Frozen

 

Let it gooooooo, let it gooooooo.  I'm going back to the ice and snoooow.  

Maybe instead of resolving any of the ongoing storylines, one aspect of the background/characters will disappear until the last day when all that's left is a blank panel.  It will be a fitting end.

Not This Time, Tommie

Oh my god, fine, just go! Quit yammering and get moving! I hope that the waiting room is chock full of A3G legacy characters that are there to visit Margo, so we have a last glimpse at Marty and Cole and Aunt Iris and Dan Diller and Bobbie Merrill in a Hannibal Lecter mask. Of course, they'll all look identical at this point. Even Lily. The last strip is going to be one big electric blue and carnation pink blur.

Walking Off Into the Sunset

We have eight more strips before we say goodbye to Apartment 3-G forever.... and we're focusing on the most boring of the three roommates and a character that hasn't been in the strip as long as I've been writing this blog.

I mean, I know the strips have been drawn, what's done is done, but honestly, if you polled the readership of this strip (or at least this blog) on which characters they would love to see a last appearance from before the strip's finale, I highly doubt Tommie and Eric would make the top 20.

Who do you guys hope to see one last time?

A Wonderful Life Full of Love and Joy

Is Eric talking about inception? I think he's talking about inception. Maybe we're all a part of Frank Bolle's dream right now.

Margo Has No Use For Me

I just keep shouting at my laptop screen "We don't have time for this conversation!  DON'T YOU KNOW THE STRIP IS ENDING?!?!?!," but I think my random outbursts are upsetting my cat.

So I guess Eric just came back to tell everyone but Margo that he's alive?  Does he just expect Tommie and GabMar (I'm tired of typing their names) to never tell her?  I mean he does look pretty terrible for forty, but like at least offer to run the Eric Mills gallery again.  Then Margo could relax and focus on her one client and planning GabMar's wedding.  And we can see what new squiggles Lu Ann has been working on over the last year.  Margo can always find a way to squeeze something out of someone.

Make Margo Happy

You guys! We only have a few weeks to settle everything and tie up all the loose strAAAHAHAHAHA okay so of course that's not going to happen, but two weeks should at least be enough time to resolve this particular plot line, even if we never see Lu Ann or Ruby or the Professor or Diane Devine or Trey Brooks or Lily or that smug creature or Taser Lady ever again.

So! Tommie, I'm going to need you to stop talking like a cryptic voodoo priestess, and Eric, you're going to have to get over the fact that you think Margo's most recent rejected suitor is a better companion than you, the beautiful white-haired man.

Dead Wrong

Leave it to Margo to be taken to Manhattan's exclusive gated hospital.  Surrounded by like a giant underground electric fence? 

I don't know why Tommie is singling Eric out for not visiting.  Gabby and Martin went for a walk like a week ago and haven't been back.  At least Eric is skulking about the hospital grounds.

My theory for the end of this strip, if  they are actually are planning an ending (which is probably not likely) is that Gabriella and Martin elope and that Margo and Greg or Eric (whomever she designates) use the preplanned Diana Devine wedding.  Lu Ann moves out of the apartment and Tommie is made head nurse or something.

This is Greg Talking, Margo!

Wednesday November 4, 2015

Thursday November 5, 2015

Oh man. The abundance of red milk and Anjou pears can't hide that the artwork has worsened noticeably, even since just the beginning of this week. Poor Frank isn't even signing his name anymore, he's just kind of scrawling his initials. The end is near. 

In the meantime, it's helpful that at least Martin and Eric have different sports coats on now. (Right? Those are different people?) And I do appreciate Greg introducing himself in the most awkward way possible. It's hard to tell from Margo's reaction whether she's sustained some kind of memory loss or she's just a little disoriented from the Thy. Storm or the writing is just so bad, just so bad, why is it ending like this, why, uh huh huh huhhhhhhhhhh....  (NB: that's the sound of me dissolving into tears)

Conversation in the Street

Eric survived a Nepalese avalanche. He's not going to risk his second chance on life by having the "Oh by the way, I'm not dead and have been stalking you in a tan overcoat for months without telling you who I am" conversation with Margo until her hormones are back at some sort of equilibrium.

Going to be Fine!!

I guess all those theories about entering/awakening from a dream state will remain delightful theories. Margo's totally fine, y'all! Even Gabby (not Gabriella, never Gabriella) knows.

So, we had literally less that two weeks of Margo being in a coma. What the heck! The whole reason you put a character in a coma is to have other characters make tearful confessions over the comatose body, and then produce some kind of did-she-or-didn't-she-hear tension. Ms. Shulock, I demand you return Margo to her coma this instant!

P.S. Great tip from DWET that Mary Worth will be crossing over with another strip while visiting New York this week! In today's strip, Mary enters a taxi with a driver who texts while driving. (Get those platitudes ready, Mar!) Maybe tomorrow, she'll have to share the cab with Lu Ann, finally getting her act together to visit her friend in the hospital?

I Don't Feel Right About This

Friday October 23, 2015

Saturday October 24, 2015

Monday October 26, 2015

I miss Margo. Is this strip going to cruise on into the sunset before Margo can wake up and berate her loved ones for missing all two days of symptoms of hyperthyroidism before it escalated to full-on thyroid storm coma?

