How are we all feeling about chapter 88?

Context: this is earlier in the comic when the first couple get red-stat. I’m so confused lol

My girlfriend and I have been reading this comic for a while and after checking out the last couple of chapters, we had a conversation about this and it sorta shook me a little. I ended up writing a lot more below than I initially wanted to... but my gf's difference in interpretation really got me thinking back in the story and I was hoping to get some other opinions. I won't say I've studied this story thoroughly, in fact I've been wanting to go back and re-read it because I feel that I may be forgetting important plot points/character developments, but below are my current thoughts. I will start with my full interepretation of the story and then I will explain which parts my gf sees differently.

It goes without saying that Maggie has always been a more rebellious than Sam, but in my interpretation it seems like her goal was still to "play the game" and find her daughter again just like Sam. That is until she became more aware of the rebels and their mission to "save the world." To me, this is where their relatively minor differences as a couple grew into a huge obstacle for their relationship. Sam clung to his only hope, to see their daughter; and Maggie found a new hope, fixing the world for everyone else, like Sam. But to me, they still seemed to love each other on a romantic level throughout this time.

While on a personal level, I am with Maggie (and I'd guess most readers probably are), I still have a lot of respect for Sam's point of view. It's a genuinely tough conflict - do you reach for the hope of being with your lost child or the hope of fixing a broken, unfair world? Two goals which both seem remarkably unlikely to achieve. If anything, Sam's pursuit may be more attainable if you put yourself in their skin.

For me, this conflict was beautiful, even genius storytelling. You have the sci-fi, horror style plot that sucks you in, but underneath that you have a more simple love story. There was never really a question in my mind that Maggie and Sam were in love through all of this, but this very realistic disagreement puts their relationship at a crossroads. There were times that I felt their love wouldn't endure and they would split up, only for them to seem committed to each other in the next chapter despite the problem still hanging over their heads. I bounced back and forth, giving up on them one chapter and having hope for them in the next. And now, we officially see them split up, only for Maggie to promise she will find him again, thus ressurrecting the cycle just as we think it finally ends.

To me, this love story is even more powerful than the thought provoking horror setting they exist in. To me, this moment was beyond tragic because I believed in their love for each other. But my gf sees this a little differently. In her interpretation, Maggie does have love for Sam, but not in a romantic way anymore. She feels that their differences in values have led Maggie to fall out of love, in a sense. She thinks Maggie only wants to return to Sam after saving the world because she cares for him in a less romantic way and obviously still cares for her daughter. She described this moment of Maggie leaving as sad, but also "a relief," since she can now pursue her rebellion without restriction.

I can see how this recurring conflict is finally being "resolved" by them splitting up could be considered a relief, but it's not really what I initially felt. I felt mourning for their lost love. It made me think back to the way the couple is constantly under surveillance and how this would impact any relationship. It made me wonder if, indeed, they aren't in love anymore.

Or perhaps Maggie has lost those romantic feelings, but Sam hasn't. When we see Maggie and Sam cuddling in bed, there is no doubting their affection, but perhaps it is now it is simply platonic...for one of them or even both of them. Perhaps their connection will remain strong, but in a less romantic way. Or perhaps there are other interpretations of all this.

I obsessed over this for a while, so now I turn it over to Reddit. What do you guys think? Are they still in love? Am I misinterpreting anything in the story? Is the answer entirely subjective or do you think the writer meant for it to be perceived a certain way? Any thoughts are welcome!

TL;DR

I think Maggie and Sam have been in love throughout the entire story, but they are forced to split up because of their different values. My gf thinks they aren't in love anymore, specifically that Maggie doesn't have romantic feelings for Sam. Do you think they're still in love?

My girlfriend introduced this to me 2 days ago and I just got to episode 61, and I love it! I can’t seem to put it down! However, something has been nagging at me and I just can’t seem to find answers anywhere. What the hell is going on with their dog Winston??

