The Santayana Blues.

The reason, of course, that Elly didn't actually realize what went on at the New Years' Eve party is that she doesn't see the world the way we do. What we see is John pleading with her to reconsider the whole idea of subjecting him to a crowd setting because when he's dealing with the crippling social anxiety that she doesn't want to admit exists, he drinks too much and makes a fool of himself. All she hears, of course, is a faint buzzing noise because she thinks that he'll magically become a social lion if she's sincere enough and all will be well. When reality intrudes and John gets blotto, the depressive phase of Elly's need to fly from a reality that's not fair because it requires her to admit that she doesn't know what she's talking about takes hold and she treats him like vermin for what I believe to be embarrassing her and making sure that she can never throw a party again. (We don't actually know what is bothering her because she won't open her God-damned mouth and explain her rage so I'm spitballing here with the whole lack of proportion thing.)

This, as I said yesterday, is symptomatic of a wider problem with Elly in that she's constantly grumbling about how bad her life is when faced with the results of her own heedlessness. What generally happens can be broken down into the following distinct phases:

1. The Inception: We start things off when Elly comes up with an idea to do something that falls nicely in the 'biting off more than she can chew' category. An example can be found in the special 'A Storm in April' when she insists that she can take April to the library with her without worrying about her getting underfoot,
2. The Warning: Someone suggests to Elly that there is a flaw in her plan. In the case I mentioned, John hints that April will not actually sit quietly where plunked down but will in fact move like a normal two year old child.
3. The Denial: At this stage in the game, Elly either ignores the warning outright or downplays it in a breezily condescending manner. In the scenario I mentioned, she boasts about the presence of age-inappropriate activities that are sure to substitute for actual attention.
4. The Intrusion of Reality: At this point, Elly's poorly thought-out plan makes its inevitable jarring collision with the reality she'd been warned about. On the TV show, April proceeded to act like the two year old she was instead of the crazy no-way fantasy child Elly needed her to be. This leads us to the final phase.
5. The Misinterpretation: Things end with Elly analyzing what happened in the most self-serving terms possible. It's not that April was a normal child doing what normal children do; it was April playing a nasty trick on her poor mommy to embarrass her because children are wicked and love CHAOS!!!!!!!!!
6. The Aftermath: The end result is that Elly storms around being pointlessly upset with a family member for days at a time because she doesn't realize that the public at large doesn't see things as being as bad as she does. My guess is that Elly thinks that that morning is why she's no longer a librarian when, in fact, no one but her remembers that day very well.

Since there isn't a question Elly cannot plead, she's protected herself from ever having to learn from the mistakes of the past and can confidently charge ahead to the next self-induced calamity without having to worry about being warned about the consequences.