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Just how many poop 'jokes' can you fit into five strips without it seeming repetitive?

A sequence of five single-panel breakfast dioramas (more cereal for everyone!)

A whole week of Marten, Claire and Faye sitting on the couch and discussing indie music (with bonus Pintsize Hijinx)

Faye and Bubbles talking about nothing in particular whilst fixing Punchbot (again)

Buttrocket makes a spectacular return and several nice men from the NSA are annoyed!

Dora and Tai domesticity including hints about the new library interns

Steve meets up with Emily and Clinton to tell them that he is Emily's government-provided bodyguard

Future!Emily reveals that Sam is the Prophecied Saviour of the World!

Claire and her Woodland Friends debut their new Disney-esque theme song

Jeph does his own 'character profiles' (like the robot guides) for the main cast

Other (specify in post please!)

[sitnspin]

Had Claire told Clinton Emily was there ahead of time, he probably would have chickened out. At least this way the whole thing is resolved, and Clinton can move on to blowing it with some other gal. Or just hanging out alone forever because he's chicken.

So what? That would be his decision, made entirely of his own informed free will. Just because she condescendingly thinks she knows what is best for him. That doesn't give her the right to lie and manipulate him into making the choices she thinks he should make. That is totally disrespectful and dismissive of his agency.

[themacnut]

Edit: Also, he's 21. He's still figuring everything out - he might be a late bloomer, just as his sister. As far as we know, Claire only started dating when she was 24, and that is because Marten made the first move. He is clearly uncomfortable with dating, and he has a lot to learn about himself and others. It's not as if there's no time, or as if he has to date or as if he's going to be "forever alone" if he doesn't ask out a lot of girls. Which is a bad motivation to ask someone out anyway; would you go out with someone who just wants a warm body next to them and fakes interest as a means to an end, if you could actually hang with people who are interested in you as a person?

I agreed with the rest of your post, but had to disagree somewhat with this part. Yes Clinton is young, and yes, he's quite inexperienced in the dating arena; but this is precisely why he needs to get out there and start dating soon as possible. He has many mistakes to get out of the way; choosing the wrong women, saying or doing the wrong things, not saying or doing the right things. These mistakes will likely cost him the woman he makes those mistakes with, just as his hesitancy in asking for the second date cost him Emily.

He might as well get those mistakes out of the way now while he's young, single and has relatively little to lose. Along the way, he'll also need to develop a thick skin for rejection, since that is mainly the man's burden to bear in the dating arena, and someone like Clinton is going to get rejected rather often. Sucks, but that's the way it is since the majority of men are never going to be asked out by a woman, they will always have to do the asking. If Clinton ultimately wants fenale romantic companionship (and his efforts with Emily show that he does), then he's going to have to get out there, start making mistakes, and hopefully learning from them. Romantic companionship seldom falls into a man's lap, especially a man like Clinton.

[hedgie]

He certainly needs some self-confidence, at the very least.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not going ever going to get another date without a strong whisky and ativan.

[themacnut]

Whatever it takes hedgie. But perhaps you should start with just the Ativan?

[mustang6172]

Clinton was always angry before when Claire has meddled. He just didn't say anything because it worked out or he was distracted by something else. This time it didn't and so he finally said what he wanted to say before.


Also, "gendered insults" seriously? As if it matters what "gender" an insult has. This is just getting ridiculous.

Doesn't it make sense a priori that there's something insulting to women in general about, say, calling someone a "cunt"? Isn't that at least plausible? The moderators have heard from women we trust that things like that make them feel less welcome, and inclusiveness is a core value here.

Could a misogynistic hurled at Claire be interpreted as trans accepting?
"Trans Inclusive Misogyny.  From the makers of TERF!"

[Arkantos]

Could a misogynistic hurled at Claire be interpreted as trans accepting?
"Trans Inclusive Misogyny.  From the makers of TERF!"

If you want to, I suppose, but the person using the insult would have to know Claire is trans. Either way, I'd be far more inclined to focus on the misogyny.

[TheEvilDog]

Edit: Also, he's 21. He's still figuring everything out - he might be a late bloomer, just as his sister. As far as we know, Claire only started dating when she was 24, and that is because Marten made the first move. He is clearly uncomfortable with dating, and he has a lot to learn about himself and others. It's not as if there's no time, or as if he has to date or as if he's going to be "forever alone" if he doesn't ask out a lot of girls. Which is a bad motivation to ask someone out anyway; would you go out with someone who just wants a warm body next to them and fakes interest as a means to an end, if you could actually hang with people who are interested in you as a person?

