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Magical golden child
Posted on June 14, 2023 by David M Willis

339 thoughts on “Magical golden child”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Please, please! You can ALL be fourth!

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      May the Fourth be with you.

    2. Mark

      When everybody is fourth, then nobody is fourth.

  2. Dot

    Man, fuck Billie

    1. TrueVCU

      Locate the falsehood

      1. not someone else

        Yeah I don’t think this is “Lucy sucks”, I think this is “sorry girl, your boyfriend’s Mom is racist as fuck and you’re darker than he is”.

        1. Uly

          Also, no way that woman’s going to be okay with her son dating anybody who hasn’t already signed on already to follow her rules.

        2. Aslan

          Racism isn’t that straightforward, though, and Blackness is complex; it goes beyond skin tone. Personally, I think there’s elements of both “Lucy sucks” and “Linda’s racist as fuck” in Jennifer’s statement. It’s “yeah, you’re gonna be mistreated because of how you look but I also want the opportunity to be scornful towards you”

        3. Aussir

          Walky and Sal’s skin is, in fact, exactly the same color in the art, and as Aslan points out, racism (and Blackness itself) is complex. Charles is darker than either of the kids. So for Linda, her bigotry seems to be more towards what she perceives as the behavior of Black people. If that’s how her mind works, she’d probably rank Lucy above Sal still. She definitely had a lower reaction to her compared to Joyce, of course.

          That said, racists aren’t famous for having a lot of consistency in their beliefs, so we’ll see how it goes, I guess.

      2. Clif

        Yeah, she’s not wrong. Probably.

      3. Dot

        Not saying she’s incorrect, but she’s being needlessly blunt in a situation that is obviously stressful for Walky and Sal, and it’s entirely because she’s still mad at Walky for bullshit reasons she made up herself.

        1. RoyanRannedos

          It’s always hard to spot your own bullshit, though. Her internal narrative might go “I’m telling the hard truth so Lucy has time to prepare. There’s no way I’m so childish as to be mad at Walky for reminding me of the failure self I’m trying to jettison with these upper-class friends. It’s just their messed-up family that I’m sick of being involved in.” She doth protest too much.

    2. DailyBrad

      She’s not wrong, honestly. Walky wanted her help to talk Linda down post-Ross and Blaine because he knew Billie/Jennifer had a higher chance of being heard out. His parents love her.

      1. Throwatron

        And they love her, like most of Billie’s friends, because of her tenuous connection to her parents. It’s actually so depressing.

        1. Miri

          And she sees their behaviour THIS clearly for what it is – and they’re still a more present and constant loving force in her life than her own parents so is asking her to call them out on their BS really even OK? Given that at her most honest she is SO not OK, mental health-wise, that she’s 18, etc… They’re shitty people but they’re adults who show up for her.

      2. Yeet

        I think also there is the factor that many parents are straight up unable to hear logic coming from their children, even the magical golden child who can do no wrong.
        Their kids’ friends are more likely to get through a lot of the time.
        Billie’s weird pseudo-surrogate situation may benefit from this too, I don’t know.

    3. Jamie

      Why, specifically? I don’t feel like she did any wrong in this particular strip.

      Like, this is the right way to do brutal honesty.

      1. Victor Riley

        There is no right way for “brutal”. Honesty not tempered with love is just cruelty.

        What did Lucy do to make Billie/Jennifer hate her? Look up to her? Be friendly and give her multiple undeserved chances?

        1. RacingTurtle

          She’s not expressing her own hate for Lucy. She’s issuing a warning that Walky’s parents will assume Lucy is too low-class for their son because of her skin color. Because the elder Walkertons are terrible

        2. GholaHalleck

          To be fair, the dad hasn’t really done much yet. He’s a yes man at most so far.

          There’s a far more… cruel term that Linda probably wouldn’t disagree with, but I’m not using it.

        3. Tan

          Hard disagree. Jennifer is not genuinely engaging with the question, she’s just taking a potshot at Lucy because she’s never been Lucy’s biggest fan and Walky’s been a major pain in her ass lately.

          Which doesn’t mean she’s entirely wrong (though definitely hyperbolizing because there’s no way either of them are getting below Sal on the ranking unless they ALSO meet Danny and that manages to raise Sal’s points at least a little). But yeah, no, she’s still just being a shit here.

        4. GholaHalleck

          Sal pulling in a Danny would bump her up a fair bit, what with Walky testing Linda’s authority even that teeny bit, and dating a black girl.

          Billie’s new friend group is ALSO a failure on the color scale, and she’s dating Asher, who is possibly Italian, if we’re going by mafia stereotype.

        5. pope suburban

          Asher is Korean, at least partially.

        6. GholaHalleck

          Thank you for the correction!

        7. Jamie

          There are plenty of cases where honesty exists without cruelty or love. This is the entire basis of law.

          Just because some idiots have twisted the idea of honesty to be an excuse for brutality does not mean that some truths do not hurt to be heard, even if they must be spoken. And some truths may be, contextually, “You are guilty,” “They do not love you the way you love them,” or “You are hurting them despite not meaning to.” These are painful things to hear, and yet, they must be said.

          Other have thoroughly covered how this probably wasn’t intended to hurt Lucy, so I won’t go through that. Jennifer is a problem child, but AFAICT, she wasn’t, here.

    4. Proxiehunter

      That depends what Jennifer means. Is she saying Lucy sucks or is she saying Walky’s mother is a raging asshole racist bongo? Because Walky’s mother is and that’s why she would likely drag Walky down to fourth place with her.

      1. MM

        I think this is more of a warning than a cheap shot.

      2. Regina phalange

        Does Jennifer even know that Walky’s mother is racist? At least, racist enough to put Lucy in automatic last place? She was there for Sal’s argument with Walky when Sal pointed this out the first time, but it’s a biiiiiig leap from “Linda has implicit bias in favor of the child that looks whiter,” to “Linda hates Black people so much she would automatically assume they’re the worst and their child is worse for choosing to date them.”

        1. Loki

          She has known the siblings (and the parents) since like forever. Playing with Walky is how she got the Billie nickname. I assume she has picked up on a few things.

        2. Zero

          Does she know? Well, I’m going to call the comic, the one up there, the one you’re commenting on, the one where she says so openly, I’m going to call t “Exhibit A.”

        3. Thulcandran

          Yes? This is very, very well established. In fact, it’s a conversation with her that finally gets Walky to stop being shitty to Sal about it, way back when. I’m not gonna go look it up now, but it’s the one where he says “I’m havin’ trouble saying “Do you think Sal’s right about our parents being racist” as a joke.” To which Billie replies, “And yet you still somehow managed.”

          Billie definitely, definitely knows Sal and Walky’s parents are racist. She also mentions it when someone’s asking her what she did to earn cookies – Carla, I think – and she says “Being the white-passing daughter someone else’s mom really wanted…?”. Like, this is definitely something that’s been established as Billie having noticed a long time ago, longer than Walky did by a lot.

        4. BarerMender

          Also, Billie comes from money. That’s class, to Carol.

        5. BarerMender

          Wait, which one is Walky’s mom? Is that Carol, or Linda?

        6. John Campbell

          Linda. Carol’s the other awful mom who showed up out of the blue today.

        7. BarerMender

          Thx

        8. Miri

          She has explicitly but quietly acknowledged that she gets favourable treatment as the white-passing “daughter” .. possibly stating the “that they wish they had” bit…

    5. Kyrik Michalowski

      The Walkertons absolutely treat Jennifer/Billie like she is /their/ golden child. You can be pissed about that but don’t take it out on Billie/Jennifer. She hasn’t tried to make it happen, but it happened anyway.

      1. Caspar Mulders

        Yeah, it’s not her fault that, on top of all their other terrible flaws, Walky and Sal’s parents also have frankly horrible taste.

    6. RassilonTDavros

      I mean, she’s certainly being blunt (when isn’t she?) but her assessment of the Walkerton parents is fundamentally accurate.

      1. Bryy

        and she 10000% loves it.

        It’s disgusting.

        1. TemporalShrew

          ??? What in the way she is saying this would indicate that at all?

        2. MM

          Yeah, that is not a happy face.

        3. Bryy

          The “actually” doesn’t give it away?

        4. TemporalShrew

          Not really. She makes that comment *right* after Walky points out that being the golden child is “really not” nice, and she doesn’t dispute that part at all.

        5. GholaHalleck

          I think she liked it *before* she realized how fucked up it all was. High school era Billie probably relished it like she relished being head cheerleader.

          This is “Seen some shit” Jennifer, who has for the most part, grown past that mindset. At least the most blatant versions.

