I agree with Kameno Neko. Good therapy is hard, and Billie is likely to think it’s hopeless. She’ll go, to prove herself to Ruth — but Ruth isn’t likely to reward Billie how she wants, so how long can Billie keep it up, in the face of her strong narrative that she’s hopelessly toxic?
Plus, although Billie is awesome in a crisis, she sometimes flounders when everything is sorta-ok-(but-not-really). Not that I could possibly relate.
Rabid Rabbit
It depends whether she can bring herself to tell her therapist that she’s there so that she can deserve Ruth. (I mean, these two do deserve each other. But not that way.)
Part of the problem is that Ruth is no longer allowing herself to be Billie’s problem, which on the one hand is great, but on the other hand deprives Billie of what let her show the best of herself, in her codependent way.
Chaucer59
As an alcoholic with 30 years of sobriety after several false starts, I can say with some degree of certainty that getting sober for someone else rarely works (I’ve seen it work once). If you tie your sobriety to someone else, you’re saying I can be sober as long as X loves me. Great, so if X fails you—as humans are wont to do—what do you do? Most addicts go back to their drug of choice. I get the impression Willis understands all of this.
thejeff
Very likely true. At this point however, I’ll take any excuse to get Billie to try to stop. And into therapy.
Maybe she’ll find reasons of her own to stop. Maybe she’ll be able to sort some of her issues out in therapy.
TemperaryObsessor
Would that include if Ruth tried to change because Howard will need someone to help him escape Sir in two years and she can’t do that if she’s dead?
Leorale
Totally would be a good reason to live. You really only need one good reason to live. It buys you time, which can be used to create more reasons.
“No matter how many lies you tell, you will always be the thing you were before. You can’t wallpaper over it with a Sorry and a smile. It will always be there.”
See, this is why Tall Rachel is so full of shit. Ruth was and is getting better. Billie is not, has been given every chance to but fights it every step of the way.
Ruth is walking it while Billie is still nothing but talk. Obligatory “Fuck you, Tall Rachel.”
Still just grossed out by how toxic a narrative “you can’t improve” is. What is even your goal in telling someone that? What are your goals, period, if you believe that’s true??
I definitely have a deafeatist streak and even I’m like “whoa Rachel it’s not that damn bad.”
HMH
Some of us just don’t have the requisite life experience to adequately educate and repress out inner edgy teen. It’s a very sad place to live your life. Tall Rachel will either learn, or just be literally miserable forever.
thejeff
In that context? Telling the abusive bully that you’re not accepting the pretense of change at face value.
One suspects from that scene that Rachel’s dealt with abusers before, particularly the kind who keep apologizing and promising to change and yet carry on abusing.
BBCC
It strikes me as Rachel having had an abuser who followed the ‘classic’ cycle – honeymoon, build up, big incident, apology, honeymoon, etc. She might not have, but that’s what it seems like.
I doubt she’s hit “rock bottom,” and I feel as if she’s one who would have to in order to really commit to sobriety, AA, and all of that. Of course, I’m not allowed to “take her inventory”… only she can do that…
That’s a myth. Rock bottom doesn’t have to be so dramatic, it can just be whenever you decide you have to get better.
Also AA is really popular, but it isn’t the only — or even the most proven — method of recovery.
I actually prefer the term in my mother tongue. “den Tiefpunkt erreichen”. It roughly translates into reaching the lowest point. The point where going down even deeper is not acceptable.
I’ve read the story of a woman who was married to an alcoholic and when she seeked help, she got hands onto a flyer with early warn signs for alcoholism. She found herself in those signs and stopped immediately. Following her husbands path was too horrific. And I’ve read the story of a man who woke up in a hospital and was told that he was dead for a short time. He wanted to live and quit.
Rock bottom doesn’t mean the worst possible place. It means going further down is no longer an option.
I’m trying to remember where I heard this — it was a podcast, like that helps — but a person in recovery said, “Bottom is where you decide to stop digging.”
The thing is, emotionally it seemed like she hit rock bottom when she encountered Alice. And that just led her straight into her drunken lesbian suicide pact.
