Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 22, 2017

Nice save, Leslie, but is it going to work?

Is the secret out …?

So much for the near train wreck between Mrs. Berger, Pru, and Leslie (Oxford comma and all!)

Yeah, don’t worry about Pru when he finds out, worry instead about if Les blows up.

I do hope that Pru catches on and gives him the necklace back, whether or not she tells him more about her own sensitivities.

got to say,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Les has progressed a “tiny bit” more than minuscule, he actually said “Mrs. Berger” instead of “hey you, uncle’s girlfriend”

As Strother Martin would say, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

So Les DOES know that Pru isn’t in love with him—interesting!

And am I correct in assuming that Pru is the only female who works there?

And, in the background, the sounds of Brenda Lee singing, “Break it to me, gently.”

It will be interesting to see how this goes. Will it be:

a. Prudence is mad at Leslie for assuming that she is his girlfriend.

b_ Prudence realizes that she has been leading him on by not telling him her preference the moment he started giving her things and asking her out on dates.

c. Prudence will try and figure out which member of the staff is actually Leslie’s girlfriend.

d. Prudence will assume Mrs. Berger is just as nutty as her son Gunther is.

e. Prudence will assume Leslie feels the need to lie to Mrs. Berger about having a girlfriend in order to keep her from trying to set him up with women because she is such a busybody she would not be able to help herself if she knew he was single and unattached.

f. Prudence is willing to forget this conversation ever occurred as long as Leslie keeps doling out the money.

g. Prudence will figure out that white shirt = good, while red shirt = a stock character in fiction who dies soon after being introduced

h. Prudence will take Leslie to the bathroom and punch him in stomach and say, “This is for Knute!”

Wow Greg did kind of a misdirection play here, with us, or most of us thinking that the status of there not really being a relationship between Pru and him was going to be embarrassing because 1) he did not know she was lesbian and not interested in a romantic relationship with him, and 2) she did not have any idea that he was romantically interested in her. So he is still embarrassed but not for either of those reasons. That is not the only surprise that no one has mentioned so far from what I have read. From what Mrs. Berger said in the first panel, Les “goes on and on about his girlfriend at work” which is when Les excitedly says Mrs. Berger that is not her. That implies he must have been at the Berger house enough for him to go on and on about this girl at work, which raises the specter of how he and Gunther are getting along. The fact that he corrects Mrs Berger’s impression though tells one he probably knew there could not be a relationship, but in the end he was the one who still ends up with non-violent embarrassment. Really brilliantly played I think.

I think this was a fast save on Les’s part, but it’s worth noticing that Prudence responds to Mrs. Berger’s concern about embarrassing her in the last frame by saying ’Don’t worry about ME, meaning that Prudence is aware of Les being embarrassed by this whole thing. So she may finally have realized that he is interested in her…

On second thought there might be a bit of care and concern here with Les, enough to make my officially withdraw my psychobabble diagnosis of him being a sociopathic personality type. I think the panels are actually showing his concern about embarrassing Pru as well, from being confronted with something she had no idea about. Maybe he was just trying to protect his feelings (another indication he could not really be a sociopath, because a sociopath would not care) but I think he might have been trying to get Pru off the hook of a mistaken impression as well. Man this is getting complicated.

Pru’s last line, and the look on Leslie’s face, says it all. Pru knows that she’s the “girlfriend” Les was talking about, and she’s concerned about Les’s feelings when he finds out that she’s not interested in being his girlfriend. Les at least seems to have enough people smarts to realize that it’s not wise to talk about your new “girlfriend” before she’s aware of her new role.

Greg & Karen are playing these characters like a string quartet. So many notes with overtones…

“I’m the least of your problems.”

My best guess is that Pru & Les are going to have a heart-to-heart talk. Les may find out that life gets easier when you’re nice…

Mrs. Gray needs to learn to keep her mouth shut and her nose out of other’s business. Pru is compassionate and caring enough to see what’s probably going on and try to put a kind end to it. Or slug him…whichever!!

When did Leslie have an occasion to go “on and on” about Pru to Mrs. Berger? He’s only been to her house once on that dinner with Gunther and Mr. Gray and I really doubt he spent most of the meal gushing about Pru, especially with his uncle there.

LOOKS LIKE THE S**t IS ABOUT TO HIT THE FAN.

Do we see a chink in Les’ emotional hard shell?

Les did nothing wrong in asking Pru on a date (other than swindling money to pay) , but Pru has this look of sudden realization in the last panel

Hey Les. One of the Marks of a “Good Criminal” is that “They” (And Listen Closely) KEEP-THEIR-MOUTHS-SHUT!!! And You Especially Don’t go around Saying Anything to Ma Blabbermouth…., Uh I Meant, Ma Berger, here…..

