March 27th, 2020
27 Mar 2020 · page 974 of 1306
Cast: Heinrich Wolfe, Kirti Malik, Rajeev Malik, Sidney Malik
Comments (33)
Events
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
...and I did just help to save civilisation as we know it.
I thought maybe it could work:
Wolfe: Oh, your son is so humble, he will not tell himself, but he saved Widdershins from Deadly Sins!
Sid's parents: Tell us all of that!
Wolfe began to tell, Sid joined at some moment.
Sid (in midst of the narrative): ...and as I was expelled from the uni... um. Er...
Sid's parents: Never mind, son, go on.
He'd mention he was expelled when they got to the part where being expelled was useful to defeat Pride!
Sid: "of course at first i was only planning on saving christmas, but then things got a bit out of hand."
Sid's parents: "as you do."
The whole Malik family oozes niceness and affability. And yet, that only serves to make the depiction of anxiety disorder all the more accurate. I get this sort of anxiety.
I perform on stage, including songs I've written myself. But I get ridiculously anxious over things like filling out forms. There's a hint of a trigger - I've never had a bad experience in theatre, but have had to jump through a lot of hoops over forms - but the response just isn't rational for the trigger. And not wanting to disappoint people you care about? I get that, I really get that.
In other words, you're doing an amazing job depicting anxiety disorders.
By the way (in case it helps anyone else), the one thing that seems to help me the most? Forcing myself to state, explicitly, what, EXACTLY I think could go wrong. It either turns the fear into justified fear, that I can at least work to mitigate, or makes me start to question the realism of fears.
I think this was used by Reich as a sort of therapy, along with writing up some solutions to how avoid it to go wrong, or how to correct things afterwhile.
Pardon me while I try to kill you with my mind, Sid.
I dunno why he's still bothered by that. It wasn't his fault. And he ended up with a familiar, a likely girlfriend and lots of great friends.
sometimes you lie so long that the initial lie is less of a problem than the length of it
Amén to that, sister.
It's not the crime, it's the cover up …
O, what a tangled web we weave...
Haha Kirti's expression in the fourth panel is gold. "Come on, son, just get it OVER with!"
"Do you like birds? I have this cute bird you should meet. Everyone at the university hates them!"
It seems to me as if Sidney's parents know, or at least have an inkling of, what is going on, but aren't pressing Sidney because they think it's for him to come out and tell them, honestly, what's up.
At the rate Sidney is going, though...
What's the over/under that all the plot threads come together right at the very end, during the graduation ceremony, like an episode of Seinfeld?
Sidney....Dad was trying to tell you sumthin' in panel 2.
Yeah... Sidney is currently sitting at this table with three people who all know the truth about him and are subtly trying to make him tell. The question is... when will he crack?
I think the daddy know the true, but...not sure the mommy could hide it if she did, with that personality ? ^^;
Moms can do everything.
I just figured it was the author conveniently guiding the conversation to guilt trip the hell out of Sidney, but you may have a point. It would actually...fairly odd, now that I think about it, if the University didn't notify his parents when he was kicked out. I mean weren't they paying the tuition?
I just noticed that the color scheme for this place matches Gluttony, and now I'm concerned...
Wolfe is too nice for this charade. And I cannot get a read on Sid's parents, whether they are well-adjusted enough to know when their child is lying, or whether they blindly believe whatever he tells them as long as it sounds what they expect of him.
While people in this comment section might be saying that his parents already know, they are being remarkably unworried about their son who risked his life in helping to save Widdershins if they actually knew.
No one worries more for someone being heroic than their close friends and family.
I doubt they know exactly what he's been up to, but they do seem to know that there's something he isn't telling them.
In the most pessimistic view, love for children is due to the mixture of the sunk-cost fallacy and Stockholm Syndrome. Not my own view, but it appeals to theory-minded people and is sorta funny. It also explains why rich parents who just give money to their children don't really show much affection to them; because the sunk-cost wasn't much, and they don't interact with them in the first place.
Parents normally try to figure out what their children are doing through other means besides what the child tells them. Since Sidney had good parents, they probably know not to trust him explicitly at his word alone.
There are two scenarios I can think of being the case, regarding the Maliks' lack of knowledge as to what transpired in the city; Either there is an immense gag order upon Widdershins regarding the Seven Deadly Sins Riot (entirely possible, given the importance of the Anchor), or they've been abroad for a while.
Even IF they haven't heard of Sidney's involvement, they WOULD have heard about the University, since that is one of the spots that was directly hit. It is incredibly weird for Sidney to be claiming nothing is going on, besides his academics, when academics are the least noteworthy of things happening at the University these days.
Oh, and recently there was a high-profile incident where a teacher there tried to have their student publicly executed on false charges.
God, Wolfe is so unsubtle. "Glad to see he has such UNDERSTANDING parents who WOULD FORGIVE him minor indiscretions and DESERVE TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH
Considering the fact that Sidney does not seem to be aware of what Wolfe is saying, I do not think that being more subtle will be useful.
Of course, he is not really listening because he is so wrapped up in his own anxieties. I am not sure anything will get through now short of the blunt "Tell them you were kicked out of the University already!", and I doubt Wolfe would be that rude.
So Sid's parents clearly know something is up--I think we can all agree on that--but I'm all in on the idea that they think Sid is dating this charming young man, and is just nervous about introducing him to the family and wondering if they'll understand.
Especially because the case of mistaken identities means they're going to bring this up to him by saying "You're obviously in love with Harry Barber!" and he'll just reflexively say "Yes!! From the day we met!"
I agree, and I'm a bit worried that the actual secret will deeply disappoint them. His anxiety might be justified. The first part of panel 1 reads like uncomfortably high expectations to me. Though I hope I'm wrong and it's just meant as praise. I maaay have issues.
This whole thing would be much easier on Sid if they managed to keep the secret until Harry gets back. Harry gives zero fucks and would shield Sid from any emotional fallout :) (Of course, that might cheapen Sid's character arc here. but hush you, I'm shipping :P )
hff.
Sid.... no
Sid... You might want to order some hones-tea. I hear it helps. It might be a bit bitter, so maybe sugarcoat it a little. But I swear you'll feel much better after having some.