Performance
Original: Performance on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman (gray-haired, in a maroon jacket, seated at a table across from a balding man): Darling, a lot of end of life care is performative.
Panel 2:
Woman: There's little evidence that it improves quality or length of life. Rather, it signals affection, because the family is willing to destroy vast amounts of money on your behalf.
Panel 3:
Woman: Rather than support a medical system that encourages this sort of behavior, I have purchased 23 Faberge eggs and set them on fire for you.
Panel 4 (close-up of the woman's face with round glasses):
(no dialogue)
Panel 5 (the man, seen from behind, holding up a phone showing a Faberge egg on fire):
Man: Wow. You must love me so much.
Woman (off-panel/from the other side): Actually this was the cheaper option.
Votey:
A simply drawn man's face looking shocked/stricken.
Woman (speech bubble): Sorry, you're not a 24-egg kind of husband.
Woman (gray-haired, in a maroon jacket, seated at a table across from a balding man): Darling, a lot of end of life care is performative.
Panel 2:
Woman: There's little evidence that it improves quality or length of life. Rather, it signals affection, because the family is willing to destroy vast amounts of money on your behalf.
Panel 3:
Woman: Rather than support a medical system that encourages this sort of behavior, I have purchased 23 Faberge eggs and set them on fire for you.
Panel 4 (close-up of the woman's face with round glasses):
(no dialogue)
Panel 5 (the man, seen from behind, holding up a phone showing a Faberge egg on fire):
Man: Wow. You must love me so much.
Woman (off-panel/from the other side): Actually this was the cheaper option.
Votey:
A simply drawn man's face looking shocked/stricken.
Woman (speech bubble): Sorry, you're not a 24-egg kind of husband.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. A gray-haired woman in a maroon jacket sits at a table across from a balding man and explains, deadpan, that end-of-life care is performative: 'There's little evidence that it improves quality or length of life. Rather, it signals affection, because the family is willing to destroy vast amounts of money on your behalf.' She continues that rather than support a medical system that encourages this, she has purchased 23 Faberge eggs and set them on fire for him. A close-up shows her stern, round-glasses face. In the final panel the man, holding up a phone displaying a burning jeweled egg, says, 'Wow. You must love me so much,' and she replies, 'Actually this was the cheaper option.' Votey: a crudely drawn shocked man's face as the woman adds, 'Sorry, you're not a 24-egg kind of husband.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.