At first glance, it is tempting to throw one's hands into the air and declare today yet another thematic repeat of the past two days, emphasizing Burl's extreme cheapness through the device of a pair of free Meal Deals.
Tempting, but in classic Dinette Set fashion, the inherent tension between dialog/narrative and artwork leads to the larger truth if you are willing to peel away the layers of the onion and discover what lies inside.
The reader's attention is quickly drawn to a seemingly extraneous detail, the gender of the person at the window. Joy's dialog clearly indicates that she is female. The drawing is much less definitive on this point, although to be fair, it may be asking to much to identify his/her gender, given that it is not possible to even identify what s/he is supposed to be doing.
The simple presumption is that s/he is trying to get Burl and Joy's attention to let them know s/he gave them extra Meal Deals. Probably Meal Deals belonging to the sinister shadowy figure piloting the battleship-sized vehicle blotting out the sun behind Burl and Joy and threatening to run them off the road should the truth be discovered.
But the sign on the front of the establishment belies that interpretation. It clearly states that if you buy one Meal Deal, you get one free. So, suddenly, it becomes conceivable that Burl and Joy actually got what they ordered: two Meal Deals, and two free meal Deals. At which point the employee is, instead, trying to warn them that they have forgotten the 72 oz. drink that comes free with every Meal Deal.
And so, with an almost Socratic pedagogy, the panel leads the reader, step-by-step, to the more global commentary. In its avuncular way, The Dinette Set delivers a gentle tsk-tsk regarding the excesses of life in America, with 5,000-calories-per-day diets and 5-gallons-per-mile autos.
Would you like marginalia with that?
- I would love to give credit for the clever Einstein reference "MC2", but I'm at a loss to explain how Special Relativity bears on today's panel. And an bad pun about Einstein is still a bad pun.
- The neckline of Burl's shirt can only be described as "plunging" if I am seeing it correctly. It is possible that I am not seeing it correctly, however, due to the choice to make the shirt out of horizontal stripes against the backdrop of vertically-striped seat upholstery.
- Burl's head is swivelled 180-degrees to talk to Joy, who is 90-degrees from him. Do you figure Dale and Marlene are in the back seat?
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