November 13, 2011: Sunday Showdown!

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Clockwise from the bottom left:

• It's another fruitless session over at the marriage counselor's office. I feel bad for poor Pullman. It's terrible enough that every time he meets with the Lockhorns he is updated on what a futile waste of time all this "counseling" is, but that it's almost always delivered via puns and zingers is insult to injury. I imagine that rather than taking any real notes he just writes despondent questions to himself like "why are you here?" and "is the money really worth all this?". It's a push.
• Am I missing something here? Where exactly is the joke here? What I see is Loretta telling the home contractor what she expects of her remodeled kitchen. What is the big payoff? I guess, going by what I know of the traditional structure of jokes, I'm assuming the last line about a "larger junk drawer" is supposed to be the kicker. Perhaps this is something that people don't normally request when looking to improve their kitchens. However, this can be reasonably implied as just a request for bigger drawers. The fact that I'm going through this analysis in the first place shows how sub par this panel is. Let's call it a push and move on, still 0-0.
• There we go, a straightforward dig at Leroy's characteristic cheapness. Boom! Had Loretta not beaten him to the punch, Leroy could have actually used his liability as a miser against Loretta by embarrassing her with a query about a dollar menu. That would have made Loretta think twice about dragging him out to another snobby, overpriced (just look at that cartoonish waiter and tell me it's not snobby and overpriced) restaurant next time. On a tangential note, I am fascinated at the level of detail of the portrait on the wall given how superfluous it is to the scene. Loretta goes up 1-0.
• This scene may be one of the only times you will see both Lockhorns mutually happy. I find this shot of Leroy and Loretta across from each other competitively glaring at one another, ready to do fierce battle over a minor domestic dispute (though it's still a more realistic subject to base an arm wrestling match over than child custody) to so perfectly capture the spirit of "The Lochorns" that it should be adapted as the logo of the series. I believe the Lockhorns would get along a lot better if all their disputes were decided this way. It's a push, Loretta lead 1-0.
• I'm not sure how Leroy ever managed to pull off watching a football game while Loretta apparently cleans the entire house (arm wrestling victory?) but it is a spectacular coup. The mere sight alone of Leroy lazily reclining and enjoying the game while Loretta stands there with burdened with cleaning gear, setting back the women's movement a good fifty years, would have been enough for Leroy; but he applies the exclamation point with his spiteful, mocking line about rooting for her at halftime. Leroy earns the point and, on a weaker than usual Sunday Showdown, forces the push.

Official Count:

Leroy - 105
Loretta - 126

Push - 86