Tom Sewell

I wonder if Tedd in one of his catgirl forms could talk with Jeremy. I'm also wondering what spell is going to go on that wand.

Perhaps another indication that Voltaire is crazier than Pandora.

Dan has made a peculiar choice to illustrate that Tedd's Dad has powerful allies when you look at this page. Arthur is saying that "the problem" could be solved "for decades" with one more incident. If Arthur has figured out or been tipped off that Tedd is a seer and what that means, then a fully operational Tedd is not what is wanted to suppress magic for decades. Perhaps Arthur is another mortal being guided by Voltaire?

If Noriko had a child by Adrian, and the child is a girl, and Adrian is also the real father of Susan and Diane, that girl would be a third sister, wouldn't she?

Again, we've only seen one elf, unless there are others who don't know they're elves. I can think of two candidates.

I suspect Dan's conception of Pandora has changed quite a lot. My "long nap" theory is a way to justify how monstrous she was behaving back in Sister II and how much more caring and responsible she's been acting since the beginning of this arc--and how much better she behaved before Blaike's death. However, it doesn't look to me that Pandora's conflicting feelings about what she should do or not do for her son is really any different from the conflicting feelings mortal parents who love their children have. What's really causing her special problems is the conflict between the restrictions on Immortal relations with humans and her attachment to her son. Let's look at the four Immortals we've seen so far. Old Jerry was essentially like pre-Blaike Pandora: The hammers were essentially a prank, more elaborate than chicken hats, but harmless. Helen and Demetrius have set themselves a mission, and they've made two questionable decisions (using Susan and Nanase in France, and getting distracted from guarding Elliot by the vampires and not finding a way to bring in professional help, that is, Dad's Government Business. But they don't seem to be on a vendetta like Pandora's werewolf extermination campaign, so they fall between Old Jerry and Scary Pandora. Voltaire has some goal, but exactly what it is, we don't know yet. He obviously doesn't like all the restrictions Immortal law place on what he can do with mortals. But why did he inform Sirleck about Adrian? While Sirleck might take that as meaning that Helena is Adrian's mother, Voltaire knows that his mother is Pandora. Why? Because Voltaire set up Pandora with the image on Dex's amulet. Whatever Voltaire's ultimate goal is, it probably involves targeting Pandora. I wouldn't be surprised to see Voltaire to appear again. A good relationship between Pandora and Tedd probably doesn't figure in his plans.

You don't have any kids, do you?

Consider how Mr. Raven was acting in his early appearances. Since he's the only elf we've seen, for all we know, he's the sanest elf in the world.

Well, boys and girls, first of all, "Oedipus" is a pun. It sounds like the Attic Greek phrase for "I know". Second, we don't know what Sophocles was really trying to put across when he wrote the play. It's quite possible it was subtle political satire. A bit earlier, a playwright wrote a play about recent events that mightily offended the men in power in Athens of the day, and he was punished. Thereafter plays were either presented as farces or retellings of legendary times. Writing a play about a legendary know-it-all who didn't know the most important fact of all was a lot safer than writing a play about a contemporary know-it-all such as, say, Pericles. Third, how about getting back to our Tedd and away from "Teddipus"?

There is may be some indication that Sarah's parents are aware of the kind of things Tedd gets into in what they required for that trip with Susan and Grace. Also, they might have just noticed when Tedd turned Sarah into a catgirl who could only say "meow". Like Nanase's mom, they might be pretending they don't know what's really going on.

Nah, it was under R&D.

Um, no. You're forgetting Voltaire a mere five days ago, Moperville time.

Much more, I think, given how Tedd reacted to Pandora walking through that table. I think Pandora's best hug-strategy is to take form as a small winged fairy and hug Tedd like Nase hugged Sarah. ------ I wrote the response above last night, but forgot to send it. Nothing like starting my day with another head-slap.

Tedd's collapsed on the couch. That makes hugging kind of awkward.

Another point in favor of withholding judgement, or at least keeping it to yourself.