I agreed with the rest of your post, but had to disagree somewhat with this part. Yes Clinton is young, and yes, he's quite inexperienced in the dating arena; but this is precisely why he needs to get out there and start dating soon as possible. He has many mistakes to get out of the way; choosing the wrong women, saying or doing the wrong things, not saying or doing the right things. These mistakes will likely cost him the woman he makes those mistakes with, just as his hesitancy in asking for the second date cost him Emily.

He might as well get those mistakes out of the way now while he's young, single and has relatively little to lose. Along the way, he'll also need to develop a thick skin for rejection, since that is mainly the man's burden to bear in the dating arena, and someone like Clinton is going to get rejected rather often. Sucks, but that's the way it is since the majority of men are never going to be asked out by a woman, they will always have to do the asking. If Clinton ultimately wants fenale romantic companionship (and his efforts with Emily show that he does), then he's going to have to get out there, start making mistakes, and hopefully learning from them. Romantic companionship seldom falls into a man's lap, especially a man like Clinton.

Therein lies the rub; to get to the point where he can roll with the rejection, Clinton still has to get through all that rejection first. Yeah, one day he might be able to say "Well, I tried and it didn't work out, but hey, I tried." But it won't be today or tomorrow because right now it hurts. He's been shot down in a rather painful manner, not by Emily's fault, but by Claire.

Its all well and good to say that one day he's going to have the thick skin, but then again, no one likes getting rejected. No one likes the idea of getting rejected and it takes a very long time for someone to get used to the idea of being rejected. I've been dating half my life and I still don't like getting shot down. But I'm used to it. Clinton isn't, its all still new to him.

Both Clinton and Claire have a lot to learn from this fiasco and who knows, they might come out the better for it, equally likely they might not. Clinton might need to be more assertive and drop the more "creepy" aspects of his personalities, while Claire really does need to learn that there are boundries with people and that she shouldn't cross those particular lines (example, when Faye, quite rightly in my opinion, put Claire in her place by reminding her that she was still relatively new to the group and this hadn't "earned" the right to sass Faye as Marten could).

[Vyse Inglebard]

The kicker with this is that Clinton wants to do this stuff on his own, which is totally within his rights, because only he knows what kind of comfort level he has with the dating scene. Claire does not, and she really had no place to step in and try to push him, even if she's trying to do the 'right thing' and be helpful. You can still be helpful and hurt the people you're trying to help. His anger is justified, even if it's incensed to a level that most would find inappropriate. His comfort has been infringed upon, and he should be allowed to be angry when a person who he trusts set him up through this mess.

Even if he's not going headfirst into things, he's clearly thinking about how he's been going about dating, and that's really cool. It's important. He doesn't have to be elbow deep in dating to learn what he needs to do. He can take things as slow as he needs and wants to if that's what he wants to do.

...I also say this thinking on his lack of self confidence, as he really needs to work on that before dating. People are attracted to those who trust in what they're doing.

So you do you, Clinton, just don't let your anger burn you to ash.

[jheartney]

He might as well get those mistakes out of the way now while he's young, single and has relatively little to lose. Along the way, he'll also need to develop a thick skin for rejection, since that is mainly the man's burden to bear in the dating arena, and someone like Clinton is going to get rejected rather often. Sucks, but that's the way it is since the majority of men are never going to be asked out by a woman, they will always have to do the asking. If Clinton ultimately wants fenale romantic companionship (and his efforts with Emily show that he does), then he's going to have to get out there, start making mistakes, and hopefully learning from them. Romantic companionship seldom falls into a man's lap, especially a man like Clinton.

This is exactly right. Which is why I think Claire did him a favor. She pushed him out of his holding pattern and made him either move ahead with Emily or let it die.

Some of you castigated me for being unable to empathize with Clinton. Hardly. I know exactly what's going on there; in his mind, the Emily thing was still a possibility, so he'd hang on to that despite the fact that he'd already allowed it to shrivel and die by not pursuing it. With that excuse, he'd let himself not bother to pursue anyone else, because he'd already (sort of) got something started with Emily. I know how the extreme introvert mind works - he'd use this faint possibility to excuse himself from trying anything else. Plus, as you pointed out, being rejected is part of the game. It's no worse for Clinton now than later, so he may as well get his first rejection out of the way now.

