Poor Amanda, but also poor Pohl. Not only does she feel abandoned but also terrified by someone who’s just trying to help her. And Andi’s just hiding behind people, who are giving her stink eye for good reason.
You know the odd thing? I think part of the terror is that Pohl’s expression doesn’t say he’s there to be empathic and help. There’s no mirroring of Amanda’s feelings or worried eyebrows or anything. It’s like despite the years, he hasn’t quite learned human expressions (assuming Sarnothi don’t have any eyebrow-articulation constraints).
(Unless he’s doing that deliberately to provoke that reaction strongly so as to get the mom back through motherly instincts, which I am definitely thinking a major possibility here.)
I mean, it’d help if he hid the teeth a bit, but really it’s the eyebrows and the joyfulness of his smile that make him really weird and creepy, even more than the skin color. It’s like how a clown can be creepy. Expressions that don’t match what’s actually going on are something we humans pick up on real well (look up Paul Ekman’s work on basic expressions), and Pohl doesn’t look so much concerned and helpful as (interpreted through the lens of terror) happy he’s got a child alone so he can eat her.
The teeth and eye markings are what terrify the child.
If Pohl would learn to smile with a closed mouth it would probably help.
in most species bared teeth is seen as threatening. Sarnothi are a carnivore species, and humans are Omnivores. all the teeth of a carnivore are designed to be a weapon, while humans only have 4 canine teeth.
now think how terrifying we look to animals, walking around baring our teeth at one another, like we’ll attack each other’s throats at any moment. and then we notice the cute cat or dog, and bare our teeth at it while reaching our hand out to grab it.
of course the kid is scared, children don’t know how to turn off their instincts. and here is this carnivore all but growling down at her. and her Mother who is supposed to protect her has disappeared. Her instincts are screaming she is about to be dinner for some monster. the only thing she can do is scream, and cry for mother to come save her.
sadly for her mother isn’t coming to her rescue.
Pohl really needs to take some classes to help him blend in better with humans. I wonder if acting classes would help.
Blame nitrous oxide. It wasn’t until dentists started using it to make dental procedures less painful that people began feeling confident enough to start showing their teeth when they smiled.
Considering that the smile apparently evolved specifically to show off the teeth by our ancestors several million years ago, I’m gonna have to tentatively suggest, that you not be as correct on that front as you think you are.
The funny thing is in fact, that smiling seems to have evolved for the same reasons as the Sarnothi claw display: As a way to project harmlesness by showing off your natural weapons in a safe social environment.
Well, considering bad teeth allegedly didn’t start becoming a thing until after the invention of agriculture, maybe both of us are right. I do know that hand-shaking began as a way to show that one was unarmed, so I could see smiling as having a similar purpose. Maybe showing one’s teeth while smiling just temporarily fell out of favor after people began experiencing rotten teeth and before dental procedures became less painful.
All I know is I saw an episode of “Dark Matters” that was about nitrous oxide first being used in dentistry and how people allegedly didn’t show have large smiles during the Medieval and Renaissance eras.
I think I was being unclear. When I said that “smiling […] evolved for the same reason” I was talking about biological evolution. At no point did I intend to suggest that it was learned behavior,
Back to what I said. Andi’s not fit to have Amanda. Her child is calling for her, panicking. And Andi is looking back and hiding intentionally. This isn’t a panic attack. She doesn’t look panicked. She looks guilty (which she should).
I feel bad for Amanda. Her mom came back into her life only to show that rather than fess up to what she did to Todd, she would abandon her daughter.
On the contrary, I think Andi is still panicking. When she made her decision to run, her entire mind was filled with fear of confronting Todd. This fear isn’t gone: it has had nine whole years to fester in her mind. However, Amanda’s screams have reminded Andi of her daughter, and whatever love and care Andi feels for Amanda is now fighting with her fear of Todd. I think that she’s getting beyond her initial fight or flight response, but now she’s torn up about what to do.