I kind of think Dan isn't going to dump on Noriko. Here's something to consider: Unless Not-Tengu is wrong, Noriko has at least one other child, and that could have a lot to do with why she's been so absent from Tedd's life.

I love the way Ellen's face and hair morphs into Nanase's over the four panels of that semi-agnostic prayer.

News to me, and I went to a Catholic high school and a Jesuit college. Except for the possibly divine nature of guardian spells and Nioi believing in souls and reincarnation, I don't think religion has really been a part of EGS. I doubt it ever will be. How does Pandora see godparency anyway? Not spelled out for us, is it?

Band-aids are supposed to have been invented by a man who married a woman who was always cutting her fingers in the kitchen. I guess he never figured out she was cutting herself in hopes he'd offer to try his own hand in the kitchen.

Pandora was angry with Edward because she thought he cut Adrian out of Tedd's life. But I don't believe Pandora has ever brought up Noriko. I may be channeling Agent Wolf now, but why is Noriko not dead now? A mother who deserts her own child? I think it's a reasonable conjecture that if Noriko didn't have another child, Noriko would be dead.

Anyone remember the Get Smart TV series from the 1960s? It was a spy comedy. Maxwell Smart's cover was as a greeting card salesman. James Bond posed as a bird expert. Actually, Ian Fleming named James Bond after an actual bird expert because he wanted the dullest, most uninteresting name he could imagine. A book by the real James Bond is actually used as a prop in one of the Sean Connery Bond movies. And considering that web services have been killing off travel agencies much like Netflix killed Blockbuster for years now, Dan just might have picked that cover for Noriko for precisely the same reason as Mel Brooks made Maxwell Smart as a spy posing as a greeting card salesman: implausibility.

A night's sleep has brought forth a twist or two on my speculation about Nanase and Akiko having an arranged marriage. What if the original bride was supposed to be Noriko? Let's posit that the never-seen-or-even-mentioned parents of Noriko and her sister were not happy with Noriko hooking up with Edward and arranged a pre-emptive marriage. But Noriko marries Edward anyway, maybe with a little help from Adrian? And maybe Nanase's mom would have kind of liked to hook up with Edward, which further helps to explain why Mrs. Kitsune takes Edward's side and seems to have very little use for her own sister. Also, it reinforces the ambivalence she feels toward Nanase, who has grown up to look and perhaps act so much like Noriko. Maybe taking up with Ellen has actually helped soften Mrs. Kitsune's attitude because that, at least, differences Nanase from Noriko. And this supports the marginal position Nanase's dad seems to occupy. Nanase doesn't seem to be very impressed with him. Yeah, it's all conjecture, but I think it's an interesting and plausible backstory, so that's what I'm going with unless Dan deigns to say otherwise.

You err. SNAFU was quickly joined by a whole family of FUs. There was even a Private Snafu cartoon series voiced by Mel Blanc. Well, yes, although she could be younger than Noriko. Heck, Noriko could be older than Edward. But Tedd and Nanase are indeed around the same age. Forget the "still in High School" hypothesis.

You do realize that "Foobar" is really "FUBAR" which is a WWII shorthand for "F___ed Up Beyond All Recognition." It was also the title of an episode of Ken Burns The War. For destinations that are literally out of this world? All this talk about Noriko and her family has stirred up my curiosity about Mr. Kitsune. There's no evidence that he even speaks English. It is extremely rare to find Americans of Japanese descent who can speak Japanese, so Mr. Kitsune would most likely be from Japan if Dan has really thought out his backstory at all. That may imply an arranged marriage, still not uncommon in Japan. Perhaps Noriko deserted Tedd even before her sister finished high school. That seems like a stronger source for the bad press she gave Nanase about him than just being a demanding teacher.

If Noriko is protecting people just fine in France, how come Helen and Demetrius recruited Susan and Nanase? Possibly she was two busy at the time half-blinding Not-Tengu, or recovering from that battle. But we're not sure when that was, or even if it was really in France. Ellen assumed Not-Tengu was French, but one "Bonjour" does not a Frenchman make.