        6. Imogen

          Jennifer’s parents have been indicated to be extremely neglectful. I don’t really fault kid-Billie for happily enjoying the attention of these two extremely nice replacement parental figures.

        7. Miri

          They send her care packages! They remember her favourite cookies! And completely neglect their own daughter… Who she rooms with…

        8. Miri

          (The Walkertons. Her parents just throw money at her from a distance. Not sure they’d be able to pick her out of a line-up.)

        9. morhek

          I think she feels smug about being right, without taking pleasure in what she’s right about. She’s not saying Lucy DESERVES to be fourth, just that she will be.

        10. Zero

          Yeah, you can tell from how the comic depicts exactly the opposite of that.

          It’s a clever trick.

        11. Clif

          I’m losing track somehow. I thought at first this was a reply to morhek, but that doesn’t make any sense.

        12. Miri

          I think Zero and morkek have different width avatars? But if you use the right-hand side margin as an indication rather than the left, probably replied to the SAME comment, which I think was Bryy saying that she loves being golden child..? So morhek saying, not glee, smug about being right without taking any pleasure in what she’s right about, and Zero saying the comic is showing her siding with the twins in expressing her disgust with their parents’ horribly inequitable treatment of them, its racist roots, the damage it’s done to the kids and their relationships… Which is the complete opposite of loving being golden child.

          And then everything makes sense?

          I think I get cookies!

        13. Zero

          If you were physically present in my apartment you would get cookies regardless as that is only polite. As you are not, any cookies you acquire are entirely up to you and I have no say.

          In either case, cookies you may or may not receive are unrelated to your correct assessment.

        14. Taffy

          It’s actually really clever of Willis to portray characters’ intended emotions and mindsets by depicting nothing remotely close to what it’s meant to look like. For example, today Billie looks mostly neutral skewing toward mild resentment, but that’s clearly meant to show that she’s rubbing her hands with glee at how little Sal’s parents want her. Her lack of any discernable trace of joy is how you can really tell she’s relishing this.

        15. Username Taken

          Truly, this is a master class in the subtleties of human expressions.

        16. milu

          same way the snow and students going to class wearing warm clothes makes it obvious if you pay any attention at all that this is actually taking place in July! it’s really quite ingenious.

    7. Yotomoe

      God I want to. I want to so badly.

      I mean. Yeah! She’s a jerk!

      1. StClair

        Eaaaaasy there, Yotomoe.

      2. cbwroses

        I’m right there with you, Yotomoe.
        I mean, not really (unless everyone consents).
        But, you know, in the spirit of solidarity.

      3. Bajj

        XD

      4. newlland(Henryvolt)

        I kind of get it myself so I can’t judge.

    8. Needfuldoer

      Yeah, who does she think she is? This kind of bluntness is Sarah’s niche!

    9. Pylgrim

      I mean, when Billie, /Billie/ says something this mean and Sal just quietly confirms, you know that this is a heavy, bad truth.

  3. TrueVCU

    Glad/sad they’re all so open/clear eyed about how terrible the Walkerton parents are

    1. Angel

      I’m surprised walky wouldn’t take it as a ‘challenge’ and doing all the bad things he could get away with lol

      1. TrueVCU

        I think even he’s aware of the effect it has on Sal and that doing so would cause a fatal rupture in their relationship. Walky doesn’t have many boundaries but he does have SOME

        1. MM

          He’s aware now. I’m not sure he had this level of insight into it before they got to college.

      2. Leorale

        @Angel – Walky had a front-row seat that Mom’s love and support are 100% conditional. And when you lose Mom’s favor, you’re treated like Sal. That risk is very primal scary stuff for a kid.
        (It’s also why he thought Dorothy would instantly leave him for not being effortlessly skillful at calculus. Golden Children are not okay.)

  4. thakoru

    Man, Lucy just has the worst luck with roommates, huh?

    1. Viktoria

      Nah, Walky’s roommate history is impressively bad for only being here for like 5 months.

      1. thakoru

        Okay, I will concede that Walky’s roommate history is slightly worse.

      2. Doctor_Who

        Do Walky and Booster not get along? Both can be a bit much, but they don’t seem to particularly dislike each other.

        1. thakoru

          Oh Booster’s fine, it’s just that Mike and then the conspicuous absence of Mike skews the average pretty far.

        2. cbwroses

          They seem to get along to me.

        3. Just an Armadillo

          I mean, Booster’s definitely a big step up from Mike’s open hostility towards all life, but there’s no denying that they’re a bit of a nosey asshole.

        4. Dante

          Babythem is cursed with the “autistic but outgoing”, I think. They want connections, they’ve got no idea of how to make them, and they’ve studied people to try and understand but fuck up with the boundaries.

          (Most) of the assholery isn’t on purpose.

        5. Freemage

          Honestly, between Booster and Mike as roommates, if it weren’t for the ‘comedic violence’ factor (which, honestly, should probably have been left in the original Walkyverse, as it never made any sense why any of his victims put up with it), I’d prefer Mike.

        6. Leorale

          I might enjoy rooming with Booster as long as they could respect my very direct boundaries. We could talk about our art projects, plus they have a very distinct and analytical point of view (though it may lack emotional depth, so that’s interesting too). Plus, what can I say, I tend to get along with well-meaning Autistic people.

          Whereas Mike would take anything at all as a neon sign saying “Here are handy directions for where to hurt me most! Have at!!” Like, Mike made Walky cry, and kept a recording of it, and whatever his wacky secret motives might’ve been, there is no way they were worth being that cruel to a person. I’m not even sure Mike likes anything (except for Ethan… which Mike expressed by being really harmful to him, and then dying).

          People who don’t like anything suck. Mean people suck. I’d prefer Booster any day of the week.

        7. Schpoonman

          I lived with a Mike for a year and I still want to kill myself.

          Fuck anyone like Mike and fuck anyone who likes people like Mike.

    2. Angel

      she didn’t particularly seem as affected with malaya’s hostility compared to jennifer’s queen bee personality tho

  5. BBCC

    Place your bets now! Who do you think’s gonna be right?

    I’m taking bets to avoid frothing with rage.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      I got Walky remaining second but Sal going from distant distant third to distant distant distant third with Lucy at third and Danny at fourth.

      1. UrsulaDavina

        Though initial perception I have Danny at third and Lucy starting at fourth but Danny, Dannying it up but Sal being happy he did.

      2. Bajj

        HOLY MACKEREL
        Are their dates gonna make the twins flip faves in the mother’s eyes????????? :0

        1. UrsulaDavina

          Possibly but I am hoping Carol and Linda destroy eachother before that ever happens. Two go in none come out!

        2. Proxiehunter

          Well Sal found the white guy, I mean the white guy, damn it I mean the Caucasian guy . . . Damn it. I keep trying to type the word “right” but for some mysterious inexplicable reason other words are coming out instead.

        3. Pergola

          Um, what version of autocorrect do you have?

    2. Kyrik Michalowski

      If I had to put myself in the mindset of the Walkertons… well first I would need serious head trauma, but afterwards I would rank it like this:

      Billie/Jennifer
      Walky
      Lucy
      Sal

      1. Vanessa

        I assume this ranking is done purely by who looks Blacker out of pure unconscious bigotry, so Walky stays first and Lucy gets to be tenth for sullying their precious boy. Somehow Sal is still last though.

    3. UrsulaDavina

      I’d like to change my bet Carol and Linda are both on campus at the same time so I am going to go with they destroy eachother in fight to the death thus destroying the ranking system.

    4. GholaHalleck

      Billie
      Walky
      Lucy
      Walky’s old furby
      Sal’s motorcycle.
      Sal.

      Lucy doesn’t “act black” so she’ll be “one of the good ones”

      But Linda will pull Walky aside and hammer home that he needs to be using all the condoms, and probably getting a coupon for a weekly plan B at the CVS.

      Because I’m still 100% convinced that Linda got “Stuck” with Sal and it’s one of the reasons she’s such a raging bongo about everything.

      1. Thomas

        You know Sal & Walky are twins, right? If Linda’s pregnancy was unplanned & undesired, wouldn’t her animosity directed at both of them?

        1. Uly

          It’s a mistake to try to figure out the logic of these things.

          Though I agree, it’s unlikely to be the reason. Abortion did exist back then, so did single parenting.

        2. Marisa Mockery

          Sal isn’t a son.

        3. Needfuldoer

          Fraternal twins can be as alike or different as any other pair of siblings.

        4. Taffy

          Sure, but how often are daughters treated like shit for the crime of not being sons? They can be as varied as we like, they’re still gonna get the short end.

        5. milu

          Nirvana had a song about that.

