↓ Transcript
TODD: Okay, now. While I think we should discuss this and share our feelings, I want you both to know first, that you can ask to stop if you wish. Okay?
AMANDA: 'Kay.
SELKIE: Nots even started yet. It's not FAIR!
TODD: What's not fair, Selkie?
SELKIE: I've been workings really REALLY hard at the Echo thing! And now she can just... DO IT?
SELKIE: It's not fair. It's NOT. It feels likes she's BULLYING me agains.
AMANDA: I know. I'm sorry.
AMANDA: 'Kay.
SELKIE: Nots even started yet. It's not FAIR!
TODD: What's not fair, Selkie?
SELKIE: I've been workings really REALLY hard at the Echo thing! And now she can just... DO IT?
SELKIE: It's not fair. It's NOT. It feels likes she's BULLYING me agains.
AMANDA: I know. I'm sorry.
Jalapeno poppers are life
Hmm. Feel like the girls should have gotten more one on one support before this group conversation. Selkie should be able to express her feelings, but oof is it hard for Amanda to hear them when they’re like this. If Selkie had a chance to process some of her anger first, and how it links to past hurt, it might go better than this, where she’s blaming Amanda for something she couldn’t control.
I dunno. I think some of Selkie and Amanda’s best interactions have come from moments like this where they’re being open with each other. Granted, we’ve also had moments like the power tool fiasco, too.
If anything, having Amanda right there to hear Selkie’s frustrations and acknowledge them has often been a fastpath to Selkie reciprocating. Selkie’s very good at empathy–see Truck, past interactions with Amanda like Christmas, the Heather situation with her shirt, etc–but she does sort of need it front and center. When the other party’s problems are less clear, she has a tendency to internalize and stew on things.
I likewise wouldn’t be surprised if Amanda is mentally drawing comparisons to when Selkie and then Heather were adopted while she was “left behind.” She has a good understanding of what it’s like to be denied something she really wanted (and one could argue that she was working towards) while someone else who wasn’t demonstrably putting in effort (remember that Selkie was sitting in a corner coloring vomit fish) “got” the parent.
Got sounds so … un-nuanced. Might I suggest “Acquired?” I mean as a much smaller hammer, but still hammer nonetheless.
That’s why it’s in quotes.
I get the feeling Todd is approaching this from a sort of letting Selkie’s anger flow through a controlled valve is going to let Selkie come to terms with her anger, with her resentment, all while perhaps starting to get Amanda to process what she has done in the past and grow from it. Seeing Selkie this genuinely hurt might be the real moment where Amanda can finally find a way to atone and step up as a sister.
That last panel is what sells that vibe for me. Amanda is thinking, her eyes are shifted down and away. I think she really does know. I think she is starting to know a lot right now.
Please note that Selkie said it FEELS like Amanda is bullying her again. To me, that signals that Selkie may realize that this really isn’t Amanda’s fault but maybe the fault of an unfair universe.
Ok I am officially caught up with Selkie, man its gonna be weird to not be reading 50+ pages a day anymore
Isn’t comic bingeing great? 😆
Welcome to the cult.
Hrrm…
I feel like that brown thing Amanda is touching in panel 1 is important…
Or I’m just paying to much attention to the wrong things.
Jalapeño popper. 😉
So, very important.
First thing I thought of was “birthmark”, second thing I thought of was scar from the “Twins” that ganged up on her at the awful house. If it’s food eat it immediately. No one is grabbing your food once you swallow.
It’s fine that Selkie is upset and feels like this is unfair, but I wish Amanda didn’t feel like she had to apologize for something she had absolutely no control over. Her thinking everything is automatically her fault isn’t progress.
Agreed.
We’ve already seen that Amanda’s been convinced that she’s a ‘bad kid’, instead of a kid who’s done bad things.
The distinction is important to anyone, but especially for a child. Thinking she’s inherently bad will only cause further problems for everyone.
I’m not saying that this means her past bullying should be ignored or forgiven, but Amanda needs help just like Selkie does. I hope that her past abuse is touched upon more. Given Todd’s own history of it, it would be good to see him connecting with Amanda over it, and letting her know that she’s not defined by her past behaviours.
Glad to see that Amanda’s reaction is basically, “Yeah, this is bullshit. I’m sorry this happened and not just because it sucks for me.”
I’m just imagining an anguished Amanda desperately gripping Selkie, eyes burning bright, shouting “This is yours, not mine! I don’t want to keep it from you!”
Dave, your delicate touch in the unfolding of this arc is superb.
I don’t think she “can do” much at all, except get sick and puke her guts out, Selkie. Does that really count?