24-04-15 This deserves another chance

[Spidrift]

But why did Jerzy have to lie in the first place?

He didn't. He chose to lie. Jerzy is, it seems to me, someone who always wants to have his cake and eat it - to have a cutely flaky drama queen boyfriend without allowing for the inevitable consequences; to remain friends with the equally flaky Angel, who has a proven record of obsessive jealousy and unjustified possessiveness; to call himself gay and deny being bi while screwing men and women.

He looked cool and likeable at first glance, but he's proved more stupid and self-indulgent with every choice he's made.

And yet, he was struggling hard not to- he actually had asked Ruby to hold him back in order to prevent him from chasing after Gary and acknowledged he still desired him.

And yet, he asked, and let himself be restrained. Or rather, he didn't have to; if you look at that strip, Ruby never lays a finger on Dillon - rather, he grabs her arm. Ruby is too nonplussed and distracted to restrain anybody.

Dillon's character development doesn't mean he's no longer tempted; it means that he sometimes resists temptation. Which, as Ruby more or less tells him later, is what matters. There are definite breakpoints at the key conversations with Ruby, though - the point where Rudy threatens to blackmail him, and the "Oprah" conversation. He seems to have taken her advice to heart both times.

As far as Ray goes - seduction was probably the wrong word to use. But you can't argue that Dillon was elated at the idea of being alone with his boyhood crush with the added bonus of kissing him while giving acting lessons.

Uh, yes. Kind of understandable that he should be elated, when you put it like that, isn't it?

An even better Dillon would have the sense to avoid temptation, but he had the slight problem of not knowing how Ray would react. The fact that everyone in these comics is pretty liberal-minded about homosexuality maybe masks the fact that coming out isn't always easy or 100% physically safe.

True, Dillon hesitated after that first kiss; but given his discussion with Ruby minutes later, how far would things have gone if Ruby didn't accidentally interfere?

Who knows? So far, though, so good. It's not like he converted Ray's discovery of his bisexuality into an excuse to go further, which would have been easy enough.

[Don Alexander]

Well, the sure is strong in this one!

[christopheftw]

Spidrift wrote:

He looked cool and likeable at first glance, but he's proved more stupid and self-indulgent with every choice he's made.

This. His character weakness may be narrowly focused, but it is deep, deep, deep. As Angel has been portrayed so far, no romantic relationship of Jerzy's in which Angel is a part can be anything but destructive and dysfunctional, and there is no safe way for Jerzy to maintain any nonromantic relationship with Angel while dating anyone else, even casually. Jerzy is an undateable mess until he resolves this and happily ever after with Angel is not achievable.

[Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot]

Non Angli, sed Angeli. It would of course be wrong to talk about Angel being bent, though she can be a bit obtuse.

Well, in that dress she's acutie.

[Udyr]

Honestly this is so cute I don't even...

[TwoWayStar]

*grimaces and scrolls past the Dillon hate* Man I hope we're not going to go back to the early days of the comic...that was old when it started.

Anyway, I agree with Spidrift, with the Jerzy+Angel mess of a relationship, ti would be literally impossible for anyone to stay with Jerzy. Even the nicest person has limits, and have some people forgotten Angel has been deliberately sabotaging Jerzy's relationships? Angel just went supernova into trashing his latest because Angel dislikes Dillon so much, but even a normal person wouldn't have been safe. Like I said, the relationship was doomed from the start even if Dillon had been an utter saint. And Jerzy is just sad and annoying now. They should get together so they don't inflict their crap on anyone else lol. [Or Jerzy should seriously stick to his own actions]

[Artemisia]

I really like Dillon...I'm at the point where I want to hit Jerzy. I'm sorry, but he's bi at some level.

[Maechris]

You make it sound like being bi is a reason to hit someone

I can only support what everyone has said so far. Jerzy appears to be the type that wants to have the cake and eat it too. He'll want Angel (who obviously wants more than friendship) to always stick around as a friend with her being the first person he goes to when he needs a rebound (and still claim "ohmigosh I'm so gay" afterwards).

The first time I read this strip, I thought suggestions that Angel has a 'flat chest' are meant to again dilute the character's birth sex and birth-assigned gender, but I guess that was looking into it too far.

[Gholateg]

But why did Jerzy have to lie in the first place? Because Dillon was a jealous, obsessive/possessive freak who hated Angel with a passion. I'm not saying Jerzy was in the right to fib to Dillon (who, by the way, had an inkling that the friend that Jerzy was helping out that night was Angel; which Jerzy didn't confirm or deny. Hell, Dillon went to the club in drag with the sole purpose of catching Jerzy in the act), but Dillon had no right trying to force Jerzy to decide between his boyfriend and his old friend.

