Penny and Aggie: After-"Dinner" Party

Whew.

Almost six months ago, I wrote:

"Dinner for Six" is, I think, the funniest Penny and Aggie story to date. One dinner. Six people. Three romances. A few misunderstandings. COMPLICATIONS. Permanent changes. Sixty-plus strips. Begins today!

I went into the story knowing almost exactly what I wanted. I had quite a list.

I was trying to re-invigorate the series as a funny comic after the thoughtful "Behind Closed Doors" and "Pod People," the funny but brief "Tees and Cues" and the utterly depressing "Undertow."

I wanted a story that featured both Penny and Aggie front and center with a little more focus on Aggie, another course correction from the stories that had come before.

I wanted a bedroom farce without bedrooms. (Admittedly, the world seems to be Charisma's bedroom.)

I wanted to play with reader sympathies, making villains out of the series' "heroes" and heroes out of its "villains" and then maybe switching again.

I wanted this screwball comedy to set Penny, Aggie, Karen and Marshall all on courses of change for future storylines.

I wanted to tell the story of Charisma right, because I knew that after this one I wouldn't get much of a chance, and because the path she takes clearly outlines some of the choices teenage girls face as they approach womanhood.

And I wanted to conclude Nick's arc, and show that his attempt to recapture his younger days with Charisma, while an exciting interlude, was ultimately doomed.

I know the story was a bit long for some in parts, but the length was necessary to get all that stuff done. Without the complications piling onto complications, Aggie and Charisma never would have gotten frustrated enough to burst out with their moments of truth, moments which have now changed their lives for better and for worse, thrown Nick and Karen into choices of their own, and finally allowed readers to see Marshall the way I've seen him from day one. As for Penny's puzzling reaction to the situation, we'll be unpacking that in upcoming stories, too. And we had to distract you all from the giant loose end left on Penny's cell phone...



It's been a long road, but I got everything I wanted. Today's a happy day.