        6. Taffy

          They’re the ones who have that song about deodorant and the other one that’s about where bad folks go when they die, yeah? I’m not super familiar with Nirvana (fuck off, music extremists) but I like the singer’s ragged screaming.

        7. milu

          lead singer Kurt Cobain died of suicide in the 90’s and the band no longer exists, yep that song, yes that other song, here‘s the one i was referencing if you’re interested <3

        8. Taffy

          Kinda catchy, and not at all subtle with those lyrics. (I’m glad there’s always at least one commenter who posts the lyrics, since the people who upload songs never include them)

          My mom is convinced Cobain’s wife did him in. She said the same thing about Jason David Frank though, so I kinda don’t listen to her about these things.

        9. milu

          my turn to be clueless: Jason David Frank?

        10. Taffy

          Tommy Oliver, the original Green Power Ranger (in America)! He was a martial artist first and an actor second, loved his fans, encouraged people to do their best, all that good stuff. The only celebrity I was ever really eager to meet, but sadly died last November. The story I’ve read is that he and his wife had separated but were trying to make up, got a hotel room, she went downstairs for some drinks, and when she got back he’d committed suicide. I have an autographed photo of him on my wall, with a personalised signature and everything. I could go on and on, but it’s a little awkward to type long replies this deep into a thread.

        11. milu

          Jason David Frank Tommy Oliver? That’s a whole lot of names? sorry about your loss, that sucks =/

        12. milu

          oooh tommy oliver is the character. silly me. i’m also completely power-rangers-illiterate. soz

        13. Taffy

          Sorry, I’m a little high so it’s sperg time. Tommy Oliver is the character. JDF (as he’s known to fans) is the actor. He was the first Green Ranger and (after an upgrade) White Ranger, the third and fourth Red Ranger (led two separate teams as Red), and after a long hiatus he returned as the Black Ranger to help a much younger team as their leader/mentor. Eventually married and had a family with the second Pink Ranger, and even got a special Morpher (their transformation trinket) that could bounce between every powerset he’s had. If there was a major anniversary team-up, he was usually there to kick butt side by side with the latest rookies. Genuinely a really cool character, played by a really cool guy.

        14. Needfuldoer

          Far too often.

        15. Miri

          Nah, he came out white-passing, it’s fine?

        16. Miri

          Like, to the extent he doesn’t consider himself to be Black at all and Sarah had to remind him that in a hostage situation – when armed police show up it’s better to not be there while Black – he was literally asking who the other Black person was. Sal puts serious investment into maintaining long, straightened hair to increase her “acceptability” and it still isn’t enough to gain a crumb of approval – and he doesn’t even think of being Black as part of his identity.

        17. Mark

          This situation is always puzzling to me. Because from my vantage point, Walky was right: the two of them are visually identical, except one is male and the other female. Same hair (when she straightens it, which is to say almost always). Same face. Drawn in the same colors. Same height and build.

          I think it may be some kind of regenerative build-up that slowly soured the Sal/Linda relationship early in life and is now set in concrete. Linda was disappointed at toddler Sal’s hair (let’s say). Sal picked up on this eventually and began acting out in small ways. Linda reacted negatively to this. Sal upped the ante. They kept pushing at each other until the breach became irreparable.

        18. GholaHalleck

          Dead ass it’s the hair on top of feeling like she was being baby trapped. “At least Walky had the good graces to come out not needing hair training”

          And trying to get a child to sit there and deal with what were probably the most extrema kinds of hair straightening nonsense because of course Linda will try everything to hide her kid’s blackness…

        19. thejeff

          Though we don’t see the hair straightened until relatively late in the flashbacks. The earliest playground and acting scenes have it natural.

        20. asmodai27

          Very real possibility: she wanted an only child and got stuck with 2… and of course the animosity goes towards the less white-passing / female (probably both) one…

        21. Leorale

          I’m really thinking about this too much, but I just had the head-canon that the Walkertons used IVF to have Sal and Walky.

          It would be such a nice homage to being created with the aid of futuristic alien Science, in another universe. Getting recreated in a Martian tube kinda rhymes, conceptually, with the IVF process.

          And in the real world, roughly 18ish years ago, IVF doctors used to implant multiple embryos at once, to increase the chances of one of them successfully becoming a baby. Sometimes, more than one embryo would take, and you’d get fraternal twins and triplets and such.

          IVF doctors don’t do that anymore (because multiple-births are riskier), but Linda and Charles could’ve totally had them both implanted at once.

  6. Yearofthecat

    I think Dorothy would drag walky down even further. She’d take Jennifer’s spot

    1. Jamie

      Nah, Linda would approve of Dorothy.

      1. Jamie

        Oh, I misread what you meant. Ignore me.

  7. Angel

    oof

  8. DailyBrad

    I wonder if Jennifer/Billie will eat with them, too. I mean, I doubt she necessarily *wants* to, but it’s probably going to be expected since they treat her like one of their kids more than her own dad does.

    1. JessWitt

      I think Jennifer’s had her fill of mealtime with Walky a few days ago.

      1. DailyBrad

        Sure, though A. she’d get to see him squirm, and B. there’s no way he’s going to carry himself with the same level of confidence, not with Linda, so she’s not going to have to bristle about it again.

        1. Mark

          Confidence, no; boldness? maybe. Depends on his estimate of how it might splash on Sal.

  9. Kyrik Michalowski

    Billie/Jennifer has a good point, the Walkertons treat her more like a daughter than they do Sal. I do enjoy that Lucy is learning this early, it might help convince her to elope with Walky and go into hiding.

    I’m betting they escape by small plane, possibly a fighter jet if the govt gets involved.
    What do you think?

  10. Cmasta1992

    Man even my patience is wearing thin with Jennifer right now

    1. Proxiehunter

      Is she wrong about how Walky’s racist mother is going to react to him dating a black girl?

      1. Bryy

        No, but the way she’s framed makes it seem like she is totally cool with being better than the bio kids.

        1. Kyrik Michalowski

          At what point did Billie/Jennifer make it seem like she enjoys this? Based on her expression I would say she is annoyed by it, especially since she is trying to reinvent herself.

          She doesn’t want anything to do with Walky or Sal recently, so I sincerely doubt she wants to be Charles and Linda’s surrogate child.

        2. Just an Armadillo

          I think the big issue is that she seems to be taking the opportunity to take another insecurity driven shot at Walky. I mean, she could just be giving an honest assessment, but let’s be real, she hasn’t really earned the benefit of the doubt on that one.

        3. MM

          I don’t know how much of a shot it is when Walky’s already made it clear he doesn’t really want to be first.

        4. Pergola

          Or at least first for the wrong reasons…

        5. Bajj

          Being frank isn’t the same thing as being accepting

        6. Zero

          She overheard Walky and Sal warning Lucy about their parents, and stopped to make sure she knows it’s worse.

    2. Kyrik Michalowski

      She hasn’t done any wrong here. Her ranking may be flawed, but otherwise she is accurate. The Walkertons absolutely treat Jennifer/Billie more like their daughter than they do with Sal. Billie/Jennifer might be an ass for other reasons, but this isn’t one of them.

      1. Vanessa

        I think Billie/Jennifer thinks she’s doing Lucy a favor (with her usual righteous superiority) but she’s actually going to ruin Lucy’s delicate mojo. Lucy doesn’t seem like the type to fake politeness, her only hope was to be oblivious and assume the mother liked her. She’s going to be a nervous wreck.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Lucy can be too optimistic and trusting (or at least non-cynical) for her own good.

          If you’re only looking for the good, you can miss the bad that’s right in front of you.

        2. Archieve

          I just hope she learns to accept that some people are not worth chasing for approval. Her attitude seems to be if someone doesn’t like her she just needs to be even more friendly and supportive.

        3. Leorale

          ^This.
          But learning that you don’t need/want the approval of jerks, that one’s usually more of a lesson for your 30s or later.
          People-pleasing is hard to shake, and Lucy has based her self-image on it.
          It’s going to be a very frustrating day for Lucy.

  11. Warcodered

    Man that bar just keeps getting lowered for how well they view their parents.

  12. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Sal convinced that they’d like Lucy more than her even though she made it clear before that a lot of Linda’s worse trait come from a unchecked sense of prejudice and Classism.

    1. not someone else

      She seems convinced that, in addition to that, they hate her personally… which is a hell of a thing to have to deal with as someone’s kid.

      1. GholaHalleck

        Still calling she was an unplanned pregnancy and Linda was forced into marriage because of it.

        1. Dante

          Wait, but that would mean Walky was too. They’re fraternal twins o.o

          So the sequence would be… Unplanned pregnancy, forced into marriage, and then a “goddammit, there’s two!” and later on a (fuck, I hate this woman) “goddammit^2, one looks blacker!”, or…?

