History YMMV / ForBetterOrForWorse

* EnsembleDarkhorse: April, Candace, and some one-shot background characters. TheComicsCurmudgeon has picked up on a few odd-looking weirdos in background scenes and pointed them out.

** The fireman with the morose expression, declaring "Some things just aren't worth dying for," in his InnerMonolgue became on the Website/SomethingAwful forums.

** NeverLiveItDown / BileFascination: Almost all of the tropes on this page and a good chunk of the main page are about said later years. The earlier strips weren't actually that bad.

** If you ever read the "supplementary materials" on the official website... it's actually '''worse''' (no pun intended). Anthony and Thérèse's fathers basically set them up and force them together. At one point, Anthony's father tells him that "Thérèse isn't the kind of woman you just mess around with - you don't do something with her unless you're willing to back it up" (i.e. marriage). The incident that prompts this sterling parental dictate? Anthony and Thérèse both go to the same music festival (each as part of a group of friends!) meet up ''by chance'', and spend some of the weekend hanging out and renewing their childhood acquaintance through their fathers working together. It's very clear that nothing more intimate happened than dancing together (in public) and sitting side-by-side talking (again, in public with witnesses). Later on, when their relationship has "progressed" to an occasional public dinner (and nothing more) they're both pretty much ambushed by their fathers and told they have to marry to avoid scandal (note: according to Anthony's "behind the scenes letters" they haven't done anything scandalous... by ''Edwardian'' standards). It's pretty clear that Thérèse's father wants a male heir to take over the business, and Thérèse is going along with it because she wants to make her father happy, and that she hopes to change his mind about her being the best candidate. Anthony is going along with it... um, as far as I could tell, because he has nothing better to do.

* TheWoobie: John's cousin [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave Fiona]] surprisingly becomes this when one reads her backstory.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Frequent, and not at all subtle, especially in the later years. How much of it can be justified by SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped is a matter for considerable debate among the readership. One big one featured the developmentally-disabled Shannon literally ''standing on a table'' during lunch hour to lecture everyone on how to treat the disabled with respect. This was, of course perhaps something that ''needed'' to be said (it was prefaced with a kid going "coo-coo! coo-coo!" at the Special Ed lunch table).

*** Thankfully, it resolves later on.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Elizabeth marrying [[CreatorsPet Anthony]] after being StrangledByTheRedString. Arguably, the "new-runs" make it worse by driving home the notion that she's in for the same SelfInflictedHell her mother goes through.

* MisaimedFandom: Thérèse, Anthony's wife, is described as being jealous to the point of paranoia regarding Anthony's contact with Liz. Unfortunately, since the comic actually shows her as being ''right'' to be jealous (and Anthony was hated by a lot of fans anyways), a lot of the readers had sympathy for her and not her husband. Even when the comic ended, despite numerous attempts by the strip to make her more and more nasty, most still felt she was unfairly persecuted.

* TearJerker: Farley's death was this for some; especially since you don't really expect NewspaperComics to talk about stuff like ''this''. Charles Shultz was so mortified by the idea that he joked "I'm gonna have Snoopy get hit by a ''truck'' -- and I'll get a whole lot more publicity than ''you'' will!"

** Mr. B's death. Unlike Farley's, April had to witness every last second of her bunny's passing.

*** Thankfully, it quickly resolves.

** Grandpa Jim slowly succumbing to health conditions related to aging.

** Lawrence's coming out storyline has him telling his parents which goes far worse than you'd expect for two major supporting characters: Connie refuses to accept ittells Greg to "talk some sense into him". Instead Greg throws his step son out into the cold telling him to go live "where people like you live. " Laurence's response is absolutely heartbreaking.

* CreatorsPet: Anthony -- one of the most universally-despised Pets out there (particularly on TV Tropes). Numerous characters (especially Elizabeth's parents, who relentlessly ship them together, along with Liz's friends) extol his praises, barely anybody says anything bad about him, and even Johnston's own ''Anthology Collections'' explain how wonderful he and men like him are. She explains that it's those "skinny nerdy kids" like Anthony that turn into the "best catches", and that she's gone to her class reunions and noticed this same thing! Essentially, Anthony Caine is what Lynn imagines the "Perfect Husband" to be -- a dull, unadventurous, gawky, unambitious man.

** Sympathetic women in the strip are generally expected to get married and housewives (with a few exceptions -- even many ''background'' characters are married off in the supporting materials), which is explained in-universe as a thankless, difficult, aggravating job. So it can be taken as "a woman's duty is to become a {{Housewife}} even if you hate it".