All that said, I think recent events show that Andi was/is not emotionally ready to welcome Amanda into her life. I still think that Andi found and reclaimed Amanda with a mindset of fixing a past mistake rather than providing for the current and future needs of a child, and that she really should have confronted Todd with the truth before even talking with Amanda. She also should have planned out how their new life together would be. What’s done is done, however, so let’s eat our popcorn and watch how this hurricane of a sh*tstorm unfolds.
Still easily solved by Andi calling “Come over here! I saw an awesome starfish and thought you were right behind me!” Andi can remain unseen and Amanda finds her mom who tells her she is overreacting. Neat little bow.
and that provokes the reaction we’ve all been waiting for… Do you REALLY think that Selkie and Todd WON’T come over to see the “starfish” as well? let alone then going to see that she makes it back to her mom SAFELY?? as well as preparing to deliver the whole “you’re in a public place, you need to keep track of your kids(s) better!” speech, from more than a few concerned parents/staff in the crowd… a crown that also includes Todd, and Pohl…
Andi is going to be in deep %#@ if and when security does get involved. At very least, she’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.
I have to say, Amanda’s reaction to Pohl feels a bit exaggerated for “comic effect”. I can understand a child who’d never met a Sarnothi reacting this way, but after knowing Selkie for years?
While I liked Alpo’s comment, I really feel that if purple-ish isn’t a natural color for humans, traditionally, green IS the traditional colour of Aliens! I’d flip out, too. It’s only natural, r, traditional….
Haha, I saw it more like, “There’s more than one of them? Is this the Twilight Zone? Mom is gone and the fish people are here! Aaahhh!” It also seemed during the whole shirt theft snafu and Amanda helping the school nurse that Amanda appears to know Selkie is more biologically “not human” and less “freak of nature”. I dunno but that’s the way it seemed to me. It didn’t freak her out that Selkie was “not entirely human” but generally irritated that she isn’t cowed or bullied by Amanda. And why should she be, being a predator and all >:)
So, Amanda is calling for her and Andi doesn’t respond, Amanda is crying out, and Andi still hides. Now Amanda is screaming in terror. What will Andi do? I hope it’s the only right thing. Maybe Selkie will step up… Maybe.
Love how there are people looking at Andie like “What the fuck are you doing.” If one of them doesn’t call her out i’m going to be sourly disappointed.
I actually hope nobody calls Andi out. My best case scenario: relatively benign stuff happens between Amanda, Selkie & co. while Andi watches, squirming with guilt and shame. Then, as if struck by lightning, Andi comes to a startling realization: “Amanda is more important than my own selfish problems.” With newfound courage (and the strength of ten Grinches plus two), Andi strides out to reclaim her daughter, come hell and high water (likely both). Confronted with Todd’s surprise and confusion, Andi finally finds the courage to say, “We need to talk, but now is not the time.” Andi will then feel a peace she has never felt before, as if a thousand tons have been lifted from her shoulders, and she’ll feel ready to face whatever the future might hold, with or without Todd. And all around the globe, fighters will lay down their arms, forgive each other, and set about solving world hunger and eliminating pollution.
None of this will happen if one of the bystanders calls Andi out on the carpet.
Can’t disagree more, Andi is the kind of person to take the path of least resistance unless she has no other choice. She has shown this time and time again. The only way she will face this is if she is cornered or forced.
People don’t just magically change; she’s got years of bad choices and cowardice behind her and shows no inclination to change that. And no, wanting to fix a mistake is not the same as wanting to change the personality flaw that caused it in the first place. People keep trying to justify how she behaving, saying she panicked or the like, but seriously that’s her whole bloody problem! She would rather run and remain silent. That’s her easy way out and she will take it each and every time unless she has no other choice.
No amount of guilt or genuine remorse will change anything if all she does is run or mitigate. She’s so conflict adverse she clearly avoids even thinking about the problem as much as she can, which leads into this vicious cycle of panic when she’s put in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn’t even know how to think about this situation she just freezes up.
