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>31/12/2020 19:07 at 54 seconds - Notable event: full completion of THSW finale
>File: algo-analyse JoeyHutt's Top 5 Favourite Episodes of THSW
#5...
#106 - Rowan Chong
Just a charming conversation with a random person in a shop. The only kind of chat that occurs when one of them clearly needs to talk about stuff. Sally wants to get into drawing again, so she ends up chatting the the eccentric granddad who works in the art boutique about literally anything.
Humans are so weird, and I love it. Rowan wears a fez everyday, just because a very sweet lady who he barely knows gave it to him as a gift. The Vietnamese lady he mentions was a real encounter I had at the printing shops, and I regret not staying in touch. It was just a random friendly chat about our art styles; she was printing out her fliers for her spiritual art exhibition, and she was just the sweetest person ever.
In other stories, Rowan expressed pure happiness, but because he's got fish soup for dinner that night, and he found a spinning top in the cupboard. That's the way to be, in my opinion. This man has the key to happiness.
#4...
#120 - Clash Of The Dry-tons
These are the best relationships. Just... that's it. They are best friends as well as lovers, they're both dorks who feel entirely uninhibited around each other.
#3...
#99 - Spirit's Compass
Oooooo drama alert! But in a wholesome way, not by that horrid YouTuber.
Events collide as pregnant Beka (Sally's sister) has gone into labor at the same time as June being awoken from her heart attack-induced coma. Sally had spent the first part of the 2018 saga worried sick about her older friend, June Hawkes who behaves as a mentor, but also being on the fence about how she really views her family.
Sally's relationship with her mum and sister was far from perfect, which caused her to gravitate towards her boss at the charity shop. June had always proved to be a more soft and nurturing older figure to Sally, who you'd be forgiven for thinking was younger than 21. Sally's emotional development was a little behind and it's evident by the way she handles herself. This could be due to a combination of being possibly neurodivergent (although I prefer the term "neurospicy!"), and growing up in an environment which was more abrasive than what she needed. Sally's mum Carol often belittled Sally, and her sense of humor was unintentionally cruel and showed a lack of self-awareness. Carol Walker was clearly a flawed parent, but was she truly malicious? No.
It is evident in page 1, panel 6 that Carol was shocked and upset by Sally's statement of "you are not my family". Every other time - as gobby as she is - she would often shut Sally down and accuse her of being "rebellious". But this time she saw how upset she had made her daughter. For a rare time, Carol Walker was silent and shaken. Something was wrong.
June realised upon waking up that she had accidentally made herself too responsible for the young, vulnerable Sally, and it was inappropriate. While I'm sure June's view on Carol wasn't too favorable, she could at least tell she wasn't dangerous, and that there was a bridge to be built. While 10 episodes later, Sally and June sat on the beach and privately pretended to be mother and daughter for just one night, June knew that the symbiosis wasn't right, and that in time, Sally and her mother could connect if both would put in the effort.
The story shows Sally - young for her age - grow up just a little. It shows June take responsibility and try to fix things from afar. It shows that Sally and Beka truly do love each other as sisters, and Carol can indeed put her ego aside.
Oh, and Ed was there too!
#2...
#250 - Rain
It’s big, it’s 33 pages, it’s an adventure, it’s a payoff to perhaps the most fascinating character in THSW aside from Sally herself. It’s character development between a girl and her father culminating, in a faraway place they’re not used to. It’s acknowledging that the 2017 Sally would be crippled with anxiety when put so far from home, but now she’s here in full confidence. It’s seeing how the 2017 Oscar would have been explosive and unstable here, but now he’s calm, collected and responsible.
Susie Yin’s character is fleshed out in just a few passing sentences without any need for clear exposition. Tai is verbally brutal and overprotective, but he’s not quite the jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold; he’s just jaded, doing his best and doing what he thinks is right. Sally and Ai building a friendship and geeking out over anime together, but then quickly moving onto a serious discussion about John’s best interests is just the most wholesome thing.
My favorite moment is probably page 26. Aunty Carrie has just died (second of the 3 deaths that occur in the series), Susie needs some time alone, but gives Oscar the most tired yet forgiving hug you've ever seen. Now it's just Oscar and Sally, sitting on the sofa, resetting, remembering that the rest of the series still exists. Sally casually mentions Ed, June and Ellie Dawkins back home, and her dad says he forgot about them.
I too have been in a multi-week experience that felt like a pocket in time; isolated because I was so faraway and with brilliant new people, and we'd briefly remember that our real lives were waiting for us to return. Sally says this, that it feels like they've traveled to a parallel universe, and that when they return to [anon town], England, things may just continue as normal. But Oscar says it probably won't. His life has changed now; his future has become a little more unclear since he revisited his past. It's such a confusing mess of events. To Sally, it's one hell of an adventure. To Oscar, all he knows is that he has to process Carrie's death, and that he's fallen in love with Susie again.
The ending (no spoilers) is probably my favorite ending of anything I've made so far.
#1...
#267 - Retracing Steps
The only one that made me tear up. I’m one of those weirdos who never cries at movies or any media. Not because I’m not in tune with my emotions (quite the opposite), it’s just in my adult life my tear ducts just rarely seem to work. Only one movie in my adult life has made me cry; Ghibli’s ‘When Marnie Was There’
But this Sally episode is very special to me. It’s the idea of being kind to your child self, reaching out and reconnecting with the child we once were, and comforting them. As adults we’re often quick to dismiss the way we felt as children, as we can see the reality around our childhoods more clearly now. But the truth is, nobody can be blamed or judged for how they feel. I’m a private person, but yes I’ll admit this much: I was a paranoid child, afraid of bugs and birds, and I was overwhelmed with intense emotion often. Who are you now, to not comfort that poor kid? To not reassure them that it gets better? Do it. Reach out to the child you once were, with all their fears and overload, and let them know that you’re on the other side of time; not a perfect person, but good enough.
It should be noted that Sally’s parents are nothing like my parents, who are in fact amazing people and were always kind and supportive. Me and Sally are actually very different people, but we’ve all been in her shoes at some point