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[CortJstr]

That's kind of the entire feel of this strip -- Beef's transformation is unlikely, but it's either something about Hell or something about Denise. Maybe both. Beef's lust does seem unusually direct.

I'm guessing these are normal thoughts for Beef. He assumes he'll turn into a crappy man in a loveless relationship. Or sad and alone. Either or.

[Paisley]

Depending on which English Lit class you take, there is a canonical number of possible plot lines, like, ever.

I'm not sure whether the Achewood Descends Into Hell falls under The Hero's Quest, or just "person loses cherished other person/thing, goes to great lengths to get it, discovers true meaning of Christmas in process", but Beef going to Hell to rescue? reunite with? Ray may just be in the same class as Orpheus and Eurydice.

Or as the ending of Romeo and Juliet (or "Romeo and Juliet II: Judgment Day"), except that Beef and Ray are male cats in a dysfunctional friendship, not two horny human teenagers from dysfunctional families.

[pmcd9]

I'm guessing "Friendly's" is the name of a restaurant?

Appologies to Jough.

~Paul

[V-Adore]

I'm guessing "Friendly's" is the name of a restaurant?

Friendly's is a chain of restaurants primarily east of the Mississippi (I think -- I've never encountered one west of the Miss.) which is primarily focused on ice cream and milkshakes but also serves Dennys-style lunch -- sandwiches, burgers, melts, fajitas, that kind of thing. They always impressed me as decent if not precisely memorable, but mileage on the thread appears to vary.

[slink]

but Beef going to Hell to rescue? reunite with? Ray may just be in the same class as Orpheus and Eurydice.

I figured Beef just felt really shitty with his hangover, and didn't want to be in limbo (that is neither heaven nor hell, just here) without Ray, if he couldn't be in heaven with Molly.
So maybe he's not trying to rescue Ray, so much as just, continue hanging out with him.

[Paisley]

I'm guessing "Friendly's" is the name of a restaurant?

Friendly's is a chain of restaurants primarily east of the Mississippi

Precisely. So. this makes me ponder how well-traveled the Californian Onstad is to this side of the country.

My experience with Friendly's in New England has been that they live painfully up to their name, which is not a good thing when you're a) goth and/or b) hungover. Sure, they serve the bottomless carafe of coffee like Bickford's/IHOP does, the place (at least in New England) is clean, they don't title their food combos with overly cute names, and you're not so afraid of catching salmonella or a pubic hair in your eggs over easy with a side of pancakes ... but dammit, sometimes a waitress can be too attentive and perky.

Honestly, they come on like junior high-school girls trying to get into the popular lunch table: "Be your best friend!" when what you're in the mood for when you order breakfast for dinner (which is why you came into Friendly's in the first place) is some turquoise-eye-shadowed harridan who calls you "honey" and lays your plate down easy because she knows you can't handle real loud noises right now.

[jough]

I think eating at Friendly's is keeping with Onstad's ideas of Hell being not so bad, just a haven for the mediocre, like 7-11, Best Western, and KFC.

[slink]

some turquoise-eye-shadowed harridan who calls you "honey" and lays your plate down easy because she knows you can't handle real loud noises right now.

That's why on the morning after I always ate at home.
That and whatever I'd been doing the night before left me a little unfit to be out in public!

And Jough, you're right. I was seeing te inclusion of fastfood places as a sign of it being hell, but if he wanted to make it a really bad kind of hell it would have been a BK or McDonalds. KFC is remarkably bearable.

Also, it's interesting that they seem to be called FriendlyŽ's. How do you pronounce the trademark sign?

[St_Zartan]

Beef's lust does seem unusually direct.

I'm proud of our boy - this ("What do you say we go start a family in your nasty Corolla"; my God how I'd love to try out this line) is the most forward he's ever been, as far as I can remember, even if it is on a purely internal, hypothetical basis. When Ray is all incapacitated and old-school and ridiculous, it seems like Beef takes on a little bit of an edge, bless his heart.

Of course this being Hell, Beef and Denise will hook up and then she will have scoliosis and / or a c*ck. And Christmas will be ruined forever

Possible Old Roast Beef bears a lot of resemblance to Nice Pete - so I guess receding hairline and big-ass sideburns are Onstad's visual shorthand for "Life, I have given up at you". Cold.

[Paisley]

Also, it's interesting that they seem to be called FriendlyŽ's. How do you pronounce the trademark sign?

With a "hic" of course. As in "Goin' to Frei-hend *huck*lees, wanna come? Sure? Aight, you change your mind, I still gotta find my car keys."

I was just wondering at the choice of Friendly's over Denny's, which is a bit more universal (in the States at least), like Best Western and KFC.

I don't _think_ there was a Friendly's close to where the Onstads were staying in Boston this last time out, but they were doing some traveling 'round heah.

[Noah]

I've never heard of "Friendly's" until today. I figured it was just made up until I read this thread.

[V-Adore]

Of course this being Hell, Beef and Denise will hook up and then she will have scoliosis and / or a c*ck. And Christmas will be ruined forever

I dunno. Given the general standards of this Hell, my expectation is sort of that Denise would probably be all that she appears, but that Beef, well, would just be entirely unsatisfied. If Heaven is Molly and a sort of perfect platonic connection, even if it's one that is never quite truly physical, Hell is Denise and an entirely loveless, meaningless bout of physical pleasure in the back of a nasty old car.

Possible Old Roast Beef bears a lot of resemblance to Nice Pete - so I guess receding hairline and big-ass sideburns are Onstad's visual shorthand for "Life, I have given up at you". Cold.

I can entirely buy it. Of course, the only other character in the comic with big ol' sideburns is Lie Bot, who hasn't given up on life -- well, presumably hasn't, anyway. He hasn't been in the strip lately, come to think of it...

[St_Zartan]

Austin, Texas: late 1997. Small restaurant. Most likely unrelated to the franchise, but six times as bleak. At last, an irony-free use for this photo.

[slink]

Austin, Texas: late 1997. Small restaurant. Most likely unrelated to the franchise, but six times as bleak.

What's to bet he guy in the background is packin' three kinds of heat?

[St_Zartan]

What's to bet the guy in the background is packin' three kinds of heat?

All these years and I have never noticed that guy. Geez. But Austin is pretty much Seattle, Texas. Which means you probably won't get shot but you most certainly will want to punch every record store employee directly in their smug fuck*ng faces.

HOWEVER

$Rest_of_Texas = DUCK AND COVER