History WMG / ForBetterOrForWorse

This explains why Anthony was strangely miserable ''before'' even marrying Therese, when he first told Liz about her. He could have easily [[WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis spared everyone the heartache]] by simply refusing to bow to his father's wishes, but instead chose to drag Therese into a marriage he didn't even want. This may overlap with the above WMG about the failed OperationJealousy, if he tried confiding in his father figure John and was encouraged to go along with it.

A lot of the reason that Deanna didn't want to simply live together is that she was trying in her own blundering way to consider her mother's feelings; since Michael [[ItsAllAboutMe couldn't understand why the emotional well-being]] of others should get in the way of his having a live-in maid, he got some woman to pose as a minister to make Deanna think that she was really married so that he could get what he wanted when he wanted it. Granted, that had the effect of making Mira's complaints [[StrawmanWithAPoint valid but that]] never stopped the Pattersons [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality from thinking of her as a monster.]]

By his own admission (though he didn't ''recognize'' it as such), Anthony is extremely passive-aggressive and tries to manipulate others without understanding how they tick. He has a narrow, conservative mindset and doesn't know how to deal with alternate points of view. Therese's reluctance to start a family stymied him because FemaleSuccessIsFamily -- isn't it? Thus, he lied to her, expecting that [[UnfortunateImplications her female instincts would override all her stated plans and wishes]] once [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter their child was born]]. When Francoise was born, he was stunned when Therese did precisely what she ''said'' she would do and expected him to keep his promise to her... He made ''her'' out as the villain because she wasn't doing exactly what he wanted without being told.

Elly starts out as a miserable housewife who despises having to think about [[ItsAllAboutMe anyone other than herself]] and sticks with her family mainly because she feels she ''has'' to because FemaleSuccessIsFamily. A Type C StepfordSmiler, she conceals her instability as best she can, using passive-aggressiveness as her primary method of venting. By the end of the series, however, she has convinced herself that she really ''was'' the Best Mother ever, despite being painfully aware of her flaws early on. The process repeats with Elizabeth, and John, Michael, Connie and Anthony had similar progressions, growing convinced in the lies they told themselves to cope with their SelfInflictedHell. Sort of a "Life is what you make of it" [[AnAesop Aesop]], just GoneHorriblyWrong.

Throughout the strip, Elly has attempted all sorts of things to escape the tedium of being "just a {{Housewife}}", something she's repeatedly shown to hate despite [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily it supposedly being the only real gauge of her worth]]. She also constantly assumes and fears John having an affair. Factor in her blatant {{Hypocrisy}} and the strip frequently [[HypocriticalHumor showing said hypocrisy]], and we come to the conclusion that Elly may have done exactly what she fears ''John'' might do to her: had an affair. Given her wishy-washiness, it likely didn't last long... just long enough that she felt guilty enough to sleep with her husband shortly afterwards. (Given the unusual interest she takes in [[CasanovaWannabe John's friend Ted]] in the [[AllThereInTheManual monthly letters she writes]], we can [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys safely guess as]] to whom her partner was.)

He pleaded for Elizabeth to "wait for him", yet Therese was vilified further for ''daring'' to divorce him. But if he wasn't planning to divorce Therese ''anyway'' so he could get together with Liz, he must have had some other plan in mind for getting rid of his unwanted wife... [[InsaneTrollLogic Thus]], MurderIsTheBestSolution. Therese was always going to work instead of [[StayInTheKitchen staying home]] [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily like she should have been]]; therefore, an oh-so-tragically-random mugging in the parking lot and her brutal murder would only be [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her just reward]] for ''[[AmbitionIsEvil daring]]'' [[AmbitionIsEvil to have goals and dreams outside]] her assigned gender role. Plus, this would mean they'd get the insurance money, ''and'' he'd come off as an [[SympatheticSue even more tragic character]], the poor pitiful widower left raising his baby girl all by his lonesome self... until Liz got her act together and threw herself into his waiting arms.

[[WMG: The New-Runs were created so the author could avoid bashing [[TheWesley Anthony]].]]