Well, for once Pru(ne) is right bout one thing. And Leslie didn’t blush. also “Les doesn’t know about the Les” yet either.and Mrs. Berger thought she was “hooking him up” by endorsing him.

“Berger And A Shakeup”

“Everything Clashes With Dis-tress!”

“A Pretty Ugly Situation”

“Not Close Enough For Comfort”

“A Tabled Discussion”

“A Self-Conscious Decision”

“A Knotty Pining”

“Is It Something I Humiliated?”

“Chagrin…And Bear It!”

“Tangled Up In A Hairy Situation”

“Right In The Solar Perplexus”

“…The Agony Of This Feat”

“Saving Private Lyin’ "

“Nobody Look, While She Picks Her Seat!”

“Leslie’s A Chair Leader”

“Emergency Exit”

or

“A Wisk-y Proposition”

What, is Mrs. Berger senile? Babbling like that! What an embarrassment! I can’t imagine why her husband skipped out on her..

Les is going to pay the piper finally.

Like I said, the saga continues – and tensions still mount. Nice job Les, heaping all this stress upon yourself … Just what you needed, right?

Prudence is self-assured, and the sanest person in the strip. I think she will gently clue Les in, and even return the necklace.

The “attacks” on Ma Berger are unwarranted. She has done both Les and Pru an unintended favor. It was Les who planted this idea in her mind.

Les will put his “creative thinking” hat on and go into overdrive. After all, he said he was “headed for success.”

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More like – heading toward a plane crashing INTO a train wreck! ;)

Even if Pru and Les were dating Mrs. B’s comments are very inappropriate. If one party likes the other one more, the second party does not need to know that. Yes, I can see why Gunther is so lacking in social skills.

So How long to do think it will take for Pru to have a heart to heart with Les and set him straight that she is not into men… but she cares about him only as a friend and colleague? How do you think Les will react to this? Personally, I would like this resolved this week or next at the latest. However, judging by the revolving door arcs history in the last month or so…. this storyline’s turn to come around again won’t be for another 3-4 weeks…. and it might now even get resolved then.

Schrodinger’s Dog said (in reference to Mrs. Berger): “…she must still bear some responsibility for the walking disaster known as “Gunther…”

you make it seem as if Gunther (or anyone) bears no responsibility for himself. A doting parent doesn’t necessarily produce offspring that are (always) socially awkward or insecure. Gunther got some of his attributes (genetic) from his father and … yes… a lot of a person’s qualities are intrinsic to the self based on his/her experiences in life. So I do not have too much criticism for Mrs. Berger (…especially in this day where many single parents leave their kids on the street to raise themselves..). She calls it like it is… which at the moment is refreshing. Les has laid his own trap.

Luannanalysts, take note: that slight pause for emphasis on the word “me” in the third panel would indicate that the light bulb went on in Pru’s head. But, Pru is also a sensitive character and won’t want to hurt Les in her big reveal. Her eyes seem to widen, but her lack of eyebrows limits her range of emotion. I like Pru and sorta wish she would go back to the flare she had when she first entered the strip, with the big hats and Broadway connections.

Thoughts and prayers with our compatriots in London, U.K.

I see Pru as a life loving extrovert who just loves people and helping out. I do not for one second believe she had been knowingly leading Les on so much as she merely assumed he was a giving person. As for Les I had assumed he didn’t know Pru was a lesbian. But this strip leads me to wonder if he, like many a foolish young man, does know and thinks he can change her.

Not about me, Ma Berger, says Prudence. Rather, about Leslie.

Because now I suddenly realize what he’s up to, and I don’t like it.

(So, IMO, Pru in panel 3 is experiencing a moment of insight, and very soon she will be settling Leslie’s hash, one way or another. The question is, how compassionate will she be, or how vindictive?)

Apparently Les’s mouth is full of quicksand, and he just keeps sticking his foot in deeper and deeper!

Mrs. Berger probably knows that she and Mr. Gray are going to stay together (maybe tie the knot), and since Les seems to be under Mr. Gray’s wing she sees him (Les) as eventually becoming one of her own (like Gunther). So she’s being the doting (eventual) mother who wants to know everything about Les including the friends that he talks about. The fact that Les doesn’t lash out but treats her nicely is good. Gunther needs to be on his own but Ma Berger needs to have someone to care for and Les may end up on the receiving end, which could be good for him.

For some reason, when I reply to a comment made by Donny/Marian/Marbles, I feel like a battleship laying fire on a sinking rowboat. Not much of a victory.

Spoiler Alert: Someone senses a problem.

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Aside from the one resident here on the board.