Haven't done an essay in a while.
So last night Sis and I watched an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Upgrade." In it, a woman wished for the perfect family, and because this was The Twilight Zone, her wish was granted: Her dog was replaced with a show poodle and her husband and children were "upgraded" (See what they did there?! See?! See?!) to a picture perfect Stepford family who all looked like models. Naturally, she did what most people would do in her situation: She freaked the hell out.
The problem was that her family wasn't that bad, certainly not bad enough for her to wish for a new one without coming off as a total bitch. Her teens bickered. The dog peed in the new house. The husband was perfectly fine. I suspect if they'd had more than half an hour, they could've developed whatever problems the family had better. As it was they just came off as normal, save for Annie the Mother, who can't stand that her family isn't perfect because her teenage son teases his sister for having acne.
So guess who this put me in mind of? That's right. Our old friend, Lynn.
While watching, I kept thinking of Lynn, and of Aaron and Katie. About how when Lynn's children didn't live up her expectations, she "upgraded" them (If you can call it that) in the strip. We know that Michael is how Lynn wishes Aaron was (According to "Suddenly Silver" Aaron feels he is actually Josef Weeder, who is, in Aaron's words, "a photographer in conflict with his family's success.") and there has been similar speculation over Katie vs Elizabeth. DreadedCandiru said this on April 21st of this year:
"First off, Lizzie is NOT the Katie-that-was in either appearance or personality. The Katie-that-was does look like a caricature of her and was fished out of a river eighteen years ago. Lizzie is the Katie that Lynn wanted: a passive, blond girly-girl instead of the brunette tomboy who filled Elly/Lynn with despair."
I've often speculated myself that my mother really didn't want "me" either, even though I was planned, and if she had just been patient and waited five years, she would've gotten the child she was trying to conceive all along: My brother. In that way, I feel we're Ishmael and Isaac, or for a more contemporary reference, Justine and Dane from The Thorn Birds. Naturally my mother denies all of this (Because if you say it's not true enough times, that automatically makes it not true.
). Lynn on the other hand...Lynn doesn't even try to hide her disappointment with her kids. In fact, she shares it with millions in 2,000 newspapers.The Twilight Zone episode, "Upgraded", can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AM9lV3R02A