This is the issue Andi has to overcome, more than confessing the lie, more than addressing Amanda’s past. Andi first and foremost needs to get over her own need to avoid direct conflict or be forced to face things.
Well, yes. All the same, this might be the moment when she, falteringly, clumsily, begins to get over it. We can see that she hasn’t gone far, and she is watching. Her expression shows that she is torn between her old fear of telling Todd and Amanda’s need. Perhaps she will go back to face the music.
Psychologically, I bet Amanda’s kind of trapped in the “helpless, body doing its own thing, about to have a kid as a boat anchor around her neck — and then mom pressures her into doing The Right Thing” stage. I mean, she was in a really vulnerable situation, emotionally and physically, and her mom pressured her into unilaterally giving up the baby instead of saying, “You’ll be okay. You can make it. Your boy’s a good fellow and he’ll be here.” And then that’s hanging over her for the rest of her relationship with Todd, in a Big Lie she can’t undo without a painful amount of drama… (And every day she lets it go, it gets bigger and bigger.)
The brief bonding and sense of duty she’s got to Amanda can’t break nine years of hiding, not in an instant. I do hope she can make a start.
I understand your points, and agree with most of them. Please understand that this is my ‘best case scenario’: it is what I hope for, but not exactly what I expect. I had hoped that the manner of my description (particularly the last part regarding the spontaneous and completely voluntary disarmament of all militaries and militias everywhere) would convey this sentiment.
I agree with you. If Andi quickly changes route (by her own design), it would show character development (and be a little less traumatizing for Amanda), but if she doesn’t won’t be surprised. It’s hard for people to change—even after becoming a parent. Part of me would like to see this drawn out a little longer, too. However, I know whatever happens, it’ll be interesting.
While I do feel sorry for Amanda right now, I also feel that, provided it doesn’t go on too long, she HAS kind of earned this moment, what with all those years of “fish-face” and “monster”. Let’s not forget that she has been bullying Selkie. Not only that, she just finished claiming her Mom could beat up Selkie’s Dad. And what happens? Selkie’s Dad shows up with Scary Fishy Allies, and her Mom runs away!
Yes, we now understand why she was doing it. All the same, there is a lesson she needs to learn.
Also, I notice that Selkie isn’t enjoying the sight of her school nemesis being terrified nearly as much as she thought she would.
Perhaps she is learning a lesson too. It’s one thing to be told “Don’t weaponize family and friends,” quite another to realize that you and your kind really are that scary, even when someone like Pohl is being nice and trying to help. I wonder if her scornful “Don’ts be sillys,” is going to be what stops Amanda’s screaming.
Well, it is just an expression for growing up/being tough. And I wanted to say “grow some ‘nads” but most people mistakenly think gonads only mean testicles.
Love that Pohl is putting the fear of God into her about the Sarnothi. See if she calls Selkie a fish after THIS. That’s right, Amanda, there are bigger ones, and they could fucking EAT you.
(Also, Andi, you nitwit, go be a real parent instead of hiding like a loser. Jeez.)
Well we all know how Amanda feels about Selkie. Figures this is how she’s react to finding out there is another one, and bigger. She’ll probably faint when Pohl’s wife and kid show up.
Heehee… This is totally breaking the 4th wall at least. 🙂 The only way this could be any more delicious is if we all had profile pics and Dave drew them in as the people giving Andi dirty looks.
We, just like the onlookers in the aquarium, are watching Andi and judging her harshly. It is as if we ARE the onlookers in the aquarium: onlookers with comprehensive past knowledge of the principal actors, and we don’t mind using it. Hence, we become actors sharing meta-knowledge, thus breaking the fourth wall.
