Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mary Worth 1,452

I may be overly optimistic, but I think we just finished the story. No, hear me out. This story started (last May) with Dawn pining away over Dave, who had dumped her for his old girlfriend. After a series of harrowing, and perspective-changing events, Dawn has come full circle, where she's not going to take anything seriously until she's explored everything. That's an awesome life plan for a woman whose been able to convince everyone that she's a teenager for the last nine years of college. And I think it's the perfect resolution to what has been an amazing tale of transformation.

Now can we please learn about identity theft again?

Today's Full Strip 

23 comments:

James in North Dakota said...

Or bring back LiZa with a Z! And whatever happened to Bonnie? Bonnie Johnson? There are so many characters floating around the Worthiverse that have the potential for gripping kitchen sink drama!

Nance said...

Good call, Wanders. The end panel quote by Wilbur sounds like a 1950s Maxwell House commercial.

Dawn has learned Oh So Many Things!
1. Vegetables are Flavourful in Italy
2. All men have something wrong with them
3. It's easy to pass off someone else's cooking as your own
4. Youth is perpetual
5. If you lie around and whine long enough, your dad will take you on an expensive trip
6. If you wait long enough, you can get credit for for doing Good Works
7. Time is an artificial construct; no one is really on "a schedule"

I'm sure everyone else can add more!

(My WordVer is retarDo, so there's that commentary...!)

fauxprof said...

Wanders, I really hope that you're right, and that this interminable Dawn-centric storyline is at an end. We may be able to count on Moy's lack of writing skill to leave the question of Jim and the depth of his psychosis dangling. I would be glad to sacrifice him, quite frankly.

I'm still hoping for the reappearance of a relapsed Nola Wolvenson. I never bought her change of heart. (No more than I buy Dawn's "teenage" status.)

Howard Stern said...

So, you want to explore EVERYTHING?

heydave said...

Sorry, we won't even see the light at the end of this tunnel until we reach a multi-panel Sunday-funday strip that recaps the WHOLE thing one more time, ending with an ominous Meanwhile...

Dave in Parma said...

Teenager?! Dawn is a teenager?

I unfortunately think this is only the beginning. I see two slow painful paths in which this story will dribble:

Option A is that Dawn decides to explore everything by lowering herself to explore a relationship with Jim, falling for his sad puppy personality.

Option B is that Dawn does decide to explore everything, everything ELSE besides Jim that is. This romantic spurning by his sister, er Dawn, literally pushes him over the edge causing him to go on a bender resulting in him going all Aldo Kelrast, throwing himself off the Santa Royale pier into the Bay of Santa Royale (at which point Jim will no longer be known as Jim, but become 'Bob').

Remember, you Don't Mess Around with Jim, even if he does only have 1 arm.

Dave in Parma said...

Teenager?! Dawn is a teenager?

I unfortunately think this is only the beginning. I see two slow painful paths in which this story will dribble:

Option A is that Dawn decides to explore everything by lowering herself to explore a relationship with Jim, falling for his sad puppy personality.

Option B is that Dawn does decide to explore everything, everything ELSE besides Jim that is. This romantic spurning by his sister, er Dawn, literally pushes him over the edge causing him to go on a bender resulting in him going all Aldo Kelrast, throwing himself off the Santa Royale pier into the Bay of Santa Royale (at which point Jim will no longer be known as Jim, but become 'Bob').

Remember, you Don't Mess Around with Jim, even if he does only have 1 arm.

LouiseF said...

Considering how Dawn dominated MW world since May, I was starting to think the name of the strip should be changed. Then I thought maybe the focus on Dawn and her troubles was Moy's way of reaching out to a youth demographic, since sooner of later Mary Worth is going to need a slew of younger readers if she is going to survive. In fact, I notice that Dawn's eyes have taken on a Mary-like quality of calm and wisdom along with her trauma-inspired perspective. Now let's get Mary off that computer and meddling in something new. . .

KitKat said...

Welcome back, James in North Dakota!

Dawn's swiveling head in the second panel reminds me of my Barbie dolls back in the day. I had no friends-and-family dolls like Skipper or Ken, but Dawn could have been Barbie's earnestly clueless, peripheral friend who was doomed to perpetual adolescence.