Because Jerzy is an ass who refuses to let go of his toxic comedy stalker.
Dillion has *every* right to set his foot down on this, because it's a pretty huge frecking issue regardless of whither Dillion is a drama queen or not.
Angel, To Dillion's face, has stated that Jerzy is theirs.
Angel has, on numerous times, attempted to break them up. Some of those times, Jerzy was aware of it, and did nothing.
Jerzy then LIED. Not 'fibbed' straight out lied, to his boyfriend, who had very distinctly stated he was not comfortable with how Angel was treating their relationship, to go clubbing with said toxic friend.

Just... Take those antics on their own merits. Imagine someone doing that to a character you don't hate, and come back and tell me Dillion wasn't right to be concerned and check up on things.
Yeah, he went overboard with it, but Dillon is overboard personified, and Jerzy knew that and enjoyed it.

Dillon has every right to say "this is not a good relationship, either we break up, or you ditch Angel." Just as Jerzy has every right to say "I'm not cool with that, so we're broken up."

And y'all can be poking Dillian's smooching on ray all you want, Jerzy and angel are about to rail each other like, the next day.
So if Dillion's in the wrong for smooching, what does that make them?

[Don Alexander]

You make it sound like being bi is a reason to hit someone

Almost as good a reason as being het is! ;)

[Artemisia]

I'm more frustrated with the fact that he's in denial than the idea he's bisexual

['J']

But why did Jerzy have to lie in the first place? Because Dillon was a jealous, obsessive/possessive freak who hated Angel with a passion. I'm not saying Jerzy was in the right to fib to Dillon (who, by the way, had an inkling that the friend that Jerzy was helping out that night was Angel; which Jerzy didn't confirm or deny. Hell, Dillon went to the club in drag with the sole purpose of catching Jerzy in the act), but Dillon had no right trying to force Jerzy to decide between his boyfriend and his old friend.

Because Jerzy is an ass who refuses to let go of his toxic comedy stalker.
Dillion has *every* right to set his foot down on this, because it's a pretty huge frecking issue regardless of whither Dillion is a drama queen or not.
Angel, To Dillion's face, has stated that Jerzy is theirs.
Angel has, on numerous times, attempted to break them up. Some of those times, Jerzy was aware of it, and did nothing.
Jerzy then LIED. Not 'fibbed' straight out lied, to his boyfriend, who had very distinctly stated he was not comfortable with how Angel was treating their relationship, to go clubbing with said toxic friend.

Just... Take those antics on their own merits. Imagine someone doing that to a character you don't hate, and come back and tell me Dillion wasn't right to be concerned and check up on things.
Yeah, he went overboard with it, but Dillon is overboard personified, and Jerzy knew that and enjoyed it.

Dillon has every right to say "this is not a good relationship, either we break up, or you ditch Angel." Just as Jerzy has every right to say "I'm not cool with that, so we're broken up."

And y'all can be poking Dillian's smooching on ray all you want, Jerzy and angel are about to rail each other like, the next day.
So if Dillion's in the wrong for smooching, what does that make them?

ok first of all: No, you do not get to tell someone who they can be friends with just because you are in a relationship with them. that behavior is actually one of the clinically recognized warning signs of an abusive relationship. if dillon was unable to deal with his jealousy like an adult, then it was his responsibility to make a clean break for both their benefit; not to try and force his boyfriend into a no-win choice between love and friendship.

second of all: we're not talking about 'being concerned and checking up on things', we are talking about literally putting on a disguise so that dillon could stalk and spy on his boyfriend. (trying to constantly keep tabs on a partner is also a warning sign for abusive relationships, btw). and dillon doesn't get a pass on his unhealthy & controlling behavior, just because 'he's dillon & that's sort of his thing'.

[and to the overly literal-minded people in the crowd, i'm not saying dillon & jerzy's relationship was actually abusive, i'm saying it was unhealthy]

yeah, jerzy did a bad thing by not being up front with dillon. but between them dillon & angel had him in a no-win situation; trying to force him to choose between loyalty to his oldest friend & his new boyfriend. so he chose the third path and tried to get away with hurting neither of them. ironically, it was dillon's lack of trust that led to jerzy's violation that non-existent trust.

and ultimately, between the two of them pulling him in opposite directions, and the complete lack of trust on dillon's part, it was a doomed relationship from the start.

[Artemisia]

J...

While I understand Dillon's trust issues, he was starting to head towards the abusive end of the relationship spectrum and you are right that it was extremely unhealthy. Not that I think that Jerzy's relationship with Angel is very healthy either.

['J']

yeah, i can easily imagine it going there if it'd lasted long-term.

but, that'd be some pretty heavy drama for this strip.

[Artemisia]

At least Dillon is starting to acknowledge that his behavior is bad/creepy/weird.