Um, breaking the fourth wall is an expression which describes a scenario or panel in which a character talks to the audience. It doesn’t have anything to do with the readers reacting to the writing/artistry. That’s a given. We’re meant to:)
It works if you simultaneously consider us as the actors and the audience, but since this makes as much sense as being one’s own father (also possible, in a way) I won’t even try to make more sense of it
Your point is well-taken, however: a much simpler and more accurate example might have been Pohl addressing us with his final comment. Personally, I’m glad Dave doesn’t do that.
I am fairly certain that Dave is not planning to write Andi as completely heartless and therefore continuing to run/hide while her child is crying out for her.
What I am hoping is that she steps up and goes directly to her daughter and holds her, rather than say anything to Todd before doing so.
I like Andi, and seem to be one of the few who sees her trying to be a good mother and making mistakes, rather than a heartless bitch some of you seem to think she is and can’t get over yourselves for long enough to see anything else. She’s not the Trunchbulls. She’s scared or Todd’s reaction and freaked. She fled instead of fought or froze.
Thing is, this isn’t just a little mistake. She completely abandoned her daughter without a word. It doesn’t matter than Andi is just a couple feet away, Amanda has no idea where she went, and obviously can’t see her.
I mean fugue in the emotional sense, not the musical sense. fugue: a state or period of loss of awareness of one’s identity, often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria
Naw. Crazy troll-hair aside, she’s pretty human and realistic. Not someone most of us would want to rely on, but lots of people like her exist—and I see potential for character growth (which is more than you can say for many people like her—though it *can* happen once in a blue moon).
Wow. Wow. I really hate Andi right now. Like. A lot. The fact that she refuses to go while Amanda calls out in distress says a lot about her. And it’s incredibly selfish. She feels bad, but he own desire to stay way from Todd and hide the truth wins over that. The mature thing would be to say something like “You can I need to talk. We can’t Here, but we have to. And obviously, right now.” And they go to one of their places.
However. I get the feeling she’s going to jump out now. I hope. And hopefully not in a BACK AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER YOU MONSTER! Way.
Which. Honestly, I can see the rest of the Aquarium goers responding like that.
Right, because ya’ll Andi-judgers are PERFECT parents who never “abandoned” their kid when their kid was wailing, and would know ALL ABOUT taking care of a traumatized kid at the very start . . .
Can we please just get past this Perfect Parent nonsense and let Andi grow as a character? She’s not going to BAM suddenly change, no human can, so stop expecting her to, SERIOUSLY.
This is hugely distressing to me. I’m a 28 year old cis female with no children, but the idea of my child crying “MOMMY!” like that makes me want to run to her. Hell, I hate leaving my kitten when I go to work because I hate hearing him cry. I can’t believe she didn’t go running back to her.
Most people in the medical profession (including myself) don’t wear watches (or at least not on the job). When you’re pulling on and peeling off disposable gloves over and over, it’s just in the way.
My phone is always in my left hip pocket; that’s not much farther away than my wrist. I haven’t even owned a watch in over a decade.
At this rate the whole lot of them are going to get thrown out by security. : /
Andi suck it up and get back to your kid before she’s further traumatized and hopefully Todd can keep it together when he sees her.
Yeah. This is *not* responsible parenting.
Poor Amanda, but also poor Pohl. Not only does she feel abandoned but also terrified by someone who’s just trying to help her. And Andi’s just hiding behind people, who are giving her stink eye for good reason.
You know the odd thing? I think part of the terror is that Pohl’s expression doesn’t say he’s there to be empathic and help. There’s no mirroring of Amanda’s feelings or worried eyebrows or anything. It’s like despite the years, he hasn’t quite learned human expressions (assuming Sarnothi don’t have any eyebrow-articulation constraints).
(Unless he’s doing that deliberately to provoke that reaction strongly so as to get the mom back through motherly instincts, which I am definitely thinking a major possibility here.)