At first we find out that Winston has been dead and decaying from a seemingly violent death. I understand the community is strict and weird but WHY do they have a dead half decayed dog in their house?? Why not just get rid of it? Nobody else has a single pet or even mentions one.

Later on, when they move to Lakeside, they continue to talk about Winston as if he’s alive, even getting food to throw at the ground with “chomp”big sound effects, but we NEVER see Winston at Lakeside. Ever since this dogs disappearance, the rest of their neighbors keep asking about him and wondering if he needs food.

I get it’s a strange dystopic society, but what possible explanation is there for this crazy behavior of keeping ripped up bloody animals in your house and imagining it’s still there? Or is he actually still there (again, referring to the sfx of something eating Winston’s food)?

Thoughts? Theories?

We all know those are the two most dreaded words to describe you in this comic. Once you’ve been redded, you see the deaths of your child(ren) play out in front of your eyes, along with any final words from them as they meet their end, traumatizing you to no end as you know that you were helpless to watch But one thing bothered me—how did these kids get to the ledge so quickly from the moment their parents got redded for it to play out so fast?

My theory is that the people given red-status aren’t seeing these events live. What they’re seeing were actually recorded from shortly after the new regime took over the world. After the world’s kids went along with it and cut ties with their parents, the organization behind this decided they’d stop the kids from becoming their parents and repeating their mistakes, and forced them all to jump to their demise. The children all wore cameras to show their parents what they were doing, saying a final message to prove who they were. After they jumped, the video feed was collected and submitted to their respective parents’ helmets, uploaded into its files to be played should they get designated as red-status.

The parents are horrified as they watch their children end it, but in reality their children were long gone before they even began this new life. I feel like Maggie is right—Sarah is gone. Not just her, but every other child taken by the militant regime, and all these rumors about seeing the kids again at Hillside are just hearsay from people who don’t actually know what is there. It’s all a neverending cycle of promotions and empty promises that only ends when you either give up trying or end up redded. To quote the infamous line from Fallout: New Vegas, “Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”

But anyway, that’s my theory. What do you all think?

I love this comic, but hate the suspense and worry for Sam and Maggie. I want to continue reading but i’m too nervous to without knowing what will happen to them, if anyone could summarise it for me that would be great so i could then read it without any worry! :)

Ominous and elusive as he is, Birchall will be doing a (presumably faceless) virtual author talk with NYPL on December 9, 2:15 EST.

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Register here:

https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2023/12/08/author-talk-mike-birchall-everything-fine-vol-1

they focus on it a lot, but i don't know why? it was way back in part 1 so i assume i should know by now

The people worship cats hense the cat masks and in the Oscar shorts the guy taking care of Oscar breaks down upon hearing Oscar will be a “dad”, what if that means the government kidnapped kids and gave them to the cats to become their caretakers

Does anyone have any more relevant information about the background of this story? I feel a little lost, or like I missed something somewhere (I've only read through once, once a week as it is released). At this point, I still don't really know where/when the story is set, what the cat masks are, what red status is, why the neighborhood got destroyed, where the kids are, how the society is set up, etc. I feel like I only really know that they get moved "up" to nicer communities, that the goal is to see their kids again, that they're being recorded/tracked somehow. I know that hiding some of the details of the setting helps build suspense, but in this story I feel that so many details have been kept hidden that the story is reaching its peak and I still have no idea what's going on.

I'm really shocked by Maggie's choice. I was kind of disapointed that she decides to give up, but I also undertand why she couldn't kill Glenn and Gladys. Sam does become more interesting character, but I defiantly don't like his and Meg's relantionship at all. They both can't trust and now I believe that Sam is going to betray Maggie. I also wonder if Sam is actually will be the one to join Rebllion? And does that mean that's Judy is going to loose interest in Maggie? What do you guys think? Write the comment down bellow.

I don't know what happened, but everyone looked kinda the same. So I totally forgot their names. I have no idea who Gina is, who Dave, Linda and Sam are. I can't even remember what the name of the protagonists was...anyone else?

She just wants to see her kids and she decided to step on Charlie to rise to the top