        2. Marisa Mockery

          Pretty much. Plus Linda seems like the kind of lady who favors male children over female children.

        3. GholaHalleck

          Exactly. Remember, Walky got the “Good” Hair, and is lighter.

          Sal’s early look had her with Sarah/Lucy grade hair, and wooo lads there is a massive Thing with biracial kids and hair prejudice.

          Linda probably forced Sal into acting more “White” until Sal said “Right piss off then” and rebelled full out.

          While Walky was just naturally the “Early 90’s sitcom black friend who’s just Spicy White Boy.”

        4. Pergola

          Walky -acts- whiter. They are the exact same skin tone.

      2. Proxiehunter

        I mean, evidence says there’s a good chance she’s right about that. Linda seems to have taken the rational way Sal’s reacted to how she treats her personally and instead of changing the way she treats Sal blames Sal for how she’s reacted to her emotional abuse.

        1. DailyBrad

          I kind of wonder if some of Linda and Sal’s conflict comes from them probably having more in common than Walky and Linda do, but not in a way that lends itself to harmony.

          Sal and Linda both have no shortage of self-righteousness when they’re pissed off with people, even if Sal’s certainly less toxic about it, and neither of them are exactly in a hurry to embrace people they’ve formed a negative opinion about. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, it’s just the apple’s thankfully got less rot than the tree’s got.

        2. Miri

          Also, Sal went from “STOP STALKING ME AND FIGHT ME” to “OK, sure we can do it later I guess, why? Scarface McGee? Joyce? OK, yeah, team-up time” and expressing (a second time, out loud and to her) concern over Amazigirl’s actions while also practical support, back-up, compassion, consideration for feels, beginning of tentative friendship.

          So like totally different from how Linda would respond from somebody walking away when she was prepared to go nuclear on them. Or ever…

        3. Mark

          +1

  13. Reltzik

    While I know that Walky and Jennifer are taking digs at Linda and Charles, I wonder if Lucy will now feel a lot of pressure to not ruin things for Walky with his parents.

    1. DailyBrad

      That’s probably a given regardless. Lucy’s got a big desire to be liked by people in general, but it’s especially going to be true with Walky’s family.

  14. Sirksome

    It’s cause she the darkest. That’s why.

  15. Suet

    Parents would always love some child that isn’t their own, in the right times.

    Especially even with Jenny’s history, yeah.

  16. Masumi

    Only until Danny becomes first *for some mysterious reason*

    1. MM

      Yeah, Danny might actually pull Sal’s stock up, on account of not presenting himself as a delinquent and…uh, other reasons. And I don’t know if he’s going to read the situation as well as Joe did with Joyce, or if his parent issues will manifest themselves as “Someone likes me?”

      1. Dante

        … Oh. Oh noooooo. Those two have been having too nice of a time, isn’t it? 🙁

        On the other hand, when Danny learned Blaine was a piece of shit, he spat on him (after AG had beaten him bloody but still.) He’s a good egg ;; Let’s hope he doesn’t get duped?

        1. Yoursmoreisburning

          …Again.

          He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but his hearts in the right place.

        2. Dante

          I trust Danny not to stumble! And if he does, I trust him to snap out of it quickly and fully!

          The question would be… Does Sal?

        3. Miri

          Have Danny and Sal talked parents at all? They’ve been friends for a while, and he knows how hard she finds the whole trust/opening up thing, and that he’s pretty much THE first person to just give her something without strings attached (bar Marcie) so wouldn’t be shocked if he is aware parent issues are a thing she has?

        4. Seregiel

          I feel like the reaction would go more like the begrudging attempt during roller derby.Ill do it, but I might be a slight dick about it.

        5. pope suburban

          I think Danny has some sense of the parent situation, at least. Sal has a big problem with accepting favors, she’s always been clear that she was sent away by her parents, and they’ve spent a good amount of time hanging out outside their dorm and talking. Danny, for all his foot-in-mouth problems, is pretty emotionally perceptive, and has probably put together a lot even if Sal hasn’t explicitly spelled it out for him.

        6. Seregiel

          Complete side tangent: How do you think Marcie perceives Danny at this point?

      2. darkgloomie

        Danny is very likely to notice Sal being tense and try to rectify that. How he goes about it is up in the air.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I don’t expect him to Dan things up directly, but I do expect Linda’s acceptance of him to rattle Sal a bit.

        2. Aslan

          It’s possible that, even if he does Dan It Up, the Walkerparents might see it as endearingly nervous or acceptably quirky.

  17. UrsulaDavina

    If I am going with my rankings I got Lucy and Sal first And Walky second and half and Jenifer fifth she dropped from third after that comment. Though I just made these up on the spot.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      Also I get Jenifer is pointing out a truth about Sal and Walky’s parents it’s still really mean in my opinion.

      1. UrsulaDavina

        Mean to Lucy, Jennifer could have phrased it better to Lucy while being honest about the situation and not have to hurt Lucy’s self esteem.

  18. DarkoNeko

    oooh boy.

  19. Grimey

    Billie being so close to Walky and Sal that she knows how trash their parents are is dark-sided. What have these three seen growing up? I mean besides the trauma we know about.

  20. RassilonTDavros

    TIL that the act of pointing out Charles and Linda’s racism makes Jennifer the real racist, apparently, according to some of y’all

    1. Dante

      Naw, I think it’s more about the way she did it. Jenn doesn’t have a great track record with being kind to Lucy and while I don’t think she’s happy about this bullshit dynamic, her casual tone sounds plain callous.

      What could’ve been a helpful warning turns sour because she’s being harsh for the sake of it.

      1. Yeet

        I’m not really sure that is intended to convey a casual tone. She looks kinda upset/mad imo, which is reasonable.
        However that’s practically her default for talking to walky so I guess it’s understandable for people to interpret it as casual.

      2. Joy

        If someone’s entire criticism is literally just tone policing, I disregard it. (I feel that a lot of people dislike how Jennifer isn’t submissively asian enough and get hard on her about it tbh.)

        1. BBCC

          Tone policing is going “You’re wrong because I don’t like your tone.”

          What Dante said was “She’s right, but her tone’s been unhelpful and unnecessarily harsh and I don’t like it.”

          One is a dick move and the other is just not liking the way someone talks to people while still knowing they’re right. They’re not the same thing.

        2. Dante

          I like Jennifer :’DD Maybe not if I knew her IRL, but I loved her arc as Billie – I wanna know her better. (And holy shit, that’s disgusting DD:)

          But yeah, BBCC nailed it. I know the idea is to give Lucy a (very correct) warning of how hard a time she’s going to get. But starting the hard times earlier is counterproductive.

  21. tim gueguen

    It will be interesting to see if Raidah meets the parents. Given their connection to the Dean she probably wants to meet them, but I suspect they’re likely to say something that will get them on her bad side.

    1. Bryy

      …. yeah, you’re right. Raidah is in a position to do some real damage to Joyce here.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        The fuck does Joyce have to do with Raidah, the Dean, or the Walkertons? And as for being on their backside, Raidah doesn’t have to do any damage to the Walkertons. She can just choose to cut off that connection if it seems volatile.

        1. Vanessa

          If Raidah gets some influence with the Dean through her usual social climbing, she can lie to and manipulate the Dean. She could convince him that Sarah and Joyce are a danger to themselves to others. Or cheaters, or are doing crimes.

        2. MM

          Sarah, maybe. I don’t know that she’s mad enough at Joyce to waste social capital on her.

        3. UrsulaDavina

          She blames Joyce for her breakup with Jacob which denied her a valuable source of social capital.

        4. UrsulaDavina

          I mean I am sure that’s not the only reason why Radiah was in realtionship bit it was definitely played a part.

        5. BarerMender

          Whoa! I was gonna answer that one, but you did it way better.

        6. Dante

          Raidah was all like “OH BUT YOUR MOM KNOWS THE DEAN, TELL ME MORE? :Dc” at that breakfast, Lucy is vulnerably lonely and would want to impress both That Clique (whom Jennifer is a part from) and Those Parents; and boom. Connection with the Dean.

          IDK what would Raidah do with that kind of access tbh, but she hates Joyce, who’s right now homeless because her mother went broke helping The Cult that (helped) hold Darling Walky at gunpoint.

          I have no clue of what will happen but between the story still needing a Big Overarching Conflict, and these elements all so close (narratively speaking, but now also spatially)… IDK. There’s bad vibes about it. “I have a bad feeling about…” etc, my Writer’s Sense is tingling.

        7. Proxiehunter

          Joyce has a father. One with a damn good job. Presumably her father is not homeless. Joyce is not homeless just because her mother sold a house Joyce doesn’t live in.