I mean, it’d help if he hid the teeth a bit, but really it’s the eyebrows and the joyfulness of his smile that make him really weird and creepy, even more than the skin color. It’s like how a clown can be creepy. Expressions that don’t match what’s actually going on are something we humans pick up on real well (look up Paul Ekman’s work on basic expressions), and Pohl doesn’t look so much concerned and helpful as (interpreted through the lens of terror) happy he’s got a child alone so he can eat her.
The teeth and eye markings are what terrify the child.
If Pohl would learn to smile with a closed mouth it would probably help.
in most species bared teeth is seen as threatening. Sarnothi are a carnivore species, and humans are Omnivores. all the teeth of a carnivore are designed to be a weapon, while humans only have 4 canine teeth.
now think how terrifying we look to animals, walking around baring our teeth at one another, like we’ll attack each other’s throats at any moment. and then we notice the cute cat or dog, and bare our teeth at it while reaching our hand out to grab it.
of course the kid is scared, children don’t know how to turn off their instincts. and here is this carnivore all but growling down at her. and her Mother who is supposed to protect her has disappeared. Her instincts are screaming she is about to be dinner for some monster. the only thing she can do is scream, and cry for mother to come save her.
sadly for her mother isn’t coming to her rescue.
Pohl really needs to take some classes to help him blend in better with humans. I wonder if acting classes would help.
Blame nitrous oxide. It wasn’t until dentists started using it to make dental procedures less painful that people began feeling confident enough to start showing their teeth when they smiled.
Considering that the smile apparently evolved specifically to show off the teeth by our ancestors several million years ago, I’m gonna have to tentatively suggest, that you not be as correct on that front as you think you are.
The funny thing is in fact, that smiling seems to have evolved for the same reasons as the Sarnothi claw display: As a way to project harmlesness by showing off your natural weapons in a safe social environment.
Well, considering bad teeth allegedly didn’t start becoming a thing until after the invention of agriculture, maybe both of us are right. I do know that hand-shaking began as a way to show that one was unarmed, so I could see smiling as having a similar purpose. Maybe showing one’s teeth while smiling just temporarily fell out of favor after people began experiencing rotten teeth and before dental procedures became less painful.
Blind babies smile when happy. It’s definitely not learned behavior.
Maybe they were taught not to show large smiles.
All I know is I saw an episode of “Dark Matters” that was about nitrous oxide first being used in dentistry and how people allegedly didn’t show have large smiles during the Medieval and Renaissance eras.
I think I was being unclear. When I said that “smiling […] evolved for the same reason” I was talking about biological evolution. At no point did I intend to suggest that it was learned behavior,
Taking acting classes is a good idea. All aliens should take acting classes!
I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve noticed the same issue when dealing with any small child (and I’m not even green!) Big eyes + wide mouth = creepy.
Back to what I said. Andi’s not fit to have Amanda. Her child is calling for her, panicking. And Andi is looking back and hiding intentionally. This isn’t a panic attack. She doesn’t look panicked. She looks guilty (which she should).
I feel bad for Amanda. Her mom came back into her life only to show that rather than fess up to what she did to Todd, she would abandon her daughter.
*nodnod*
On the contrary, I think Andi is still panicking. When she made her decision to run, her entire mind was filled with fear of confronting Todd. This fear isn’t gone: it has had nine whole years to fester in her mind. However, Amanda’s screams have reminded Andi of her daughter, and whatever love and care Andi feels for Amanda is now fighting with her fear of Todd. I think that she’s getting beyond her initial fight or flight response, but now she’s torn up about what to do.
All that said, I think recent events show that Andi was/is not emotionally ready to welcome Amanda into her life. I still think that Andi found and reclaimed Amanda with a mindset of fixing a past mistake rather than providing for the current and future needs of a child, and that she really should have confronted Todd with the truth before even talking with Amanda. She also should have planned out how their new life together would be. What’s done is done, however, so let’s eat our popcorn and watch how this hurricane of a sh*tstorm unfolds.
