Check Displeased

ep. 34 | 2.1 Moved-In

Much like the Haus kitchen before it succumbs to Bitty's tender ministrations, this episode is a g.d. mess! We veer in many directions––from our, uhhh, typically incisive analysis of Bitty's passive aggressive instincts to a discussion of Ngozi's role in encouraging the fandom to a surprisingly long conversation about foreskins––but the pièce-de-resistance is Sekrit's observation that Jack spends this strip dramatically reenacting a certain famous shower scene. Cue the violins!

 

Read along with us: 2.1 Moved-In | Blog

ep. 33 | Intro to OMGCP Discourse II

Continuing a discussion of "weirdest" fandom discourse, Tomato and Sekrit cycle back around to the social and cultural reasons why things in fandom get contentious, and how these particular motivations bear down on Check, Please fandom. Plus: some stuff about real-life NHL players and how their fanfic analogs are configured in the comic, and how the topics hit on in this two-parter could make for their own breakout conversations.

A big thanks to queerofcups for helping us ID some OMGCP discourses as we were planning this conversation! Check out this fucking amazing fanfic.

NB, this episode contains a wide-ranging discussion of various real-life hockey players, including one who has been accused of sexual assault, between 10:30 and 21:30.

ep. 32 | Intro to OMGCP Discourse I

Here we goddamn go. Having finished covering all of Year One, Tomato and Sekrit step away from the comic for a minute to talk about the topic that won a recent special-episode poll: Wankorama: FFA/Weirdest Fandom Discourse. Ranging somehow from Michel Foucault's concept of discourse to whether or not it's possible or recommended to knead pie dough, this deep-dive was so long it'll be continued in part two. In this first half: What's the distinction between discourse and wank? What's this "FFA" we keep talking about and why is it relevant to Check, Please? What makes a discourse "weird"? And the beginning of our fucking laundry list of the things people in this g.d. fandom fight about.

ep. 31 | 1.23 Dibs

Deus ex machina? Don't mind if we do––Sekrit and Tomato tackle this tacked-on final strip of Year One, in which the comic's main characters finally hang out in the same panel! We meander past SJWs and Check, Please!'s on-again-off-again critique of toxic hockey culture before discussing the comic's first year in total. What did we like? What would we change? Most importantly: can you believe A Certain Cowlick is only seven strips away?

Read along with us: 1.23 Dibs 

ep. 30 | 1.22 Goodbye for the Summer

Men never have to do any emotional labor or apologize for anything -- and because Jack Zimmermann wants to be one of those, he decides not to, either. Bitty's metaphorical boner for him is radically apparent. (Check out the real deal in Huddle 3, available here.) Plus: Can an author be a fan of their own comic? How much of the rest of this story is being telegraphed here? Who the eff else was going to be captain? If your first husband died and you got remarried, who would you be buried next to? What if you could make a few bucks reselling the old plot?

Read along with us: 1.22 Goodbye for the Summer | Blog

ep. 29 | 1.21 Banquet

Three cheers for Eric Bittle! Three cheers for Jack Zimmermann! Here, here! Oh, wait, is it hear, hear? Anyway, we love these award-winning gay hockey players, and they secretly love each other, or at least that's what this strip really wants us to think. Sekrit provides a close reading of Jack's spectacularly inane acceptance speech, and Tomato makes the brave suggestion that Jack's haircut kind of make him looks like Reagan? Truly the signs of a romance for the ages! 

Read along with us: 1.21 Banquet | Blog

ep. 28 | 1.20 Playoffs - III

In one of OMGCP's most iconic set pieces, Bitty has an assist on Jack's GWG -- and is checked into the air, where he gives a sassy little monologue before losing his helmet. Then Jack looks on horror and mutters his nickname for the first time, so, like, true love. Holy shit, this sport is incredibly violent! Maybe none of these characters should be playing it.

Read along with us: 1.20 Playoffs - III | Blog

ep. 27 | 1.19 Playoffs - II

Is Check, Please! a soap opera? (No.) Is Check, Please! a slash fic? (Kind of?) Will Jack and Bitty ever do more than bonk their helmets together in front of a romantically hazy yellow background? (Please, that ship has sailed - they've bonked a lot more than that!). Tomato and Sekrit dip their collective toe into the turbulent waters of Jack and Bitty's power dynamics and the necessity of accepting violence in a contact sport before spending a fairly brief but still surprising amount of time dishing about Erica Kane? 

Read along with us: 1.19 Playoffs - II | Blog

Don't forget to vote in our next special episode poll HERE until Friday, August 21!

ep. 26 | 1.18 Playoffs - I

There are a few installments of Check, Please! that are like, oh, it's this strip. Join us as we talk about the widening gulf between the reality of hockey and the "reality" of OMGCP, personified by two sportscasters everyone in the universe of the comic hates because they dare to evaluate Jack Zimmermann on the basis of how the NHL actually, like, is. Don't they know Bitty wins this comic? Also, put on your ugliest Anthropologie sale-rack floor-length cardigan and meet us in 2008 for a deep dive into the tabloid history of gal pals Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson.

Read along with us: 1.18 Playoffs - I | Blog

Don't forget to vote in our next special episode poll HERE until Friday, August 21!

ep. 25 | 1.17 Tadpoles

Who are these amphibians? Why do we care about them? What do they add to the universe-changing love story between Bitty and that other guy? We dive into these very important questions, and more, like what in deep-fried hell this strip's dancing cookies are doing to productively destabilize Check, Please!'s formal conventions. (Nothing.) Plus: Tomato brings up Homestuck again...sorry about that, everyone.  

Read along with us: 1.17 Tadpoles | Blog'

And don't forget to let us know what you want our next SPECIAL EPISODE to be about!