Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 28, 2017

you’re quite a bizarre psychiatrist, Dez

Bernice, be careful with his Schmumpf.

All this energy spent on trying to catch the mysterious Piro, and he finally kisses her, and she feels nothing. You need more help than Dez can give you, Bernice…

Well, that surprised me. And, Dez, forget the scarf, you can’t conjure up chemistry where there is none. So what’s next for Bernice? Gunther? Or, maybe Pru?

This reminds me of that classic Star Trek Spock quote…. " After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. "

This seems odd, and kind of unexpected. On the surface it seems like Bernice might have been so surprised that she was in a state of shock, and sort of blocked out some of her feelings.

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Another off-the-wall explanation: Piro is a transsexual – a female switching to male. Dr. Heald is some doctor helping him/her to adjust. Bernice just didn’t feel normal male chemistry because it was not there. … All that’s very unlikely, but as good an alternative explanation for the mystery as any.

What does this Mean, Bern? It MEANS You can Quit Covering for Star-Head and do Your Friggin’ Job for a Change!

What a letdown after three weeks of build-up. Bernice spent all evening on the sofa next to Piro, he threw himself under the bus to protect her, he kissed her. If that isn’t “essence” enough, Dez’s scarf trick is unlikely to matter. Tomorrow is another day, Miss Scarlett, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I hope you all prove me wrong.

Don’t poo-poo Dez’s idea here. It may not be what Greg and Karen had in mind, but a lot of human attraction is based on pheromones. If Bernice likes the way he smells, it means she’s attracted to him on the chemical level.

As well, Bernice may be so stressed out by all these recent events that she’s distracted from really enjoying a good smooch.Or, Piro himself is stessed out, too. Or he’s not a very good kisser.

While Piro’s method of dealing with Bernice’s constantly talking was to kiss her, Dez’ method involves some kind of scarf asphyxiation. Either way, Dez and Piro both have the same motivation to get Bernice to stop talking.

Maybe its because she doesnt even know him? Not really anyway.

Let it go, Bernice. There are plenty of other men out there.

Every day for a week she would try to

Find that Piro, find that Piro

On Tiffany’s cell

Every day for a week she would try to

Hear his scarf rush, hear his scarf rush

Feel his chill

And she dug right down to the bottom of her soul

To see what she had inside

Yes, she dug right down to the bottom of her soul

And she tried, she tried

And everybody is going smooch, smooch

I have a beau, I feel the love, I love to share

And Mr. Piro kisses her and Dez says

“Okay, Bernice, what did you feel?”

And she said

“Nothing, I’m feeling nothing”

And Dez says

“Nothing? I need to get his scarf”

They all felt something

But she felt nothing

Except the feeling

That this storyline was absurd

I knew she would over analyse this! Argghhh! Just shut up Bernice, feel the swaddle, and STOP thinking!

We’re starting to question Bernice somewhat…

Once again, Dez (without a degree) is out-counseling, the “counselor” who is seeking a degree. Bernice needs to consider something else.

Perhaps Bernice has come to the conclusion that Piro is too high maintenance for her

What it means is that Bernice still doesn’t really know Piro and is more attracted to the mystery than the reality.

@LJBPUC Isn’t Leslie the obvious thief?

Does this foretell a Prudence / Bernice hookup?

Panel 1 is just as I opined yesterday. The kiss was so unexpected she hasn’t had time to experience the emotional impact. Dez is right on. She’s sentenced Bernice to one minute of silent pleasure.

What do women want? Even THEY don’t know.

That being said. Reality creeps in. Where has Dez been all this time? Remember it probably 1 a.m. by now. Why does she now identify the scarf as Piro’s? Where was Dez the night of the TV incident? Dez comes off as the aroma therapy muse! What’s going on!!!

maybe she needs to wear that scarf around her mouth more often, becoming a Kenny McCormick type character?

Bee needs to be…“awakened”…shall we say?

OK, now this is just weird.

Enough already. Time to move along…

Essence d’thief? Bern could have just been surprised by the kiss, so not surprising there were no fireworks with no real emotions preceding the unexpected. And it didn’t appear to last long with the sudden appearance of Dez.

