Okay, I apologize in advance, but I'm gonna say something nice about this comic.
I actually like that last panel.
...okay, I like G in that last panel. Hear me out.
There's no emotional payoff for the Mikaila/Lily engagement. If you didn't know they were based on real people you wouldn't have any reason to care, and even if you do know it's based on real people you still don't have much of a reason to particularly care except a vague 'congratulations Internet stranger'. Mikaila at least tried on the previous page, but obviously just gave up on this one (why is Lily making a meme face and
shrugging in the first panel? Her girlfriend just accepted her proposal, that's not really the kind of thing where you meme face.)
But there is emotional payoff with G. In theory, we're supposed to have watched her struggle with this massive co-dependency that she has with Lily. In theory, she was supposed to have finally moved past it-- things can never be perfectly
okay, but G can finally work on letting go of Lily and maybe finding a new kind of love with Marah. (I'm giving her a lot of leeway on this, I know.) This last panel would actually be a really lovely emotional catharsis for fans of this comic, and the remarkable thing is that it's not overstated. Mikaila's obviously not trying anymore, but G's little smile right there is actually very nice. If this were the end of the comic I think it would be a really nice note to go out on, as far as G's arc.
Of course, it's not. G's conflict is going to be repeated again in an arc we're already aware of, and there's no doubt in my mind that Lily wouldn't be able to just put a bow on this to begin with. G will keep being dragged into these weird conflicts based on their co-dependency, because there is no other source of conflict and yet she can't let Madhouse go or let it reach a conclusion.
I feel like that should be one of her writing tips. 'When you're story's over, let it be over.' I want to say she's expressed that opinion in the past, but I actually don't remember where or how so that might be wishful thinking on my part.
More wishful thinking on my part is that Bonnie looks worse and worse every time she shows up and I'm going to headcanon that her genetic instability is causing a gradual physical decay and she's going to wind up reduced to a pile of undifferentiated organic sludge at some point. There's your next arc, Lily-- deal with Bonnie's fatal genetic illness.
Some of these are almost okay. Most of them aren't. And the fact that she says 'if you're writing a five-season show' is insane. That's not how network production works. They buy
by season. You might
want to have a five-season show, but the networks only tend to buy one season at a time (although a lot of shows do tend to get greenlit for a second season pretty quickly). There's a reason so many shows wind up never finishing their story arcs, or writing in such a way that season finales are rewarding while also dangling little cliffhangers and hooks-- if the show has to end on that note they want it to be remembered as being reasonably satisfying, but sometimes putting a plot hook can also encourage a network to renew for another season. (I think The 300 actually tried to do this by refusing to answer all of its questions at the end of its last season specifically to force the network to renew it. Didn't work.)
I think I find tip number four most interesting. She likes Zuko's redemption arc... because in her mind it's not a redemption arc. She's twisted it into Zuko overcoming his abuser rather than redeeming himself, which is... an interesting read on the situation, absolving Zuko of all responsibility there. Obviously folks in the thread are fans of Avatar and know how bullshit this take is, but it helps crystallize why Lily accepts certain arcs while not accepting others-- she just pretends they're something else. See, her opinion is consistent and correct and not at all predicated on back-justifying her own whims!
(I love her 'characters with a huge body count can't be redeemed, unless it's bad writing, in which case they still aren't being 'redeemed' just 'fixed'. Way to go, Lily.)