* Consider also: in RealLife, Lynn was divorced and had a son when she met her second husband, who became the basis for John Patterson. [[WordOfGod She's also stated]] that the courtship of Liz and Anthony was based on their relationship... so Anthony could very well have become ''another'' stand-in for Lynn, just {{Gender Flip}}ped! [[TheWesley Anthony]] maps to Lynn, Therese becomes her demonized ex, Francoise is her young child, and Liz becomes her "ideal mate" -- someone who (unlike her ''second'' ex-husband) is willing to give up everything in a heartbeat just for the privilege of being with 'her'.

* So the series' decline was due to SeasonalRot? Anthony's [[TheWesley Wesley status]] could also be explained by him knowing the writers; perhaps he [[BecomingTheMask actually fell for Elizabeth]] and pulled strings to get them together. Fan reaction to this led to a BrokenBase and massive controversy; message boards lighting up with [[FlameWar intense debates]]... this could even tie into April breaking the masquerade by finding out about it on the internet, and the show being canceled after the wedding.
** Could be. Or...well, on TheTrumanShow the director tried to manipulate events so Truman would fall in love with a woman ''the director'' chose, and when he fell in love with a different woman, that woman got fired. Could be something similar here, with Anthony being the person the directors arranged for Elizabeth to marry, and all the other men Elizabeth genuinely loved until the directors forced them into being scum so Elizabeth would marry Anthony. This would explain both his BigDamnHeroes moment (make Anthony look heroic so Elizabeth would fall in love with him) and all the [[ShillingTheWesley shilling]] by everyone else. This ''might'' even explain his marriage to Therese; have him marry someone that makes Elizabeth look good so everyone's glad when he divorces her and marries Elizabeth. That, and they found ratings went down during Michael and Deanna's courtship since it was so boring. (Yes, they arranged Michael's marriage too.)

Rather than face reality and make any effort to [[ResuscitateTheDog repair things]] or just make a decent life for herself, Elly became mired in self-pity and blaming everyone but herself for what happened. Over the years, she constructed an elaborate fantasy -- one where she could continue to "suffer" through martyring herself raising a family and insulting her own appearance, while at the same time convincing herself that all the agony was worth it and she was the Best Mom Ever. A massive contridiction, to be certain, but this theory isn't based on the imagining of a woman in fine mental health.

[[WMG: ''Stone Season'' and Michael's other works are the ''For Better or Worse'' 'verse's equivalents of ''{{Twilight}}''.]]

Throughout the strip, Elly has attempted all sorts of things to escape the tedium of being "just a {{Housewife}}", something she's repeatedly shown to hate despite [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily it supposedly being the only real gauge of her worth]]. She also constantly assumes and fears John having an affair. Factor in her blatant {{Hypocrisy}} and the strip frequently [[HypocriticalHumor showing said hypocrisy]], and we come to the conclusion that Elly may have done exactly what she fears ''John'' might do to her: had an affair. Given her wishy-washiness, it likely didn't last long... just long enough that she felt guilty enough to sleep with her husband shortly afterwards. (Given the unusual interest she takes in [[LeisureSuitLarry John's friend Ted]] in the [[AllThereInTheManual monthly letters she writes]], we can [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys safely guess as]] to whom her partner was.)

[[WMG: Anthony lied about Therese ending their marriage by having an affair.]]

In an inversion of ParentalMarriageVeto, Anthony's father approved of the driven and ambitious Therese, seeing in her the qualities he'd wanted out of his son. Thus, in a mirror of how Elly and John wanted Liz to get with Anthony, his dad pushed and pressured him to pursue Therese. Anthony, being Anthony, was too weak-willing and passive-aggressive to stand up for himself. He didn't have any other obvious romantic prospects at the time; Elizabeth was off teaching in First Nation, and they'd parted as 'JustFriends'.

* She ends up living in Calgary and becoming friends with the one person that can sympathise with her: April.

I was reading the FixFic page, and it made note of a group of bloggers (no link, sadly) that have as a recent development a bungled murder attempt on John by a third party, leaving Elly on the point of death, with the new-runs as their logic behind this. It doesn't sound too implausible, though it doesn't explain the new-runs of non-Elly strips.