I think it depends on whether or not the two people who are down are in the same hole or not. So in this case it would be kicking sideways, but if you’re kicking someone who’s down for reasons unrelated to why you are down you’re just kicking someone who’s down.
Full disclosure: I recently pulled this on my not-recent ex-fiance (when he said he couldn’t pay the money he owes my family).
He was like, “my life sucks in major ways, like alcoholism and severe mental illness”, I was all, that super sucks where’s the money tho.
…He didn’t react well.
You know what’s a good way to not fuel your alcoholism? Paying back your debts. Then you don’t have money for more booze, and the people you owe stop asking about it. Win-win.
I think that Billie means it or, at least, she means it right now, because the alternative appears to be Ruth relapsing. Whether she can continue to mean it after weeks, months and even years of being dry is a question yet to be answered.
She didn’t literally take her, but the only reason she went was Billie turning her fake ID over to Jason and demanding he do something about it. Ruth was content to drink it up and ignore the reaction.
That said, grand gestures, as Joyce put it with Sarah, are good, but you still need to do the other work. So, I get that Ruth probably doesn’t trust Billie to keep her word worth a lick right now. Ruth didn’t keep on the wagon really any better than Billie did, so she probably has plenty reason to be dubious about it. Guess we’ll see how it goes.
Because Billie was effectively holding their relationship hostage for alcohol. She pushed Ruth to this, she only gets as much credit as she fixes what she’s broken.
thejeff
Except she wasn’t. She was trying to end their relationship because Ruth’s no longer safe from her poison. That’s all kinds of messed up, but it’s off in a different direction.
Before their earlier talk, I think it really was unconscious – she was just carrying on with their habits as normal, not really considering how damaging her focus on drinking was to Ruth.
Billie wasn’t trying to sabotage her recovery, she didn’t understand drinking was a problem. Ruth made her opinion clear and Billie broke up with her. Making Billie the villain here is reaching.
thejeff
Broke up with her because she’s poison and Ruth’s getting better and she wanted to protect Ruth.
I like this strip a lot, “Neat” is just so satisfying when it’s cutting through all of the melodrama and I really hope this catalyzes things getting better for ruth at the very least
Discussion (110) - “Prescription”
Ana Chronistic
“cool story bro”
Yet_One_More_Idiot
Is it just me, or is Billie looking a lot thinner in recent strips?
Wizard
Not just you.
Yet_One_More_Idiot
Glad to know I’m not going crazy.
Or at least, not going crazy about this.
Or at the very least, if I am going crazy then I’m not the only one. 😛
Shane
Wow it’s almost like people can get burned out on Billie Bullshit.
Danielle
billshit
Doctor_Who
Full name: Jennifulla Billingshit.
Shane
Talk is Cheap but maybe, MAYBE Billie will go through with it this time.
thejeff
I think there’s intention this time. And this is the first time that’s been there.
It won’t be easy and she probably won’t succeed at first, but trying is a big step. And going to therapy is as well.
Stephen Bierce
Round And Round
What goes around comes around…
I’ll tell you why–DIG
MaximumZero
A Ratt reference in the wild!? I’ve gone to an alternate dimension.
Hazel
I can feel the self-hatred coming off these two in waves!
Solenoid
Now taking bets on whether or not Billie follows through on that.
Kamino Neko
She follows through but can’t maintain it for long.
Delicious Taffy
I give her more than two weeks, but less than 3.
Doctor_Who
If your Billie Resolve lasts more than three weeks, consult a doctor.
TemperaryObsessor
Our weeks or her weeks?
Aro
In comic time or real time?
Leorale
I agree with Kameno Neko. Good therapy is hard, and Billie is likely to think it’s hopeless. She’ll go, to prove herself to Ruth — but Ruth isn’t likely to reward Billie how she wants, so how long can Billie keep it up, in the face of her strong narrative that she’s hopelessly toxic?
Plus, although Billie is awesome in a crisis, she sometimes flounders when everything is sorta-ok-(but-not-really). Not that I could possibly relate.
