#900 + 901 – the weather has mostly held out
Posted on May 11, 2016 by meredith
900 pages!! Good lord! Thank you for reading! Just another reminder that I'll be at TCAF this weekend, so come by! Toronto bound in 2 days and counting. *__*

188 thoughts on “#900 + 901 – the weather has mostly held out”

  1. Kyle

    HOOOOO BOY

  2. Lemon

    YEEES EVE GO

  3. kat

    Always trust the thumbs of the inner iguana.

  4. ThEWhit

    People speak of the "lizard brain" in derogatory terms, but sometimes a gross bug just needs to get killed.

    1. bryanew710

      I was wondering what that phrase meant…

      1. Carl R.

        I was hoping it wasn't an insult to Iguanas. They are pretty cool creatures.

      2. nalem

        According to Urban Dictionary, it means "that part of the brain that senses danger, where instincts and gut feelings originate; primal thoughts; subconscious or involuntary processes; the amygdala." So the lizard giving her the thumbs up is just… perfect. I appreciate the imagery used here 😀

    2. jeff

      To be pedantic – it's a great visual on Meredith's part, but actually 'lizard brain' isn't the thing at work here. LB is the very physical, immediate 'fight-flight-fuck' part of the brain. Conversely, the part that's all about nuanced and complicated interpersonal/social interactions is often called the 'monkey brain'. That's the part of Eve's mind that's feeling abused, and making her throw her drink (aka ersatz poo) at Park. (Yes poo – there's a reason we use scatalogical words as swears – it's a compromise between satisfying our monkey brains and not having everyone always sick with dysentery, typhus, ad nauseum).

  5. tastyjustice

    oh boy oh boy oh boy! aww yiiissssss iguana of 'fuk dis shit' callin the shots.

  6. Marp

    Oh no, Eve

  7. Aiica

    YESSSS FUCK YOU PARK

  8. Grant Gould

    That is a super gorgeous lizard and I want my brain to be full of beautiful lizards now even though everything about that plan is super terrible.

  9. Willem DeFriend

    WTF GWEN?! WTF.

  10. tropey

    I don't know how but the iguana perfectly captures that feeling directly preceding a drink in the face.

  11. Calcyn

    YEEEEES ! This fucking bastard got what he deserve !! How this dick can push the blade in the heart of this poor Eve ! Go to hell park ! hope you got burn by the iodine.

  12. Alexis

    Man, Park, I know from your perspective you were just visiting an old friend who happened to be an ex.

    But tact, man, tact.

    1. williamrwinters

      After sex? That's not a friendly visit.

      1. Stephen

        Actually that sounds like a very friendly visit.

    2. Reil

      Sad thing is, from his perspective, he might've been trying to diffuse the whole "You weren't invited to a wedding" thing. "Hey, I could've been doing these things with these other people, but I turned them down! Didn't turn you down, though!"

      Then suddenly, DRINK TO THE FACE.

      1. St_Phloboticus

        Yes, but if he had glanced up from his phone even once, he would have seen that Eve's eyes were full of tears and realized his dismissive blah-blah wasn't helping.

        1. Reil

          Sure, he was being cluelessly tactless, but hey, responding to tonedeaf words with something physical like that is kinda not cool (in any context I can think of). It's weird to me that people are cheering it on here in the comments.

        2. lawrence

          Part of it is that comics (and art generally) work by taking emotional experiences and hyperbolizing and physicalizing them to express them more intensely; people cheer throwing-a-drink-in-a-comic because it has the same "feel" as landing a perfect comeback in real life (whereas all dialogue sounds pretty cool in a scripted artifact so just a cool line might not be so striking without the extra expressive form). That sort of figurative nature of events probably goes double for a comic in which the feeling of "becoming that person who has a car as the sole way people interact with me" is represented by someone becoming a car with boobs.

        3. Arielle

          Have you ever had a guy that you once felt you were in love with show up randomly back in your life, sleep with you, and then you casually find out the same day (from him) that you weren't his first choice of company?

          I hate that I have experienced almost this exact situation and I didn't retaliate with anything stronger than crying when I was alone. It's been almost 10 years and it still bothers me.

        4. channamasala

          A drink to the face isn't a punch or a slap. I'm totally OK with it.

      2. Katerly

        Yeah the whole thing struck me a guy who didn't realize how shitty he was sounding. Like, look at all these people who want my time and I'm here with you!
        But all Eve heard was "You're an afterthought to those who you used to care about a lot."

  13. tankgirlkaty

    Ok, but does your friend still have those tickets? Cause I'll take them

    1. thistemporarylifeblog

      You won't be an ocean away, you'll only be a bathroom away

  14. Wetmang

    The sword has been drawn! Lorena Bobbitt time!

    1. Narf

      Dude, ew. Lol.

  15. william

    Park's "you know how it is in New York" is a fascinating line in the context of this comic. Like, all throughout octopus pie we see this group of people learning about what it means to grow up, and treat each other better, and try to fit human connections in their "scattered, unreasonable life[s]", and Park, who doesn't even frickin' live in New York, is using a stereotype about the city as an offensive bromide… it makes him seem so obnoxious.

    Also, I love that lizard.

    1. Steve B.

      Park grew up in New York.

      1. william

        I know. That's true. But that almost makes it worse–he should know better. It's not New York that causes someone to play lightly with other people's feelings.

    2. Narf

      10/10, best single observation about this comic in the comments section so far

  16. Alexis

    I somehow skipped the page where they fugged and that turned my first impression of this page from Park being tactless to Park being T A C T L E S S, W O A H.

    1. Narf

      Hahaha yeah that's pretty important contextual information for this drink to the face. It would seem a lot less legit without that. 😛

      1. matt w

        Yeah, without the sex this situation could be Eve getting all excited about Park coming back and then finding out that she was just somebody that he used to know. With the sex, Park is being a complete shitheel.