Wow cold water on passion eh? Never assume you know where Greg is going on a long developed and developing arc. Bernice is so confused. I think maybe Dez will help her sort out her feelings for Piro, which she has, but she has to be totally trusting and open to them, not just him. I will have more to say, and I want this arc to return, with some progress in their relationship. Of course there still is Tiffany, and the mystery of the TV, after all the scarf was found in the lounge, and they hid it from the campus authorities. So be patient, arggggggggggghh.

Dez, make that scarf nice & tight. Please!

So many of us were wrong in believing that Piro was not attracted to Bernice, and the other half were wrong about believing that Bernice’s non-reaction was just her astonishment. Score: 10 points to the Evanses, zero to the commentariat!

Eau de Scarfe is all the rage in Paris this spring.

Bernice has yet to try another complex scheme: she could systematically kiss everyone (yes, women too) to see if the earth moves.

A lot of times the chase / hunt is more thrilling than the catch.

And we still don’t get to find out who is in room 213

Good thing it wasn’t a pair of his old socks.

The more important question is…who’s in the room that security guard went after. I mean honestly, it’s more important than this, “I loved him before and now I don’t” story arc.

8

I like Dez’s guidance here. Covering Bernice’s mouth so she cannot talk for a while is very helpful (for Dez especially, but also for Bernice). :)

To my manner of thinking, a single, momentary kiss that doesn’t end up instilling oodles of passion, amore, fireworks, or “tingles” in Bernice does not mean that no chemistry exists between Piro and Bernice. While the fiery, scintillating, immediate explosion of passion with a simple kiss is the stuff of books, movies, and various legends…. it is not always what happens in good, strong, real-world relationships.

Yes, a first kiss of this sort can be such an indicator, but for many folks, a strong, loving, real relationship is something that builds more slowly, over time. If Bernice is going to now dismiss Piro because there were no instantaneous sparks, it will be an indication to me that she is far, far more immature than I had thought.

My advice to Bernice would be to not be so “analytical” about the kiss, and also to be open and willing to hang out with Piro as a friend, and potential date, and see how things progress. No absolute decision needs to be made immediately.

In terms of the story arc… my one worry is that if Greg has plans for the lack of “sparks” here to be a way for Bernice to move on from Piro (which I hope Greg is not planning), I especially hope he is not aiming to have Bernice become romantically involved with Gunther. From my manner of thinking, I believe a Bernice-Gunther pairing would be “blah.” I am still currently at a point where I would like to see Gunther become more well rounded, and I think it would be most interesting for him to explore dating by being involved with Tiffany.

hoo boy, sometimes confusion is jut that. from the time he left her room top the time he kissed her and they were interrupted, and quicly left, ther was a whirlwind of events. She suddently found out he was being wrongly accused. She reacted to that. She and he saw who wrecked the machine, on the footage, she reacted to that. She reacted to the Piro’s kiss with confusion becuase it came out of apparently to her, nowhwere. She is in a mild state of shock. But NO, she mus have instantly evaluated her response to all this, decised in a split second at all her planning, etc was for naught becuae she is now officially GAY, or BI, all because she didn’t melt away into feminine goo……because all women who are suddenly kissed when not mentally in that mind frame react with immediate sexuality and promiscuous behavior. This is not a theroy. it is a fact…( note the HEAVY SARCASM)

I’m still wondering who really broke into the vending machine.

I think Bernie fell in love with the MYSTERY of Piro, not the flawed human he is. Like I said before, there is no chemistry between the two. Piro kissed her to shut her up – like many guys do. It probably had nothing to do with being attracted to Bernice. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Bernice will be relentless and still chase after Piro just to solve the mystery of who he is…and try to kiss him again to see if the chemistry is there, whether she could ignite it.

What if Piro knows who the thief is? Maybe he tried to take the blame for breaking into the vending machine not to protect Bernice, but to protect the real culprit who would’ve been caught on tape? It could be that Piro’s kiss was a way of hiding his real motivation for speaking up. I imagine Bernice’s punishment for having Piro in her room after hours is nothing compared to stealing. It just doesn’t make sense that he’d try to take the fall for a serious crime to protect Bernice from a minor infraction.

I sure hope she feels something the next time they kiss. I really like this relationship.

Bernice likes to control things. Piro kissing her was not the way she planned it, so she doesn’t like it, or is confused.

She overthinking, like usual. You can’t create feelings that are not there. She was hoping that it would occur, and when it didn’t she felt let down. Move on, Bernice.