Still easily solved by Andi calling “Come over here! I saw an awesome starfish and thought you were right behind me!” Andi can remain unseen and Amanda finds her mom who tells her she is overreacting. Neat little bow.
and that provokes the reaction we’ve all been waiting for… Do you REALLY think that Selkie and Todd WON’T come over to see the “starfish” as well? let alone then going to see that she makes it back to her mom SAFELY?? as well as preparing to deliver the whole “you’re in a public place, you need to keep track of your kids(s) better!” speech, from more than a few concerned parents/staff in the crowd… a crown that also includes Todd, and Pohl…
Strike one was leaving in the first place. Strike two, not coming back IMMEDIATELY when Amanda is in clear distress.
Andi is going to be in deep %#@ if and when security does get involved. At very least, she’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.
I have to say, Amanda’s reaction to Pohl feels a bit exaggerated for “comic effect”. I can understand a child who’d never met a Sarnothi reacting this way, but after knowing Selkie for years?
That makes perfect sense, to me. She goes from “old fish-face”, to “OH MY GOD, THERE’S MORE THAN ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!”
While I liked Alpo’s comment, I really feel that if purple-ish isn’t a natural color for humans, traditionally, green IS the traditional colour of Aliens! I’d flip out, too. It’s only natural, r, traditional….
Haha, I saw it more like, “There’s more than one of them? Is this the Twilight Zone? Mom is gone and the fish people are here! Aaahhh!” It also seemed during the whole shirt theft snafu and Amanda helping the school nurse that Amanda appears to know Selkie is more biologically “not human” and less “freak of nature”. I dunno but that’s the way it seemed to me. It didn’t freak her out that Selkie was “not entirely human” but generally irritated that she isn’t cowed or bullied by Amanda. And why should she be, being a predator and all >:)
Also Selkie has pale skin while Pohl has green skin and markings that make it look like his eyes are bleeding green blood.
The Sarnothi wouldn’t be the first carnivorous species where the adults are much scarier than the kids…
So, Amanda is calling for her and Andi doesn’t respond, Amanda is crying out, and Andi still hides. Now Amanda is screaming in terror. What will Andi do? I hope it’s the only right thing. Maybe Selkie will step up… Maybe.
Mighty nice peek at a giant cephalopod ya got there, Dave:)
What a shit mom.
Love how there are people looking at Andie like “What the fuck are you doing.” If one of them doesn’t call her out i’m going to be sourly disappointed.
I actually hope nobody calls Andi out. My best case scenario: relatively benign stuff happens between Amanda, Selkie & co. while Andi watches, squirming with guilt and shame. Then, as if struck by lightning, Andi comes to a startling realization: “Amanda is more important than my own selfish problems.” With newfound courage (and the strength of ten Grinches plus two), Andi strides out to reclaim her daughter, come hell and high water (likely both). Confronted with Todd’s surprise and confusion, Andi finally finds the courage to say, “We need to talk, but now is not the time.” Andi will then feel a peace she has never felt before, as if a thousand tons have been lifted from her shoulders, and she’ll feel ready to face whatever the future might hold, with or without Todd. And all around the globe, fighters will lay down their arms, forgive each other, and set about solving world hunger and eliminating pollution.
None of this will happen if one of the bystanders calls Andi out on the carpet.
Can’t disagree more, Andi is the kind of person to take the path of least resistance unless she has no other choice. She has shown this time and time again. The only way she will face this is if she is cornered or forced.
People don’t just magically change; she’s got years of bad choices and cowardice behind her and shows no inclination to change that. And no, wanting to fix a mistake is not the same as wanting to change the personality flaw that caused it in the first place. People keep trying to justify how she behaving, saying she panicked or the like, but seriously that’s her whole bloody problem! She would rather run and remain silent. That’s her easy way out and she will take it each and every time unless she has no other choice.
No amount of guilt or genuine remorse will change anything if all she does is run or mitigate. She’s so conflict adverse she clearly avoids even thinking about the problem as much as she can, which leads into this vicious cycle of panic when she’s put in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn’t even know how to think about this situation she just freezes up.