  17. Gavalanche

    WELL! Now we know. Not great times. Seems there's a much bigger problem here then just Park too.

    1. Booga

      One solution though: Go full lizard brain.

  18. Benjamin Hyle

    They got drinks. Park got two, but, let's be honest, he really needed that second one.

  19. Booga

    I think that lizard is my spirit animal.

    …Which explains a lot about my life.

  20. bug girl

    *takes a deep breath, steadies myself*

    YASSSSS QUEEEEEEN
    SLAY BITCH SLAYYYYYY

  21. Mef

    WOOT WOOT!

    This is the best she could do. Not reacting = unfair on her; shouting/yelling, = not cool. But the in-your-face drink originated for situations such as these. It's like a classy slap.

    And you know, I was wondering about Eve's choice of drink. A lack of ice in it is definitely a plus.

    1. Narf

      I'm imagining it to be some kind of fruit-flavoured thing that ends with "-tini." Dunno why, probably the colour.

  22. kibble

    good job, eve

  23. Christopher

    Can I get a quick reminder on who Gwen is?

    1. Andrea

      I think Gwen is the girl in Park and Eve's group of friends that was dating the guy who ran Laser Tag?

    2. April Ludgate

      Unless I'm mistaken, Gwen is one of Eve's old "nerd" friends introduced here: http://www.octopuspie.com/2008-05-05/140-park/

    3. Stephanie

      She's Eve's and Park's friend from way back. I hope she married John from the Funplex. http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-14/369-the-doom…

      1. Christopher

        Awesome, thank you!

      2. Narf

        he's the bomb at moon checkers

  24. cynthia gunsinger

    FINALLY! Go EVE!

  25. Hedgewolf

    Ning used Punch-in-da-face!
    It's super effective!
    The crowd fainted!

  26. Stine

    Park: Smug and Smug Can Be.
    Eve, you're gunna go home, write a sad poem in your journal, and move on.

  27. Mechanisms

    Poor Eve, I was reading some of the old comics (pre-2008) to get a sense of the Park / Eve dynamic as well as her other Asian crew friendships. It's a shame that she wasn't even aware of Gwen's wedding but that just points to how far away she's drifted from that part of her life. Aside from a few cameos it's basically been the Hannah, Mar, and Jane show for like 4+ years- if she had even kept up the veneer of a living friendship with Gwen she presumably would have been invited to the "really small" wedding. I really liked Eve's progression of reactions from panels 3 to 9 and the underlying thought process that must have run through her head..

  28. Bruno Guedes

    Best "lizard brain" representation ever.

    I feel like Park doesn't mean all that blabbering in a bad way, but I know what he means pretty much matters diddly squat right now.

    1. JackPoint

      It's not that Park is being overtly cruel. It's that he doesn't think much of Eve at all. He doesn't care, though he doesn't necessarily hate her or dislike her. He is just apathetic to her except as it pertains to him getting something out of her. Eve doesn't matter to park except in an offhand, side-note kind of way.

      That's the kind of soft-spoken, polite cruelty that gets a drink thrown in a face.

  29. 5-tons-of-flax

    Park woke the dragon.

    1. Arianod

      More like iguana, but YEAH >:]

  30. Kyle H.

    Y'know, I thought Eve was gonna shank a dude with the little plastic sword.
    This works, though.

    1. channamasala

      I loved how the sword became prominent in the drink just before she threw it – she needed something to fight back with, and the drink presented itself to her as her metaphorical weapon. Beautiful!

  31. seann

    Oh lord. Park almost went to A Gloryhole Hamilton.

    1. Bryy

      I love that Park does not see anything wrong with sneaking into a play, let alone watching from the bathroom.

      1. seann

        Well, he talks about how expensive it is, so clearly its a thing and people are monetizing this bathroom.

        I mostly just wanted to say 'gloryhole hamilton'

        1. thistemporarylifeblog

          Gives a whole new meaning to "Satisfied", doesn't it?

        2. adamrocketblack

          and I love you for it

      2. channamasala

        I think it was meant to be a facetious way of referring to really shitty tickets.

        1. thistemporarylifeblog

          Considering this comic once had a bit character who was majoring in Meme Studies, I think this is a joke for us but a reality for Park.

          Fuck that, he doesn't deserve to be in the same ZIP code as Lin-Manuel Miranda

  32. Copycat

    I thought I wanted this, and it's cool that Park got a drink thrown in his face, but Eve is sad and that makes me sad. :c

  33. everybodyhatespark

    Maybe this is a reflection on the demographic of the comic, but can somebody remind me why everybody hates Park, again?

  34. TRA

    Way to go, Eve! Mess him up. Mess him up, Good!
    I love how Eve's "lizard mind", says to her: Yep. Do it!

  35. Robert

    If you're going to dump on a woman in public, don't go to a place where they put little swords in the drinks. It inspires her…

    1. supbruh

      "a woman" ? You think the kind of impulsive aggression involved in drink-tossing belongs to women?
      this comment is full of really loathsome micro-aggressions, and I really hope that you'll evaluate that.

      1. R B

        Oh, sod OFF.

  36. peakpointmatrix

    If you look closely at the reddening background, you'll notice how intensely it matched my rising blood pressure.

    And you know what the worst part is? He'll never know how much he deserved that. He'll leave thinking "what a crazy bitch!!", instead feeling even modicum of self-reflection. The only good out of this is what a fucking wakeup-call it is for Eve.

    And I can't believe how disappointed I am in Gwen. How fucking shitty is that?

  37. peakpointmatrix

    If you look closely at the reddening background, you'll notice how intensely it matched my rising blood pressure.

    And you know what the worst part is? He'll never know how much he deserved that. He'll leave thinking "what a crazy bitch!!", without feeling even a modicum of self-reflection. The only good out of this is what a fucking wakeup-call it is for Eve.

    And how fucking shitty of you Gwen.

