Girl Genius XVII: And Then He Had Pie

[Porthos]

We've seen him come out before here where Gil says, "and my son is still too much of a fool to see it." (how did Bang miss that?).

How did Bang miss that? Easy. She's wasn't looking for that evidence at the time and chalked it up to "Gil saying something stupid".

I figure that's why the Foglios has her Bang say those almost exact words a few times in the space of two updates.

It did make her suspicious though, as she said that Gil had been acting weirdly ever since Agatha resurfaced.

I know there are a lot of people complaining about this over at the LJ (and probably other places), but the above answer is the solution, IMO (and if anyone from there is lurking here and a member in said places, feel free to pass these thoughts [including the ones below] along )

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There's another angle to all of this. I think we might be letting the medium get in the way here. From Bang's perspective, Gil made a strange comment that didn't make much sense in a tense situation, and then moved on to something else (presumably - we didn't get to see the next scene).

From OUR perspective, Gil made a thunderous pronouncement that we could see over and over again as we reread the page over and over again, looking for more clues. Worse, it was the last 'real' update for months, so it being the last thing Gil said was kept fresh in our minds.

But for Bang? Something, obviously, immediately happened next as the 'camera' panned it away. And I doubt Gil/Klaus went on to say "My Son, Gilgamesh, BTW, is a love sick puppy. I think Gil is stupid stupid stupid. Bang, are you paying attention? I just said my son, who I don't have, is stupid. Please do keep up."

Sure, we knew the significance of the comment almost immediately (and even then, there was debate over just what it meant as it was hashed out on a prior discussion thread). But Bang? It would be one of those, "What the hell did he mean by that? Maybe something is wrong with my boss." She didn't confront him immediately for various reasons. Plus, she wanted to see if it was just Gil being 'stupid' (where being stupid = acting silly, sparky, and/or deranged) or if it was more serious.

Thus she gathered evidence/observed things to support her suspicious and acted when she felt that something was indeed up and she wanted answers. Plus, you know, perfect situation to act.

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All of this plus do we really know that Bang knows about the Other being able to 'imprint' itself on others? If she doesn't know about that possibility, she might not immediately leap to a "Wow! Gil's possessed, just like Agatha is" deduction. Even in the latest update, she puts it as 'mind control you', not 'possess you'.

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All that being said, the Foglios probably could have handled this better by inserting (possibly clunky) dialogue like, "When you rambled on about having a son, I just thought it was you being stupid again. But ever since then you've been doing more and more stupid stuff that doesn't add up."

Which, to be fair, the Foglios sort of did. They just didn't spell it out. Plusses and minuses to that strategy. Probably a net minus here, given the conversations it has spawned. But nothing that can't be reasoned out, IMO.