This is the issue Andi has to overcome, more than confessing the lie, more than addressing Amanda’s past. Andi first and foremost needs to get over her own need to avoid direct conflict or be forced to face things.
Well, yes. All the same, this might be the moment when she, falteringly, clumsily, begins to get over it. We can see that she hasn’t gone far, and she is watching. Her expression shows that she is torn between her old fear of telling Todd and Amanda’s need. Perhaps she will go back to face the music.
Yeah, I am crossing fingers for this.
Psychologically, I bet Amanda’s kind of trapped in the “helpless, body doing its own thing, about to have a kid as a boat anchor around her neck — and then mom pressures her into doing The Right Thing” stage. I mean, she was in a really vulnerable situation, emotionally and physically, and her mom pressured her into unilaterally giving up the baby instead of saying, “You’ll be okay. You can make it. Your boy’s a good fellow and he’ll be here.” And then that’s hanging over her for the rest of her relationship with Todd, in a Big Lie she can’t undo without a painful amount of drama… (And every day she lets it go, it gets bigger and bigger.)
The brief bonding and sense of duty she’s got to Amanda can’t break nine years of hiding, not in an instant. I do hope she can make a start.
I understand your points, and agree with most of them. Please understand that this is my ‘best case scenario’: it is what I hope for, but not exactly what I expect. I had hoped that the manner of my description (particularly the last part regarding the spontaneous and completely voluntary disarmament of all militaries and militias everywhere) would convey this sentiment.
I agree with you. If Andi quickly changes route (by her own design), it would show character development (and be a little less traumatizing for Amanda), but if she doesn’t won’t be surprised. It’s hard for people to change—even after becoming a parent. Part of me would like to see this drawn out a little longer, too. However, I know whatever happens, it’ll be interesting.
Han Shi Jian Tho that’s a big octopus, if scale is functioning normally.
And I see we’re back to alt text.
While I do feel sorry for Amanda right now, I also feel that, provided it doesn’t go on too long, she HAS kind of earned this moment, what with all those years of “fish-face” and “monster”. Let’s not forget that she has been bullying Selkie. Not only that, she just finished claiming her Mom could beat up Selkie’s Dad. And what happens? Selkie’s Dad shows up with Scary Fishy Allies, and her Mom runs away!
Yes, we now understand why she was doing it. All the same, there is a lesson she needs to learn.
Also, I notice that Selkie isn’t enjoying the sight of her school nemesis being terrified nearly as much as she thought she would.
Perhaps she is learning a lesson too. It’s one thing to be told “Don’t weaponize family and friends,” quite another to realize that you and your kind really are that scary, even when someone like Pohl is being nice and trying to help. I wonder if her scornful “Don’ts be sillys,” is going to be what stops Amanda’s screaming.
Look at it from Amanda’s point of view. She just found out there’s more than one of Selkie.
God what an awful parent she is.
Awww, come on, Andi. Step up and grow a pair of ovaries, woman! Least ya could have done is tucked Amanda under your arm when you ran.
…that’s the first time I’ve heard that phrase used with overtones beyond just the comparable male expression. Kudos.
She already did that when she was about to encounter Todd at the school.
Well, it is just an expression for growing up/being tough. And I wanted to say “grow some ‘nads” but most people mistakenly think gonads only mean testicles.
I was fairly sympathetic with Andi’s situation up to this point, but you absolutely don’t abandon your kid in the middle of a crowd.
Love that Pohl is putting the fear of God into her about the Sarnothi. See if she calls Selkie a fish after THIS. That’s right, Amanda, there are bigger ones, and they could fucking EAT you.
(Also, Andi, you nitwit, go be a real parent instead of hiding like a loser. Jeez.)
Well we all know how Amanda feels about Selkie. Figures this is how she’s react to finding out there is another one, and bigger. She’ll probably faint when Pohl’s wife and kid show up.