Rabid Rabbit
It depends whether she can bring herself to tell her therapist that she’s there so that she can deserve Ruth. (I mean, these two do deserve each other. But not that way.)
Part of the problem is that Ruth is no longer allowing herself to be Billie’s problem, which on the one hand is great, but on the other hand deprives Billie of what let her show the best of herself, in her codependent way.
Chaucer59
As an alcoholic with 30 years of sobriety after several false starts, I can say with some degree of certainty that getting sober for someone else rarely works (I’ve seen it work once). If you tie your sobriety to someone else, you’re saying I can be sober as long as X loves me. Great, so if X fails you—as humans are wont to do—what do you do? Most addicts go back to their drug of choice. I get the impression Willis understands all of this.
thejeff
Very likely true. At this point however, I’ll take any excuse to get Billie to try to stop. And into therapy.
Maybe she’ll find reasons of her own to stop. Maybe she’ll be able to sort some of her issues out in therapy.
TemperaryObsessor
Would that include if Ruth tried to change because Howard will need someone to help him escape Sir in two years and she can’t do that if she’s dead?
Leorale
Totally would be a good reason to live. You really only need one good reason to live. It buys you time, which can be used to create more reasons.
timemonkey
Relapses are acceptable as long as effort is being made.
Cheshrin
I think she will, if only because Ruth doesn’t wholly believe it. Billie runs on nothing if not raw spite.
Keulen
I really hope Billie does follow through, though I’m worried that she won’t be able to keep it up.
Kyrik Michalowski
Words need to be backed up by action Billie, telling the truth to your dormmates about your girlfriend(if she still is) would be a good start.
Marsh Maryrose
“No matter how many lies you tell, you will always be the thing you were before. You can’t wallpaper over it with a Sorry and a smile. It will always be there.”
Needfuldoer
“Redemption is a story. Redemption is not real.“
Schpoonman
See, this is why Tall Rachel is so full of shit. Ruth was and is getting better. Billie is not, has been given every chance to but fights it every step of the way.
Ruth is walking it while Billie is still nothing but talk. Obligatory “Fuck you, Tall Rachel.”
Deathjavu
Still just grossed out by how toxic a narrative “you can’t improve” is. What is even your goal in telling someone that? What are your goals, period, if you believe that’s true??
I definitely have a deafeatist streak and even I’m like “whoa Rachel it’s not that damn bad.”
HMH
Some of us just don’t have the requisite life experience to adequately educate and repress out inner edgy teen. It’s a very sad place to live your life. Tall Rachel will either learn, or just be literally miserable forever.
thejeff
In that context? Telling the abusive bully that you’re not accepting the pretense of change at face value.
One suspects from that scene that Rachel’s dealt with abusers before, particularly the kind who keep apologizing and promising to change and yet carry on abusing.
BBCC
It strikes me as Rachel having had an abuser who followed the ‘classic’ cycle – honeymoon, build up, big incident, apology, honeymoon, etc. She might not have, but that’s what it seems like.
bearfuz
I doubt she’s hit “rock bottom,” and I feel as if she’s one who would have to in order to really commit to sobriety, AA, and all of that. Of course, I’m not allowed to “take her inventory”… only she can do that…
Leorale
That’s a myth. Rock bottom doesn’t have to be so dramatic, it can just be whenever you decide you have to get better.
Also AA is really popular, but it isn’t the only — or even the most proven — method of recovery.
Alanari
I actually prefer the term in my mother tongue. “den Tiefpunkt erreichen”. It roughly translates into reaching the lowest point. The point where going down even deeper is not acceptable.
I’ve read the story of a woman who was married to an alcoholic and when she seeked help, she got hands onto a flyer with early warn signs for alcoholism. She found herself in those signs and stopped immediately. Following her husbands path was too horrific. And I’ve read the story of a man who woke up in a hospital and was told that he was dead for a short time. He wanted to live and quit.
Rock bottom doesn’t mean the worst possible place. It means going further down is no longer an option.
Marsh Maryrose
I’m trying to remember where I heard this — it was a podcast, like that helps — but a person in recovery said, “Bottom is where you decide to stop digging.”
