From what we’ve seen as well as a great deal fo what’s been implied. That is pretty much every interaction they have, that Noah plays pranks on her, messes with her and in general is just a nuisance, because he enjoys this. since he moved next door to her, it feels like he only did so to spite her and to do that stuff EVERY DAY
When I was in my teens, I started to hate my older brother for a lot of his behavior towards me. He wasn’t like Noah, but he was the insufferable type to me. I always dreaded seeing him later in life after we moved apart, until my dad spelled it out for me: “Yeah he can be a jerk, but he has a good heart. He loves you and he’d lay down in traffic to save you if it came down to it, and you know it. Like the song goes, he ain’t heavy.”
yeah, basically this, I’m new here, but that means I just archive dived this whole comic in a day, and to be fair, his pranks are basically harmless, but when that’s the only interaction you have with someone, then clearly they don’t have a relationship with you. ~<3
I get where she’s coming from, Noah and Sarah did lay it on pretty thick (and the Witch house next door becoming available was quite the coincidence. Hope Ms. Witch is okay, btw; shenanigans aside, she doesn’t seem like a bad person, and she’s been going through a LOT lately). But I also can’t help but feel like Tara might have gone too far with her own outburst this time. I highly doubt there was any malice in their actions, certainly nothing that warranted her ripping her brother a new one like that. I hope I’m wrong, but I get the sense that the next story arc might be a bit less on the “fun” side than we’ve seen for awhile.
I think Tara makes it fairly clear, both in her conversation with Noah and her response to Bev outside that this was more a ‘straw that broke the camels back’ scenario rather than about the dinner itself.
Yeah, I wondered if this was really just annoying Tara because, like, Sarah and Noah could just explain their relationship to T&B by sitting down and saying it in words. They will be believed and loved regardless. But they choose to make it over the top like they are willing someone to be sh**ty about it so they can be justified in being goblins. Don’t get me wrong, it’s SO FUN and wonderful to be a goblin .. with the right people in the right circumstance. But this doesn’t have to be one of them, and it’s valid that Tara is annoyed. Although the last speech bubble is also probably true, too
Honestly, I’m not sure they could just sit down and explain it.
I think both Noah and Sarah have shown a tendency to really on comedy as a means to control a situation. This is seen as early as Sarah’s introduction where, unable to deal with her own complex feelings around dating, she instead chooses to make a game out of how insane she can appear.
Noah shows a similar need for control and to appear unpredictable and zany. The two of them together compound this problem, and it seems the more genuine and vulnerable the message, the more they need to control that narrative and this is the inevitable result.
I can see both perspectives. I think this is Noah’s genuine attempt to connect with his sister through the series of barriers of irony and chaos that he has built around himself, while Tara is frustrated that she can’t just have a real relationship with her brother without these filters in place.
Aw. I feel like Noah actually really relies on Tara as a source of support and security which is probably more reason why he moved in next door. I do think maybe he took it too far here and their sibling relationship needs to mature a bit as adults. He can’t just keep annoying her for kicks. Maybe Tara’s a bit overly sensitive to it too.
Tara’s response to the “dinner” was kind of over the top. Noah and Sarah weren’t hurting anyone. They were being kind of ridiculous, but that’s just how the are.
“That’s just how I am” is not a free pass to do anything you want to no consequences. You’re allowed to live your life however you want, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is obligated to indulge you.
What should the consequences be for someone who invites you over, serves you dinner and engages in some silly theatrics? A big part of maturity is learning to let shit slide when it’s the kind of shit that truly doesn’t matter in the end.
Amethyst
A big part of maturity is also being willing to say “enough is enough.”
Too be fair sometimes the only way to cope with family drama is to distance yourself, even if its only for a little bit. I love my Mom too bits, but i cannot stand to be around the woman for more than a few hours at a time. Liveing nextdoor to each other would be a nightmare for both of us. Family is this wierd dicotomy were you can love someone with all your heart, but not perticually like them as a person.
To be fair to Tara, over the course of the comic Noah and Sara have been getting more and more obnoxious. We can see it in the last Xmas arc, for instance. It is all meant in good fun, we know that, but to Tara it has been building for sure. There comes a point where something breaks the camel’s back, and this was it. And sometimes it takes being harsh and ripping the person a new one to get the point across enough is enough.