Heehee… This is totally breaking the 4th wall at least. 🙂 The only way this could be any more delicious is if we all had profile pics and Dave drew them in as the people giving Andi dirty looks.
I am confused. How does this break the 4th wall?
Tap too hard on the glass.
We, just like the onlookers in the aquarium, are watching Andi and judging her harshly. It is as if we ARE the onlookers in the aquarium: onlookers with comprehensive past knowledge of the principal actors, and we don’t mind using it. Hence, we become actors sharing meta-knowledge, thus breaking the fourth wall.
My best guess anyway.
^ Exactly! 😀
Um, breaking the fourth wall is an expression which describes a scenario or panel in which a character talks to the audience. It doesn’t have anything to do with the readers reacting to the writing/artistry. That’s a given. We’re meant to:)
It works if you simultaneously consider us as the actors and the audience, but since this makes as much sense as being one’s own father (also possible, in a way) I won’t even try to make more sense of it
Your point is well-taken, however: a much simpler and more accurate example might have been Pohl addressing us with his final comment. Personally, I’m glad Dave doesn’t do that.
is it bad that I find this funny?
No, I think it’s intended to be that way to some degree. Amanda’s expressions are hilariously muppet-like again. 😀
I am fairly certain that Dave is not planning to write Andi as completely heartless and therefore continuing to run/hide while her child is crying out for her.
What I am hoping is that she steps up and goes directly to her daughter and holds her, rather than say anything to Todd before doing so.
I like Andi, and seem to be one of the few who sees her trying to be a good mother and making mistakes, rather than a heartless bitch some of you seem to think she is and can’t get over yourselves for long enough to see anything else. She’s not the Trunchbulls. She’s scared or Todd’s reaction and freaked. She fled instead of fought or froze.
Thing is, this isn’t just a little mistake. She completely abandoned her daughter without a word. It doesn’t matter than Andi is just a couple feet away, Amanda has no idea where she went, and obviously can’t see her.
I’m with Lex-Kat. Triggers happen. Sometime fear makes us fugue. I want to see how she recovers herself and makes it right. I think she can.
I mean fugue in the emotional sense, not the musical sense. fugue: a state or period of loss of awareness of one’s identity, often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria
Andi is worst character.
Naw. Crazy troll-hair aside, she’s pretty human and realistic. Not someone most of us would want to rely on, but lots of people like her exist—and I see potential for character growth (which is more than you can say for many people like her—though it *can* happen once in a blue moon).
Wow. Wow. I really hate Andi right now. Like. A lot. The fact that she refuses to go while Amanda calls out in distress says a lot about her. And it’s incredibly selfish. She feels bad, but he own desire to stay way from Todd and hide the truth wins over that. The mature thing would be to say something like “You can I need to talk. We can’t Here, but we have to. And obviously, right now.” And they go to one of their places.
However. I get the feeling she’s going to jump out now. I hope. And hopefully not in a BACK AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER YOU MONSTER! Way.
Which. Honestly, I can see the rest of the Aquarium goers responding like that.
Right, because ya’ll Andi-judgers are PERFECT parents who never “abandoned” their kid when their kid was wailing, and would know ALL ABOUT taking care of a traumatized kid at the very start . . .
Can we please just get past this Perfect Parent nonsense and let Andi grow as a character? She’s not going to BAM suddenly change, no human can, so stop expecting her to, SERIOUSLY.
This is hugely distressing to me. I’m a 28 year old cis female with no children, but the idea of my child crying “MOMMY!” like that makes me want to run to her. Hell, I hate leaving my kitten when I go to work because I hate hearing him cry. I can’t believe she didn’t go running back to her.
Most people in the medical profession (including myself) don’t wear watches (or at least not on the job). When you’re pulling on and peeling off disposable gloves over and over, it’s just in the way.
My phone is always in my left hip pocket; that’s not much farther away than my wrist. I haven’t even owned a watch in over a decade.