** Is Elly Patterson a long-suffering mother who never receives due praise for holding her home and family together, or does she deliberately make things more difficult for herself because she has a martyr complex? Are her children completely uncontrollable brats, or is she too self-absorbed and caught up in [[{{Wangst}} self-pity]] to tend to their emotional needs? Is she the OnlySaneMan and a true gift to her community? Or is she a complete ControlFreak, a pillar of negativity and hatred imposing her twisted vision of what's 'good, true and right' on everyone around her? Did she raise her family well, or cause them to turn out as nasty and self-centered as she?
** April Patterson: bratty teen, or remarkably well-behaved girl whose biggest sin is being too young to move out when her parents want to retire? Also, some blame her for [[HeroicDog Farley's]] [[HeroicSacrifice death by drowning]] when she fell into the flooded creek. Others blame her parents for being almost criminally negligent, leaving a four-year-old unattended while they chatted with friends about their recent vacation. One could call her the OnlySaneMan because she was the only one who seemed to think that Anthony and Liz were being unfaithful.

** Grandpa Jim's AndIMustScream after his second stroke. Imagine being perfectly fine mentally, but completely unable to communicate this with anyone, and watching them gleefully interpret all your attempts at telling them how you feel however ''they'' please... "[[UnusualEuphemism Boxcar]]!" indeed.

* ValuesDissonance: Several concepts central to the strip, such as [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition being evil]], [[BrattyHalfPint children being horrible monsters]] for daring to demand attention and affection -- and yet the only ''real'' measure of a woman's success, and the eventual [[{{Flanderization}} uplifting]] of [[PuritySue several characters]] to Pattersainthood while retaining their many ''obvious'' character flaws resulted in massive amounts of Dissonance.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Frequent, and not at all subtle, especially in the later years. How much of it can be justified by SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped is a matter for considerable debate among the readership. One big one featured the developmentally-disabled Shannon literally ''standing on a table'' during lunch hour to lecture everyone on how to treat the handicapped with respect. This was, of course perhaps something that ''needed'' to be said (it was prefaced with a kid going "coo-coo! coo-coo!" at the Special Ed lunch table.
* CreatorsPet: Anthony -- one of the most universally-despised Pets out there (particularly on TV Tropes). Numerous characters (especially Elizabeth's parents, who relentlessly ship them together, along with Liz's friends) extoll his praises, barely anybody says anything bad about him, and even Johnston's own ''Anthology Collections'' explain how wonderful he and men like him are. She explains that it's those "skinny nerdy kids" like Anthony that turn into the "best catches", and that she's gone to her class reunions and noticed this same thing! Essentially, Anthony Caine is what Lynn imagines the "Perfect Husband" to be -- a dull, unadventurous, gawky, unambitious man.
** The fanbase, however, was taken with different attributes -- his ugly moustache, his nerdy appearance, his boring and unambitious career (the accountant for a car shop than turned into a small chain), and a large degree of whininess and emotional dependency, as well as his unfaithfulness to his wife. Keep in mind that Liz's other love interests were handsome, passionate, ambitious career men with fascinating positions and lifestyles -- Liz dropped her own adventurous, unique life for "domestic bliss" with Captain Boring. Keep in mind ''also'' that a large part of the strip's fanbase was by this point identifying with the young post-college Elizabeth, which is why this particular trope ''stung'' so much. They and Lynn were on completely different tracks of where they thought things should go, and Lynn's personal fantasy life was simply not to be.

** if you ever read the "supplementary materials" on the official website... it's actually '''worse''' (no pun intended). Anthony and Thérèse's fathers basically set them up and force them together. At one point, Anthony's father tells him that "Thérèse isn't the kind of woman you just mess around with - you don't do something with her unless you're willing to back it up" (ie marriage). The incident that prompts this sterling parental dictate? Anthony and Thérèse both go to the same music festival (each as part of a group of friends!) meet up ''by chance'', and spend some of the weekend hanging out and renewing their childhood acquaintance through their fathers working together. It's very clear that nothing more intimate happened than dancing together (in public) and sitting side-by-side talking (again, in public with witnesses). Later on, when their relationship has "progressed" to an occasional public dinner (and nothing more) they're both pretty much ambushed by their fathers and told they have to marry to avoid scandal (note: according to Anthony's "behind the scenes letters" they haven't done anything scandalous... by ''Edwardian'' standards). It's pretty clear that Thérèse's father wants a male heir to take over the business, and Thérèse is going along with it because she wants to make her father happy, and that she hopes to change his mind about her being the best candidate. Anthony is going along with it... um, as far as I could tell, because he has nothing better to do.