Could she have phrased it or been nicer about it? Sure. But sometimes you need to be harsh to be firm.
Yeaaaaa I’m not sure I can take Tara’s side for this arc. Sure Noah can be a goblin, but almost all of his pranks are on the basis that Tara’s can’t help but be curious, or want to investigate. All Tara has to do is just…. not get invested and their jokes fall flat. It’s also not like they’re purposefully being annoying for the sake of getting under Tara’s skin. We’ve seen them act exactly the same even when nobody else is around. Really the only sin here is that they moved next door, which can get annoying if you value your space/privacy.
But after a lifetime of pranks? Well, maybe not the first 10 years, but something at least every week after that? He is lucky all his fingers are intact :{
There’s decades of unseen interactions we aren’t privy to. Maybe a montage of Noah Trolling Tara Through The Years might give us perspective (and as a bonus see them all a second time through Noah’s reasonings for each incident)
If you judge Noah based on all the pranks we have seen him pull, they’ve all been relatively harmless, toying with Tara’s paranoia and winding her up. He has never abused, humiliated, insulted or frightened her. I have to assume that his escapades in their youth were much the same, because it would be extreme character derailment for him to have gone out of his way to hurt her emotionally or otherwise. Tara hasn’t seemed to have learned the crucial life lesson that wisdom and maturity come not only from the experiences that happen to us, but also from how we choose to handle those experiences.
I understand Tara’s feelings, because she feels like Noah is threatening her normalcy, but I’m more on Noah’s side on this because I think (and this is theory) that this was Noah’s way of “coming out”, explaining to Tara the type of relationship he has with Sarah (something we know is very important to him), that it’s a lifelong thing for him and Sarah, and the first person in his family who was going to tell them was Tara…
Only for Tara to interpret it and sum it up as “You love tormenting me, and you’re threatening me” in addition to denying their entire relationship as siblings…
And I really understand Tara’s point because this is a “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and a “crossing the line,” and that Noah didn’t really think about how Tara would feel if his family moved into her “private space,” but I get the feeling that she never really told him how his teasing directly affected her until now that she’s basically exploding…
By Of course, this is all theory and I could be wrong, but I loved the episode, I’m already looking forward to seeing how it continues<3
A bit of Info I gather was that Noah prided himself on being completely unpredictable and his background bio said that he was annoyed that no one was surprised that he was Trans. He then organized his life around the concept that he HAS to surprised everyone about everything, When someone expect him of doing X, he goes out of his way of proving them wrong. “Look! I’m doing Y instead.” Tara probably already knows the kind of relationship he has with Sarah.
Tara is the one who needs to grow up. Noah and Sarah were being nothing other than welcoming hosts. Sure they were putting on an elaborate performance, but Tara didn’t even try to understand it for what it was. They didn’t try to humiliate her or prank her in any other way. The mature response would be to get in on the fun and embrace the silliness for what it was. Also, why did Tara reserve the dressing down for Noah and not Sarah too? She must have little to no respect for him if she’s willing to make him feel like crap, but still seems to know it’s wrong to insult Sarah in the same way. Noah is Tara’s brother and Sarah is her close friend, and she has not done right by either of them by throwing a tantrum.
By itself, dinner was not to awful. But in context of a history where every interaction has a 10/90 split between sincere interaction with a loved one, vs prankish goblin shit?
I will allow points against Tara if there have not been attempts to tell Noah his constant pranks are too much. But just as some are saying “this dinner was not so bad”, could have been Noah ignored previous attempts to talk, brushing them off as “it was just a little prank”, without realizing how much pressure was building up. Eventually that pressure was released in terms that could not be ignored :{
33 thoughts on “Over for Dinner #5”
Kiloku
I’m having a very hard time understanding Tara’s perspective here. It feels like it was a harmless prank to me. What about it all made her so upset?
Sam Burnett
Same. I’m really not getting it either
Marleonka
From what we’ve seen as well as a great deal fo what’s been implied. That is pretty much every interaction they have, that Noah plays pranks on her, messes with her and in general is just a nuisance, because he enjoys this. since he moved next door to her, it feels like he only did so to spite her and to do that stuff EVERY DAY
Furious Tomato
When I was in my teens, I started to hate my older brother for a lot of his behavior towards me. He wasn’t like Noah, but he was the insufferable type to me. I always dreaded seeing him later in life after we moved apart, until my dad spelled it out for me: “Yeah he can be a jerk, but he has a good heart. He loves you and he’d lay down in traffic to save you if it came down to it, and you know it. Like the song goes, he ain’t heavy.”