    1. Gavalanche

      Yeah, nothing better than finding out "close friends" got married… a year ago…

    2. Mechanisms

      Unless you think it's standard behavior, we haven't seen Gwen in a panel in over 5 years (http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-19/374-goodbye-circle/), and there was a time skip implied in the comic (during Hannah's breakup / running phase). If it was shitty of Gwen, then I'm sure you invite completely estranged pre-college friends who have gone radio silent to all your life events eh? It's more of a sign that Eve has drifted/malaised herself out of her old social group in favor of Hannah, Marek, Will, Mar and Jane.

    3. matt w

      Eh, I don't think this is Gwen's fault. If Eve has been far enough out of touch with her that she didn't know Gwen was getting married, that's on both of them, and Gwen's not obliged to invite her (inviting someone to the wedding is a pretty big deal).

      If Gwen called Eve up for a quick fuck and then dropped that she had just got married, that would be shitty.

      …maybe it helps that I have absolutely no memory of Gwen.

      …oh, and edit feature? If you want to stop filling comments with crappy HTML, that'd be cool.

      1. peakpointmatrix

        I get that, but friendship is a two-way street. Sure, our exposure to Gwen has been minimal all things considered, and perhaps it's a conscious decision in Merideth's storytelling, but we have never seen Gwen make an attempt to contact Eve either. In fact, it seems the burden of responsibility is left solely on Eve as decided by Gwen herself in the brief time we HAVE seen her.

        "You never call me!" http://www.octopuspie.com/2008-05-05/140-park/

        *call me gesture* http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-19/374-goodbye-…

        Hey Gwen, why don't YOU try calling HER too?

        (then there's the logic of picking someone as self-absorbed as Park over Eve? What!?)

        1. Toto Grenvitch

          For all of Eve's bluster she hasn't made any serious effort to keep up with her old friends. She also hasn't made any serious effort to push herself forward either which always leaves her feeling in an emotional state of perma-frost with the past. She keeps backtracking to the old familiar and gets upset that things aren't how she remembered. A problem I relate with a lot.

  38. Anna Gaukel

    Nothing like finding out the hard way you lost your friends in the break up

    1. matt w

      I feel like Eve didn't lose her friends in the breakup, or isn't finding that out just now… she chose different friends that she likes better.

  39. Graham

    Eve's inner iguana looks so nervous. I guess being submerged for 66 million years does that to you.

  40. Amy

    :'( Omg EVE!! My poor sweet baby Eve!! Ugh even knowing this would happen, to see her so sad is so heartbreaking! You go, Eve! Also, bless the lizard. Oh my GOD bless you Meredith Gran.

  41. MsMollyD

    I LOLed at "tickets to a hole in the bathroom wall to watch Hamilton, but it wasn't even the full cast that night, so…"

    1. RockLobster

      Having just spent a fruitless half an hour trying to get tickets for next year, I LOLed, too, but it was a bitter LOL.

    2. ThEWhit

      I just noticed this a day later, and now I've going from hating Park to full-on loathing him.

  42. Dotcom

    I wasn't originally anti-Park when this storyline started, but I fully approve of Eve's instinctual reaction here.

    1. Arielle

      Saaaaaame. In the beginning I was like, "Cmon, give him a chance! I liked him once upon a time! I like Will better but I want Eve to be happy." then he slept with her and my only reaction was "Awww cute she's happy but ouch why didn't she listen to her doctor?!" Now my reaction is, "Park you effing scumbag. I rooted for you. Now I'm back to rooting for Will. Sigh. SO NOT WORTH not listening to the doctor."

    2. thistemporarylifeblog

      I'm with you here. I was gunning for this to be a positive experience, but I know when I'm bested.

    3. Narf

      I really, really, REALLY wanted this to be positive for her. So badly.

      I see a lot of myself in Eve – I feel like we're both people who really want to grow and improve – and we do, in many ways – but somehow find new ways to make the same old mistakes. Those panels where his droning fades and she's trembling and crying? Those effectively capture this feeling.

      "Oh my god, it happened again. I was so sure it was different, but it's not."

      It's a really nasty feeling, and you know, Park isn't 100% of the cause of it, but man did he ever earn that drink in his face. Stop and think about what you're saying and who you're saying it to for longer than three seconds, Park. I mean, Jesus.

  43. tekwitch

    I just want to note that, I really like how Eve is slightly darker than Park. It matters because a lot of times in the media, PoC men are allowed to be very dark, but PoC women are always comparatively lighter. To to see Eve darker than Park even though they're both Asian, is refreshing. 🙂

    Also, YEAH GO LIZARD BRAIN EVE!

  44. metroidlunch

    Instead of just ending it there at "Anyway, yeah… you know how it is in New York" (which really isn't an excuse), Park had to keep going with gratuitous examples to belabor his point. As if he's really just relishing out loud how many social things he's been invited to. Which is definitely very selfish of him. This panel makes it clear he doesn't give a shit about Eve's feelings. Most people would pay more attention to someone they're talking to, if they go as far back as these two did, and just fucked.

    1. Narf

      I feel like ever since the line about churros, Eve has been like… slowly, gradually realizing that Park doesn't know her at all anymore – and I think in the moment that she found out he'd already been here for a while without saying so, she realized all at once that not only does Park not know her at all anymore, he doesn't even seem to care about her at all anymore.

  45. Guest person

    Mmmmmmmm that's good payoff

  46. Doug

    People sure are casual with the hate in the comments. Eve chose to leave a long time ago. A reminder: http://www.octopuspie.com/2009-10-26/337-going-ho…

    1. LDT

      Yeah, and? Her leaving doesn't erase his current self-absorbed selfishness. Dude hasn't talked to his ex in ages, is in the town where she lives, decides to call her for what seems to have been just an easy booty call, and then after the self-serving booty call, yaks her ear off without much regard to whatever has been going on with her for the past couple years, and then continues yakking after she finds out he's been in town for days. (Given this storyline's context, Eve was led to think he was just in town for a hot second & wanted to see her.) Other than telling her he missed her, and fucking her, he's shown little interest in Eve. His behavior has been more about her physical vessel and less the person that dwells within the vessel.

