Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 3611 to 3615 (13th to 17th November 2017)
Perfectly Reasonable:
--- Quote from: mikmaxs on 15 Nov 2017, 20:24 ---...
Jeph kinda just sucks at introducing new characters in a way that makes them likeable. It's not one of his strengths.
--- End quote ---
I suspect a daring researcher could find this somewhere in TVtropes.
Introduce the new character in a way that makes them look like an enemy, but actually it turns out they are a new ally.
I firmly believe Taffie will make herself indispensable.
brasca:
--- Quote from: Storel on 15 Nov 2017, 21:44 ---Yeah, it's like she's channeling Faye or something...
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Well somebody had to. Even if Coffee of Doom is more positive since Faye left you still need someone most likely to commit homicide. Penelope might, but Cossette would be more likely to die in the process. Emily and Dale are too mellow and while Hannelore has enough of her mother within her she can't handle the sight of her blood much someone else which you'd think Dora would remember.
OldGoat:
--- Quote from: Tova on 15 Nov 2017, 19:26 ---It's almost as though this is one of those situations where neither of them is one hundred percent in the right.
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I can't put any of it on Hannelore. She owes Tiffy no debt of courtesy. Tully's like a telemarketer who won't stop calling or a peddler who won't take his foot out of your door. She has far more coming than a mangled name.
Imagine what Faye would do to her if Bubbles didn't intervene?
Bubbles to Tizzy while holding Faye back: "Run, you fool! Run for your life!"
DesiArxxy:
If you think about it, deploying Taffy is a pretty ingenious plot by Beatrice. Either Hannelore is forced to kick a puppy (which makes her more like Beatrice) or Hannelore is forced to accept a "personal assistant" who is actually loyal to Beatrice and will sabotage and manipulate Hannelore every moment of every day from now on.
--- Quote from: brasca on 13 Nov 2017, 21:51 ---
--- Quote from: DesiArxxy on 13 Nov 2017, 14:56 ---Tilly has made it crystal clear that her loyalty is to "what the company told me to do, even when it doesn't make sense and is clearly unethical", which absolutely rules out keeping her. The foremost qualification of a personal assistant is they have to be loyal to the person they're assisting, not third parties.
Hannelore can never, ever, ever trust Tilly. Ever.
--- End quote ---
Fine, Hannelore can't trust Tilly, but if she dismisses her she probably knows what her mother will do next. Regardless of Tilly's fate another PA would be sent so it's better to employ her, but keep her at arm's length.
And there seems to be a lot of snap judgment's of Tilly. She's definitely an abnormal person, but that doesn't mean she's a sociopath. Hannelore and plenty of others in this strip have some psychological problems of varying degree too. Perhaps Beatrice screens prospective assistants for just this kind of behavior.
--- End quote ---
I never argued Taffy is a sociopath; I said she's made it clear where her loyalty lies, and said sense of loyalty is flatly unacceptable for a PA.
--- Quote from: mikmaxs on 15 Nov 2017, 20:24 ---. . . .
Now, Tiffy is following the same pattern, and in fact is acting in almost the exact same way as May - Show up completely unannounced, harass the likeable character, and force them to either deal with a massive inconvenience or put up with an annoying, unhelpful companion for a short period of time. (It's almost uncanny how similar they are, in fact.)
If the pattern holds true, we will soon learn or see something sympathetic or humanizing about the character (The Tilly/Taffy thing comes to mind,) then we'll either learn some kind of Tragic Backstory or else something Tragic But Not Backstory will happen that will make the character really sympathetic and earn them forgiveness for being a pain in the butt earlier, and then they'll settle in to a more regular swing and develop some actual rapport once they start acting outside of the first person they're introduced with and once they're no longer being shoehorned into the interaction with the Likeable Character.
--- End quote ---
It is exceedingly difficult to imagine any plot twist that could make Taffy sympathetic or humanizing, given that she literally demonstrates that she has no respect for boundaries unless backed by force and is, in fact, a terrible PA whose "careful research" has not included the slightest familiarization with what the person she is "assisting" needs or wants. She pretty much openly admits that her actual job is to force Hannelore to become the way her mother wants.
(Note: even if Hannelore doesn't call the police, Taffy is explicitly committing criminal trespass -- and explicitly said, "I will continue criminal trespass unless you call the police to stop me with force.)
BenRG:
Yeah, Jeph does have a habit of finding humorous ways to introduce ideas or character aspects that ought to be horrifying. I mean, has Tilly been an accessory after the fact of murder before or is that just general job training all PAs at ECI get, whether or nor they ever put it into practice?
I'm pretty sure that Hannelore calling her 'Taffy' is supposed to be some kind of running joke in the same vein as Mr Burns seemingly neurological inability to remember Homer Simpson's name. Personally, I still think that it's associative; Hannelore is still thinking of Tilly as Beatrice's drone and so she's using the name Beatrice gave her. I would laugh my butt off if it turned out that everyone does that to the point where her company ID reads 'Taffy'.
Dora is in a very daring mood today, sartorially speaking. Short-cut shirt with an aggressive motto? I'm wondering if something's going on between her and Tai or whether Sven has been inadvertently picking at her insecurities again.
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