        8. Dante

          Yeah, ok. Maybe not the best wording. But Joyce is vulnerable, and considering the real life story this is based on, it might mean financial vulnerability too.

          I’m very intrigued by what the hell is going on with the rest of the Browns – Did her dad just give her mother the house? (Not unusual when the ex-wife was a homemaker) Where the hell is he? He hasn’t reached out – That was Jocelyne.

        9. Zero

          She sold the house Joyce *does* live in, though. A dorm is a temporary residence. Joyce’s permanent address was sold out from under her without her even knowing.

        10. thejeff

          In theory, but Joyce wasn’t living in that house with Carol anyway. she didn’t spend the holidays there. She wasn’t going to spend the summer there. While it’s an emotional blow, it doesn’t affect her living situation at all.

          We don’t know Hank’s current living arrangements, but he’s got a good job. He’ll have a place to live and be quite happy to take Joyce in when the dorms are closed.

        11. Loki

          What does the father work again?

        12. Needfuldoer

          He’s a dentist.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/dozen/

        13. AndaR

          Dentist.

        14. Taffy

          He’s a fucking Vtuber. We just had three goddamn chapters dedicated to it.

        15. Needfuldoer

          He’s got a collab with the inexplicable vtubers from QC scheduled.

        16. Taffy

          Why’d you say that name have to remind me of that…

        17. Needfuldoer

          Haha yeah.

          (Seriously what even is QC these days?)

        18. Taffy

          I haven’t known the answer to that question for a couple of years, now. I keep up with it out of compulsion, but I don’t think I’ve actually cared what happens in a given storyline since Brun had a date with the big-assed dessert robot and then vanished entirely.

        19. Joy

          On the one hand I really enjoy CQ (well, the post 3500 comics, not necessarily the ones before then?), But on the other hand Brun is my favorite…

        20. Joy

          I actually do feel really satisfied with Brin’s emotional arc as she adjusts to a new routine and makes new friends. CQ has a narrative set up wherein it only really examines changes in status quo and timeskips or montages past parts of characters lives that are more routine.

        21. Pergola

          Brün and Crushbot have opened a patisserie.

  22. TemporalShrew

    I really don’t care for Billie like 95% of the time, but she’s on-point here. Nothing she said was wrong, though her tone, as usual, could use “work,” let’s say.

    And Lucy needs to know the score going into this, regardless. You can say that this might set her up to walk on eggshells and be anxious, but what’s the alternative? She *doesn’t* get how bad it is and it blindsides her completely? Can’t see that going any better.

  23. ian livs

    Having been the scapegoat child at one point and then somehow becoming the golden child later on… yeah, being the golden child sounds nice, and is in some ways nicer, but it still sucks ass.

    Also, I don’t see Jennifer as being a jerk here. It’s a bit blunt, but she’s well-acquainted with the Walkertons’ mom and how she’s likely to view/treat Lucy. (I’m sorry in advance, Lucy. You don’t deserve this.)

    1. Nicoleandmaggie

      For us it means that my sister still has to deal with my father but I don’t.

  24. Just an Armadillo

    Brutal honesty is not endearing Billie. It just means Lucy’s got one more asshole to deal with today.

    1. DailyBrad

      Sugarcoating it would just be setting Lucy up for failure, though. I mean, I don’t know that she ought to *want* to succeed here, but Lucy’s a people pleaser who has never “met the family” before since Walky’s her first and only partner. Better to be prickly now than to have her get her heart broken when she realizes the game’s rigged.

      1. Dot

        There is, in fact, a middle path between “sugarcoating it” and “being needlessly blunt and abrasive because you’re pissy at her boyfriend”

        1. Seregiel

          I’m not sure coming out and saying they will hate you because your black would go over better? Jennifer at least knows people and her dynamics. Could be she’d think Lucy would handle the indirect biting better.

  25. cbwroses

    You know, I get that Linda might think that way, but it’s hard for me to picture Charles thinking like that.
    Really, when I think of the negative aspects of the Walkerton parents, I tend to put it all on Linda and assume that Charles, like Walky, just tends to do what she says and follows her lead.
    And that isn’t good, of course, but it definitely doesn’t make him equally as bad as her.
    Then again, that could just be because we haven’t seen much from him other than him preferring straight hair on Sal.
    Out of the 4 family members (5 counting Jennifer), he definitely has the least noticeable personality.

    1. Regina phalange

      I completely disagree that Charles just following Linda’s lead “definitely doesn’t make him equally as bad as her.” What’s the saying about 10 people sitting down with a Nazi means you have 11 Nazis? We haven’t seen any hint (that I recall) that Charles even disagrees with Linda’s choices.

      I actually kinda give Linda more credit; at least she’s active. Let’s not pretend we didn’t enjoy her aiming her vitriol at Joyce’s mom.

      1. Dante

        Ah yeah, that was like– I’m not even from the USA and I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs DeSantis debacle. I know it’s unrealistic but oh god, both of them killing each other would be awesome.

        1. Clif

          Sorry. Disney is already dead.

        2. Kirt Dankmyer

          Undead. Undead.

        3. Dante

          Always double-tap (?)

    2. Thomas

      Charles shows warmth to Sal that’s absent in Linda’s approach. He’s happy to see her. The hair comment had problematic implications, but he *did* say she was pretty.

  26. UrsulaDavina

    I just realized that Carol and Linda are on the same campus maybe they’ll run into eachother and in the ensuing fight destroy eachother thus freeing Sal and Walky from this whole mess.

    1. Vanessa

      Lol fingers crossed! Although we were saved a scene at the restaurant since she’s given all of her money to the church and is probably begging on the street now.

      1. UrsulaDavina

        Also maybe Hank and Charles become best friends? I mean I don’t know much about Charles other then he looks up stuff on his phone.

        1. Dante

          [HomerCrossingFingers.gif] Gay gay gay gay gay gay

        2. UrsulaDavina

          Also a welcomed scenario!

        3. Raen

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6oYHRfMJTo

    2. BBCC

      I can dream.

    3. Mark

      Every time you say “destroy each other” I think “two photons zip away” even though it doesn’t make a lot of sense in this context.

    4. Pergola

      They will become besties and conspire to entangle the comic in something far nastier than we have seen thus far. Because Willis.

  27. C.T. Phipps

    My summary of Charles is he assumes his wife can’t be racist because she married him.

    1. Yotomoe

      To be fair I’d find it hard to believe someone was racist against me that allowed me to have sex with them at least twice.

      1. Proxiehunter

        I mean, it only takes the one time to make twins like Sal and Walky.

        1. milu

          in fact, they could even be from two different fathers!

          …which is pretty much o/t but aren’t you glad to know that somehow???

    2. Needfuldoer

      I think he’s the self-appointed Chief Boat-Steadier of the household. He’ll placate Linda to keep the peace, even at the expense of others or himself.

      1. Mark

        Seconded.

  28. HueSatLight

    I hope Lucy asked where she’d rank because she’s trying to figure out how Linda and Charles are effed up, but I’m afraid she just wants to be ranked well.

    1. Aslan

      It comes off as very weird to me that her response to hearing about this effed up family dynamic is to immediately make it about herself, especially when Sal is part of the conversation. Her fixation on popularity is worrying

      1. Aslan

        Looking at it again, it’s possible she’s picking up on the racism of it all and that Jen’s just hammering the point home

      2. thejeff

        If she’s not up on all the details of how Jennifer fits in, then Jennifer fitting herself in the Walkerton family rankings makes it more reasonable to ask how she’d fit in as well.

    2. J.Gawain

      She absolutely wants to be ranked well.

  29. Kirtro

    It’s okay, Jennifer, you’re dead last in mine and so many other’s rankings

    inb4 the replies:
    I really don’t care if she is right about this or not.

    I’m getting COLOSSALLY sick of her shit.

    1. Sporky

      I mean I’m pretty sure her intent here isn’t to put down Lucy (as uncharacteristic as that might seem). I’m pretty sure she’s just calling Walky’s parents racist

      1. Nono

        She’s definitely come a long way from ‘mediative neutral’ on the ‘yeah they’re racist’ stance from Freshmen Family Weekend.

        1. Aslan

          Has she ever been that? From what I remember of the old strips, I feel like she always took Sal’s side when it came to the walkerparents’ racism

    2. BarerMender

      I like Jennifer. I cut her a lot of slack, because her whole understanding of herself has crumbled to sand and she doesn’t know what to do. On top of that, her history as an emotionally abandoned child has given her a ton of bad coping strategies and a superiority complex. Yeah, she can be a huge asshole, but that’s not all she is.

