Penny and Aggie/The Popsicle War Interventions/Recap

"I know being an idiot seems cool now, but it might limit your options later in life."

At one of Karen's parties Stan, in bed with Cyndi, expresses continuing worry about Michelle's health, and asks her for assurance she hasn't been continuing to needle her about her weight. Cyndi feigns shock at the idea of her being a master manipulator like Karen, but then claims seductively to have been a "bad, bad, bad, bad girl." Meanwhile, an intoxicated Helen allows Bob and Elmer to feel her up.

At the D'Amour household Aggie, concerned about the slander against Sara, and having noticed that Penny's friends have been abandoning her one by one, wonders who could be responsible for all this. Lisa deduces that it's Karen. As Aggie ponders this, Lisa leads her into the living room, where Fred and Sara are gathered as well, in order to conduct "interventions." The first of these is for Daphne, who upon arrival is angry to see Sara there. The others ask her how she can believe Charlotte's word over that of Sara, who's been a good friend to them all, "and grateful." As they demolish Daphne's justifications, she finally blurts out the real reason for her grudge: resentment and hurt over Sara not having responded to her romantic signals. Sara explains that, for a variety of reasons, she's not great at reading such signals, and that although she does in fact find Daphne attractive, right now she'd rather have a friend who understands what being a lesbian is like. As Sara tries to stave off tears, Daphne feels remorse for her rush to judgement.

Next to arrive is a sobered-up Helen, whom Aggie grills as to how Sara's sexual orientation could have slipped out. Aggie, Lisa and Fred state they didn't tell. Sara dismisses the possibility of Penny having spilled it, and in doing so reminds herself that Penny is truly her best friend. When the spotlight shifts again to Helen, whom Daphne had spotted drunk at the previous week's party, she panics and accuses Penny. Aggie dismisses this as nonsense and finally gets Helen both to confess and to admit that she's been serving as Karen's mole, to make sure Aggie stayed enemies with Penny. When Helen, neither apologizing nor acknowledging she's done anything wrong, feebly pleads "Friends?", Aggie kicks her out in disgust. Aggie then tells her friends she knows of only one way to stop Karen, and that it's up to her alone.

After Aggie's explained her plan (off-panel) and her friends head out, Daphne asks Sara how she can make amends. Sara tells her she needs a friend she can trust, and that said friend can't be enemies with Penny. Daphne agrees and they shake on it.

Tropes
"Sara: I wanted one person I could talk to who knew what it was like to...be this thing. Dating or...more...always changes a friendship, and I didn't want...Dammit.
 * Friends with Benefits: Stan and Cyndi.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Daphne.
 * I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship
 * Insane Troll Logic
 * Although it's easy to see how Sara's lack of response to her overtures could lead Daphne to believe the rumour that Sara is Penny's girlfriend, that doesn't begin to explain how she could believe Sara, with whom she's been friends for months, is a rapist.
 * Helen's claim (made, to be sure, in panic) that Penny outed Sara because she "didn't want a gay friend" fails miserably, as Aggie points out, because the rumour implicated Penny herself as gay and a rapist.
 * The Mole
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Cyndi claims to be incapable of plotting and manipulating people as Karen does.
 * Show, Don't Tell: Played with, regarding Cyndi's role in fostering Michelle's eating disorder, this role being an ongoing source of confusion amongst the readership. The only time she's shown making a comment about Michelle's weight is early on in Drama Queens, where she makes a single, jokey comment about her portion size, which Michelle laughs off. In the current chapter, however, she admits-and-yet-doesn't-admit that she's done rather more. Campbell has since acknowledged that he could've shown more of Cyndi's interactions with Michelle on-panel. It's not until Cyndi and Charlotte that.
 * Totally Radical / Memetic Mutation: Lisa displays for the first time what has since become one of her identifying characteristics: a habit of speaking in Internet memes, pop culture references, and outright made-up words ("Miss Megabagadouche" for Charlotte).
 * Trying Not to Cry: Sara, while explaining why she wants to be Just Friends with Daphne:

Daphne: (remorseful) Oh, crap.

Sara: I'm not crying here, we're still talking."


 * Unrequited Love
 * Wild Teen Party: Stan and Cyndi sleep together, and it's implied that Helen, while under the influence, is about to sleep with Bob and Elmer.