BTW, what's Margo's Glasgow coma score? Can we talk to an actual doctor at some point? I'm starting to fear that Tommie is "nursing" Margo like Bette Davis was "nursing" Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Maybe Tommie got everyone out on the street, hastily constructed some "Hospital" and "Emergency Room" signs, slapped them all over the apartment, and then rushed Margo in to the "ER." Judging by the backgrounds and Tommie's behavior, I deem this theory PLAUSIBLE. She's not even wearing scrubs!

I Dread It!

Wait, Tommie has to go back to the hospital? As in, we're not at the hospital anymore?? What the heck. I mean, it's not like we've had reliable background details for reference for the past six months, but I SWEAR that is a minty green wheelchair in the first panel. That would be really effed up of Frank to include a wheelchair in the background just when the script reveals that they're no longer in the hospital. Like he's just toying with us at this point. Although I guess they could just be in some ADA-accessible public space, or maybe they just keep a spare wheelchair around to give each other rides down the hallway.

Apology Accepted

Um, what?  Looking back, I guess you were kind of snippy with Eric on August 28th, but you were both so much younger and different looking then.  And he did have to explain why he wasn't dead and found thyroid addled Margo wandering  around the streets. 

That Meditation Stuff

LATER... okay, so I guess Margo's parents didn't need any direct comforting about the whole "coma" thing, just getting scooted into her ER bay was enough. Eric was upset about the whole thing, but now he's not, because he did get to spend the whole night with her by pretending he was a chair. A night spent watching over Margo's nonverbal-but-not-yet-comatose body.

We have a lot of loose ends to tie up before Margo emerges from this coma. Will Greg Cooper, who appeared to us as if in a dream back in June, impact this plot at all? What about Margo's pal from the streets--will she return to Margo with a nice roll with butter, as promised? Are we ever going to see Diane Devine again? (Answers: maybe, no, and probably not.)

It's Very Serious

If by everyone, you mean Eric?  Martin, Gabby and the background scenery are still taking that walk to clear their heads/build up even more anxiety about how their disastrous wedding plans killed Margo.

Well at least they're not pretending that Margo has hyperthyroidism...they went full storm.  Hopefully some sort of endocrinologist is actually treating Margo and it's not just Tommie inputting Margo's symptoms into WebMD.

My Beautiful Baby is Dying!

Thursday October 15, 2015

Friday October 16, 2015

Are we really still just talking about hyperthyroidism here? Is Margo's "turn for the worse" actually just going to be that on top of hyperthyroidism, she's been diagnosed as an emotionally manipulative sociopath that's milking the current situation for attention and, possibly, cash prizes?

Also, not really getting Gabriella's logic here. Is family discord a possible cause of hyperthyroidism? I deeply suspect this is something Margo whispered in her mother's ear right before passing out in the ER. "Your dumb wedding did this to me..."

Also......... is this the waiting room? Maybe we should wait to talk until we get to the waiting room.

How a Mother Suffers

Um, I don't think this walk has cleared anybody's head. How could it? No nature walk could possibly explain why Margo's hyperthyroidism is inexplicably severe after just two days of symptoms. Life is cruel!

Three's Company

I looked at today's strip and thought that Margo and Martin were having a conversation in the first panel.  It's getting pretty hard to keep track of who's who and where they are supposed to be.  And that Martin is now younger than Eric.  I guess that avalanche thing really took a lot out of him.

So I'm not a doctor, but I didn't think that hyperthyroidism was so life-threatening.  According to internet medical research, which is always accurate, a thyroid storm is pretty dangerous, but Margo wasn't displaying any of the symptoms besides being cranky, disoriented and binge-eating at the diner.  I felt that way at work today when I didn't get to eat my lunch until 1:45.  It was touch and go.

Sounds Familiar

Thursday October 8, 2015

I initially read Martin's "Hello" as "Hellooo" which made me like him a lot more. Like "oookay, 'it's a long story but I've always loved your daughter' is not an acceptable reason to get all up in my grill on the sidewalk . To one side, 'young man.' My gray flannel suit and tie outranks your blue blazer."

Battle of the white-haired dudes! Thank goodness they're wearing different colored jackets or this could get really confusing.

 Friday October 9, 2015

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JACKETS?? WHO IS THIS?? WHO'S THAT LADY?? Is Martin talking to Gabby or is Eric talking to Thelma the waitress?

It literally took me several read-throughs to understand that those are supposed to be two different men in those two panels. THAT SAID, Eric is on a roll with the hilarious dialogue. "I'm Eric Mills, and I'm afraid there's more" is quite likely the new banner caption for this site.

Something Useful

Wait, he's actually going to see them? In person? Wouldn't a phone call be more efficient? They're just going to want to go to the hospital anyway, right? And um, hey Tommie, since you know so much about Margo's family, why don't you just call them? Ya big MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL! Jeez!

Two full weeks since we've seen Margo... I'm wondering if they even remembered to bring her to the hospital in the first place. She might be back on the streets, begging for dinner rolls.