[sitnspin]

You're missing the point. It wasn't her call to make. Manipulating others, even for their supposed benefit, is fucked up. She had no right to do that.

[Magniras]

Wingmanning 101: Make sure the other party wants a wingman before you cut in on the Foxtrot.

[creatureshock]

Maybe, just maybe, both Emily and Clinton have a lot of shit going on in their lives and a second date just wasn't in the picture?

Maybe, just maybe, Claire really is an asshole for forcing the issue that really wasn't an issue to begin with.

Maybe, just maybe, when you are in your early 20s and you don't know shit about shit you need to mind your own shit.

Maybe.

[rbrim08]

I think Clinton's overreacting. His sister was just trying to set him up to ASK for a second date.
She didn't set him up WITH a date and Emily turned him down when she found out it was him.
And Clinton was the one that went along with it, in the end, he didn't HAVE to ask her out again.
And Emily didn't REJECT him, she just said she doesn't have the time to date at the moment.
All in all... yeah, Claire probably shouldn't have done that without at least one of their knowledge of it.
But Clinton didn't have to attack her so much and tell her to fuck off like he did. That's way overboard.

[skarnet]

I liked this comic, a lot, for a simple reason: it shows an assertive, confident side of Clinton, that makes me think he's definitely on the right path - even if it manifests through anger.
Previously, Clinton was either the gushing Hannelore fanboy, or the immature guy ready to do anything to impress a woman (the haircut / power plug tatoo comic was both hilarious and sad at the same time). We've rarely seen him stand up for himself and take control of his own life.
Here, it's exactly what he does. He's calling his sister on her bullshit; he's demanding respect, maybe for the first time; he defines what is acceptable to him and what isn't. And that's wonderful - that's so much more mature than the Clinton we know. He's growing, he's definitely growing and learning; and even though things are not working out with Emily, he'll overcome it, and have more success in the future.

 As for Claire, I'm not worried about her. She'll have a good cry in Marten's arms, and be fine. And I'm pretty sure that Marten, while laughing about the situation, will confirm - in a nice, gentle way - that what she did was not okay, and she'll think about it, and will eventually grow as a person too. Everybody grows!

 The kicker is that I'm certain that Emily meant exactly what she said by "I just don't have time for dates", and that it wasn't a rejection aimed at Clinton particularly. It makes perfect sense in Emily-logic!

[Vyse Inglebard]

And Clinton was the one that went along with it, in the end, he didn't HAVE to ask her out again.

We've all learned that Clinton is very easily coerced into things. During the date, he did whatever he felt would impress Emily (the haircut, the tattoo, etc.), but that was something he took responsibility for himself for because he knew that was something he could have said no to. He wasn't being coerced into doing those things; Emily just said "hey, that's cool" or, "you'd look good with that hairstyle".

This is different, however. Clinton was put into a position where he felt like he HAD to do this because he was being put on the spot. It's a very natural and common thing for people to just go through with it, or else they'd feel humiliated. Knowing how Claire treats her brother, it wouldn't be surprising if she picked on him for backing out on something he wasn't put up to. No, he didn't have to, but he felt like he wasn't being given a choice by making this a public thing, and further by announcing it in front of Emily.

[danuis]

(Also, "asshole"? I've never heard guys use that against girls--is Clinton misgendering her?)

he's not  Mary

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

[Timemaster]

Comic!

Marty, to the rescue. 
In his owh, gentle way he tells Claire what we´ve all thought yesterday: that Clinton is basically right here. But Her reaction when he takes his side shows that it hasn´t completely sunk in to her yet.
But I´m sure, she´ll manage and she´ll be able to apologize to her brother soon.

TM

[BenRG]

Well, it looks like skarnet called it! In fact, they called it with such accuracy that I'm wondering if they're actually Jeph l

This comic, by the way, is proof of how strong Marten and Claire's relationship is now. Not that she went to him for comfort but that, when he criticised her (it was kindly but it was still a very blunt criticism), she didn't pull away but instead went back to the hug. She trusts Marten enough to believe that it was to help, not a personal attack on her. IMO, that's a good sign of a very healthy relationship.

[DSL]

It's almost like Jeph looks in on the forum for pointers on how not to have characters respond.