      1. Pergola

        You left out the wonderboobs.

        1. BarerMender

          I thought the boobs were obvious. (Hehe. I crack myself up.)

    3. DailyBrad

      This has entered “bongo eating crackers” territory, honestly. She’s not even really doing anything here, like this is all stuff she has said before to the twins, something neither of them really disputes at this point, either. She had Sal’s back on the Walkertons’ favoritism and racial bias, and she had Walky’s back when he needed someone to talk to Linda because he knew Billie/Jennifer was the favorite.

      Even with Lucy, it’s more a slam at the Walkertons than her, whether Lucy’s savvy to that or not. She’s not an especially nice person, sure, but she’s not really saying or doing anything here that’s even all that mean.

    4. Taffy

      I’m also sick of Billie saying things that aren’t wrong or offensive in any way. How absolutely dare she.

      1. milu

        she’s the baaaad guy. DUH!

      2. Pergola

        also wonderboobs.

    5. Em

      Wait, Mary ranks higher than Billie/Jennifer at this point for people? Mary?

      Oof.

      1. Taffy

        Mary’s just a bigot who openly and actively attempts to cause harm to vulnerable people. Billie acknowledged preferential treatment from parents, which is worse.

    6. Joy

      :/

    7. BOOSTER SHOT

      Some people just can’t stand it when women say uncomfortable truths, I guess

      1. Taffy

        Some people can’t stand it when women.

      2. Pergola

        wonderboobs

  30. DarkoNeko

    Jennie sure think highly of herself, as usual.

    1. Daibhid C

      Jennifer is a peculiar and volitile mix of self-regard and self-loathing, and I’m pretty sure “loved by racists” is the second one.

      1. DailyBrad

        Yeah, she doesn’t actually LIKE being Linda’s favorite, she just knows she basically is.

        I honestly kind of wonder sometimes if Linda anticipates/anticipated that David and Jennifer would be a thing eventually, something she’d probably be more than happy with given her affluence. Obviously, it didn’t quite work out like that, though, even if there have been signs of feelings on Jennifer’s part that are less familial than Walky’s.

        1. Miri

          I think she liked being the favourite until she was made to think about why she was the favourite, how long Sal was most definitely NOT the favourite for, and had to conclude she was the favourite coz she was the “whitest” rather than because she was so awesome their parents just liked her more than their own kids.

        2. Needfuldoer

          She’s well aware of the situation.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/ginger/

        3. Miri

          Yeah, but before the conversations that she had shortly before Carla wanted cookies, I’m not sure she’d consciously processed why it was she was golden girl.

        4. BBCC

          She might have known before, but once she said it out loud it irrevocably changed things for her.

        5. thejeff

          Yeah, it’s not clear exactly when she consciously realized how messed up all that was. Early on as a little kid I’m sure it was just her being desperate for a facsimile of the parental affection she wasn’t getting from her parents. Sometime after meeting Sal again in college, we know she was aware and cynical about it. Even when it’s first brought up between Sal and Walky, she seems to have an idea.

          Now I’m kind of wondering how that family relationship went in high school – when Sal was banished to boarding school and Jennifer was stuffing Walky into lockers at school – was she still spending time with Walkertons?

        6. BBCC

          Seems like it. She told Walky she sometimes accidentally called the Walkertons ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. And if her parents are away so often, they might have been authorized by her parents to pick her up from school if she’s sick or whatever (though that could also have been Nina’s job).

        7. thejeff

          Yeah, it just seems like that would fit better earlier, when she was younger and still hanging out with Walky a lot.

          Keeping that close relationship with the parents while not wanting to associate with him seems weird to me.

      2. Raen

        Honestly, I think she thinks that Linda is in a Kantian mold of “yellow better” – and I’m not sure she’s wrong.

        1. Raen

          …even though those who’ve read Kant know what I was referring to, I shouldn’t have used the word “yellow” in this context.

        2. Mark

          Oh, great, something else for my “to be read” pile.

        3. milu

          “Immanuel Konga”

      3. Joy

        I think that she fundamentally likes herself but has had to deal with a lot of neglect from her parents and abuse within her relationships. She’s also been exposed to a lot of traumatic stuff during her time as head cheerleader. She’s been stereotyped a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had experienced sexual assault in high school. She has to deal with casual racism and misogyny all the time.

        We’ve seen her at the start of the semester— things had been going relatively well for her. Not long after that we see what happens when Ruth is inserted back into her life. Ruth abused Jennifer. We should be able to just acknowledge that. (I view Ruth as redeemable, I can see that she has good qualities, and also, redemption is meaningless if only people who had already been good get to have it.)

    2. Clif

      This is one of those other-people-are-reading-a-different-comic-than-I-am strips.

      1. milu

        aka “wednesday”.

  31. BBCC

    Honestly, despite my comment above, I really don’t think it matters whether or not Sal gets a higher ‘ranking’. She’s smart enough to know that, to quote this series’ theme song, if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost.

    1. Miri

      That’s not love. That’s nothing like love. That’s wanting animatronic puppets you can program to perform to your specifications, and punish should you mess up your coding. It’s control and manipulation, and dehumanising and…

      1. BBCC

        No arguments here. But I saw my chance to reference the strip’s theme song and I took it.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Sal’s relationship with Linda is more like That Ain’t Love by REO Speedwagon.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4BczPw1Mk

  32. AGV

    Funny thing being that Jennifer is absolutely right

    1. Throwatron

      yeah girl can’t just come out here and say what we all know is true =(

  33. fireprincesslily

    Some people really missed Jennifer’s point. It wasn’t that she’s so much better than Walky or Sal. It’s that Linda is a god damn racist and will not approve of Lucy who is darker than both Walk and Sal.

    Like I understand some people have a hate boner for her current behavior throughout the comic recently. THis is not one of those times.

    1. Daibhid C

      Yes, some people did miss Jennifer’s point. And those people have a far clearer idea of what Linda is like than Lucy does. I would be very surprised if Lucy got “It’s not you, it’s them” from what Jennifer said.

      1. Clif

        She just might pick it up from the fact that Walky and Sal are not disagreeing.

        1. Miri

          Or ask the twins for clarification if she’s unsure?

    2. AlaninDC

      >> Linda is a god damn racist <<

      Yet with a black husband?

      1. Taffy

        New to Earth?

        1. milu

          not new to being incredibly wrong, i believe ¬_¬

    3. DarkoNeko

      …we know. We really do.

  34. Nono

    …If Linda and Charles like Jennifer so much, why haven’t they asked her to lunch? Or contacted her in any way?

    1. DailyBrad

      We don’t know that they haven’t, honestly. We know they didn’t write Sal, but we don’t know that they didn’t write Jennifer, or see her since they are physically on-campus.

    2. Seregiel

      Actually good point. They only introduced Dorothy and Walky to the dean… wait…. had Walky gone up in rank because white girlfriend?…

  35. Rectilinear Propagation

    Oh, is Lucy actually going to get a head’s up before they meet up? At least she won’t get blindsided by it then.

    1. Needfuldoer

      You’re looking at it.

      Maybe they’ll clarify or elaborate tomorrow, but Jennifer’s closer to saying it today than they are.

  36. Proxiehunter

    Partially related I’m trying to remember the wording Sal used. I think it might have been “you came out WHITER”. Considering that they seem to have the same skin tone in the art and that her mother expects Sal to straighten her hair but doesn’t expect the same of Walky the issue Linda has with Sal may be less about skin tone than about Sal’s HAIR not passing for a white person’s hair.

    There’s lots of issues surrounding Black hair and white racists being assholes about it.

    1. vulcanodon

      My public school education did not tell me that there’s a long history in black hair as justification for prejudice.(Back to the 1600’s at least.) Nor did multiple history classes in college. Only found out reading on my own as adult. I feel like it’s important information since kids get punished in school for having black hair, and it is often a basis for job discrimination.

  37. Taffy

    Time to pretend I’ve never read a single page of the comic or retained any information on it despite commenting daily. Is Billie Linda’s biological daughter? That’s the only possible way the “golden child” comment makes sense. Also is Lucy Charles’s daughter from a prior marriage? Her being included in a “favorite kids” ranking doesn’t make sense otherwise. How do any of these characters relate to each other?

    1. Miri

      My eldest is into the Horrid Henrybooks/audiobooks/cartoons and I was getting upset about the parenting in them yet again the other day. The husband told her it hits too close to home for me so she asked who my parents’ favourite was. He told her hands down, very obviously, no effort whatsoever made to hide it, me. I said I think he’s overtaken me now. He said he thinks I’m still my mum’s favourite just about, but yeah, maybe my dad likes him more now. (We’re definitely their top two favourites though…)

      She asked if that wasn’t a bit terrible for my brother and sister. Yes, yes it is…

      I did explain that they didn’t assume I was completely incapable of doing any bad or that my siblings were completely incapable of doing any good. But yeah… I was the “good” one, my bro the “bad” one and my sister the “baby”.

