Bad Machinery by John Allison for January 12, 2024

In Panel 5 is Shauna starting to wonder just where she did inherit her smarts from? Another mystery!

That’s some rather negative self-analysis from Dan in panel #4, and Shauna seems surprised/horrified by his statement in #5. But in the last panel she seems secretly pleased by the more emotional send-off she got compared to her friend.

Dan is a really good guy. Explains a lot why Humphrey is so different from Shauna, did not know the step relationship.

Yeah, that sounds about right for Lottie.

Shauna gets a huge secret chuckle out of Lottie’s mum’s injunctions.

Karen knows that Lottie need to be warned about her personal behavior, and she likely also knows that those warnings will go unheeded.

I love Dan so much.

Neither Dan nor Shauna’s mom are stupid. Dan works in a skilled and licensed profession, even if it is extremely working class. He’s clever and insightful, too. Her mom is studying to become a nurse. Dan’s negative self talk there is a real bummer and if “Bad Machinery” had gone on longer, and if it were an area John Allison wanted to explore, it’d be interesting to see what limits (if any) that assumption placed on Humphrey – that he’s Dan’s kid therefore he can’t be that smart. It’s something that holds a lot of people back. “You’re ____________ so you can’t be THAT smart/capable.”

Lottie’s backpack appears to be screaming for help. Or perhaps just singing. LAAAA!

Lottie spks txt.

I think that Dan has some difficulties in dealing with the fact that her stepdaughter is a very intelligent person. He’s happy, but feels not worthy.