[Tova]

Marten is leveling his Diplomacy skill.

[K1dmor]

 "I don't even like romantic comedies."
 Are you sure Claire?

[USS Martenclaire]

My final thought on this was that at the very beginning Clin-ton very specifically *did* ask for outside input on his dating life: "I'll let you date my sister if you help set me up with someone" (paraphrased but that was essentially the gist of it). But I do also agree that Claire was being at least a little interfering.

[mikmaxs]

My final thought on this was that at the very beginning Clin-ton very specifically *did* ask for outside input on his dating life: "I'll let you date my sister if you help set me up with someone" (paraphrased but that was essentially the gist of it). But I do also agree that Claire was being at least a little interfering.

And they *did* help set him up with Claire. What he didn't ask for help with was continuing the relationship without his knowledge, desire, or consent. If you ask for my help moving to a new house, you're still going to be understandably pissed off if I show up a month later and start rearranging your furniture.

[neurocase]

I sincerely hope that all the people who seemed to be trying their best yesterday to paint Claire as a manipulative, thoughtless person take a good look at today's strip and realize that it wasn't intentional manipulation on her part.

I read so many posts that just reeked of accusatory statements about how Claire is a manipulator and ALWAYZ DUZ THIS and she's NO GOOD WITH BOUNDARIES, and not one of them ever seemed to take into consideration the fact that Claire not only thought she was doing the right thing, she's as socially inept as Clinton is! She didn't respect his boundaries because she didn't even see them. That doesn't remove her of all blame, but the way some posters here were absolutely dragging her, you'd think she'd done something a thousand times worse than what she did. Y'all seemed ready to run her up the flagpole for doing something like this, while instantly absolving Clinton of his -sometimes overwhelming- faults because he got rejected for a second date and oh noes that's so terrible. This is intended as character growth, please read it as such. Clinton is growing out of the person he was when he got super creepy with Hanners (sort of), and Claire is now growing because she's realizing she can't fix everything around her. She's been shown to compulsively want to fix things, and make them better. It's not an entirely selfless drive, but it has the absolute best intentions. She's now learning that it's not possible to fix everything for everyone, and that not all people want their "problems" to be "fixed" at all.

[JimC]

[romantic comedies]and yet I absolutely love writing and drawing one

I'm sure Jeph has learned this one as a musician too. You may not necessarily much like listening to what you really like playing. Which is why there are (or were when I went to see such bands) very few audience members as old as the band at metal gigs. That stuff can be great fun to play even if you don't much enjoy listening to it any more.

[Akima]

I sincerely hope that all the people who seemed to be trying their best yesterday to paint Claire as a manipulative, thoughtless person take a good look at today's strip and realize that it wasn't intentional manipulation on her part.

I think Claire acted in a thoughtless and manipulative way. She's now upset because her scheme turned out badly, and her brother is angry with her when she though she was acting in his best interests, but that does not really say anything to deny that she acted with intention. On the contrary, she says: "I was just trying to help!" which makes it pretty clear that she acted intentionally in manipulating Clinton into a meeting with Emily. I'm quite sure she did not have ill intent, which would obviously be worse, but unfortunately intent, however good, is not magic, or a get-out-of-jail-free card.

We know from previous strips that Clinton cares for Claire and is protective of her, and we know that Claire cares for Clinton. They'll get through this, and with luck have a more adult relationship as a result. Kudos to Jeph for creating great characters to whom we can relate so strongly.

[creatureshock]

I sincerely hope that all the people who seemed to be trying their best yesterday to paint Claire as a manipulative, thoughtless person take a good look at today's strip and realize that it wasn't intentional manipulation on her part.

Nope, she is still the asshole in this.

[swapna]

I sincerely hope that all the people who seemed to be trying their best yesterday to paint Claire as a manipulative, thoughtless person take a good look at today's strip and realize that it wasn't intentional manipulation on her part.

Yeah, it was still intentional manipulation. As Akima said, it was good intent, but that doesn't absolve her here.

It's also really fascinating that when she sees Clinton is very hurt and angry, she doesn't try to find out why; she's just upset that he yelled at her for "helping". She still doesn't arrive at the conclusion that she might have done something hurtful much later, when she's telling her story to Marten even though Clinton was very clear about why he's angry.
She's not very empathic to her brother's feelings, which is consistent with her treatment of him - usually condescending and not very respectful. Usually, she's not called out on it because Clinton is just as much of an idiot, and also doesn't know when he shouldn't step boundaries.

