No, No, NO!!!

Rose's single majestic tear in the first panel might suggest otherwise, but could this be a massive conspiracy on Rose's part to keep Tommie from marrying her son? Now all Rose has to do is kidnap Jim, who's totally alive, and keep him hostage until Tommie starts dating someone else, which should be... oh... who am I kidding! That's implausible for so many reasons.

Jim's just dead I guess. Man! Jim was in exactly two weeks of strips, and while he was instantly fast-tracked to the rank of "fiancee," his death feels a smidge too soon for my taste. I feel like the cat that catches a mouse and kills it before she's done playing with it.

Oh well. I guess we can all still root for an extended storyline of Margo and Lu Ann thinking Tommie just totally made up her boyfriend!

BONUS FOOTAGE: planes crashing and people screaming "NO!!!" always remind me of Star Fox 64.

The Plane Went Down

DEAD?? Aww. Out of all the outcomes we posited, I thought "dead" was one of the least interesting. I was pulling for Carlye's "Jane Eyre" theory, although Megan's "Downton Abbey" theory definitely had legs. Oh well! So, Jim's out of the picture? Why did he even exist for those two weeks? Or will he, somehow, be alive, but terribly mangled? Will he need some kind of... nurse? Who will recommend some kind of... deer-related physical therapy?

Wedding Bell Blues

So based on the comments it seems like most people are rooting for Jim to be dead.  I wouldn't be opposed to that, at least all of this nonsense would be wrapped up.  Maybe it's just all the Downton Abbey I've been watching recently, but from the first panel of Rose's panicked "this wedding isn't happening" bobble, I thought it was going to be a class issue.   Perhaps Jim is the heir to the earldom of Alesworthshire-Upon-Heath, and his marrying a non-noble, American nurse/amateur deer caretaker is completely out of the question.  His troth has probably already been given to a proper lady who just keeps deer outside on the grounds of her landed country estate.

Thrilled

Ugh, just get to the part where Jim already has a wife! Or is dead! Or had a terrible allergic reaction to the deer! Or dresses up like his mother a la Norman Bates and is taking this phone call as we speak!

Mum-In-Law

Ugh, another layer to this British fiancee, orphaned deer in the apartment story?  A frail, lonely mother-in-law is just what we need.  Maybe she's just tired from drawing a checkerboard pattern on half her wall.

Rose Alesworth

I already forgot Jim's last name—it isn't Phillipspot-Townsingshire?—but I guess it must be Alesworth. And I guess if Tommie is all excited to talk to her, Rose is his mom or aunt, not his moneybags ex-wife or accursed leech woman twin sister or OH MY GOD is this actually Jim's true form?? Is Rose about to tell Tommie that JIM DOESN'T EXIST?? oh please oh please oh please