      But joke’s on them coz my brother is a university professor now… I only got a BSc (and work full time with a job I enjoy that pays enough for financial stability)… We’re both successful home-owning parents in long-term stable, happy relationships! Sister slower to launch but also registered disabled… Also has a Master’s, mind, but struggling with juggling getting a career started and health, and her love life isn’t going amazingly. But yeah, I am the least qualified, academically.

      1. Taffy

        Who’s got the money to start a career, these days? I’ve made about $400 in the past 2 years, if we include tax returns.

    2. Emperor Norton II

      The comment field today reminds me of the people being mad at Dorothy for saying “I understand people” to Sarah; when it was just a few strips ago that it was Sarah who made clear that she regards autists as not capable of understanding people, and that this is why she thinks Dorothy is also autistic.

      Memories like a golden retriever*.

      *Most people would say “goldfish”, but research has indicated that they have pretty descent memory. Dogs, on the other hand, do not. Which is why you must correct them (not punish them) immediately when they do something wrong.

      1. Taffy

        You’re not supposed to tell dog owners that their pets don’t have human brains.

    3. Aslan

      B’Jennifer is Walky’s psychic clone baby from the future and Charles constructed Lucy from clay. The only reason they’re ranking each other is for the talent show at the end of the semester.

      1. Taffy

        Another fucking talent show? There was already one in book 4, do we really need two of them?

        1. Aslan

          College student activity committees are woefully uncreative when it comes to coming up with new events?

  38. Sombrero

    Thank god Lucy has her roommate to properly brief her.

  39. Archieve

    Jennifer may not be wrong but I do agree there is some superiority thrown in there and given her conflicting feeling for Walky, there maybe a subconscious attempt to remind herself that Walky is like a siblings to her.

  40. Doc Harleen

    I don’t think Jennifer is bragging or being conceited here, I think she’s just being real about what this family is like. I’m more yikes at Lucy for being like “aw yay golden child how cute” and then hearing what Sal goes through and immediately asking about herself. Have a little tact, babe.

  41. Yeet

    Not sure Walky could get dragged to third unless Linda really likes the idea of Sal getting into roller derby as a hobby and going into music as a career tbh.
    Also not sure that Billie is being mean here guys? She’s telling a truth someone imminently needs to know and she looks kind of mad/upset so it’s not, like, some kind of “casual go fuck yourself” deal.

    1. Proxiehunter

      What Linda likes is that she’s dating a nice white boy who will give her grand babies who look whiter than Sal does.

      Meanwhile Walky is dating a black girl who will give her grand babies who look less white.

      1. Yeet

        I forgot about danny tbh, that’s a good point
        I don’t think linda knows about danny though, unless I missed something (which is indeed very possible)

      2. Pergola

        Um, heritance of skin color is way complicated. But you are right about the way Linda’s mind works.

  42. Aslan

    I’m torn on Jennifer’s meaning in the last panel. I do think it’s true that she’s making a comment about the Walkerparents’ racism, but I do think it’s also just a dig at Lucy. It seems a little too pointed, and Jennifer definitely knows that racism isn’t so simple that Lucy’s darker complexion is immediately going to put her in last place, even considering the colorism of it all.

    1. Sombrero

      What Jennifer is implying here is that Lucy will make the Walkertons aware of Walky’s skin color and trash their expectations that he will climb up socially through relationships with white women. Trashing the expectations of parents is a serious offence, worst than being a daughter with the wrong skin color.

      1. Buli-Buli

        Jennifer is the Walkerton’s favorite because she is their wealthy, white-passimg surrogate daughter.
        Walky is the second favorite because he is the son with naturally wavy hair who befriends wealthy, white-passing girls and responds positively to positive reinforcement and affection.
        Sal is the distant third because she is the curly-haied daughter who befriends poor, Latinas with physical disabilities and responds negatively to negative reinforcement and lack of affection.

        Walky is about to lose status because he is mo longer beasties with Billie and is dating a non-wealthy black girl.

  43. Username Taken

    I get a kick out of some of the comments saying “Billie is being too brutally honest and blunt here, it’s so unacceptable.” If anything she’s not being brutally honest enough: Just warn Lucy that the Walkertons are racist. Nobody wants to get blindsided by that when meeting their partner’s parents.

    1. Taffy

      Honestly, it’s like they’re going out of their way to not tell her outright.

    2. smolgrlboi

      yeah or the ones saying “I don’t think the Walkertons are THAT blatantly racist” and it’s like…. yes I’m sorry it’s very possible that they will be and don’t realize it.

  44. Rogue 7

    I think Billie should be wrong here. Boiling the Walkertons’ racism down to skin color does a poor job of showing how insidious and harmful their kind of racism can be.

    People like that don’t think of themselves as racist, and are generally aware enough to know that racism is bad. So they generally do try not to judge based on their skin color- they’re the kind of person who will unironically say “I don’t *see* race”.

    A lot of folks will say that Linda favored Walky because Sal was born with “blacker hair”, and that’s partially true- Linda gave Walky certain opportunities because he looked whiter (and tbh all we saw was the acting, that’s…not quite enough evidence)- but I think the true favoritism started when Walky *acted* “whiter” than Sal. There’s an element of sexism in play here as well- Sal has always been an independent thrill-seeker. Linda very well might resent Sal for not being her “gal pal” and being someone she can “go shopping with”.*

    The Walkertons are the sort of people who think that rap music is more misogynistic and violent than other genres. They would undoubtedly complain loud and long about young black men wearing their pants low. They’d condemn Black Lives Matter protests for being “violent” regardless of their actual actions and sweep the actions of the cops under the rug (ACAB). They would condemn Black people as “lazy”, and cross the street when they see a group of black teens walking down the street.

    But I bet they loved Bill Cosby. I bet they laughed along to Chris Rock’s routine and thought about how true it was (you know the routine I mean. The one he had to disown because of people like Linda.) I’m confident they voted for Obama. If a black man dresses up in a suit and tie and shows no sign of his heritage, he’s OK in their book. I think people call it “respectability politics”- minorities are OK as long as they act like perfect white people.

    And Lucy kind of checks that box in the same way Walky does. She’s a nerd who loves cartoons and is super-sheltered. I can see Linda not wanting Walky in a relationship with Lucy (for reasons she “just can’t put her finger on”), but I can’t see this dragging him down so that he’s less favored than Sal.

    The reason I’m harping on about this is because Respectability Politics, as I believe it’s known, is a lot harder to fight against than racism classic. It’s easy to say “skin color doesn’t matter”, but it’s a lot harder to tell someone that disliking rap music is racist when, in their mind, they have “valid” reasons for disliking it.

    * My mom has openly expressed disappointment that she had 3 boys and 2 nephews such that she has no children she can share her passions with- none of us ended up liking much “girly” stuff so to speak. In her case, she’s not an asshole, so it doesn’t mean she treated us poorly or loved us any less. I’ve mentioned it before, but in many ways I see a lot of my mom in Linda, in that they have a lot of similar qualities, but my mom isn’t a total ****.

    1. Taffy

      Billie isn’t the one boiling it down to skin color, today. That’s the comments. All she’s doing is reminding Walky that he’s not even his own parents’ favorite kid.

      1. Rogue 7

        I think she kind of is with her last comment. Lucy is a sweet, wonderful person who likes cartoons and tries to think the best of everyone. In terms of “respectability politics”, as I posted above, she’s a “model minority”. If the Walkertons hate her to the extent that it destroys their opinion of Walky, to me that would show that they’re judging her based on what she looks like and nothing else.

        To be clear- I don’t think the Walkertons should have to love Lucy in order for this to be well-written. I would fully expect them to make a lot of unflattering comparisons to Dorothy- heck, maybe Linda runs into Dorothy and encourages her to get back together with Walky. I would expect them to be condescending as hell, especially if we find out Lucy’s from a lower economic tier. Or maybe they don’t want Lucy to encourage what they see as Walky’s “immaturity” in his love of cartoons (something they’d be willing to overlook in Dorothy because she’s white). Stuff like that.

