Someone remind me again why Marten needs therapy because his mom chose a really weird and ineffective way to try to cheer him up? And why Veronica needs her comeuppance from a bunch of kids - none of whom are parents themselves and whose mother she could be - about how she treats her own son?
That doesn't seem...inappropriate to you at all? She didn't beat him in public, she teased him. More than she should have, yes, okay, I can agree with that, but seriously? She's not a child abuser. She didn't beat him in front of the world. She embarrassed her grown son a little in order to shake him out of his funk, however poorly planned it was.
Well, in my opinion, therapy might be a good idea because:
A) He's been in a dangerous place lately and doing some dangerous things. Granted, it hasn't gone on long enough to be a massive worry yet. So just, you know, general breakup angst. He should be able to overcome it, but he may decided he wants / needs help.
(Yes, I'm aware I didn't mention that in my original post)
B) The thing with his mother reprimanding him in public was just... to me it seemed to indicate, for want of a better word, issues. Mother issues. I'm not a psychologist, nor even particularly experienced, but I know that in the relationship I have with my mother, her snapping at me and demanding I apologise to the people around me would not be met with the same instantly cowed and obedient response that Veronica's outburst garnered in Marten.
To be honest, I don't think Marten in therapy is particularly likely, as that would mean 4 characters undergoing psychiatric treatment. It might make things too samey. That said I'm not the writer of this comic. Why then, did I make the "therapy for his mummy issues" comment? It felt like a reasonable way to get across my rather strong aversion to last Friday's comic and what it showed. Perhaps I should try being clearer. I'm new at this whole forum thing.
Okay, now onto the comeuppance thing. Maybe comeuppance is too strong a word. I don't think she deserves to be beaten or run over or any of the other more extreme suggestions. I would, however, quite like to see someone (perhaps Faye, or maybe Hanners) to pull Veronica aside and kindly advise her that her attempts to cheer her son up have thus far been dodgy. The waitress, the photos, the thing with Sven, those are all fairly ok things. Sure, Marten wasn't in the mood for them but they weren't that bad. However, the moment she decided that walking out of a dinner she was having with Marten,
so she could comfort his ex was a good idea, she lost a fair amount of my support. The moment I began to really dislike her, however, was Friday's comic. Personally, I'd be willing to let a few things slide if someone I cared about was down in the dumps. And honestly, even when I read the words with the nastiest tone I can imagine, Marten isn't saying anything too bad. No, it's not constructive. And yes, I'm sure it's not pleasant. But a dressing down as strong as the one she delivered, with the added insult of
making him apologise to his friends, is just unnecessary, and not good parenting, in my opinion.
I'll take this final moment to say that I do not have kids, and am in fact only 15 years old, so can claim no knowledge of what it is like to be a parent, or go through extremely traumatic breakups. All the same, these are my opinions
.
EDIT: Oh and I'd just like to add this: I don't hold with any of the "Veronica is a bad parent / child abuser / emotional torturer" lines of thought. I'm more inclined to agree with whoever it was that suggested that she is, like all of us, fallible, and that she is still learning how to interact with her now adult son.
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Topic: WDCT 10-14 January 2011 (1836-1840) (Read 95187 times)