Particularly glaring when John was the one most willing to talk up Anthony while Anthony was married - now why would someone supposedly happily married advocate an affair with a married man? Even if he thought the Anthony/Therese marriage was a bad one, advocating an affair isn't high up on the moral chart... unless you're also open to affairs, as Johnston's ex-husband obviously was.

At the same time, it's understandable why that would be difficult to face and own up to - after a long marriage, even if not always a happy one, it may be difficult to face that it wasn't faithful on all sides. Johnston struggled to admit it for years, and it came out through the strip.
* Hm, this makes me wonder if this had anything to do with when she wanted another child, and therefore the creation of April. BabiesMakeEverythingBetter, anyone?

At some point during the lead-up to the fancy church wedding meant to placate her, Mira had figured out it was a smoke-screen to hide the fact that [[MyOwnPrivateIDo Michael and Deanna]] had eloped behind her back; not wanting to face the fact that the [[ManipulativeBastard daughter she'd thought]] she raised to do the right thing was the motive force behind it, she'd [[PayEvilUntoEvil staged the most elaborate ceremony]] possible to force the cheapskate Pattersons who'd corrupted her youngest to confess in order to avoid picking up the tab. When that didn't work, she'd hit on the plan of using [[StraightGay Lawrence's sexual orientation]] against the Pattersons as a desperation measure; she'd hoped that they'd have accidentally called Lawrence by the name of Mike's real best man Gordon while trying to stick up for their [[TwoferTokenMinority friendly neighborhood florist.]]

[[WMG: ''Stone Season'' and Michael's other works are the For Better or Worse verse's equivalents of ''{{Twilight}}''.]]
* ...oh my god, this is brilliant. That would explain why it-in a sane person's opinion-isn't that good but there are a lot of fans.

''Stone Season'' and his other books have not fared as well as he tells his family they have; he lies to them about their success because [[WellDoneSonGuy he wants Elly to be proud of how well he's living her dream]]. This is why he and Deanna live so cheaply even after his "incredible success".

She isn't aware of this power, though it gradually grew stronger over time -- strong enough to influence the behavior of those around her and twist things about to suit her desires. All three of her children were able to sense that something was off about Milborough and attempted to escape; only April was able to completely escape, however, as Elly's overdramatic "I QUIT MOTHERHOOD!" inadvertently renounced her sway over her.

As we know, [[BirthDeathJuxtaposition Grandpa Jim died not long]] after his namesake was born; it only stands to reason that a member of Anthony's side of the family also had to die to balance the scales.

Throughout the strip, Elly has attempted all sorts of things to escape the tedium of being "just a {{Housewife}}", something she's repeatedly shown to hate despite [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily it supposedly being the only real gauge of her worth]]. She also constantly assumes and fears John having an affair. Factor in her blatant {{Hypocrisy}} and the strip frequently [[HypocriticalHumor showing said hypocrisy]], and we come to the conclusion that Elly may have done exactly what she fears ''John'' might do to her: had an affair. Given her wishy-washiness, it likely didn't last long... just long enough that she felt guilty enough to sleep with her husband shortly afterwards.

''Stone Season'', judging from [[AllThereInTheManual its samples]], is a SoBadItsHorrible 'Poor Woman In Misery' slogfest where the [[DesignatedHero heroine]] passively endures her CompleteMonster husband's insanely over-the-top abuse until [[LaserGuidedKarma he's finally removed from the equation]] through no effort of her own. Anti-male ''and'' anti-femimist; a perfect fit for their brand of "entertainment"!

In the actual strip, Michael repeatedly shows a disturbing lack of empathy for others, and has to ''relearn'' that "bad things don't just happen to other people" repeatedly over the course of his life... and [[AesopAmnesia the lesson never sticks]]. Expanding this to his already horrible writing, and it seems unlikely he'd actually ''recognize'' that the pain his heroine was enduring was over the top -- and, more importantly, '''WRONG'''. He treats his ''own'' wife like crap; he may not be ''physically'' abusive, but mentally and emotionally? ''Naturally''. After all, it's what he grew up with and sees as ''normal''.