      Sure, he probably didn't mean to come off as self-absorbed or unaware, but that doesn't change the fact that his behavior is both those things. After all, we can't control how people react to us or perceive us.

      1. Doug

        I don't disagree with your diagnosis. From that point of agreement, we diverge.

        Meredith has done a pretty good job of explaining why Park is the way he is. I *get* the character, because I've been the character. Which is not to say I've never bolted awake with self-loathing remembering times when I did it like Park just did.

        I once got slapped in the face for that kind of unconsidered commentary, too. Literally. Full hand. Inna face.

        Where Park goes from here is what's definitive.

        Personally, I shut the fuck up, and after a moment I agreed that I deserved it and apologized, and we went our separate ways, and I thought a lot about what I'd done. I'd like to say it turned my life around, and the truth is it did play a hefty role… but it was another decade or so before I honestly felt like I was a different person and not just a twisted mirage made of my parent's demands and my own sense of inadequacy.

        And I never saw that ex again.

        Of course, we didn't have Facebook or cell phones then. Who knows how that would have changed the outcome?

        1. Laura

          To be fair getting slapped is way worse than a drink in the face and I'm very sorry that happened to you. Women should not be allowed to get away with physical violence that if a man did would be assault. I don't think physical violence is ever a good option and eves reaction is not mature.

        2. Doug

          Maybe? I'm not going to open the door and say "slapping people in the face is cool". That's not true. Despite that, I personally took something good and important away from it. (Also, this was not in the US, so cultural norms were a bit different.) I'm sure there was a better way to learn what I needed to learn, but if we always waited for that better way growth would be a lot slower.

          I guess you could say I feel worse for her than for me. My demons were mine alone, and I didn't have to carry anything forward from her or the larger culture we lived in to battle them.

          Similar thing is going on for me in this strip. I feel really bad for Eve, that she's just drifted into a place where the lizard brain takes over. That's always embarrassing, and cuts pretty hard into the personal narrative of "wisdom bitch" she's been building for herself. The whole time this moment was being set up, too, I was thinking "she's setting herself up". You don't usually get growth from these kinds of moments, all you usually get is closure, and something to feel bad about when you randomly think about it later. (I've never physically hit anyone I was in, or had been, in a relationship with. But I've been Hella vicious with words, and that's not something I'll ever be proud of.)

          I don't feel as bad for Park, yet, because it's a wake-up call. If he does something good with it, this is an inflection from shallow douche to moderately more mature person. As he's written, he needs that pretty bad.

          Of course, if he sulks off and learns nothing, well… I simultaneously feel bad for him, and a touch of schadenfreude whenever his next relationship falls apart because he's too stupid to learn the actually important lessons in life.

    2. Laura

      eves choice in the past doesn't make parks asshole behavior here any less assholey. He continuously told her how much he missed her and made it seem like he had really wanted to see her. He was in town for ages and waited till the last day to make plans with her. He said what he needed to say to romance her and make her feel special, when in reality she was an afterthought to him. No matter what baggage or building up eve came with or did, his actions in this isolated incident were still terrible.

    3. Dotcom

      Has nothing to do with her leaving. I was actually curious why people hated him until someone linked to the college breakup (which I still felt was a bit judgmental since most people change a lot from their early 20s). He seems really arrogant and full of himself. I would be very careful talking about a mutual friend's wedding that my ex had not been invited to if I wanted to stay on kind terms with that ex and/or gave a rat's ass about him/her. I sure as hell wouldn't have brought it up the way he had.

      1. Narf

        It's actually strange for me, because I disliked Park from the outset – for no good reason, really – and actually grew to like him a little bit by the time he left for Chicago. It seems like the time he's spent there have changed him significantly though – either that, or they've just magnified traits he already had, because he seems WAY more arrogant and just rage-inducing than he ever did before.

        That's another good point about the casual mistaken reference to Gwen's wedding. Like, he's not even putting a token effort into this anymore now that he's already gotten to bang her. God dammit, I don't think I've ever been so pissed at the actions of a fictional character before (and this is how you can tell it's a Meredith Gran story)!

  47. Adam

    Everyone's crapping on park here but I feel like this is Eve's screwup. She's the one who broke things off with him and then proceeded to internally torment herself about their relationship. Park, on the other hand, just moved on. He dealt with his negative feelings about their breakup until Eve was just an exgirlfriend in his mind. Which is what any mature adult would do. It's easy to say he's being "insensitive" for being so casual, but it's only because we're aware of Eve's self delusion about their possible future together that we even know why she's upset.

    I feel like the Gwen comment was meant to illustrate this. Maybe It was wrong for Gwen not to invite Eve, but we haven't seen them together for years. And even way back when she was introduced, Eve was in the process of fading Gwen out of her life. Eve's isolated herself from her old friends, it's her own fault she doesn't know anything about them.

    1. Laura

      You're missing the fact that during their entire date or whatever you want to call it, park continually reiterated that he missed her, in a way that made it seem like he had really wanted to see her. This was bullshit considering he called her as an after thought. He hyped her up into thinking this was something more than it was by being romantic and sweet. He acted like she was a priority when she wasnt. It was incredibly tactless on his part. The tears werent really about gwen, it was just piling onto her emotion. He was an ass, even without eve's baggage.

      1. Adam

        He said he missed her a grand total of one time, which is a perfectly normal thing to say to an old friend. If he were intently misleading her about how big a deal this meeting was to him, he wouldn't be so nonchalant about how late in the visit he called her. His cavalier attitude clearly shows that he had no idea how big a deal this was to her. There wasn't any intentional misdirection on his end.

        And I wasn't implying Eve was overly upset about Gwen, it was just brought up in this page to show how out of touch Eve is with her old group.

