[blog] check, please!: year three finale

★ Notes on Check Please: Year Three Finale ★

In addition to being chockful of hockey, pies, goofs, and cute moments between our protagonists, every volume of Check, Please answers a question. (Usually by complete accident. Er.) That question is usually posed around the beginning of Bitty’s school year.

When Bitty brings a pecan pie (a specialty southern cuisine, warm, sweet…#BittyIsThePie) to his very first Samwell kegster, it can’t survive a single party without getting destoryed. Then, you wonder if Bitty will be able to survive in this hostile bro-y landscape. When Jack and Bitty have a halo-themed shower shouting match, you wonder if these two teammates will ever get along. When Bitty assures Jack that he will keep their relationship a secret–and Jack lies about his nonexistent WAG, you wonder…how long can Jack and Bitty go on like this.

Well, not for very long because these two crazy kids told the entire planet.

Eric Bittle you anti-confrontational, head-over-heels-in-love, proud-of-your-Stanley-Cup-mann, dramatic, conflicted, pie-baking ding dong. ✓

☆ ☆ ☆ NOTES ☆ ☆ ☆

✓ WHERE ARE JACK AND BITT–We’ll find out in Year Four! Sheesh! Hold every horse!

✓ THEY KISSED ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!?!? Jack said I love you! Bitty’s been lovin’ Jack! The PBJS were I love you sandwiches! They did a spinny on the ice! Suzanne didn’t know! Eric Bittle needs to call his mama! Shitty! George and Marty and Thirdy! Parse! The Las Vegas Aces! Samwell men’s hockey!! SUZANNE! COACH!! Yeah!!

✓ UGH! We’ve got a lot to look forward to during Bitty’s senior year! ¯(ツ)/¯

✓ The kiss. Yeah, I guess we can start off with the biggest thing. Jack and Bitty made an incredibly romantic, incredibly brave, and incredibly rash decision to kiss each other at center ice. Characters, like real people, don’t always make the best decisions. Were Jack and Bitty thinking of how the Falcs’ win would be forever tied to this kiss? Nah. Was Bitty thinking about the whirlwind of confusion and betrayal he was about to throw his mother into? Nope. Was Jack thinking about all of the press conferences and questions he’d be getting for the rest of the summer and probably his life? Of course not! The only thing Jack and Bitty were thinking about was each other and how far they had come. Despite the avalanche of consequences, there is something to be said for living in the moment.

What would you have done?

✓ Okay, sure, I get it. “Why can’t we?” Right. Ethically, morally, physically, theoretically, there is no reason why two people who love each other can’t embrace and kiss after a momentous achievement. But Bitty…BITTYYYY. ¯(ツ)/¯

✓ How did Eric Bittle RUN on the ice to see Jack? He woulda pulled what the hockey folks call a “digger” and snarfed it. BAH! Like I’d let a silly thing like PHYSICS get in the way of a swelling romantic moment! Also, apparently after all that skating and all the families trotting around? That ice is super rough–more traction.

✓ Sandwiches. I was expecting these comics to start off with the aftermath of Jack’s shot in “7 Games”, so beginning with PBJ origins was kinda left field. YEAH. Ya know, I just had to show how far JLZ and ERB had come. And I had to show Jack being extra. And I had to show how much suffering Bitty conceals behind a “:^)” face.

Translating hockey robot and southern belle
- “But it’s like, with hockey. Or I realized you meant a lot to me and…” The first time I played hockey I was like “oh boy there ya go.” That’s how I think of you. Sorry if that’s weird. I think we just gotta go after the puck each shift but the puck is the things that make us happy and a shift is like life, you know?

- “I’ve been loving you. It’s just gonna be so–so hard keeping all that to myself.”

I’ve been in love with you for I don’t know how long. But I’ve been avoiding waiting to say that four-letter word…I can’t deal with the reality of how hard it will be to hide how strongly I feel. But it’s okay! My name is Eric “I walked away from telling the love of my life how I felt at his graduation because lol what is pain” Bittle.

✓ DEETS!

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✓ Parse. Parse, Parse, Parse. First and foremost, to address all three categories of Check Please readers:

Yeah, I’m totally indifferent to Parse: I’ve got to introduce new frogs, catch up with Shitty & Lardo & Ransom & Holster, figure out how Dex & Nursey & Chowder are surviving in the Haus, show how Ford and Tango and Whiskey are doing as sophomores, have SMH choose a new captain after Bitty

AND have chapters dedicated to Bitty as a captain, Bitty as a senior, Bitty confronting his parents, and Bitty’s relationship with Jack. Those things are the main focus of Year Four.

Parse is an unsavory fellow: Oh my god, don’t worry. This comic is about Eric Bittle and Jack and SMH. Also, I haven’t pulled any CW soap opera nonsense so far–come on.

Parse is the BEST!!: Oh, dudes, he’s gonna be just fine! Hm, I’m actually pretty psyched with how everything plays out. Good for Parser!

✓ Can you talk more about the Las Vegas Aces? What the heck is Carl’s deal??? Okay first of all ignore Carl. Focus on Scrappy. Scraps and that other guy Troy are Parse’s best friends on the team. Scrappy is not very smart and Troy is the one who pointed out that Carl is full of it. Scrappy thinks Parser is the smartest guy he knows.

✓ And uh, how is Georgia dealing with all of this? GM is…stressed. Her prized forward is no where to be found and all she knows is that half of her team went crazy in a Providence condo. There was a giant inflatable duck? WHERE’S Jack Zimmermann!

✓ And Suzanne and Coach? … :^/

✓ Fine. But one more time….Where are Jack and Bitty? You’ll find out in March! I’m currently working on the outline for the last Check, Please comics ever for the rest of all time. There are a lot of loose ends to tie in Bitty’s senior year and I think you’re going to like how it all shakes out. Heck, 99% of you can probably guess how it ends. I never said my storytelling was surprising! And I’ve been quoted saying that Eric Bittle will have a happy ending. shrug If you’re expecting anything else, ya might as well tune out.

Will there be bumps along the way? Oh sure. Bitty still has a lot of growing to do, pain to go through, and confrontation to meet head on.

And me? I’ve got a lot of comics to draw. So onward!

☆ Up Next: Check, Please: Year Four.

Thank you for reading. From the bottom of my heart!!