        But if they start to favor Sal over Walky because of the skin color of who they’re dating, I think that’s poor writing for a variety of reasons.
        1. It’s a lot harder for Walky to justify missing that his parents are out-and-out anti-black people rather than racist in their expectations of behavior.
        2. It flies in the face of, to be honest, their marriage. Linda was obviously able to overlook Charles’s skin color to marry him. Everything we’ve seen of Charles indicates that he’s an inoffensive milquetoast guy- exactly the sort of black person “respectability politics” insists is the only good one. But so is Lucy, you know?
        3. Again, it’s a missed opportunity to show how racism is a whole lot more than just “what skin color does someone have?”
        4. Their *behavior* hasn’t changed much. Sal’s still a rebel who smokes and rides a motorcycle, Walky is still a slacker geek. The pattern that caused the Walkertons to abuse their kids the way they did hasn’t gone away.

        1. thejeff

          I think this is a good analysis. They’ll likely see Lucy as a drag on Walky, but not enough to lower him to Sal’s level.

        2. Sombrero

          Expectation of behavior includes “date someone that is above you to climb up” (as your father did).

        3. Rogue 7

          Sure, but there’s a league of difference between thinking Lucy isn’t good enough for what they expect out of Walky and deciding that it means Walky is suddenly less favored than Sal.

        4. Sombrero

          Hell hath no fury like a mom scorned.

        5. BOOSTER SHOT

          All of your analysis kind of relies on thinking that white people are aware when they are racist. Which is very strange. And also that you are expecting someone middle-aged to have the same brain and below-the-surface heuristics running as they did 20+ years ago. Which is, uh, not how anything works.

          If the Walkertons do judge a Black man if he isn’t wearing symbols of white capitalist culture, they aren’t actually judging his clothes – *they are judging “what skin color does someone have*, and using whatever signifier is handy to justify it. I’m sorry, but colorism *is* “what skin color does someone have”, and since the concept of the Walkerton’s racism has been introduced, the focus has been very clearly on colorism. Maybe, uh, it would be helpful to consider that Billie, while bad at executing, is a keen observer of these dynamics, is clearly favored by the Walkertons, has lighter skin than the twins, Sal agrees with her, and one of Walky’s main traits is not noticing these things (but admirably flailing and trying to do something when it does sink in).

          …wasn’t there an entire cute arc explicitly about how Sal doesn’t ride a motorcycle anymore?

        6. Rogue 7

          I’m sorry, I really don’t see how my analysis relies on that at all. The Walkertons are completely unaware of their racism. They don’t see how the expectation that everyone act like a respectable white person is racist- they see it as “applying the same standard to everyone” or something like that.

          What I’m saying is that I think that if it is colorism that’s going on here, I think that’s a mistake on the part of the writer. Colorism is the kind of racism we teach elementary school students is bad. It’s a simple idea with simple parameters, and so it’s very easy to create a narrative around.

          But I don’t think it’s the kind of racism that people like the Walkertons express most often.

          For context- I’m a white man who grew up in a very white and well-off suburb where my parents still live and I visit regularly. I’m currently employed as an ESL teacher in Newark, New Jersey- we have very few if any white students and I’m currently the only white man working here full-time. I’m reasonably confident that my views here are not coming from a place of ignorance.*

          My experience is that the kind of white folks I’ve always thought of Linda as and Charles an honorary member of genuinely don’t express their racism through colorism. There’s 2 reasons for that- one is that as I said, colorism is the form of racism it’s easy to craft a narrative against and so it’s the one that’s easiest to condemn, and the other is, quite frankly, the old racist “one-drop rule”- where here in the USA, any amount of black ancestry was seen as enough to discriminate against someone. There’s also that a lot of the very dark-skinned folks you get around here are African immigrants, many of whom fall into “model minority” status for various reasons.

          Maybe things are different in Indiana, but here in New Jersey it’s my experience that white folks are far more concerned with the cultural & behavioral signifiers of Black America than they are the exact shade of someone’s skin. Any POC, regardless of their skintone, is going to be judged based on how “white” they act.

          *And before anyone brings it up- no, I don’t know what anti-black discrimination feels like. I’m not claiming that I do. But I like to think that I’ve become well aware of what racism from a white community that thinks itself tolerant looks like.

        7. milu

          Colorism is the kind of racism we teach elementary school students is bad.

          That word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

        8. BBCC

          You’re understating what colourism is. It can also feed into what you say – like being stricter with those standards you might let slide with a white or lighter skinned person.

          Booster shot – there was – Linda asked the Dean to let Sal have her motorcycle on campus and then threw it in her face in an argument over break, so that combined with upkeep had Sal put it away. She doesn’t want her mom to have ammunition. And while I do think you’re right that colourism plays a part in their racism, and that they’re not ACTUALLY judging the behaviour, but I’ll point out Sal and Walky have the same skin tone so those standards ALSO impact how they treat Black people.

        9. Seregiel

          I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding on how colorism can present here. Even in families of African Americans/Puerto Ricans/Mexicans/Malaysians where both sides are 100% (limits of my personal encounters and experiences, but I know there are similarities in other cultures) being physically whiter can automatically confer better status even if it is unconsciously given due to prevailing cultural attitudes.

          Also, it is easier to hide stereotypical colorism due to the fact you can just… not vocalize it, while knee-jerk reactions to culture are extreme enough to warrant notice. You’re noticing the lady who is openly disgusted, not the one who knows they will have censure for it and therefore reigns it in.

        10. Seregiel

          Oh heck no, Robin.

  45. Joy

    To anyone who needs to read this: Jennifer isn’t being mean. She’s being honest. White passing people have to deal with white people who make every racist comment under the sun but only when other white people are around. She’s probably heard racial slurs out of Linda’s mouth.

    1. Proxiehunter

      I slightly disagree. I’m sure she’s heard a shit ton of racially charged micro-aggressions but I would put money on Linda not using racial slurs because that helps her delude herself into thinking she’s not racist.

      She wouldn’t use the N word because that would be racist but she’ll say out loud that the “urban” fashion someone is wearing makes him “look like a thug” and make sure that all her car doors are locked and windows rolled up when driving through a primarily black neighborhood.

  46. smolgrlboi

    everyone seems pretty upset that jennifer didn’t sugar coat the walkerton’s racism.

  47. hatman

    Is Jennifer being an asshat here? Yes. Is she also correct? Yes. Like, she’s not warning Lucy that the Walkertons (Linda, specially) are racist – None of that is being said in this comic at all. The implications of it (because we’ve actually seen it, as the audience) are known to us and the other three, but nobody explicitly says to Lucy “Yeah, Walky’s mom’ll hate you because you’re not like her husband.

    And considering who Lucy is, that might need spelling out for her because she might just think that their parents like Jennifer and Walky more than Sal for non-racist reasons. So I dunno how altruistic Jennifer is being here. I just think it’s not malicious except towards the Walkerton parents, that’s deservedly malicious.

    1. Archieve

      Good point, Jennifer telling Lucy Walky will lose staus because he’s dating her without explaining why is a jerk move because of Lucy’s tendency to blame herself when people don’t like her.

  48. RoyanRannedos

    It’s a sad life for people who don’t believe a mocha child can be a golden child.

  49. HueSatLight

    I don’t have much to add that hasn’t already been said, to the colorism/racism and “Jennifer should be more delicate with the person who watches her sleep” discussions.
    So instead, I wonder what’s keeping Becky?
    https://www.dumbingofage.com/contacts/
    https://www.dumbingofage.com/prettyday/

    1. HueSatLight

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/shallowgrave/
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/hurghl/
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/semi/

  50. CrazyJ

    I’m going to have to agree with Sal here that she is fourth right now. Otherwise Sal would have been invited to lunch and Lucy wouldn’t have.

  51. Alex

    I mean, it comes across like Jennifer hating Lucy. But I don’t think that’s more than 5%.

    Man, the parents in this group are fucked up.

  52. RedComet

    Pretty rude, Lucy.

    Not that Sal was polite to her.

  53. Juanoku

    Wow Billie fucking sucks
    I get why sal is upset, we’ve seen her be angry at their parents all the time
    Billie is just being an asshole for literally no reason. Fuck her

    1. Aubrey

      I get the impression that it might be more of a comment on Walky and Sal’s mom’s racism. It’s not so much that Lucy sucks so much that she’ll drag Walky down by association, it’s the fact that Walky’s dating a black woman and that will ruin his “golden child” status in the eyes of his mother. I could be wrong though.

  54. Raen

    Hold up. This whole arc has been named after two unexpectedly cool parents, and seems to be focused on two extremely uncool parents… and the two unexpectedly cool parents end up being caught in flagrante delicto… you don’t think…?!

    1. Taffy

      Carol and Linda are gonna fuck.

      1. NGPZ

        Ideally yes. More likely they gonna conspire to fuck somebody up DX

  55. John

    Ugg, Jennifer seems to be becoming more and more of an asshole every day, huh?

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