[mad hands murphy]

BASED MARTEN
A
S
E
D

M
A
R
T
E
N

SPEAKS THE TRUTH

[Method of Madness]

Huh?

[MrNumbers]

[...]but that, when he criticised her (it was kindly but it was still a very blunt criticism), she didn't pull away but instead went back to the hug. She trusts Marten enough to believe that it was to help, not a personal attack on her. IMO, that's a good sign of a very healthy relationship.

Dude. Marten was honest about the situation! Hallelujah! Real character growth there since his relationship with Dora.

[themacnut]

I read so many posts that just reeked of accusatory statements about how Claire is a manipulator and ALWAYZ DUZ THIS and she's NO GOOD WITH BOUNDARIES, and not one of them ever seemed to take into consideration the fact that Claire not only thought she was doing the right thing, she's as socially inept as Clinton is!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Just because you may not intend harm doesn't mean harm won't be done.

Dude. Marten was honest about the situation! Hallelujah! Real character growth there since his relationship with Dora.

It helps when the person he's seeing doesn't go totally off the rails when confronted with the truth. Claire is better for Marten than Dora was in that way.

[Case]

Does this plot-resolution count as a Deus Ex Marten?
 

And more importantly: Does tvtropes.org know about that one?
Why don't you go have a look? 


EDIT:

I read so many posts that just reeked of ...

It's astounding, but there really is evidence in the fossil record that something other than "my projection = objective reality" actually can follow that specific introduction. Some researchers even claim that in the immediate aftermath of the great Tunguska Extinction Event of 1908 ...

For further answers to all your questions about why people are yelling at you to stop beating that specific dead horse (we sorta kinda know it's dead, whatwith all the bits and pieces coming off of it, see?) the distinction between intent and ill intent and why it sometimes matters less than (unspecified) people stopping their manipulative shit already, please consult your local instantiation of Akima, conveniently placed in the 2nd post after yours.

Or TheMacNut in the post right above this one ...

EDITEDIT:
Or you can listen to Neko_Ali in the post right below this one ...

[Neko_Ali]

Maybe we could just all stop trying to find the one singular bad guy in all of this? Life is never that simple, no matter how much people want to reduce problems to one singular cause.

[St.Clair]

In case anyone here hasn't seen it already, a relevant blast from the Onion past:

Romantic-Comedy Behavior Gets Real-Life Man Arrested

[WareWolf]

Maybe we could just all stop trying to find the one singular bad guy in all of this? Life is never that simple, no matter how much people want to reduce problems to one singular cause.

Absolutely correct.

Claire shouldn't have meddled.

Clinton shouldn't have told his sister to fuck off.

Also: given Emily's  lack of  any skills at pretense, I don't think she was trying to reject Clinton because she doesn't like him. I think she really is that busy.

[Neko_Ali]

I'm half surprised no one has tried to blame Marten, Faye or Dora for this yet... Some have tried to put some of the blame on Emily for giving a stereotypicial  blow off excuse.. but I think that's more projecting. Emily just isn't like that... I would 100% say the reason she says she's to busy to date Clinton right now is just that.. She's to busy. Emily has always just been totally open and honest about things as far as we know.. I think that's one of the things some people find off putting about her. And you know.. accidentally nearly summoning Elder Gods.

Claire shouldn't have meddled. Clinton shouldn't have blown up. But I understand where both were coming from and why they did it. Right now the thing would be for the to apologize and mend some fences. Not play 'who's fault is it' games.

[Endellion]

I'm half surprised no one has tried to blame Marten, Faye or Dora for this yet...

Well it's clearly Dora's fault for giving Emily too many hours so she doesn't have time out of school/work for other activities ie. dating.

[Zebediah]

No, it's obviously Timemaster's fault. He could have given Emily a few more hours a day to work with, but could he be bothered? Could he?

 

[Penquin47]

I'm half surprised no one has tried to blame Marten, Faye or Dora for this yet...

Well it's clearly Dora's fault for giving Emily too many hours so she doesn't have time out of school/work for other activities ie. dating.

And it's obviously Faye's fault because Emily was hired to fill the void created when Faye got fired!