Rob Wright
This is more just the final straw. She also has not seen all the personal growth the two have done
DJTsurugi
yeah, basically this, I’m new here, but that means I just archive dived this whole comic in a day, and to be fair, his pranks are basically harmless, but when that’s the only interaction you have with someone, then clearly they don’t have a relationship with you. ~<3
Dog
I can’t say I blame her for getting a tad bit fuckin’ sick of the shenanigans when that’s going to be her day-to-day.
Tsath
Painful but necessary.
Etru
I get where she’s coming from, Noah and Sarah did lay it on pretty thick (and the Witch house next door becoming available was quite the coincidence. Hope Ms. Witch is okay, btw; shenanigans aside, she doesn’t seem like a bad person, and she’s been going through a LOT lately). But I also can’t help but feel like Tara might have gone too far with her own outburst this time. I highly doubt there was any malice in their actions, certainly nothing that warranted her ripping her brother a new one like that. I hope I’m wrong, but I get the sense that the next story arc might be a bit less on the “fun” side than we’ve seen for awhile.
Ryan
I think Tara makes it fairly clear, both in her conversation with Noah and her response to Bev outside that this was more a ‘straw that broke the camels back’ scenario rather than about the dinner itself.
ShortFlamingo
Yeah, I wondered if this was really just annoying Tara because, like, Sarah and Noah could just explain their relationship to T&B by sitting down and saying it in words. They will be believed and loved regardless. But they choose to make it over the top like they are willing someone to be sh**ty about it so they can be justified in being goblins. Don’t get me wrong, it’s SO FUN and wonderful to be a goblin .. with the right people in the right circumstance. But this doesn’t have to be one of them, and it’s valid that Tara is annoyed. Although the last speech bubble is also probably true, too
YeahNo
Honestly, I’m not sure they could just sit down and explain it.
I think both Noah and Sarah have shown a tendency to really on comedy as a means to control a situation. This is seen as early as Sarah’s introduction where, unable to deal with her own complex feelings around dating, she instead chooses to make a game out of how insane she can appear.
Noah shows a similar need for control and to appear unpredictable and zany. The two of them together compound this problem, and it seems the more genuine and vulnerable the message, the more they need to control that narrative and this is the inevitable result.
I can see both perspectives. I think this is Noah’s genuine attempt to connect with his sister through the series of barriers of irony and chaos that he has built around himself, while Tara is frustrated that she can’t just have a real relationship with her brother without these filters in place.
Sirksome
Aw. I feel like Noah actually really relies on Tara as a source of support and security which is probably more reason why he moved in next door. I do think maybe he took it too far here and their sibling relationship needs to mature a bit as adults. He can’t just keep annoying her for kicks. Maybe Tara’s a bit overly sensitive to it too.
Diem
IMO, she’s gonna need to apologize. Not for WHAT she said, but for HOW she said it.
Flintstone
Tara’s response to the “dinner” was kind of over the top. Noah and Sarah weren’t hurting anyone. They were being kind of ridiculous, but that’s just how the are.
Amethyst
“That’s just how I am” is not a free pass to do anything you want to no consequences. You’re allowed to live your life however you want, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is obligated to indulge you.
Furious Tomato
What should the consequences be for someone who invites you over, serves you dinner and engages in some silly theatrics? A big part of maturity is learning to let shit slide when it’s the kind of shit that truly doesn’t matter in the end.
Amethyst
A big part of maturity is also being willing to say “enough is enough.”
Karter
Man I feel so bad for Noah.
Bnboard
Too be fair sometimes the only way to cope with family drama is to distance yourself, even if its only for a little bit. I love my Mom too bits, but i cannot stand to be around the woman for more than a few hours at a time. Liveing nextdoor to each other would be a nightmare for both of us. Family is this wierd dicotomy were you can love someone with all your heart, but not perticually like them as a person.
Matrix
Very realistic. Everything has been on Noah’s terms and Tara can’t handle it anymore. Very well written
CoopThePanda
What galls me is the offended look on Noah’s face, like he has no idea why she could even be that upset. The guy is legit clueless.
