difficult to say since this is a visual medium! her timing is terrible, but that’s easy to screw up.
the choice to not trust someone is individual and imperative, and that’s a totally fair call for Becky to make. Leslie and Roz have a slightly different relationship, tho, and I’d think that Leslie’s…disappointment and hurt? would mean an actual lot to Roz.
meanwhile i really do hope that Leslie doesn’t take revenge on Roz for going along with Roz’ date setup because that would be petty and immature. and Leslie is better than that
thejeff
@Minder: Would you have also tried to set that professor up with said shitbag congresscritter who happened to be your sister?
That really does rob Roz of any moral highground here.
Minder
@thejeff If that professor asked me to?
Even after I raised my eyebrow and asked my professor, just to make sure, that she did understand the other end of the setup plan–my sister–was in fact the same shitbag congressman we were both currently referring to?
Sure I would. I’d think my professor was either out of her mind or had a lot of guts, and was willing to risk quite a bit on a gamble, but if she was up for it and I thought we had a mutual understanding then yeah I would.
Pablo360
@Minder so what you’re saying is you have no problem with hypocrisy when you’re just following orders, even when you’re not really following orders per se.
Minder
@Pablo360
I wouldn’t just be following orders, because in this scenario it’s assumed that (like Roz) I either proposed the idea myself, or else was an active participant in engineering it.
Roz asked Leslie twice to make sure she still wanted to do this and Leslie said yes. Even after their fight in class. Roz’s mistake was thinking she and Leslie were on the same page about ‘why.’
Pablo360
@Minder
But my point is that you can’t call someone out for something you would be willing to arrange.
Minder
@Pablo360
Why not?
Valerie
Minder: It doesn’t make sense to criticize someone for something you helped them do.
Minder
@Valerie It’s not very nice, sure, but criticizing over intent / belief makes sense fine if you’re doing the same thing as someone you disagree with for different reasons.
Like, this is a really silly example and I hate using metaphors so far-removed they’re too ridiculous to be applicable, but its kind of like…a friend or an acquaintance notices I’m hungry and offers to buy me a meal. I know this friend isn’t doing well financially, but depending on how hungry I am and how much I think the meal is going to cost them personally, I might give different answers.
Minder
@Valerie -CONTINUED- (sorry) Because if I know they really, really can’t afford to be buying me food, and they’re offering me a steak dinner, I’m perfectly liable to tell them they’re a moron and still take them up on their offer if I can’t afford to buy my own dinner either.
Freemage
Minder: A better analogy would be, “Hey, you shouldn’t have burned down that house. Yes, I know I gave you the gasoline, and the matches, and I knew damn well what you were going to do with them, because you’d actually said, ‘I’m’a gonna burn down that house’, but I didn’t actually light the fire, you did, so I get to be morally superior to you, now.”
Minder
And this is why I hate analogies, because what I’d guess Roz is actually disparaging Leslie–for if she’s actually keeping Leslie in mind at all here–is Leslie turning out to have had a very different and illusory crush on Robin with different parameters than Roz assumed hatching this plan.
zoelogical
what roz is blaming leslie for. what are words
Shiro
I don’t think there’s anything to link, Becky’s just calling out Roz for deciding that Leslie is collateral damage in taking Robin down.
rectilinearpropagation
I think she’s talking about Leslie being collateral damage:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/courting/
UltraKyrie
I think she’s just replying to Roz’s comment in panel 4, they’ve only interacted once before, when Becky invited Roz to Joyce’s party.
a4lbi
Probably this.
Adj
Well, shoot, now I love Becky even more now.
Shiro
Whoa, go Becky, well done.
I can’t really dislike Roz, because she is many of us 5-10 years ago, all passion, no nuance, but goddamn if the girl doesn’t need to take a chill pill and sit down once in a while.
Shiro
Also Joyce’s tiny smile is fuckin’ adorbs.
BBCC
I’m just gonna sit here with a lemon drop mixed drink and watch the tire fire I suspect the comment section will become tonight.
Shiro
*clinks glasses* I can’t booze it up cause of work in the morning, but me and my strawberry smoothie will be here for a bit.
BBCC