Saint James Infirmary 360: The Best Laid Plans.

[Daphne]

Friday, December 26th.

[jmundt29]

Wait, who's that?  That's not a member of the Harem or part of Claudia's group or part of the dancer's party.  Is this the gal who was a guinea pig and for the new batch, the cashier at the store...or maybe her friend?  It's not one of Vik's victims.  Who IS that?  Or is this more vintage '86 Kuppler shenanigans and this gal is our ragamuffin brunette homage?

[laguna85]

one not telling to the dean
last widow Look like Rain stop him
that is her arm

[mns_95125]

Actually it looks to me like Rain may have started him.

We know the shells have some kind of sophisticated circuitry inside them.  Jakob was apparently teaching electrical engineering.  Perhaps one of the shells broke and Rain needed someone to help her fix it or create a replacement, and she chose Jakob, and he betrayed her trust.  That would explain why she seems so pissed off at the watchmaker.  It's also consistent with the title of the strip -- Rain's "best laid plan" has certainly gone awry.

[GodWilling]

I don't know what to make of this really. In the last episode Daphne was keen that we take note of the pop-up text about narrators. Yet apart from "Fall '86" and "electical engineering" I don't think these two pages have told us anything we didn't already know - or think we knew. The meaning of the last panel here remains to be seen. But I don't see yet what the narrators thing was about. It's not like the narrative is painting a picture of someone who isn't a lecherous knob.

So unless Jakob and Johannes are actually the same person, or something, I'm puzzled.

[jmundt29]

It's full-on good soldier or Ed Wynn in "Dear Brigitte" here.  Man the early 60s must have been fun.  A G-rated movie with off-track gambling, topless modeling, and a world-famous bikini model (all anchored by Jimmy Stewart).

Well, except that Older Jakob speaking through the presentation of younger Jakob appears to be justifying his own depravity and laughing at opposition (which is far more frightening than anything we've tripped over so far, even in Dani's fractured nightmares).

We had no inkling that Jakob had direct voluntary dealings with Rain.  The last panel appears to make that likely.  Is it possible that Jakob is Rain's Derek (Rain made a similar far more costly mistake with Jakob to the one that Claudia continues to make with Derek)?   Interesting.

[Haight]

Is it possible that Jakob is Rain's Derek (Rain made a similar far more costly mistake with Jakob to the one that Claudia continues to make with Derek)?   Interesting.

It's possible. Or Rain my not regard what Jakob was doing as a mistake... she may be quite sinister herself.

I have a hard time believing Jakob when he says he was not a cad about anything. As near as I can tell he really enjoys other people's suffering, considering he enjoyed psychologically torturing his harem.

[jmundt29]

She can be, but on the second bad roll of the Dice of Destiny, her sympathy over Erin's death at Jakob's hand seemed genuine.

And Jakob's...gag gift really freaked her out.  Seems his and his agents' intent toward Rain is genuinely malevolent and dangerous.

ETA--I think you're right about Jakob glossing over his own behavior.

[GodWilling]

He may or may not be glossing over the worst of his behaviour but he is painting a picture of, well, the phrase lecherous knob presents itself once more. "I went to Wilmot because the students were hot and easy and I exploited my teaching position in order to have sex with as many of them as I could."

Perhaps the point is that Jakob is so utterly despicable that this is actually the best gloss that could be put on his behaviour.

[Technophyle]

It's the standard fictional technique of the Unreliable Narrator. Narration explains he was so suave that women fell into his lap, image shows he used mind control to get his groove on. No different than seen on TV shows or movies where the narrator tells how wonderful they were when the flashback shows they were acting like morons. The narrator may or may not actually believe it themselves.

[GodWilling]

I'm familiar with the concept, but take away the pictures and just read what he is actually saying: I was a lecturer having sex with my students, most of whom were sluts. That's not usually how this technique is deployed. He's making himself sound like a tit. And apart from a red glow lighting up the face of one of the women (when his words were not being attributed to him) we're not seeing visuals that really contradict what he's saying.

[jmundt29]

It's the Rick Miller defense.  "I am human cocaine."  Oddly enough, most guys who state this or claim it even in fiction are usually compensating for something.  Those (usually fictional characters) of both genders to whom it actually applies never state it, they just accept it as a (mostly) unremarkable fact of life.

[GodWilling]

And yet some women apparently said no.