        1. Booga

          I think the point is he's not thinking about how she might be feeling, he's 100% focused on himself. They had sex, she snuggles him in the cab, and then he proceeds to talk about himself, ignoring the fact that she's obviously getting really upset about it. It's classic Park. I'm not saying every sexual encounter has to lead to a relationship, even with an ex you still have feelings for. They were both willing adults, it happens. But to be so completely tone deaf to the situation is bordering on cruel. And I agree, the Gwen comment was meant to illustrate how they've all grown apart and aren't really "friends" anymore despite what she thinks, but I think we all have people in our past we still think of as a "friend" and it really hurts to have some pretty solid evidence that it's just not true anymore. More fuel for the lizard. In a perfect world, maybe she would have just given him a very crushing exit speech. But lizard brains work in lizard world. There are few words in Lizard World, and most of them are 4 letters long.

    2. Marp

      I agree with you (although reading the rest of the comments is making me wonder if I'm just really out of touch).

      I feel like the worst Park is guilty of here is being self-absorbed and a bit obnoxious. The rest is 100% Eve's hopeful misreading of the situation, and I'm sad for her but I don't think Park's behaviour warrants a drink in the face.

      1. channamasala

        I'm not entirely sure it does either (though I am OK in theory with it happening) but lizard brain gonna lizard brain. Nobody ever said Eve was perfect.

        1. Marp

          True dat 🙂 love this comic.

      2. Birke

        I didn't see Eve being hopeful for much beyond affection. Which she did have a right to expect, and which he did give her while he was having sex with her. And which he abruptly withdrew right when he wasn't getting anything out of it himself anymore.

    3. adamrocketblack

      You are right, that its Eves Fault. Thats why shes upset.
      Its Eve fault she carried a Torch for this Douchenozzle;
      its Eves fault that she was williing to Throw away a decent relationship with a guy who adores her, for this self-absorbed shmuck.

      Its Eves fault that she didnt trust that she was trusting her gut, and it was right;
      when she refused to uproot her life to move across country with this condescending ass.

      Its Parks fault he has a drink in his face. Its Parks fault he cheated on her, then later failed to resolve it and reearned Eves trust.

      Its Parks fault hes so "cavalier" he cant even look her in face at dinner, and see hes making her cry. Its Parks fault he took her out in public and made her feel like garbage.

      Yeah, Eve shouldn't be here, and with him. Now shes knows for certain.

      Its "easy to admit Parks being insensitive" because its true. Isnt this a date?
      You dont treat people like that on a date: disposable. ( and then tell them. )

      It doesnt matter If Eve deserved being snubbed or not. She doesnt deserve have her nose rubbed in it by this Twit; after she just deemed him sponge-worthy, and opened her heart.

      Cavalier isnt an excuse, its an admission of being an asshole.
      The only people who get passes for acting like this have Doctors Notes ( for having impaired Theory-of-Mind ) .

      So yeah Its Eves Fault. Park just took a dump on her afterglow, its Eve's fault she didnt shove a foot up his ass when she had the chance.

    4. Carmen

      Gross.

      Park ignored an old friend in tears in front of him.
      In any context that is shit.
      This comment was gross

    5. matt w

      "She's the one who broke things off with him and then proceeded to internally torment herself about their relationship. Park, on the other hand, just moved on. He dealt with his negative feelings about their breakup until Eve was just an exgirlfriend in his mind. Which is what any mature adult would do."

      This would all be true… if Park hadn't had sex with Eve. It can be fine to wait until late in your visit to a town to call an old friend. Even an ex-girlfriend that you're now treating as an old friend, that can be fine. Screwing her and then making sure she knows that you called her last, because you had other things to do? Not fine.

    6. JackPoint

      It's been a while since I've read the backstory, but didn't park essentially break up with Eve in the snow in a car? Didn't he also cheat on her?

      I mean, it's still her fault for getting into this (because she does know what kind of person Park is, at this point), but… I keep seeing this said about Eve "breaking it off" like she was just not interested, but I can't find the page this part is on. Anyone willing to help out?

      1. Faye

        The break-up in the car was when they first broke up. It was a flashback to when they were younger and when Park was in college and had (at the time) denied that he cheated on her.

        The arc where they break up for a second time is called "Frontwards" found here, in all its awkward glory: http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-07/362-to-disap…

        The summary of it is kind of interesting ("Eve sucks bigtime in this one!") since I think they're kind of both at fault on not really taking the breakup well but eh, I kind of think they're both at fault here in the present arc too, so that's probably just me 😀

      2. soo

        that was a flashback to the first time they broke up – not the break up that happened in the comic "present" which was the storyline in the faux chuck e cheese. Park wanted Eve to move with him to Chicago and Eve basically said no.

      3. Swissaboo

        That was the FIRST time they broke up, back in their College Days. The SECOND time (which was actually during the comic), Eve wasn't willing to go with him to… I believe Chicago?

  48. NemoProprius

    aaaaaaaaaand………
    FUCK YOU, PARK!!!!

    I'd've liked that glass to have some HCl or HF in it.

    1. adamrocketblack

      you had me at "F U" ..
      but then lost me with hydrogen ion solution.

      Thats not something to joke about.

      1. NemoProprius

        Better having and losing than never having… 😉

    2. Narf

      That seems like a… disproportionate response.

    3. thistemporarylifeblog

      I don't think killing someone is an appropriate response to them being a dick.

