Of all the creeps, in all the streets, in all the town, Marten runs across this one. The Makeout Hobo could give better advice.
Oh, come on, .... The Makeout Hobo is the total Creepasaur, his "Advice" self-serving claptrap.
Au contraire, this was another Golden QC Moment! "Serious [Drama] Serious [Character Development] Serious - Boob Joke!"
(Each panel driving up the Serious Itching to see who Marten is spilling his guts to!) Tension release by Sven and Jeph, I'm guessing, with (hopefully) more serious Sven-sharing soon.
Like others, I'm hoping this arc brings us Dora & Sven backstory, maybe like The Talk (though that'd be hard, & unnecessary, to beat.) I've rather liked Dora over these past few years, and feel she's acting out & getting a bad rap right now. Lots of times, she's been the wiser, more mature core character. I 'spect some selected looks back at her & her bro's past might well redeem her, and (by sometime in 2011, RT) she and Marten could be on a more solid foundation.
Self-serving claptrap would probably be better than memory-drooling about Faye's breasts. It may be, of course, that Sven's 'got nuthin' and is trying to be funny, but it's an awful creepy way to go about it, given that Marten, except for one accident, never saw Faye's breasts in the entire time he was mooning after her AND that him wanting to (among other things, in Dora's mind) is the issue at hand.
Besides, I couldn't call Sven a gin joint and expect to be taken seriously. Or however I'm usually taken on here.
Bottom line is, I honestly think there's more to the Sven-Dora dynamic than she wants to admit - and more than Sven probably realizes.
Of course there is, and that last clause is a double mouthful of truth. Bottom line, to me, is this: Sven was never taught how to get along with others. He has a lot of charm, and is rather affable, but the idea that he should at least consider other people's feelings has never really been taught to Sven; hence him being more worried about Dora 'killing him' than that, for her, he'd repeated history. Going to his sister and telling her like an adult what was happening might've done loads to stop Dora's meltdown, but instead Sven chose to hide.
Oh, I know Sven was going to lie to 'protect' Faye after the Riversmith incident, but I suspect that had at least as much to do with protecting himself from a scene.
I rather suspect the Bianchi parents* did Sven a horrible disservice, as do any parents who don't find time to teach their child consideration of others. Such children may be successful, but they've a dismal chance of actually being happy in the long run. Because sooner or later, someone is going to actually matter to them, and they're not going to know how to act to demonstrate that. Which is why Sven acted like a sulky child at the "Hannelore Snow Block Party." I actually give him credit for doing better later when he came to talk to Faye at CoD, but he should've done that much sooner—except it probably didn't occur to him, being a social cripple.
On the flipside, one of the reasons I think Dora is nice to people (and she is, when she's not letting her problem get the better of her) is that she knows what it's like to be on the hammer end of things, and, to her credit, doesn't want to see anyone else there. But she's walking wounded, with the sort of injury that perpetuates itself and grows. Dora needs some professional help to give her the tools she needs to heal that. It'll never be completely gone, most likely, but she can reduce the size—and I think Marten is one of the few people around understanding enough (not a wimp, and I don't think those who keep calling him that know how truly silly they are. Marten is a man, a better one than Steve, and Sven doesn't even come close, although Angus does) to help her through those times. But he's got to know what's going on, and it may be Dora doesn't really, herself. Her initial arguing with Pantless Faye shows that clearly.
On a lighter note, if they could laugh about this later, 'Pantsless' would be a funny nickname for Faye. Pantless Whitaker. Gotta love it.
*Incidentally, I know the 'fun' breed of parent like Mr. Bianchi, if not Mrs., rather well. They tend to want to be
friends with their children
instead of parental figures; this rarely works out well. By contrast, Veronica Reed, even though she was a porn star of sorts, seems to be parent first, then friend, probably more of the later since Marten's become an adult—see the difference between him and Sven?
Edit: Man, wouldja look at that wall?