December 4, 2011: Sunday Showdown!

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Clockwise from the bottom left:

• I particularly enjoyed Loretta's riff on her "fairy-tale romance" with Leroy. A troll is the perfect description of Leroy, really both Lockhorns in general. They're short, stout, ugly creatures who live miserable, isolated lives, devoid of any joy or happiness, and are rarely helpful to humans. One minor criticism, however, would be that Loretta's lament really doesn't apply to the situation at hand. It's not like he's luring children under a bridge so he can eat them or that he is looking extra troll-like. A witty lament about Leroy's philandering would have been the obvious way to have gone. Minor objections aside though, it's a solid point. Loretta leads 1-0.
• Loretta manages to preempt an insult by Leroy about her awful cooking and accomplishes the remarkable feat of getting a point out of it herself by taking bold ownership of her disgusting dish. If Loretta manages to master this new technique and adds it to her already formidable repertoire, it will have disastrous consequences for Leroy whose main bread and butter is mocking Loretta's horrible meals. We can only wait and see, Loretta goes up 2-0.
• A "things not to do" list, I suspect, would be a lot longer than a "things to do" list, so Leroy shouldn't be more disappointed. Perhaps, the severity of the things he is "not to do" is much higher. All this is really an exercise in abject futility; regardless of "to do" list or "not to do" list, Leroy is not going to be getting out of that recliner for anything. Loretta is just wasting her time by coming up with these lists and exposing herself to avoidable mockery by Leroy by presenting them to him. Leroy wins the point, Loretta leads 2-1.
• Leave it to "The Lockhorns" to find humor in a terrifying late night home invasion. Actually, this crazy setup could make for a decent comedy sketch. The humor is pretty broad and obvious, but I can see a mildly amusing 3 to 4 minute bit about a home security alarm salesman who makes cold call pitches to people by coming into their bedrooms in the middle of the night to demonstrate how compromised their homes are. The couple's reaction has to be shock and horror at first but the sketch would end with them being unexpectedly won over and happily signing up for service. The whole thing writes itself. Push, still 2-1 Loretta.
• Leroy may be exercising a little bit of tact here with the furniture salesman. He could just as easily have said "I hate my wife and I find it difficult to sleep in the same bed with her all the time" as another reason for a foldout couch, but he went with the equally valid but slightly less awkward explanation. One thing's for sure, Leroy is definitely going to be sleeping out the foldout tonight. Leroy manages to win the final panel to get himself a push for the day. It's better than the alternative but he'll need string some wins under his belt if he has any chance of coming back and winning the year.

Official Count:

Leroy - 112
Loretta - 131

Push - 95