  49. Ashley

    Oh my god she is crying and he is just tacking away on his phone and talking about all the things he could be doing instead of having lunch with her oh my god. I've never seen someone so casually cruel

  50. Ash

    I seriously don't understand why everyone hates Park so much and why he's treated like a horrible person in this comic. Why should Park be obligated to contact his ex-girlfriend, the girl who broke up with him and labelled him "Nope" in her phone, every time he goes into the city? Why should he contact her when he's in town for a weekend wedding–you know, a weekend that is all about someone *else*? Why SHOULD Eve be upset that she wasn't invited to a wedding of a friend that she herself hasn't bothered to contact in over a year? I can understand feeling stung by the fact that her old friends have drifted away from her, but it's not throw-a-drink-in-someone's-face-worthy. Park cheated on her in the past and didn't tell her about it? Then he did–and they agreed no more secrets on the night that Eve kissed Will and kept that secret? Why is Park the monster?

    1. Sue

      I think that would have been the case if Park had treated her like a friend upon meeting and not immediately have sex with her. As their relationship has substantial history and he led Eve on by telling her that he missed her, it is very tactless on his part regardless of whether it was intentional. Adding to that, he did not even have the decency to look at her while talking about all the other people he had visited prior to seeing her; Eve has been in turmoil over their past relationship and they are meeting for the first time in years, he could not even look up from his phone while talking to her.

      Mind you, Eve is not a blameless lamb, but in this scenario, I think she's definitely justified.

      1. Ash

        Park doesn't know about those feelings of turmoil. And all the other people he's talking about except for Gwen are people he turned down to see Eve. Yeah, it's tactless, but splash-drink-in-face-worthy? I don't think so.

        Regardless of this particular arc, people have been ripping on Park since he was first introduced and, barring "he's ruining my Eve/Will ship", I can't wrap my brain around why everyone commenting here considers him so heinous.

        1. channamasala

          He would know if he had, you know, looked at her.

        2. channamasala

          He's not heinous. He's just like everyone's kinda-crappy, not-awful-person-but-just-kinda-self-absorbed ex. That's what makes him such a great character.

    2. Amy

      Park is not obligated to contact his ex-girlfriend every time he's in the city. But I feel like he IS obligated to think maybe my ex still has lingering feelings for me, that maybe if I want a booty call I should be clear about the nature of that. Else they might get the wrong idea.

      And in that regard I do feel like Eve is also to blame, in that she put herself in a vulnerable position, and then proceeded to not communicate her feelings either. She didn't think, maybe my ex thinks this is just for fun, that if I want this to be a date I should be clear about the nature of that. Else they might get the wrong idea.

      Things left unsaid are so easy to misinterpret, and interpret, to what you want them to be.

    3. RockLobster

      Lizard brain ain't 100% logical. Especially about things like friends you haven't thought about in a while until something happens that makes you realize they haven't been thinking about you, either.

    4. adamrocketblack

      Ok, You can understand feeling stung.
      that makes you a better person than Park. He cant , because her feelings dont matter.
      He doesnt even look up to notice.

      This is Parks MO.
      Park didnt just cheat on her.
      He Dumped her and waited till the last moment to tell her. Eves feelings came last, then too.

    5. knitting_pun

      For me it's not so much about the past and their mutual baggage. It's that for this entire arc he has been completely oblivious to Eve's state of mind. From the churros comment on, it's just become clearer and clearer that he doesn't know or care how she feels right now, even though she is broadcasting it loud and clear. He just keeps blathering on about how cool and important he is without even noticing her reactions.

      And that does tie in to their history. He has always seemed pretty out of touch with what Eve wants and who she is, partly because Eve hasn't been very good at communicating it to him. It's just become painfully obvious in this arc and Eve/everyone else has had enough.

    6. Mikr

      Did you miss the part where they had passionate sex the moment he saw her without even going to eat, and then after when he made a big deal about how much he missed her? Probably not the best idea if she's like 5th on his priority list for his NYC visit.

    7. Bryy

      He contacted her for a quick fuck, dude.

      His ex.

  51. peakpointmatrix

    I also love how the drink glass looks like the hilt of sword, and the drink itself is the blade, as if she picked up and stabbed Park right in the his stupid eye with a giant plastic martini sword.

  52. Dell

    I think something important to point out here is that ignoring all of the preconceptions that each person had going into this (eve with her rekindled romance and park with his outta-town fwb) the real offense here is Park dismissing Eve being upset about being cut out of Gwen's wedding.

    Maybe they haven't talked much, and maybe Gwen tried to contact her, or didn't tell hardly anyone about it because she didn't want to offend any friends by cutting some out and not others… (no problem with park, though, apparently)

    But dude, the girl exclaimed about her childhood friend being married without her, she's on the verge of crying, she's obviously fishing for other ways you fucked up by asking how long you've been in town…

    I mean, this is supposed to be one of your oldest friends? Someone you "know" so well, whom you've apparently missed, and yet here you show that you don't know her at all, or the female gender at all, for that matter. Hell, I'm a dude, and my iguana would've told me to do the same damn thing.

    You done fucked up, Park. Skedaddle.

    1. adamrocketblack

      I think Dismissal is the wrong word. Dismissal is too nice

      Its more condescension with false-envy. ( a close cousin of False-modesty ).
      For it to be a an actual dismissal Park would first have to register her feelings at all. He doesnt even notice or care. Or empathize enough to see it might generate a feeling he might want to dismiss.

      Basically Park has the humble-brag on automatic in liu of having a real personality.

      Hes saying "You are so lucky you you were snubbed" and he doesnt even bother to come up with a reason why he didnt invite her , or think of her earlier.

      It doesnt even occur to him , that he ought to.

      The REALCRIME is that Park let her know ( right afterhooking up ) she is far dead-last in his priorities. And she isnt even worth a mental filter to hide this.

      Its one thing if she was first in his mind. BUt you dont telegraph to a lover they are dead-last.

      1. Faye

        I think this is the true heart of the matter. I'm still on the belief that they both are sort of "wrong" in this situation by misreading what this date was or meant, but I would be offended / pissed if it was so plainly laid out that I was an afterthought for sexual gratification, even if we both understood it to be a casual hook-up.