** A more meta one: The title of the strip is taken from a traditional wedding vow: "...for better or for worse, until death do you part." It didn't quite turn out that way between Johnston and her husband.

* SeasonalRot: the later years of the strip are mostly regarded as lower in quality. At one point, this was the most-popular strip in North America, and has several famously-touching strips and story arcs, such as the protracted death of Elly's mother, Lawrence's coming-out story, Grandpa Jim's problems, and more. And the earlier strips were seen as an "I feel your pain" call from Lynn to scores of unfortunate, put-upon housewives. It probably had 90% good years to bad ones. And yet, the strip's online reputation is largely-based around complaining about the last couple of years.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Elizabeth and Anthony. It was bad enough that Elizabeth dumped two other boyfriends with whom she had better chemistry, all for Anthony. It was worse that Anthony was still married when they got together for good. It was even worse when Anthony's ex-wife was villainized as a horrible woman for ''daring'' to avert StayInTheKitchen and suspecting that Anthony was cheating on her (Even though he ''was'', and even though he promised he'd be a HouseHusband when he convinced Thérèse to get pregnant, then went back on his word.) What probably puts it in this trope the most is how ''everyone'' talked up this pairing, from Elizabeth's parents to their mutual friends to ''the author'', with the only person with reservations being TheUnfavorite of Elizabeth's family. And don't even mention the "[[AttemptedRape going]] [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption after]]" if you want to avoid a FlameWar.

** Thérèse and Anthony again, though it goes both ways a little. Thérèse is portrayed as horrendous for not staying home with her daughter, but going back to work after maternity leave, which is ''is what Anthony agreed to'', not to mention she is making more money than he is, and would be the better provider in a one-income family. Even worse, Thérèse is rightly portrayed as wrong for cheating on Anthony, but Anthony cheated too, if not outright physically. He specifically asked Elizabeth to "wait for him" (right after the AttemptedRape, no less -- classy), which is not that much different. Thérèse was also portrayed as being unreasonably paranoid and suspicious of his constant contact and pining for Elizabeth, when his behavior towards Liz as his marriage fell apart proves that her paranoia was in fact ''correct''. He then sits around waiting for Thérèse to cheat on him so he looks like the good one, instead of being an adult and admitting to her that their marriage isn't working. Though this last is TruthInTelevision - it's a massive step that most people would be reluctant to take.

*** Another strip, they're pissed off at the fact the clogged up plumbing requires that their bathroom be torn up. But the clogged plumbing was caused by Michael's family, so they're suffering the inconvenience for their neighbor's inability to keep their kids in line, and yet when they're giving a formal complaint to the landlord, the landlord brushes them off. It isn't until later that their smoking causes the place to burn down, which is thier least-sympathetic moment.

