I think I’m beginning to understand a few things:  Violet doesn’t know what kudzu is and calls it an “exotic” vine. I think we might assume she is not from the South or even the Midwest.

According to The Nature Conservancy, kudzu was brought into this country over 100 years ago from Japan and later deliberately promoted during and after the Great Depression to help minimize soil erosion. Little did they know back then! Also, the fact that Cherry has to actually state that she doesn’t like kudzu is like saying penguins don’t like to summer in Miami.

Nevertheless, we’ve had 5 days of Cherry and Violet more or less repeating the same dialog: “Why did you do this, Cherry?” “I didn’t, Violet! Why would somebody want to frame me?” Slow pacing is fine when the plot or information is complex. This is not the case. After the first day, not much new was introduced, making this long sequence unduly boring and unproductive.

Maybe these two should first be more concerned about removing the rest of the kudzu currently in Violet’s home garden, before it starts expanding into the surrounding forest. Then they can go into full Enola Holmes mode to find the true culprit. My money is still on Ernest (or maybe his wife, seeking revenge for the affair!).

Wait. How can a “suspect list” increase when there are no suspects to begin with? Perhaps the term “increase” implies we start with the Sunny Soleil Society?

Anyway, this focus on Cherry seems misplaced, but I’m working from a position of logic, or at least, reasonable assumption. When Cherry says she has no enemies, is she forgetting about Honest Ernest? Well, maybe she does not consider him to be her enemy.

Art Dept. I’ll give Rivera high marks for the drawing of Violet in panel 1. The pose and especially her expression are quite well done and believable, and matching the tone of her comment. It forms an interesting bookend with Cherry’s face in panel 4. It’s still a shame that Rivera does not integrate more interesting design perspectives in the strip like she used to.

Sorry for the lateness of this post. Violet Cheshire’s comment in panel 2 just completely contradicted all of her prior statements about Cherry and the note. I was too flummoxed to continue.

Well, that’s only a half-truth. In reality, I got distracted by other matters. But when I got back to this post, I saw that Violet really did make that statement. So, this wasn’t just a late-night hallucination, after all.

Now in panel 1, we see another bit of illogic:  Why should the note attempt to frame Cherry when it wasn’t even signed by Cherry in the first place? If the narration box is meant to be an editorial comment, it reads as if Rivera was being influenced by Violet’s statements! Violet’s passive-aggressive dialog is doing nothing to move the story along, except to extend this pointless issue of Cherry’s personality.

What’s the point here? Is Rivera really concerned about establishing the authorship of the note or more concerned with pushing a “reality TV” melodrama of manufactured confrontation?

I suppose this could be yet another marketing ploy from Cherry’s second-place antagonist, Honest Ernest. We haven’t heard from him for a while. Perhaps he and Violet had a falling out after the revelation of their affair. That could be a driving motive for this anonymous note. Or maybe the prelude for another Honest Ernest toxic chemical creation.

Suddenly Cherry reverts to her “trailer trash” heritage (see the first Rivera-era story: Dec-21-20) as her apparent lack of education comes into full display in panel 4. But is she just being impertinent to Violet the Tramp? How else to explain her crudity? Cherry’s grabbing the note and her reaction in panel 3 (“…there’s no way I wrote this”) is the setup for the upcoming put-down.

But Cherry’s sarcasm in panel 4 is undermined by Rivera’s disappointing derisive response in the same panel, which otherwise provides us with no useful insights into the story. That’s my opinion. Do you have a different interpretation?

From a purely moral basis, even Violet should know that this is not Cherry’s M.O. But I reckon this outburst does fit Violet’s character. Will she apologize? Hah! Did you also think it strange that Cherry felt the need to explain to Violet what kudzu is? I don’t think there is anybody south of the Mason-Dixon Line who doesn’t already know.

Once again, this could be an interesting adventure, but we’ll have to wait and see if it descends into farce and is unresolved. It is interesting to note that Rivera posted a Sunday nature talk on kudzu before it was introduced into the current story.

Really? That’s the worst question to hear from your boss? Not in my experience, at least. But clearly there is something more to this question than a simple “Of course not!” response could satisfy. Cherry does look a bit guilty in panel 4.

Art Dept. I wonder if Rivera likes attending theater, because once again, the scene in panel 1 looks more like actors performing on stage with painted scenery: the decorative flatness of the flora, the simple overlapping placement of bushes and trees, and the generic ambiguity of the distant mountains provide a simple backdrop to the characters on center stage.