The strip also established that he was having Elly read over his manuscript as she went. While she enjoyed the torture his female lead went through, finding it "appropriate" since she views ''herself'' as a martyr, it eventually sunk in that Michael might be aiming for a DownerEnding that took her torment to a logical conclusion with her eventual demise, or worse: being stuck with her CompleteMonster husband forever. So Elly impressed upon him the need for the story to have a "[[EsotericHappyEnding happy ending]]", leading to the DeusExMachina he eventually came up with.

* Alternately, he wasn't even going to make any arrangements; he just ''assumed'' she'd get [[KarmicDeath what was coming to her]] soon enough and he wouldn't have to lift a finger. The fact that she divorced him instead of getting herself killed ''still'' shocked him, because he'd assumed [[EvenEvilHasStandards she'd stay with him despite his not making any effort to help their marriage work]], just because that's the way he thought the world worked.
** Reverse the gender roles and this is the plot of Michael's book "Stone Season"; an abused wife sitting around until her husband is killed through no effort on her part.

By his own admission (though he didn't actually ''recognize'' it as such), Anthony is extremely passive-aggressive and tries to manipulate others without really understanding how they tick. He has a very narrow, conservative mindview and doesn't know how to deal with any alternate points of view. Therese's reluctance to start a family stymied him because FemaleSuccessIsFamily, isn't it...? Thus he blatantly lied to her, expecting that [[UnfortunateImplications her female instincts would override all her stated plans and wishes]] once [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter their child was born]]. When Francoise was born, he was stunned when Therese did precisely what she ''said'' she'd do and expected him to keep his promise... and made ''her'' out as the villain because she wasn't doing exactly what he wanted without being told.

While both of the Patterson parents have this problem, it's far more prevalent in Elly than it is in John -- and more importantly, because the strip focuses on ''her'', the audience is meant to feel sorry for her while deriding John for the same flaws. Elly is a poor, put-upon housewife because she doesn't understand John or the kids; meanwhile, John and the kids are ''horrible'' because they don't understand her. If we were meant to see Anthony as being similar to John, then he'd be ''unsympathetic''; since we're meant to praise him, the parallel with Elly is stronger.

At some point during the lead-up to the fancy church wedding meant to placate her, Mira had figured out it was a smoke-screen to hide the fact that [[MyOwnPrivateIDo Michael and Deanna]] had eloped behind her back; not wanting to face the fact that the [[ManipulativeBastard daughter she'd thought]] she raised to do the right thing was the motive force behind it, she'd [[PayEvilUntoEvil staged the most elaborate ceremony]] possible to force the cheapskate Pattersons who'd corrupted her youngest to confess in order to avoid picking up the tab. When that didn't work, she'd hit on the plan of using [[StraightGay Lawrence's sexual orientation]] against the Pattersons as a desperation measure; she'd hoped that they'd have accidentally called Lawrence by the name of Mike's real best man Gordon while trying to stick up for their [[TwoferTokenMinority friendly neighborhood florist.]]

At some point during the lead-up to the fancy church wedding meant to placate her, Mira had figured out it was a smoke-screen to hide the fact that Michael and Deanna had eloped behind her back; not wanting to face the fact that the daughter she'd thought she raised to do the right thing was the motive force behind it, she'd staged the most elaborate ceremony possible to force the cheapskate Pattersons who'd corrupted her youngest to confess in order to avoid picking up the tab. When that didn't work, she'd hit on the plan of using Lawrence's sexual orientation against the Pattersons as a desperation measure; she'd hoped that they'd have accidentally called Lawrence by the name of Mike's real best man Gordon while trying to stick up for their friendly neighborhood florist.

At some point to the lead-up to the fancy church wedding meant to placate her, Mira had figured out it was a smoke-screen to hide the fact that Michael and Deanna had eloped behind her back; not wanting to face the fact that the daughter she'd thought she raised to do the right thing was the motive force behind it, she'd staged the most elaborate ceremony possible to force the cheapskate Pattersons who'd corrupted her youngest to confess in order to avoid picking up the tab. When that didn't work, she'd hit on the plan of using Lawrence's sexual orientation against the Pattersons as a desperation measure; she'd hoped that they'd have accidentally called Lawrence by the name of Mike's real best man Gordon while trying to stick up for their friendly neighborhood florist.