*** Weed's father never actually shows up in the strip. The one time Weed takes Michael home with him (and when Weed's career issues came up) the only person in the house, who enthusiastically greets Weed ("our boy is home!") and is hugged by Weed... is the housekeeper. Michael initially mistakes her for Weed's grandmother. The discussion of photography vs the family business is held ''not'' with Weed's father, but the housekeeper. (please note: unlike the Pattersons, this ''is'' a discussion, not an argument. Both sides are calm and reasonable throughout) She points out (reasonably) that Weed's father just wants Weed to be well-settled financially, and doesn't want to hand over his business to strangers when he retires. Weed poignantly replies "I AM a stranger! I'm his son - but he barely knows me!" Unspoken is that the whole reason that Weed's a stranger ''and'' reluctant heir is that his father is a genuine workaholic that put his business over his relationship with his son.
** When the Pattersons are moving into their neighbours' house and selling their old house to Michael's family, April takes issue with the fact that ''she'' still lives there, too, and they aren't even taking her into consideration. She's distraught with both offers of staying in the house (Wherein she will be Michael's live-in babysitter.) or moving into the basement of the neighbours' house. April's friend tells her that she has a pretty sweet deal out of it no matter what, but in all honest, can you ''blame'' April for being distraught, or needing time to get over it? A major decision ''was'' made more or less without taking her into consideration.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Thérèse and April. The former because her supposed evil traits are usually read sympathetically by readers, and April because her family eventually starts treating her like TheUnfavorite to the point of selling their own house and forcing her to live in a basement just so their precious Michael can have a big home for his new family.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The author's viewpoint is that Thérèse is a cold, calculating shrew with severe and unreasonable jealousy problems who, despite Anthony's being a loving and supportive spouse, distanced herself from him and their child, cheated on him, and cruelly divorced him (the backdrop of a bit of narration over this shows her coldly standing and looking down while Anthony mourns over what she's done). But you could make a solid case that Anthony was manipulative and overbearing, pushing Thérèse towards things she didn't want (a house in the suburbs, a baby, giving up her career to become a {{housewife}}), and being a whiny about it when she insisted on doing what she'd planned to do, such as go back to work after Francoise was born. There's textual evidence to support the thesis that Thérèse's "distance" was postpartum depression that is never elaborated upon (in the narration, it says "She became depressed" and is shown crying while Anthony holds their daughter). Additionally, Anthony was emotionally unfaithful to Thérèse from the get-go, pining after his ex-girlfriend Liz for his entire marriage. Anthony and Liz's wedding occurs at the end of the strip's run and would seem to justify Thérèse's jealousy. Essentially, though it's not fully-stated, you could easily claim that Anthony was emotionally-manipulative, uncaring and unfaithful, while Thérèse was put in an impossible position -- her only real crimes are cheating on her husband, and later abandoning their daughter.
** Lynn Johnston has a tendency to feel that childless career women are rather cold and selfish, and most women who are worth anything are wives and mothers (only a few exceptions are seen, such as Candace). The character of Connie (Lawrence's mother) was originally created to show this, but the author soon saw her in a sympathetic way and abandoned her plan - only to revive it with evil, evil Thérèse.
** Similarly, Anthony is seen by other characters as steadfast, loyal, and unfailingly devoted to Elizabeth. Since he maintained that loyalty and devotion to Elizabeth throughout his engagement and marriage to Thérèse, those traits aren't quite as admirable as they sound.
** Is Elly Patterson a long-suffering mother who never receives due praise for holding her home and family together, or does she deliberately make things more difficult for herself because she has a martyr complex? Are her children completely uncontrollable brats, or is she too self-absorbed and caught up in [[{{Wangst}} self-pity]] to tend to their emotional needs? Is she the OnlySaneMan and a true gift to her community? Or is she a complete ControlFreak, a pillar of negativity and hatred imposing her twisted vision of what's "good, true and right" on everyone around her? Did she raise her family well, or cause them to turn out as nasty and self-centered as she?
** April Patterson: bratty teen, or remarkably well-behaved girl whose biggest sin is being too young to move out when her parents want to retire? Also, some blame her for [[HeroicDog Farley's]] [[HeroicSacrifice death by drowning]] when she fell into the flooded creek. Others blame her parents for being almost criminally negligent, leaving a four-year-old unattended while they chatted with friends about their recent vacation. One could call her the OnlySaneMan because she was the only one who seemed to think that Anthony and Liz were being unfaithful.
** Is Michael a delicate genius, or a spoiled brat who uses his work as an excuse to avoid any contact with his children? Is he [[TransparentCloset in love with his friend Weed]]? Did Deanna make a mistake with her contraceptives, or did she do it deliberately to keep Michael from going on a trip?
** Did Thérèse actually cheat on Anthony, or did Anthony lie to John for sympathy from the Pattersons and further vilify Thérèse?