Max
To be fair to Tara, over the course of the comic Noah and Sara have been getting more and more obnoxious. We can see it in the last Xmas arc, for instance. It is all meant in good fun, we know that, but to Tara it has been building for sure. There comes a point where something breaks the camel’s back, and this was it. And sometimes it takes being harsh and ripping the person a new one to get the point across enough is enough.
Could she have phrased it or been nicer about it? Sure. But sometimes you need to be harsh to be firm.
Satyr
Yeaaaaa I’m not sure I can take Tara’s side for this arc. Sure Noah can be a goblin, but almost all of his pranks are on the basis that Tara’s can’t help but be curious, or want to investigate. All Tara has to do is just…. not get invested and their jokes fall flat. It’s also not like they’re purposefully being annoying for the sake of getting under Tara’s skin. We’ve seen them act exactly the same even when nobody else is around. Really the only sin here is that they moved next door, which can get annoying if you value your space/privacy.
Witch of many Jobs
It got to take a lot to piss off Tara like this.
notStanley
But after a lifetime of pranks? Well, maybe not the first 10 years, but something at least every week after that? He is lucky all his fingers are intact :{
Good For Thought
There’s decades of unseen interactions we aren’t privy to. Maybe a montage of Noah Trolling Tara Through The Years might give us perspective (and as a bonus see them all a second time through Noah’s reasonings for each incident)
Furious Tomato
If you judge Noah based on all the pranks we have seen him pull, they’ve all been relatively harmless, toying with Tara’s paranoia and winding her up. He has never abused, humiliated, insulted or frightened her. I have to assume that his escapades in their youth were much the same, because it would be extreme character derailment for him to have gone out of his way to hurt her emotionally or otherwise. Tara hasn’t seemed to have learned the crucial life lesson that wisdom and maturity come not only from the experiences that happen to us, but also from how we choose to handle those experiences.
Aural4444
I understand Tara’s feelings, because she feels like Noah is threatening her normalcy, but I’m more on Noah’s side on this because I think (and this is theory) that this was Noah’s way of “coming out”, explaining to Tara the type of relationship he has with Sarah (something we know is very important to him), that it’s a lifelong thing for him and Sarah, and the first person in his family who was going to tell them was Tara…
Only for Tara to interpret it and sum it up as “You love tormenting me, and you’re threatening me” in addition to denying their entire relationship as siblings…
And I really understand Tara’s point because this is a “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and a “crossing the line,” and that Noah didn’t really think about how Tara would feel if his family moved into her “private space,” but I get the feeling that she never really told him how his teasing directly affected her until now that she’s basically exploding…
By Of course, this is all theory and I could be wrong, but I loved the episode, I’m already looking forward to seeing how it continues<3
Greg
A bit of Info I gather was that Noah prided himself on being completely unpredictable and his background bio said that he was annoyed that no one was surprised that he was Trans. He then organized his life around the concept that he HAS to surprised everyone about everything, When someone expect him of doing X, he goes out of his way of proving them wrong. “Look! I’m doing Y instead.” Tara probably already knows the kind of relationship he has with Sarah.
Yo
I’m kinda disappointed, NGL.
Furious Tomato
Tara is the one who needs to grow up. Noah and Sarah were being nothing other than welcoming hosts. Sure they were putting on an elaborate performance, but Tara didn’t even try to understand it for what it was. They didn’t try to humiliate her or prank her in any other way. The mature response would be to get in on the fun and embrace the silliness for what it was. Also, why did Tara reserve the dressing down for Noah and not Sarah too? She must have little to no respect for him if she’s willing to make him feel like crap, but still seems to know it’s wrong to insult Sarah in the same way. Noah is Tara’s brother and Sarah is her close friend, and she has not done right by either of them by throwing a tantrum.
notStanley
By itself, dinner was not to awful. But in context of a history where every interaction has a 10/90 split between sincere interaction with a loved one, vs prankish goblin shit?
I will allow points against Tara if there have not been attempts to tell Noah his constant pranks are too much. But just as some are saying “this dinner was not so bad”, could have been Noah ignored previous attempts to talk, brushing them off as “it was just a little prank”, without realizing how much pressure was building up. Eventually that pressure was released in terms that could not be ignored :{