        I mean, let's use a hypothetical and say both parties understood/assumed this to be just a casual thing with their ex. There's still a degree of respect you would have for each other as a person, especially if they're gonna GO OUT AND HANG OUT TOGETHER for ANY amount of time to catch up or whatever. Even if she had known he'd been there for a while and was leaving that day, the normal consensus would be, "Hey, that was fun! Glad you thought of me and we were able to do this. Great to see ya, hope you have a safe flight!"

        I wouldn't, however, think that anyone would enjoy their partner go on and on and ON about all the other stuff he did and didn't do. It would just reiterate how exactly you were the absolute last thing that he did before leaving the city (literally). Hell, it would reiterate how much they just used you.

        Personally, I know that I would be more than annoyed even if it WASN'T a sexual thing. Just being told that they did SO MANY things that week and even having to CANCEL some stuff JUST to see me and (do whatever else they wanted to do) would make me feel trivial.

        Now, I have no doubt that Park is doing this unconsciously. To him, the sex didn't mean anything (or didn't mean what it meant to Eve, at least) and now he's grabbing a drink because, hey, it'd be shitty to just up and leave, right?

        As others have said: Dude, if you had wanted to be civil AT ALL about this, then you need to bother using some fucking tact, man.

  53. Katie

    He may have known you once Eve, but he doesn't know you now.

  54. Amy

    Wow, seriously everyone? I’m with Ash, a few comments above. I totally love Eve too, but think about it…. this is NOT a mature reaction. Sure, it would have been a good idea to try to gauge Eve’s feelings before jumping all over her, but she obviously didn’t mind it. So I don’t see that he actually did anything *wrong*. A better way to handle this situation would be to talk to the other person. (Note that I’m not complaining about how you are writing the comic Meredith, I love it! Just think that the commenters are putting the hate on a bit much…)

    1. Narf

      It's not a mature reaction – it's a lizard-brain reaction. It's a feelings reaction, a desire to lash out and hurt that which hurt you. It wasn't an appropriate response to the situation, but I really feel like you'd have a hard time arguing that it wasn't, to some degree, deserved.

      Think of the situation. Park and Eve have a long, long history together. They last parted on painful, strange, uncertain terms. Sure, they broke up, but the reasons why were never fully on the table (I'd provide links and more speculative analysis here if I weren't so tired, feel free to debate me on this point haha).

      He's not a telepath and he can't possibly know how long and how much Eve has struggled with her feelings for him over the past few years, but let's all be real. There are only two basic ways this is playing out in Park's head: either he's cognizant of their history, the possible volatility of such a spontaneous hookup, etc. and he's chosen to say "Fuck it," in which case he's an asshole, or he's actually so self-absorbed that he's NOT cognizant of those things, in which case he's still kind of an asshole.

      If he missed her as he claimed he did, why has he never said a word to her before this moment? No, I feel like he got the drink in the face because all at once, Eve saw what his real intentions and feelings about this encounter were likeliest to be, and it justifiably really fucking pissed her off.

    2. kayjayoh_

      "this is NOT a mature reaction."

      Point to where *anyone* has said this was a mature reaction. Anywhere.

      You can't because no one has. This, as has been beautifully noted, is full, hurt, lizard brain reaction.

  55. Brittany

    YAYYYYYY!!!!!

  56. Narf

    Oh sweet Jesus, thank you. GOD, did Park have that coming. He is SO much more insensitive than I even imagined, and I was imagining him being pretty insensitive.

    Poor Eve. 🙁

  57. Tapestry

    Park's going to be completely surprised, and will probably ask Eve if it's her "time of the month." He was already on his phone working on his next hookup.

    I like how the lizard was like, yeah, go for it.

  58. Deff Janiels

    Checking his phone during dinner. What a fucking disgrace. Millenial "love" in a nutshell

    1. thistemporarylifeblog

      Don't you have a lawn to yell at kids to get off of?

      1. R B

        Just because such behaviour is ridiculously prevalent doesn't mean it's not entirely devoid of manners/ asinine. Yeah, 'o tempora o mores', but fuck it; wait until later.

    2. Mike

      Millennials, sure. My boss in his 50s is constantly on his phone, including during meals and when DRIVING. But no, it's only millennials who do this, right.

  59. Samuraiartguy

    Son, ya done frakked up.

  60. adamrocketblack

    I read this page and CHEERED!

  61. Laura

    I don't think eve needs to be with anyone in the end, but I think it will be interesting to see if this leads her to finally be able to take will seriously. I feel like this torch she was holding for park was getting in the way of her being with anyone else more than casually. She hasn't had a real on screen relationship since they broke up. I know thats how it was for me. Until I moved on fully, I couldn't even really commit to the person I was committed to. I always had one foot out the door.

    1. Alaina

      How did you get over it?

      1. Laura

        I started to really break apart how he acted and how I acted in the relationship. After a lot of thought it became clear that, like eve, the version of him I was still in love with was a fantasy. The very real person in front of me stood by me and was more suited for me than the person behind me. I stepped away and stopped talking to him for the most part. He's not a bad person, but he was never the right person. It just took time to figure it out.

  62. pammeh

    Are we forgetting how Eve told park she "can't ever" be with him, after rejecting Chicago.
    http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-09/364-an-answe…

    Given that brush off, and Eve's radio silence, not too weird that Park would assume she wants nothing more than a super cas' FWB situation.

    He is still being insensitive and dumb here, but…you know. Everyone is sometimes. Hopefully he does some serious backtracking and realizing next strip.

    1. matt w

      I feel like that wasn't that she can't ever be with Park under any circumstances, it's that she can't drop her life and subordinate it to his, under his control. Because he knows what's good for her.
      http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-08/363-this-is-…

      (And that, that, is the strip that explains why I never liked Park.)

      1. thistemporarylifeblog

        And just after that, this lovely sendoff: http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-04-10/365-yeah/

        1. matt w

          And I just found this pre-echo:
          http://www.octopuspie.com/2008-05-16/145-it-is-on….