* StrangledByTheRedString: Elizabeth and Anthony. It was bad enough that Elizabeth dumped two other boyfriends that she had better chemistry with for Anthony. It was worse that Anthony was still married when they got together for good. It was even worse when Anthony's ex-wife was villainized as a horrible woman for ''daring'' to avert StayInTheKitchen and suspecting that Anthony was cheating on her (Even though he ''was'', and even though he promised he'd be a HouseHusband when he convinced Therese to get pregnant, then went back on his word.) What probably puts it in this trope the most is how ''everyone'' talked up this pairing, from Elizabeth's parents to their mutual friends to ''the author'', with the only person with reservations being TheUnfavorite of Elizabeth's family. And don't even mention the "[[AttemptedRape going]] [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption after]]" if you want to avoid a FlameWar.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Johnston spent quite a few strips setting up Therese's unreasonable jealousy and shrewishness. Then spent five times as many strips unintentionally proving every one of Therese's rationales as spot-on.
** Thérèse and Anthony again, though it goes both ways a little. Thérèse is portrayed as horrendous for not staying home with her daughter, but going back to work after maternity leave, which is ''is what Anthony agreed to'', not to mention she is making more money than he is, and would be the better provider in a one-income family. Even worse, Thérèse is rightly portrayed as wrong for cheating on Anthony, but Anthony cheated too, if not outright physically. He specifically asked Elizabeth to "wait for him" (right after the AttemptedRape, no less - classy), which is not that much different. Thérèse was also portrayed as being unreasonably paranoid and suspicious of his constant contact and pining for Elizabeth, when his behavior towards Liz as his marriage fell apart proves that he really did love Liz more (and seriously calls into question why in the world Anthony got married to her.) He then sits around waiting for Thérèse to cheat on him so he looks like the good one, instead of being an adult and admitting to her that their marriage isn't working. Though this last is TruthInTelevision - it's a massive step that most people would be reluctant to take.
** Also, while John is supposed to an idiotic, conflict-causing ''MAN'', several times he actually comes off as far more rational than Elly. For instance, his attempts to ensure he has life insurance so his family will be taken care of if anything unexpected happens to him is hampered by Elly trying to derail the discussion by sobbing melodramatically and wildly accusing him of trying to ''scare'' her.
** The Kelpfroths, Michael's crabby CeilingBanger neighbors, also get upset at them for leaving their kids' toys and strollers in the stairwell and a kiddie pool on the common lawn area, where they're 'eyesores'. However, leaving items on the stairwell actually ''can'' create a safety hazard, and kiddie pools can be hazardous to the grass. And when Michael resorted to the childish 'solution' of separating the shared foyer in half in duct tape so they can keep their kids things on 'their side', the Kelpfroths were portrayed as being even ''more'' unreasonable for not liking this idea.
*** Another strip, they're pissed off at the fact the clogged up plumbing requires that their bathroom be torn up. But the clogged plumbing was caused by Michael's family, so they're suffering the inconvenience for their neighbor's inability to keep their kids in line, and yet when they're giving a formal complaint to the landlord, the landlord brushes them off.
** Jo Weeder's father is depicted as being a heartless, soulless authoritarian because he pointed out that Weed would have to be exceptionally fortunate to make a career of photography. He joins Mira Sobinski and Gavin Caine in a rogue's gallery of allegedly awful parents whose crime was expecting their children to work for a living instead of passively waiting for miracles to solve their problems like the Pattersons do.
** Weed's father was more about the (admittedly true) fact that Weed would almost certainly make less money at photography than he would going into business with his father. His father is wrong for trying to make him do something he hates, but Weed definitely isn't sitting back and expecting miracles - whenever we see him at his job, he's doing his best.
*** more on Weed and his father - he never actually shows up in the strip. The one time Weed takes Michael home with him (and when Weed's career issues came up) the only person in the house, who enthusiastically greets Weed ('our boy is home!') and is hugged by Weed... is the housekeeper. (Michael initially mistakes her for Weed's grandmother) The discussion of photography vs the family business is held ''not'' with Weed's father, but the housekeeper. (please note: unlike the Pattersons, this ''is'' a discussion, not an argument. Both sides are calm and reasonable throughout) She points out (reasonably) that Weed's father just wants Weed to be well-settled financially, and doesn't want to hand over his business to strangers when he retires. Weed poignantly replies 'I AM a stranger! I'm his son - but he barely knows me!' Unspoken is that the whole reason that Weed's a stranger ''and'' reluctant heir is that his father is a genuine workaholic that put his business over his relationship with his son.
** When the Pattersons are moving into their neighbours' house and selling their old house to Michael's family, April takes issue with the fact that ''she'' still lives there, too, and they aren't even taking her into consideration. She's distraught with both offers of staying in the house (Wherein she will be Michael's live-in babysitter.) or moving into the basement of the neighbours' house. April's friend tells her that she has a pretty sweet deal out of it no matter what, but in all honest, can you ''blame'' April for being distraught, or needing time to get over it? A major decision ''was'' made more or less without taking her into consideration.
* TearJerker: Farley's death was this for some; especially since you don't really expect NewspaperComics to talk about stuff like ''this''.
** Also, the death of Elly's mother was a ''very'' long, drawn-out storyline that involved months of strips about her impending death, and the aftermath.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: Therese and April. The former because her supposed evil traits are usually read sympathetically by readers, and April because her family eventually starts treating her like TheUnfavorite to the point of selling their own house and forcing her to live in a basement just so their precious Michael can have a big home for his new family.