Wilbur is the second male in Dawn's universe to recently grab her wrist. Maybe tomorrow she'll say, "Dad, you remind me of the unnamed great guy!"

Wanders, I hope you're right, but I have a sinking feeling that the Dawn-Jim storyline will continue. Meanwhile, what about Joy? And, why did Karen Moy consign drippy Dr. Adrian and hubby Scott to the Worthiverse dustbin? We last saw them in a Thanksgiving cameo in 2011! Bring back drunken Jill!!

birdie said...

I predict the story will shift to Wilbur, with his eating problem resulting in a heart attack. This allows Mary to keep writing his column permanently.
That's convenient to Moy for those awkward special memorial days where she has had to resort to such lame storylines as Mary calling and consoling her friend in NY. Now she can just have Mary typing away her profound observations on the day.

Toby Cameron said...

If Dawn is a teenager then Diane Sawyer is sober on the news....

Brick said...

KitKat - You remind me of my own fashion doll, the Dawn doll (circa 1971). The Dawn doll had better hair than Dawn Weston. She also had girlfriends, Angie, Gloria and Dale, a job, and lived in her own apartment. She had more clothes because she was a fashion doll.

Bonnie? Bonnie Johnson? Gosh, I miss her shopping high and Maisie's and all those colorful boxes.

Thorpnotized said...

I agree with heydave - storylines rarely change midweek in this strip. However, this conversation between Dawn and Wilbur is a throwaway, so anything is possible (in the Worthiverse).

Thorpnotized said...

(No secret message today?)

Maggie said...

Dawn is a teenager?? What is she, 24-teen?? No. No. There is no way.

Remember when the Spiderman strip "reset" to when Peter was still living at home with Aunt Mae and Mary Jane wasn't dating him yet? Maybe it's time for Mary Worth to go through a similar exercise. I know it wouldn't change 98% of the strip, but maybe we could relive those awkward growing pains between Dawn and Wilbur, when she was petulant and mean and confused and it sort of made sense cause you actually believed she was a teenager.

KitKat said...

@Brick at 11:54 AM, thanks for the info on Dawn dolls. I Googled them and discovered Kevin and Fancy Feet, "a brother-sister dance duo from San Francisco [who] have danced in competition since they were teenagers. As twins, the two are very close. They like to hang out together and have many of the same friends." What a fab scenario for Jim and Merry! Maybe they were dancing on the Tott's Island Ferry when tragedy ensued. Attention, Karen Moy!

Sandi Ego said...

Why hasn't Dawn suggested to Wilbur that he interview Jim as a Survivor?

Nance, I'd like to add to your list.

8. When in doubt, wear purple.

Anonymous said...

Nola will be hospitalized for cuts sustained while helping the homeless guy collect recyclables.

There, she will meet Jim, who will one-up her with tales of his lost arm and sister. They will fall in love.

This will take five years.

Meanwhile, Dawn will get in touch with her inner reverse-cougar and fall for Dr. Drew...again...and he, realizing the helmet-hair potential of their future offspring, will marry her.

This will also take five years.

--Beagle Vet

Not Moy said...

Yeah, Dawn is a teenager, Wilbur hates ham and Moy is talented.

Nance said...

Oh, I remember the Dawn doll. She was tiny, though, much tinier than the Barbie doll. My sister the blonde had Dawn, and I had Angie, the raven-tressed friend, to match my own dark hair.

Holy crap, now my WordVer is shipGoo.

Anonymous said...

Dawn's a TEENAGER??? I thought she was about 30!!!! :O

Brick said...

There really was a Dawn doll named Fancy Feet? How innocent our glamourous dolls were back then. (Nance, I'm the brunette and my blonde sister had the Angie doll.)

9. Wilbur will never ask for the disturbing details of your "serious" relationships, ever.

10. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Wilbur will think you're pretty smart.

Ben said...

No, we need the weird attraction between Mr. Right and someone who looks like his sister to develop into a full-blown, weird romance. And besides, Dawn can't convince people she isn't in her late 20s for much longer, Wilbur's genes are going to take over at some point.