Liars and Saints

  "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"--the tenth animated "Charlie Brown" special--seems drastically different from "Great Pumpkin" and "CB Christmas." While "Pumpkin" and "Christmas" both include many tiny vignettes, "Thanksgiving" focuses on just one story. A stranger comes to town. It's Peppermint Patty, a hurricane, an agent of chaos. Patti is a narcissist and a "user": she has little regard for others' feelings. When she finally understands that she has steamrolled and wounded Charlie, she doesn't apologize. She enlists Marcie to do the work for her. With passive-aggressive strategies, Snoopy responds to Patty. Snoopy ruins Patty's Thanksgiving vision with a plate of toast. Also, he doesn't *serve* the toast--he just throws it in Patty's face. In a final twist, it's revealed that Snoopy actually does know how to roast a turkey. He just doesn't feel like using this skill for P...

Revisiting "A Charlie Brown Christmas," I was struck by a few things: *The mystery of the tree. CB picks a shoddy tree, but after the kids surround it and primp it, it seems to be transformed. It actually seems to become a different tree. This isn't explained. Is this some kind of allusion to the miracle of the wine and the loaves? Or is the artist suggesting that perspective means everything? (A tree, from varying angles, is more than just one tree; it has more than one personality.) This is so strange.... *When Lucy the therapist understands that she has a paying customer, she changes her sign. It no longer says, "The Doctor Is Out." It now says: "The Doctor Is REAL IN." (What does that REAL mean? Is it meant to mean, " I'm REALLY, REALLY in....I'm excited about your money, and I'm SO in right now.... ") I can't tell you how much that "Real" has puzzled me, year after year after year.... *The high point, for ...