* MisaimedFandom: Therese, Anthony's wife, is described as being jealous to the point of paranoia regarding Anthony's contact with Liz. Unfortunately, since the comic actually shows her as being ''right'' about this (and Anthony was hated by a lot of fans anyways), a lot of the readers had sympathy for her and not her husband. Even when the comic ended, despite numerous attempts by the strip to make her more and more nasty, most still felt she was unfairly persecuted.

* MisBlamed / ScapegoatCreator: Lynn actually wanted to retire after ending the story; but a lot of newspapers didn't want to lose a slot in the funny pages (Especially since it had been there for so long). The writing; however, is her doing - [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Some think she lacked the original spark she had in the seventies so she's just essentially doing this as revenge]].
** The newspapers couldn't force Lynn to continue doing the strip if she didn't want to. (And, in fact, she eventually stopped drawing new strips.)
* NeverLiveItDown: Anthony's actions immediately after rescuing Elizabeth from a violent assault by the man who's been stalking her for some time. Instead of then taking Elizabeth to the police to report her attempted rape, he first announces that "he's never had anything to fight for until now" (this, from a man with a wife and ''brand-new daughter''), then takes her to a park and proceeds to go on a whiny diatribe about how horrible ''his'' married life has become ("I have no home!"). From the context, this is mostly because his wife refuses to be a stereotypical stay-at-home mom. And all of it is explicitly an effort to guilt-trip the newly-vulnerable Elizabeth into waiting for him. Apparently Johnston designed the entire assault plotline simply as a means to give Anthony an old-fashioned BigDamnHeroes moment, complete with StandardHeroReward, and until the inevitable backlash erupted had no idea that she was instead turning him into a {{Jerkass}} of the highest order. Not surprisingly, when the Anthony/Elizabeth relationship strips were later collected on the website, these particular scenes were quietly omitted.
** Michael abandoning his family during the apartment fire in favor of saving his laptop. While EasilyForgiven for this in-strip, a big chunk of the Fandom saw this as his MoralEventHorizon.
* NightmareFuel: For a while, the digital versions of the strips as seen on the site were actually animated [=GIFs=], with the only animation being the characters' eyes blinking every so often. [[UncannyValley It was... unsettling.]]

* SeasonalRot: the later years of the strip are mostly regarded as lower in quality.

** FridgeBrilliance: If you look above that Lynn wanted [[FranchiseZombie to end the strip]], it is very likely that the [[SeasonalRot degrading quality]] was revenge [[CreatorBacklash for forcing her to continue.]]
* SnarkBait: Especially in its later years.

* DesignatedVillain: Therese is fairly notable, though it's implied she was always a cold, unemotional woman. Her portrayal as somebody who didn't want to have children makes her villainous in the strips' point-of-view, as was her (justified) jealousy at the attention Anthony had for Elizabeth. Then she got depressed, then finally did something villainous (cheated on Anthony).
** if you ever read the 'supplementary materials' on the official website... it's actually '''worse''' (no pun intended). Anthony and Therese's fathers basically set them up and force them together. At one point, Anthony's father tells him that 'Therese isn't the kind of woman you just mess around with - you don't do something with her unless you're willing to back it up' (ie marriage). The incident that prompts this sterling parental dictate? Anthony and Therese both go to the same music festival (each as part of a group of friends!) meet up ''by chance'', and spend some of the weekend hanging out and renewing their childhood acquaintance through their fathers working together. It's very clear that nothing more intimate happened than dancing together (in public) and sitting side-by-side talking (again, in public with witnesses). Later on, when their relationship has 'progressed' to an occasional public dinner (and nothing more) they're both pretty much ambushed by their fathers and told they have to marry to avoid scandal (note: according to Anthony's 'behind the scenes letters' they haven't done anything scandalous... by ''Edwardian'' standards). It's pretty clear that Therese's father wants a male heir to take over the business, and Therese is going along with it because she wants to make her father happy, and that she hopes to change his mind about her being the best candidate. Anthony is going along with it... um, as far as I could tell, because he has nothing better to do.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: April, Candace, and some one-shot background characters.

** It also makes you think about how much John talked up Anthony to Liz and hinted that she should get with him when Anthony was still married to Therese... and then it turns out that the inspiration for John was cheating on his wife.

* HarsherInHindsight: The strips where Elly imagines John cheating on her. Even her personal notes in the "new-run" strips comment on how uncomfortable that is.

** Again, Therese. She's treated as a harpy for telling Anthony to cut up his sandwich or wear different clothes. Yet when he makes her have a baby she doesn't want and move to a place she hates, she's also a harpy for upset by it. The [[DoubleStandard sexist undertones]] don't help much.