          The difference between Park and Hannah… besides Park coming back for sex… is that Hannah eventually realized that she didn't know what was best for Eve, and could still be her friend.

  63. sirlancelot323

    YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    THIS IS WHAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN

    God, I don't remember Park being this much of a douche. What the hell happened?!

    Also, dat 7th panel. I almost started crying seeing that. Well done, Mer.

    1. Laura

      he got a high paying job as a lawyer and leaned into that lifestyle. Eve works at a grocery store, park probably makes 6 figures. Though its not always the case, that kind of money can really change people. The minutia of being a lawyer can too. His job probably involves dicking people over a good deal and though its not the case for everyone, that kind of behavior can become normalized. Park let his lifestyle change him and not for the better.

  64. Lozzymandias

    Bit of an unwarranted reaction. Gwen has presumably cut off all links with Eve or else she'd know. Although traditionally you shoot the bearer of bad news, so i suppose Park's getting off lightly just getting a drink in the face.

    I might be missing some conetext though, i tend to miss the little bits of this comic.

    1. nalem

      My best guess? Park and Eve's friends picked sides after their break up? That's always rough, especially when they just quit you cold turkey. :C Eve

  65. Tia

    Hole in the bathroom wall for Hamilton…priceless!

  66. nalem

    Ugh! She wasn't invited to her friends' wedding? AND he just "oh yeah" calls her at the end of his trip? JUST FOR SEX APPARENTLY? Then just treats her like an afterthought? Fucking garbage bag GRR

    Also, congrats on 900 pages! :>

  67. Hersteria

    Interesting. I think Park's definitely being a tactless dick, but we all saw Eve careening into this situation. Just picking up his call in the first place was a choice that screamed "BAD IDEA." Now, does Eve deserve to have her feelings hurt? Of course not. But she willfully (and knowingly) went to see him – even acknowledging Hannah's tsk-tsking about it. She knew it was a bad idea, but didn't care. Choices were made, feelings were hurt. Romance is a bitch, y'all.

  68. nalem

    Ugh! She wasn't invited to her friends' wedding? AND he just "oh yeah" calls her at the end of his trip? JUST FOR SEX APPARENTLY? Then just treats her like an afterthought? Fucking garbage bag GRR

  69. HeyOh

    You have a real gift for telling stories with the comics-medium! Developing a unique and interesting style. Keep on trucking :]

  70. Alison

    This is bar-none the most satisfying comic page I have ever read, and the "lizard brain" representation was A++ thank u Meredith

  71. dylan

    Fuck Park but I'm more upset about Gwen not inviting Eve to her wedding 🙁

  72. Mikey Blighe

    This is the most satisfying last panel of a comic strip I've read in years! YES!

  73. rei

    Hahaha! That Brain Lizard thumbs up is the absolute best!

    I love how this arc seems to be paralleling the emotions in this one: http://www.octopuspie.com/2015-12-27/858-oops-bye…

    I am also left wondering at Park calling on Eve…
    Did he notice she wasn't at the wedding and it sparked his interest to find out what was going on with her?
    I like how casual he is with her, like he's making the assumption that this is Eve from years ago… that he's taking for granted her reactions. His obliviousness to her crashing disillusionment.
    It's such a perfect illustration!!!

  74. A fellow

    You know, I think he suggested Churros because it's cheaper and he wouldn't need to sit down and talk to her.

  75. DysprosiumDy

    Holy shit. This page has me coming back again and again. After much deliberation I'm still with the haters here. The way I see it, Park is a huge dick who deserves to get the damn cocktail pin in his eyeball. He got to New York, did tons of things before contacting Eve, then fucks her and tells her he's missed her with a non-casual cab hug, giving her all the wrong signals! Then he (once again) completely ignores her feelings and continues on to be the self-centered disgrace of a human being he's been throughout the entire comic.

    As much as I'd like to see the guy burn, I'm mostly sad about Eve. Once again, Meredith has done a stellar job at invoking feelings and this particular arc has influenced me heavily. Thank you so much for that. <3

    P.S. Don't get me wrong. Eve should not have gone on this date, but that still doesn't make Park any less of an asshole here. I hope we never see him again, unless something terrible happens to him.

  76. Tree

    This is a sort of a side issue, but I really hate when you're not invited to something and people try to brush it off as 'oh it wasn't fun anyways'. Thanks asshole.

  77. humanoftheyear

    i love that the drink is a envy green, almost as if she's jealous she can't be the one who feels as indifferent as he does in this moment. break those old lizard brain pathways, sis!

  78. lily

    Please Please PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! make the last panel with the iguana thumbs up a poster,I feel I need it in my life. <3 (Please?) @meredith

  79. Claire

    Just saw the lizard has a thumbs up yaaaaaaaas

  80. Anonymous

    Oh please, I need that lizard brain thumbs up image on a t – shirt immediately! Oh please, oh please!

  81. 990

    I don't want to start a huge discussion here, but this entire arc made me wonder how people would react if the genders were reversed.

  82. Cynthia

    I keep seeing a reference to when Park cheated on Eve. I don't recall that. When did that happen?

  83. Nice Idiot

    DUDE. PUT DOWN. YOUUUR PHONE.
    If everything else wasn't bad enough you're also ignoring her? When she's CLEARLY UPSET? A drink to the face is you getting off lightly. Go for the kill, Eve.

  84. novaprince

    Park has made Eve cry. ACTUAL TEARS. HE. MUST. DIE.

  85. KitKats

    And Eve is right back in that ferris wheel, left behind/completely separated from her friends, alone, wondering how *little* she mattered to the people she loved.

  86. naya

    no one really liked park

  87. David

    They got drinks. Park got two, but, let's be honest, he really needed that second one.

  88. Harry

    Ok, but does your friend still have those tickets? Cause I'll take them

  89. Jill

    Fuck yeah!!! Let’s fucking go Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best comic ever

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