Critical Eye
| Critical Eye | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| (Book-exclusive) | |||
 | |||
| Published | August 1, 2016 | ||
| Page count | 4 | ||
| Major characters | Sue, Paulo | ||
| Minor characters | Mike | ||
| Locations | Roseville High School | ||
| Collected in | Volume Four | ||
| Appears between | |||
| |||
Critical Eye is a book-exclusive chapter appearing in Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Four. After the blowup at the art gallery in Critical Hit, Sue extends Paulo an olive branch made of comic books and pop art. It works, too, right up until she offers her honest opinion of his favorite superhero show.
Synopsis
Sue spends the first page working up her nerve. The chapter opens on a memory of a happier moment between her and Paulo (a hand on his arm, an enthusiastic high-five). In the present, she watches him read at his desk and looks pretty glum about where they stand.[1] She walks over and asks about his comic, which he brushes off as “Just some dumb superhero shit, no big deal.”[1] A reflexive jab at David’s comic collection nearly sinks the whole effort. Sue changes tack and asks whether he’s ever heard of Roy Lichtenstein, a famous artist who made pop art inspired by comics, and Paulo’s flat boredom turns into genuine curiosity. Sue caps it off by cheerfully borrowing a startled Mike’s phone.[2]
Sue gets through to him for a while. Paulo points excitedly at Lichtenstein’s “Whaam!”, amazed that this stuff can hang in museums, and figures they should do more like it. Then Sue mentions the plane reminds her of Danger Throat, and Paulo is aghast that she’s never heard of the show. Sue starts to get defensive, catches herself, sighs, and asks instead, “No, I actually don’t know. What’s it about?”[3] Paulo happily explains the whole show. Its hero, Max Thunder, went mute from throat cancer, got cured by CIA radioactive experiments, and can now sense memories by tasting things.[4]
Sue listens thoughtfully, then delivers her verdict: “That sounds REALLY stupid!” Paulo hits right back with “Well guess what won awards? Not your shitty-ass play.” The two end the chapter nose-to-nose and screaming, while Mike peeks in to ask for his phone back.[4]
Character dynamics
- Sue and Paulo: By Veronica’s own account, these two “just find each other annoying!”, and neither one is meant to be in the right.[5] For a while, both of them meet the other halfway. Sue reaches out through his hobby and swallows her pride over Danger Throat, and Paulo lets himself be genuinely charmed by pop art.[3] Neither of them can keep it up for long, though. Sue’s smugness gets the better of her first, and Paulo goes straight back to the play insult he threw at her in Critical Hit.[4][6]
Trivia & observations
- Roy Lichtenstein and “Whaam!” are both real, and Sue’s pitch holds up — Lichtenstein really was famous for making pop art inspired by comics.[2][3]
- This chapter is the series’ first look at Danger Throat. Paulo lays the whole show out on-panel, from the CIA experiments to a hero who “can sense memories when he TASTES something!”[3][4]
- Sue commandeering Mike’s phone continues a rough streak for Mike’s gadgets. His iPhone debuted in Call Waiting, Paulo ran up a $245 bill on it in Buddy System, and just one chapter before this, Paulo wrestled Mike’s rented audio guide into a sculpture.[2][7][8][9]
- Paulo’s parting shot is well-aimed. Veronica has said that the criticism of Sue’s play “hit her ego in a way that she never recovered from,” and that “Sue’s very prideful.”[4][10]
Related chapters
- Critical Hit: The art-gallery argument Sue is trying to patch up. Paulo told Sue “Your play sucked, even David said so,”[6] and both of them walked away quietly conceding a little ground,[11][12] which is what Sue tries to build on here.
- Tickets Please: Paulo’s Danger Throat devotion comes back around years later, when he breezes through Abbey’s trivia contest (Max Thunder question included) to win a pair of movie tickets.[13]
- Curtain Call: Where Sue’s play was actually staged.[14] Paulo’s “shitty-ass” jab is aimed at this production.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Four, “Critical Eye”, page 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Four, “Critical Eye”, page 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Four, “Critical Eye”, page 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Four, “Critical Eye”, page 4
- ↑ “Ask response on the Paulo and Sue dynamic”. 2026-05-18.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 79: Critical Hit, page 19
- ↑ Chapter 62: Call Waiting, page 2
- ↑ Chapter 72: Buddy System, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 79: Critical Hit, page 7
- ↑ “When did Sue start hating David?”. 2026-05-26.
- ↑ Chapter 79: Critical Hit, page 20
- ↑ Chapter 79: Critical Hit, page 22
- ↑ Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 21
- ↑ Chapter 74: Curtain Call, page 33