Bruceski
There’s no rule on how deep a hole has to be.
Rabid Rabbit
The thing is, emotionally it seemed like she hit rock bottom when she encountered Alice. And that just led her straight into her drunken lesbian suicide pact.
BBCC
Ooof. No other words, just…oof.
Damn, I love these pissy little dandelions.
DailyBrad
Is it still kicking someone while they’re down if you’re also down? Or is that just kicking sideways?
Lala
I think at that point you’d just be flailing around on the floor.
Needfuldoer
Spinning around in little circles like Curly.
Sunny
I think it depends on whether or not the two people who are down are in the same hole or not. So in this case it would be kicking sideways, but if you’re kicking someone who’s down for reasons unrelated to why you are down you’re just kicking someone who’s down.
Deadjolras
cool beans
Pocky
*click*
Leorale
Full disclosure: I recently pulled this on my not-recent ex-fiance (when he said he couldn’t pay the money he owes my family).
He was like, “my life sucks in major ways, like alcoholism and severe mental illness”, I was all, that super sucks where’s the money tho.
…He didn’t react well.
Delicious Taffy
You know what’s a good way to not fuel your alcoholism? Paying back your debts. Then you don’t have money for more booze, and the people you owe stop asking about it. Win-win.
Leorale
He probably doesn’t buy booze. But still, the point of being exes is that we don’t have to take on each other’s burdens anymore.
TooOldToBeCool
“And if you’ll believe THAT…”
Clif
Okay, I was wrong. This did not go as well as it could be expected to go.
Adrianna
Keep getting a popu saying I win a gift card, can’t stay long enoigh to read comments
Needfuldoer
If you’re on mobile, make your browser request the desktop site. The page looks the same, but you won’t get served phony app store pop-ups.
You can also report the bad ads to Hiveworks. They’re generally pretty good about skimming them out once they know about them.
AnvilPro
OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH! Fucking destroyed! Now THAT is what I call a callback!!!
TrueVCU
That would be awesome
if it was a few weeks ago and you actually meant it
BenRG
I think that Billie means it or, at least, she means it right now, because the alternative appears to be Ruth relapsing. Whether she can continue to mean it after weeks, months and even years of being dry is a question yet to be answered.
John Madden
Neat.
C.T Phipps
I’m on Team Billie. The time to give shit to her about this, Ruth, is not after she drove you to the hospital.
BBCC
She didn’t. Sydney did.
DailyBrad
She didn’t literally take her, but the only reason she went was Billie turning her fake ID over to Jason and demanding he do something about it. Ruth was content to drink it up and ignore the reaction.
That said, grand gestures, as Joyce put it with Sarah, are good, but you still need to do the other work. So, I get that Ruth probably doesn’t trust Billie to keep her word worth a lick right now. Ruth didn’t keep on the wagon really any better than Billie did, so she probably has plenty reason to be dubious about it. Guess we’ll see how it goes.
Schpoonman
Because Billie was effectively holding their relationship hostage for alcohol. She pushed Ruth to this, she only gets as much credit as she fixes what she’s broken.
thejeff
Except she wasn’t. She was trying to end their relationship because Ruth’s no longer safe from her poison. That’s all kinds of messed up, but it’s off in a different direction.
Before their earlier talk, I think it really was unconscious – she was just carrying on with their habits as normal, not really considering how damaging her focus on drinking was to Ruth.
Schpoonman
Billie made every attempt barring the last hour or so of her time with Ruth over the last few days trying to sabotage her recovery.
C.T Phipps
Billie wasn’t trying to sabotage her recovery, she didn’t understand drinking was a problem. Ruth made her opinion clear and Billie broke up with her. Making Billie the villain here is reaching.
thejeff
Broke up with her because she’s poison and Ruth’s getting better and she wanted to protect Ruth.
Diner Kinetic
I like this strip a lot, “Neat” is just so satisfying when it’s cutting through all of the melodrama and I really hope this catalyzes things getting better for ruth at the very least
ktbear
I think you may be reading something into that neat that isn’t really there. I really hope you’re right, but I’m skeptical.
GUIGUI