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If you were around in the comments for the original run, you probably remember a strong reaction to this page. Leading up to it this time around, I went back and reread the discussion; there was a lot of rallying around Eve and the ways she’d been wronged, a few guarded defenses of Park, and a dredging of Gwen-related context. In hindsight with the story told, a lot of it was pretty astute! I think some people focused a bit more on Eve’s tearful eyes and Park’s distracted blustering than I intended. The fact that she’s so hurt and he’s so oblivious is all I meant to show. The visual of a lizard brain was meant to remove any sort of moral equation from the act. But I don’t think any of the analysis was “wrong” either. It felt good to see this page trigger a cathartic release, the kind we’ve wanted for Eve for a long time, but she’s never had the guts to fulfill. |
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Love the thumbs up. Perfect imagery.
Oh, was that a thumbs up? I thought it was an "I'm outta here, let's hitchhike away!"
Eve realizing that what she thought was a romantic reunion was basically just a booty call to Park is really rough but for whatever reason Gwen not inviting her to her wedding is the part that felt the worst to me. 🙁
All that talking, he must have been thirsty. Good job, Eve.
Yayyy! One of my favorite pages. You summed up the emotions felt in a moment like this so perfectly with just imagery.
Ever since I saw this comic "Lizard brain says OK" has been a private in-joke with myself.
And here's where I think Park actually is the biggest dickbox in possibly his entire arc. "I, uh … thought you knew" is such a shitty, pathetic abdication of responsibility. Not that it was his job to invite Eve, but he certainly could've asked why she wasn't there *while he was there* – that he didn't care enough to even find out why she hadn't been invited, doesn't care enough to think "maybe I shouldn't bring this up casually," and doesn't realize after Eve's startled response that she might be hurt, is a string of failures on his part.
And it's not that Eve is completely in the right! I was one of the "guarded defenders" of Park (albeit on the next page) that Meredith mentions. Eve's the one who abandoned her friends and has lived the past few years in a kind of self-inflicted stasis where everyone else is changing around her while she stays put. She hasn't exactly earned a wedding invite from someone who, by her own actions, is no longer a part of her life. But Park is never more self-absorbed and oblivious at any point in the comic than he is right here. Jesus Christ, dude … learn to read the room.
Side note: this is closure. It's ugly and messy and it has a long denouement, but it's the sudden and final understanding that what you had is gone, it's never coming back, and you don't actually want it to.
(thank you for tuning in to "Chris overthinks webcomics")
Dang…LOVE that side note.
Oh my god, I found my old comment! I'm far enough in the future now that I have seen Hamilton so congrats past me, we made it.
Yes! haha, the Hamilton reference really places the comic in time; it's a really good reference point. :3
For those unaware, a full, legal/official, and imo quite excellently done taping of Hamilton is now available online (not free, but far cheaper than broadway) for those who wish to watch it with the original cast but never got the chance while Broadway, you know, was open. The camera angles we got were tbh better than experiencing it live, from the perspective of someone like me, anyway.
This is perfect.
Also only realising through the comments: "Ooooh so THAT is the lizard brain!"
My perspective has changed wildly since this was originally published (thanks 2 crazy relationships, the latter of which finally got me to go to therapy!) but my opinion is the same as is was then, to wit: these are two people with baggage and wildly different expectations such that the only thing I rooted for here was closure.
AKA: I was neither team Park nor team Eve but team Hanna here.
Hanna was right. Sometimes you're better off not knowing.
I remember that comment section being one of those "wait what" moments, because to me its absolutely baffling that anyone would view Eve as anything other than a complete jerk in this moment! Just because she has built up entirely in her mind (with nothing so much as a text between them for a long time) some grand import in their reunion doesn't mean Park did – his only sin (in this moment) was obliviousness. I totally get why Eve was a jerk, you gotta be a jerk sometimes, but the way it was celebrated made me feel really uncomfortable. Looking back at it, it still evokes that feeling – an oddly strong memory.
I don't disagree with most of what you said, but in all of this "I missed you so much" shit over the last few pages, he aids and abets Eve in her expectations — willingly, I might theorize, in order to benefit from the affection he's getting because of it. That's always been my interpretation of the main reason Eve is upset — she realizes how she really ranks to him.
I would distinguish between this and "obliviousness", because almost all of us have the occasional moment of obliviousness with people we care about.
But he's complaining about what a pain in the ass it's been to fit in all the people who want to see him.
Going through an OUT LOUD step-by-step reflection on "is it really worth it to me".
This isn't–or isn't just–obliviousness; it's also a gaffe, in the traditional sense of the term, where you are inadvertently honest about something you try to conceal or misrepresent about yourself.
In this case, because he's distracted by his phone, he's given her an insight into the inner workings of his mind:
He rates people and makes his decisions about spending time with them not by affection but according to the entertainment value they provide him and the level of convenience.
And she's pretty low on that list.
She's not a cherished old friend/flame he'd see more of if he only could. She was dead last [she probably knows this but we definitely do because of that hotel receipt]. And before he got to her, his also-rans who didn't rate included
~the most-inferior possible viewing of Hamilton (which was almost-but-not-quite-worth the time/money)
~relatives who are too young to go out drinking with
~possibly the overnight with his "Columbia friends" (though he "had to" miss that)
She wasn't important enough to include on a trip to the Botanical Gardens, or to see more than once when he's been in town for over a week, or for him to even wonder about if she knew about the wedding while he was with all their old friends.
Which he tells her in the context of casually letting her know–and then breezing past–that wedding exclusion.
After banging her like an hour ago and explicitly linking it to how much he missed her ["Does that answer your question?" It's really a pretty intensely romantic thing to say].
And then in the cab saying how much he missed her again.
I mean, I'd rather she use her words to eviscerate him instead of throwing a drink, but she's never been quick with the angry repartee. That's Hanna's forte.
Thank you Lizard Brain
love the sword in the martini glass, nice touch
I dunno, knowing that he was wearing contacts and then throwing hard alcohol in his face, where it could burn his retinas, just sounds like domestic violence to me. 🙁
Hey, I was around for the last time this was here! That was a fun little romp in the comments and a callback to a younger time.
Big ups to the colorist (ugh–I forget the name) for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rows leading to the background profile.
Here I was thinking the lizard was a reference to "Night of the Iguana", a play I like that deals with communication troubles and people at the end of their rope. Great page!