Row 1: Establishing Kent Parson’s character
Row 2: Establishing the conflict
Row 3: Establishing Jack’s POV of the relationship
Im a new fan and literally just got through omgckp after years of urging by my sister so I only have the “text” to work with and not fandom’s interactions with Ngozi/headcanon’s to play off from. So I might be missing context, please lmk
There are so many rich and interesting characters in the story, but what makes Kent Parson so fascinating to me is despite how rare his appearances are, he operates as the foil to Jack’s life.
If Jack started out being driven by his career, only to find something meaningful in his relationship with Bitty, Parson’s storyline took the opposite direction. He was one half of the “best pair the hockey world had seen”. I have a feeling that while for Jack their relationship was “physical” and limited to the juniors (Kent was his Hockey rival and Hockey came before all else), Kent had found his other half.
The first row establishes that Kent is the guy that would comfort his friend/boyfriend first despite the draft. He came back to visit Jack despite the rude reception in the past (Shitty said it freaked him out). He has time to play with random people at a random college despite being there for only one reason. Even fandom RPF had him more into the relationship than Jack, summarizing their relationship through a wink.
The middle row shows a Kent at the end of his rope, trying to salvage something that he just found out was never really there. He also knows Jack enough to hit where it hurts...to equate the pain. Every meaningful fear Jack has is about Hockey (and living up to people’s expectations)...I have a feeling that Kent’s equal and opposite fear was losing Jack. Jack even acknowledges it in the final row by saying “I dont think he ever got over it” (Also note the POV change in the “I miss you” line underlining the Bitty filter we read the comic through).
I find it significant that Jack had to let go of every fear that he had in order to have a relationship with Bitty...and it allowed him growth and freedom. Meanwhile Kent never got closure on that chapter of his life (”fine, shut me out again”) even as his career advanced. A happy ending to the parallel would have Jack and Bitty dealing with the media fall out and having a fulfilling relationship while Kent finds meaning in his career BUT the last panel shows us that might not be the case...