I familiarized myself with Mary Lou when she was brought back into the strip (and I started reading it again). Last year when Gene wanted to quit school, he mentioned that Meg likes him. Despite my earlier criticism of Gene, he does realize that ML and Meg are a package deal. So, I assume he's spent some time with mother and daughter together. ** trigcove, I agree with you about Meg; she knows that Janis is trying to be nice but is conflicted. Kids are more receptive than many adults realize and since they have no tact, so they say what they think.
I like this arc because it reminds one that we can rise above your mistakes of the past. We have a single mom in our family who had 2 children out of wedlock. One was adopted by my brother and the other she has raised into a wonderful teen with all of the qualities we call excellent and good (kinda like Gene). And the daughter raised by my brother discovered about 4 years ago that she had not 2, but 3 sets of grandparents. Talk about one happy kid. When when her son was about 5 she tried marrying the father. It lasted about one year and was so miserable she chose to revert to her maiden name. My niece has grown beyond her rebellion and poor choices, and has become an amazing woman of strength and character. And I think that this growing beyond mistakes is not an exception, but an opportunity taken by many.
trigcove, your second explanation is probably the most accurate. That's the way it would happen in real life. Farmer, what is your first language? So, PaulJones, are you saying that it's better to be a hippie than an ex hippie? Because I've always been rather fond of hippie chicks...Anybody ever read Jimmie Hendricks Turns Eighty, by Tim Sandlin?
It's about a nursing home filled with ex hippies reverting back to their old ways..A real hoot!
I've seen this sort of dynamic before in the four-panel universe; that's becuase it reminds me of the comic strip "For Better or For Worse." I know for a fact that Anthony's daughter Françoise never actually asked if the Pattersons like her but it seems to me that she and Meg are in the same boat. Both children are the objects of the mindless hate of huffy, judgmental, materialistic ex-hippies who regard them as the reminder of people that threaten to pop the weird fantasy bubbles they live in.
I'm pretty sure that Gene has been fairly involved with Meg. After all, Mary Lou introduces Janis as "Gene's Mom." Kids are really good at reading or sensing people. I would guess that Meg is reading a bit of tension in Janis, and that's why there is doubt about whether Janis likes her or not. Alternatively, she may have been around when ML and Gene were discussing potential parent reactions to their being together and picked up on some negative vibe.