[Endellion]

Marten is not completely blameless in this situation, given that his relationship with Claire has gone pretty much trouble free she no doubt expects Emily to say yes, they go on to have a million babies and Claire gets to name one Fighter Jet.

And going back to an earlier post:

We know from previous strips that Clinton cares for Claire and is protective of her, and we know that Claire cares for Clinton. They'll get through this, and with luck have a more adult relationship as a result. Kudos to Jeph for creating great characters to whom we can relate so strongly.

If Claire cares for Clin-ton, does that make her a Claire Bear? 

Enough silliness, Serious point: In the nucleur fallout from that bust-up; Claire has Marten to go back to and in doing so gets another view point on the prior situation: yes you did it with the best intentions at heart but in the manner you did it you fucked up. Clinton, on the other hand, has...no one to rebound off. Other than his Jock-type room mate which in my opinion isn't the best person for him to vent at.

[Case]

...

Also: given Emily's  lack of  any skills at pretense, I don't think she was trying to reject Clinton because she doesn't like him. I think she really is that busy.

Can't speak for CS grad students, but methinks it's not such a far-fetched idea, especially the closer one gets to writing up the dissertation. It's by no means mandatory for STEM grad students to eschew possible romantic involvements - e.g because you "simply have no space left on your harddrive", or because you fear introducing anything into your life that might upset your precariously balanced mental workings - but ... it's not unheard of. I've done it, once (Or rather: It was a strong contributing factor). There's a lot of pressure to graduate as fast as you can, especially if you want to have a shot at staying @Uni - STEM academe is pretty ageist.

That Emily's aptitude at confabulation is approximately equal to that of a falling brick - I think that's just the good old "John von Neumann"-trope.

TL;DR - I don't think it would have mattered much if Clinton had hesitated less with his asking for a 2nd date. Sometimes it isn't lack of attraction, or assertiveness, or whatever  - but simply people realizing they are at the wrong places in their lives right now.

[Kugai]

It shall be interesting to see where this goes after this one and what will happen when Claire and Clinton meet up again, most likely at their mothers house at some stage.

[Neko_Ali]

For the record, I don't think Emily is opposed to the idea of dating Clinton. Despite his acting way out of character during said date, she seemed to mostly enjoy it. And I notice that Clinton still seems to be sporting the same hair style, which means he's been maintaining it over the last few months. I'm interested to see if he did any more work on the tattoo, or maybe had it removed?

[DonInKansas]

On a lighter note, snuffly Claire makes her nose ring look like a huge booger is hanging from her nose.

[DSL]

On a lighter note, snuffly Claire makes her nose ring look like a huge booger is hanging from her nose.

Sounds as though that could be a problem. A friend with a tongue stud told me she avoided skinny pasta.

[skarnet]

Well, it looks like skarnet called it! In fact, they called it with such accuracy that I'm wondering if they're actually Jeph l

Not so accurate - I expected Marten to laugh, just a tiny bit. But it's understandable that he doesn't, given how Claire looks distressed! Anyway, I hope this mistake is proof enough that I'm not Jeph - although I wish I had his talent!

(I'm a he. Lazy me doesn't like to fill in profiles, but I guess it's the polite thing to do...)

[TheEvilDog]

I'm half surprised no one has tried to blame Marten, Faye or Dora for this yet...

Well it's clearly Dora's fault for giving Emily too many hours so she doesn't have time out of school/work for other activities ie. dating.

And it's obviously Faye's fault because Emily was hired to fill the void created when Faye got fired!

You fools, 'tis clearly Angus' fault, for seeking a job in New York, leaving Faye behind to drink herself into oblivion and unemployment, which lead to Dora hiring Emily.

[mustang6172]

I'm half surprised no one has tried to blame Marten, Faye or Dora for this yet...

Well it's clearly Dora's fault for giving Emily too many hours so she doesn't have time out of school/work for other activities ie. dating.

And it's obviously Faye's fault because Emily was hired to fill the void created when Faye got fired!

You fools, 'tis clearly Angus' fault, for seeking a job in New York, leaving Faye behind to drink herself into oblivion and unemployment, which lead to Dora hiring Emily.

And if Faye's father hadn't killed himself then she wouldn't have moved to Northampton and been hired at CoD in the first place.

If you want to go back farther, we can blame someone's parents for not using birth control.

[Zebediah]

It all goes back to the Big Bang. If the Big hadn't Banged, none of this would have happened. Literally.