Mattyboy

Obviously not.

Krista does do a great villain-Mom.

Nailed it! But there's some great lines in the chapters ahead, so do keep reading.

It's much more an issue for the comments-section assessment of Lisa than it's likely to matter for the rest of the story, which I'm guessing is going to involve Joel going to live at the Connley's and find his way through high school with his new foster-brother and the Kepler bros. And the comments-section has already concluded on some pretty solid evidence indeed that Lisa is an awful person and mother. So it's just an add-on that it's Phil's childhood home on the old Benton farm that she's referring to when she snarls that it's her house. I see she uses "why we kicked him out" though.

Oh yeah I see there's a bit on this in chapter 1, although that says Dad bought it from the grandparents that owned it. And of course "it's my house" can be said by someone who expects to be the boss of what goes on inside, whether or not their name is on the deed.

Yet, here we are, living in a world where that doesn't always happen.

It's often a money thing. Lisa claimed that it was her house and Joel says Grandpa used to own the land (but wasn't clear on which Grandpa). Phil might have "married up" and if there's a "my house" vs "our house" dynamic going on, that can change a lot. Yep, it's tiring, and can in fact drive people completely around the bend - and that doesn't matter urban or rural.

Trace's expectations that Mrs Benton would be more reasonable and more motherly than she is were not met. In a fairly awful way - but Trace now knows a lot more (and first hand) about why Joel figured he was done there. But Trace was quite right that having done this, Joel is now not trapped in his own mind by guesses and maybes. He has a LOT more information now about how done he is with his mother, and that Cody and Dad are possible-to-real allies. And Trace established a lot, legally; he's been told by a parent (while the other parent was present) that Joel is thrown out, and he's countered by bringing up child protection law. If Joel's going to go live at Connley farm and go to school over in wherever-land, this had to happen. (and they've gotten Joel's phone and clothes and stuff, which it's become clear will be needed).

Who didn't behave as expected? 1: Joel giving Trace an orientation briefing in the truck seemed like a thing that could have happened. 2: Westley didn't play the "I didn't-know-she'd-go-this-far" card. 3: Cody showed a lot of strength in swimming against the household current (that was foreshadowed, but it wasn't a sure thing). 4: Mr Benton showed weakness, but also that the Missuss' approach isn't his own. That last is quite believable, but I didn't guess at it at all (we didn't have much baseline). 5: Mrs Benton was exactly as crazy as she was the night before, and in front of an adult she didn't know. None of those items are hard to believe, just pointing out there were a lot of variables in how that scene could have gone.

Interesting, not everyone behaved the way I expected. (well, Trace more or less did, I can't tell if he'd actually guessed Mrs Benton's issues or had a short list). Also interesting that you've finally named the places your characters live in. Although it seems Joel's only got a few more minutes in Temp Town.

It's a High Commission(er), Canada can't have an embassy (or an ambassador) to its own head of state.

Cal standing up for himself is an excellent development, though.

Great chapter. I've had a similar experience to Gray's with the photos. Different in every detail, but similar in those traces of history where there actually was some potential and something positive in relationships that later rotted out completely. When you're left wondering why you were so foolish to try to hang on so long, it's healing to be reminded there was actually something there for a while.

Emilio is very much his brother's twin, and he's learned a lot from (and obviously values and respects) Thomas, but he's grown into his own person with his own voice who's doing this his own way. The possibility of that sort of growth is one of the big messages in Empath's work, and I'd think most of the readers have picked up on that in some way, but if any of you hadn't - THERE IT IS; RIGHT THERE. ⬆️

This is heart-aching that Angelica is right there in the next room and actually thinking about checking up on Henry, but the threads aren't quite weaving together yet. But I feel we can see it from here. So were we told who Henry's namesake is? Does it have a V in it?

Ok, that didn't add up to a 😆rxn from me but Emilio had some pretty great wiseacre lines there. He jumped about 20 spots on my "favorite characters" list in this episode. "We’re going to get caught,” Elio declared, showing no intention of backing down. “Probably. At least we know a good lawyer.” A little. I don’t want to screw it up.” Elio forced himself not to drop his head in shame, even though admitting his perceived weakness made him feel inadequate. “That’s why I’m here!” . . . “Just turn down your brain and turn up your heart. “I feel like a freak who hides in his head whenever life gets too overwhelming. No one else does that.” “We all do that, bro.” Emilio’s heart was dialed all the way up. “It’s just that the rest of us can’t shift into Batman like you can.” “Turn down the brain, El. I can smell smoke.” We’re going to get caught,” Elio declared, showing no intention of backing down. “Probably. At least we know a good lawyer.”

Backup has been called and Silas-not-shooting seems to be happening, so looks like Teyshawn and Devon are getting out. Henry does not seem to be okay.

"Russ gave a grim laugh, “Light the blue touch paper and retire.” " This is a Standard of Huddersfield reference, I take it? Very fun for me.

Hooboy, this is looking tricky. Juan has it right about Wisconsin, but that's gonna be too slow to count as a hot trail. Excellent that Team del Buono is staying the heck away from 624 for now. That Walter is quite this awful is going to be a hard thought to generate for -well- everyone. And nobody but maybe Angelica has even thought to share what puzzle pieces they're holding. Fingers crossed Henry has enough time 🐟🐠🐡🐠🐟 Very finely crafted @empath

How well does Troy know Jake anyhow? I'm staying in camp VBlew until this gets cleared up.

Hmm, maybe. I mean, I know you're the author and all, but Jake's behavior has been sus.

I like chaos, but this seemed weird (which maybe was the point?). Seth says he likes sports but he didn't seem that into either soccer or his teammates in the first chapter. I'm not into Deepak Chopra or crystals, but Chopra does talk about crystals a lot I think. Is Troy dissembling about his interest when it more hypnotism than meditation? I'm intrigued, but I feel I'm bumping up on the limit my interest if the narrator is going to be that unreliable.

"Qian was only now taking inventory of the overwhelming number of things that had gone in his favor," Team Liberty is pretty great, alright. They face some quite nasty opposition, but doing good and being competent has always worked for them in the past.

Yeah, it's a dinosaur thing to say now, but a generation ago I knew coaches who thought they were just being funny or teaching boys about masculinity or something. Coach did start with being encouraging even though Seth, by Seth's account, didn't do much.

Ew, Errol, I get the choice but not very nice.