Amazing after all the pining and imagining she has had zero effect of being kissed by him!? She must feel so let down.

By reading a lot of the earlier comments, I would venture a guess that some have never had something come right out of the blue that stunned them to the point that they were speechless and derailed their thinking about how to immediately react.

The difference between Piro and Zane is that when Piro was kissing Bernice she felt absolutely NOTHING and with Zane was quite the opposite, Bernice was even WILLING to marry Zane.

To add to Pipe Tobacco’s theory that the crime was a plot point to drive the romantic story, maybe it is just the opposite…the romantic moment was a bit of misdirection to get us away from the thefts. Suddenly, Bernice is noticing that Dez has Piro’s scarf (found at the site of the missing TV), and wonders why Dez is suddenly sure that it is Piro’s scarf. Dez just tells her to be quiet and “feel the swaddle.” We’re pretty sure Piro isn’t guilty and that Dez lives with Bernice, not Room 213, but it’s not certain that Dez is not the mastermind behind the crime wave. Could she be the Professor Moriarty to Bernice’s Sherlock Holmes? Is there a game afoot?

Something to note: Piro has borrowed scarves before, as noted in this strip, RIGHT??!! It could be someone else’s – maybe HAIR! (collective gasp!)

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Some have said that Hair may be the thief of the TV, now the snacks. Now – if Bernice is so attuned to smells, as it seems to show – THAT may be the clue as to confirming the thief (who’s likely the one already on video, but confirmation, still.)

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JEEZ! First ‘lavendar’, now a scarf – I KNOW! Just douse Piro in lavendar – problem solved, right?! :)

I think some here are trying to make the plot too complex. I agree that Dez is just trying to quiet Bernice’s compulsive over analysis of everything. She is the perfect antidote for Bern and her anxieties, just like Pru is good for Luann and her social competitiveness (i.e. w/ Tiffany).

I certainly don’t believe that Greg would spend months having Bernice obsess over Piro and then when he finally is made human and shows interest in her, turn the plot upside down and in a different direction.

So I agree with Dez…… “…Bernice just shut up and go study for your exam on Monday and be glad you have a friend now in Piro….”

PS. has anyone but me noticed that the box in which we type our comments keeps scrolling so we can’t see the whole of our text?

Bern didn’t feel the burn

It was implied in the library that they traded phone numbers. Either of them could call the other late to say good-night and put some closure on an awkward moment. As the discussion here indicates, Bernice may be too bewildered to do that just yet, but Piro could – unless he misinterpreted her shocked reaction as disinterest. Or he is wherever it is he goes, telling a buddy that he finally got up the nerve to kiss the girl and felt nothing.

Many are drawing firm and highly assured conclusions from the clearly ambiguous event of Bernice’s lack of an instant passionate response to Piro’s kiss. Many DIFFERENT conclusions, advanced as if certainly true. And of course, that means that a substantial percentage of them are WRONG. Whatever happened to wait and see? I think it’s symptomatic of our sound bite culture and the almost zero-attention-span consequent on it that many want if over and done NOW. Guess what? The explanation for her response or lack thereof may be a bit more complicated. Once upon a time I was obsessed with a certain woman. I obsessively drew pictures of her face during a (graduate level) class. Even though she was across a large table and couldn’t see what I was doing, she figured it out. And approached me very confidently and directly. (And no details of that will be forthcoming!) All my natural responses, which had been active in other situations, times, places… simply receded instantly. She wisely realized that my lack of positive response was a matter of surprise more than anything else. She pulled back from the direct approach, and over a period of days gently insinuated herself into my daily campus routine. And I was back, feeling what I had thought I’d feel, acting as I’d imagined I’d act. A beautiful and memorable romance followed. Eventually, our differing career paths pulled us apart. The bittersweet parting in no way devalued or invalidated the what we had shared. Suffice to say, I can imagine that Bernice may be going through something akin to what I experienced. Or maybe not. We don’t have enough information to draw firm conclusions yet. Several commenters here clearly understand that. More, for whatever reason, don’t.

I predict tomorrow will show Bern in bed processing everything…..but then all will be well. Silly me. I like happy endings

Anything that stops Bee’s babbling has got to be good.

But if that is Piro’s scarf, that can’t be all good….

Certain men just aren’t any good at kissing