Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Man…you can really tell how much that tore him to the core

Mike, shut up lol

Real smooth Mike…

"Sorry, I didn't really know how to defend you or stick up for you, so I just let them lambast you instead."

Mike continues to be just the worst.

How tf you gonna look at this whole chapter and call Mike the worst in this situation? He tried to defend Paulo, and was doing a decent job talking Daisy out of venting until Sue hit a sore spot regarding Lucy and shut him down. And even in this very page, he's trying his best to do damage control because he cares about Paulo and knows how much that must have hurt him. Like, hello? Are we reading the same comic?

Believe me, I know Mike is far from the best character. He has a lot of flaws, easily the most out of the main cast, but this chapter ain't one of them. If you're getting that read, you're letting your own opinions about Mike color the actions of the character and looking for any excuse to criticize.

Oh it's easy, I look at Mike and say "you, you're the worst". Very low effort.

This whole chapter I was waiting for Mike to step in and shut the discussion down. Something like "you shouldn't talk about people being their backs" or "I know he's not perfect, but he's still a nice guy and here are his good points". But he didn't. He just let them go on and on, after he's the one who brought Paulo up in the first place, for reasons I still don't understand. His crummy, far-too-late attempts at damage control after the fact are as limp and spineless as he is. It's the same lack of spine that caused him to go back to Sandy after he kissed Lucy.

Yeah, Mike absolutely sucks. He was the only one who knew Paulo was being hurt and he barely did anything to try and stop it. I'm not impressed.

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c120.1/p6

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c120.1/p15

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c120.1/p19

Cool, so we're just ignoring these three examples of him doing EXACTLY that? He initially tried to get them out of his room so they wouldn't bother Paulo, and when the conversation started turning sour, he tried standing up for him by pointing out their hypocrisy and calling them out for their mean-spirited gossip. Not to mention, it was PAULO'S decision to hide, and Mike was explicitly respecting his request to not let anyone know he was there in the first place. Plus, this isn't even 2 chapters after Mike had ALREADY called Sue out for this EXACT same behavior:

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c89/p44

The first example doesn't even count, because nobody was smack talking Paulo then. The second example is weak, and I'll give him credit for the third, but it's not enough. He could have shut all of this down immediately if he wanted. "If you're going to talk about this, don't do it in my house." He was not powerless in this situation, he just acted like he was. He needed to do more, and instead of taking a hard line against the poor behavior of his friends, he chose to let one of his best friends suffer instead. That infuriates me.

Also, for the record, I was using "the worst" in a hyperbolic way. I just wanted to debate the point more because I wasn't really happy with how you talked to me in your initial response.

He tried to defend him untill Sue guildtripped him with that extremely low blow of comparing his respons to actual abuse to her petty rivalry with Paulo. I'll never understand all this Mike hate. Calling him the worst in a room full of people who gaslight and victimblame is something else.

It's easy to say someone isn't powerless untill you are in that situation. This is a teenage boy we are talking about

Oh, a lot of the Mike hate IS justified. Even at this point in the story, he was absolutely awful to Lucy to the point of driving her to attempted suicide. And after this point, he goes into a self-destructive spiral over Sandy. People are well within their rights to not like the character. What I don't really like personally is the negative spin a lot of people like to put on everything he does that isn't perfect. (a teenager not being perfect, go figure) And sure, his actions aren't perfect in this chapter either; he could have said more and not folded as easily. But what he DID say showed a crystal clear effort, and ignoring that and looking at the end result that explicitly WASN'T his fault and blaming him is really disingenuous.

Heck, even that alone wouldn't irk me as much if the whole POINT of Tess in this comic was that people can be horrible, seemingly irredeemable people in their past, yet still be willing to better themselves and be a positive influence on other people's lives. Sure, that isn't going to be enough to make up for the hurt they've caused others, but it's a start, and it's worth recognizing when it shows through. I don't think people realize the parallels between Tess and Mike in the overall comic.

@Alec I agree with 90% of what you said but there is one thing that always irks me whenever i see someone say it. Mike was not the cause of Lucy's attempted suicide. Lucy herself was. She is the one who psysically abused him to the point of him coming home with bloody noses and bruised shins, she is the one who after finding out he was angry at her never once bothered to apologise and just tried to force their friendship anyway and she is the one who pushed him and everyone else who tried to reach out for her away. When an abuser realises they are being a horrible person it is not the abuser's victim their fault for standing up to them. Lucy didn't deserve what she went through but the fact remains it was 100% self inflincted and putting the blame on Mike is straight up wrong

Adding onto what you said @Kiall Vun Myeret

They were both wrong in how they treated each other in that friendship. Lucy and Mike are toxic for each other. Mike for being a doormat. Lucy for the hitting etc.

Mike’s words drove Lucy to isolation. (In Lucy’s mind :: she felt unloved by everyone… agreeing with Mike… for who could love her if he couldn’t?)

The only one at fault for her suicide attempt is Lucy. No one can make one do that.

They (Lucy and Mike) both need to say sorry. That doesn’t mean they will. They are teenagers after all

@Tylily yes i agree. They both need to say sorry. Thing is Mike did, four times already if i'm not mistaking. All Lucy could muster was an acknowledgement that maybe her actions weren't good

Excellent save

In that last panel it almost looks like Paulo’s tail is on the verge of fading away.

Better to leave him be, Mike.. No one’s gonna perk up immediately after that ish

In all fairness Mike did try to stop it

While it's very easy for this chapter to paint Sue in a much more negative light, keep the chronology of this comic in mind, and note that Sue herself has gotten a LOT better regarding her feelings of Paulo since this moment:

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c98/p24

And even Abbey, for all his faults, has come to terms with accepting Paulo as more genuine than he initially thought:

https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c108/p19

This chapter should be used as a metric for how far these characters have come since this point in the story, (or in Mike's case, FINALLY circled back to) not just an example of all these characters being even worse than we originally thought they were.

You are right about Abbey, but not Sue. In the chapter you linked it could be defending Daisy hanging out with whith whoever she wants rather than defending Paulo. And in the chapter where Mike slams Paulo's face in the table she goes to Mike to see how he is doing giving little care about Paulo.

That's a very fair read, as she even admitted to being a bit jealous of him choking Paulo in that same chapter. Still, it's telling that Sue didn't take the opportunity to insult Paulo. I definitely wouldn't say they're on good terms, but similar to Abbey, it definitely feels like Sue has kinda mellowed out in regards to Paulo since this chapter.

Paulo: Hailey, do you have a baseball bat I can use?

Mike: (gulp)