#palm town

[marchenshoujo]

[marchenshoujo]

[marchenshoujo]

[marchenshoujo]

Something I've always wondered about on rewatching the first episode of Palm Town is that Dr. George claims to, his niece Patty Hope Rabbit, to be the one cooking the meal "for a change," as if it's usually his wife Dr. Jane who cooks and he's just letting her rest for today.

But as we later find out, that's just not the case? Jane Pika cannot cook. She flubs a recipe in the fight episode, where Rolley suggests to Patty the reason they fight is because they're both working, so Jane should stay home and cook while George works in the clinic... because doesn't it just look nicer and right for Jane to wear the apron?

... of course, we quickly realize Jane, even when following a cook book, flubs things, and when the nurse Alice collapses, Jane sacrifices the food to use as hot and cold compresses to help Alice recover. Jane's heart is wholly in being a doctor and saving others.

Meanwhile, a very, very bored George spends his breaks... reading. Patty thinks he's reading medical text books, but no! They're cook books.

He genuinely loves cooking. Patty even wonders if he should have become a chef instead... did he only become a doctor because he was pressured to pursue it, like her friend back in Maple Town Johnny Kraft (Danny Dog) was forced to study so much?

But when push comes to shove, both Jane and George are competent, skilled doctors.

There's also a very late episode, near the end of the series, where a poodle comes to expose everyone's secrets and George is furious and thinks Jane is exposing family secrets when the poodle lies and claims Jane herself said "George should quit medicine and become a full-time chef, he's better at cooking than medicine"... this isn't even the first time someone's said this about George in series, a patient of his seemed to consider going to the clinic again just for a chance to taste his cooking, so it's possible he already suspects some people think this...

So, either the out-of-universe reason is the first episode is an example of early installment weirdness or executive meddling that a family where both parents work and the dad does the cooking is running too much against Japanese cultural norms even for the 80's so add in a line about how Jane usually cooks (and maybe they relaxed it later on and the writers carried on writing it the way they originally intended it)...

For an in-universe reason or way to reconcile the two is maybe George is embarrassed about what people might say about him and his family if they knew he loved to cook and is the one who cooks for the family, that they might question his masculinity or act like Jane's shirking wifely duties... that'd explain the uncharacteristic anger in the poodle episode (which the subber seemed to quite dislike!)

... also, if Jane Pika really is infertile, that might add to their insecurities about ...

This scene from the finale... ;_;

[marchenshoujo]

I think Lilia was born via C-section because there was an implied op and Mrs. Cocker was only released home a week after the birth... she also nearly miscarried in the genie episode (whether or not you believe Rolley's wish that she give birth soon is the reason why), so it was canonically a complicated pregnancy.

[marchenshoujo]

[marchenshoujo]

[marchenshoujo]