Chapter: Chapter 9: Forsaking All Others
HMM.
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TRANSCRIPT
Panels 1+2 (no dialogue; Imogen stares down at the login screen for an online banking web portal, and clicks ‘Forgot Password?’)
Panel 3 (no dialogue; a close-up of the login screen shows the password hint: “her middle name”)
Panel 4 (Imogen blushes and types in E-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h)
Imogen: Aww.
Panel 5 (Imogen looks confused as it comes back with an incorrect password. Other variations of ‘Elizabeth’ with different numbers and capitalization are written behind her.)
Imogen: Hmm.
The plot clarifies.
Oh it’s going to all come out now! What a jerk!!
Oh dear. So she doesn’t have access to the bank? That’s…. That reeks of financial abuse, honestly. And if the password is some OTHER woman’s middle name…
SHOE.
HAS.
DROPPED.
onto his head. with force. stiletto heels.
What we are being led to believe is going on is likely not what is actually going on.
Or it’s exactly what’s going on, and it explains a lot about back when the power “suddenly went off.”
OH MY GOD IT ALL MAKES SENSE
well what a lot of people assumed back when they turned the power off is true
Oh my goodness and look at how she’s all flattered and thinks it’s cute. That’s especially heartbreaking.
As everyone is saying, this has GOT to be exactly what we think is going on. He’s cheating. This is financial abuse. She’s already had an inkling something is going on, but she’s rationalized it because he’s been vague enough to be convincing and – let’s face it – she doesn’t WANT to believe it’s anything more than it really is.
I’ve been there. This is bringing very vivid flashbacks to all the emotions that riled up inside me. Gut churning.
IF this is exactly what it looks like and she finds out for sure, I have a strong hunch it’s not going to be as easy as confronting him. He’s made sure she’s stayed home with the kids and she seems convinced that’s all she’s good for (been there . . . ). She has no money of her own. She relies entirely on him. I could see him manipulating the situation entirely into a nasty gaslighting toxic situation.
This is mostly word vomit now. Blurgh . .
I am anxious to see how this goes in the best/worst way.
“Elizabeth” can be shortened to “Liz” or “Lizzie” or “Beth” but… HMMM.
Bettie, Betsy
Oh god, the tension.
So uhm, there’s another red flag to add to the collection.
There are so many red flags it’s starting to look like the Communist International up in here.
I really hope it’s not that he’s cheating. Cheating feels like such a lazy way of saying “he’s a jerk,” and it’s honestly overused (in both media and real life) as a sort of get-out-of-relationship-free card.
I think it would be better if he just doesn’t know her middle name, because he’s so checked out and self-absorbed that he doesn’t even know his own wife’s middle name. He’s keeping her in the dark about their finances, he’s lying to her, he’s irresponsible and taking her for granted… And I can just *see* her making excuses for him, like “He’s never cheated on me, he’s never hit me.” Like, he can be toxic trash even without cheating or hitting you, girl.
I know what you mean, and the approach to revealing his delinquency started off in a very nuanced, subtle way – screaming loud red flags to me, but flying under the radar of some other commentators. That being said it isn’t exactly out of left field; Jonathan sleeping around makes a /whole/ lot of sense given he’s been leching after Alex since their first encounter and actually invited her to a threesome without even asking Imogen her feelings first. I can also see Imogen having missed the other red flags even if this is the straw that breaks the basically-a-single-mother’s back.
Or maybe she’s willing to work through the cheating, or settle for an explanation (that it’s his mother’s middle name, or something similar), but it dislodges her enough that she starts taking a fresh look at the rest of all this? Or it isn’t the password being problematic that hits hardest, but his winnowing away the future prospects of her kids?
I do like the idea that he literally spelt her actual middle name wrong, just to say, it’s gold – I just think there’s already a lightly-smoking Chekov’s Gun waiting to reveal itself as having been fired a long time ago.
Whatever the truth, if it’s not a variant of her name, he’ll say it’s his aunt or mother or someone’s middle name and she’ll be convinced to think nothing of it.
I am just wondering what is going on, I really hope she can find out soon 🙁 I’m dying to know if he maybe has an issue and can’t deal well with money, is he cheating, did he made an investment and it went wrong, does he buy himself really stupid stuff that are too expensive? There could be so many things. And why did she assume the password it was her middle name?
The hint says “her middle name”.
Oh dear, I didn’t see that. Thanks for pointing that out