Out of the silent Patterson......

The reason I mentioned the fact that John gets confused by Elly's need for there to be an argument is that I think that the poor sap should really count his blessings. After all, a screaming match about trivia is immeasurably more tolerable than Elly's favorite way of showing him that he's displeased her by giving him the silent treatment.

The reason that she does this is so that she can be in complete control of a given situation by withholding what it is that bothers her. In this instance, it would appear that his being kissed by some random stranger is tied with his being falling down drunk for the root cause of the current crisis. Not, of course, that we ever find out what is bothering her; if she were to say what's bothering her, it's entirely possible that she'd lose the argument and she's too petty to do that.

What makes things really idiotic is that she believes that she and John communicate quite well; then again, she also believes that she was loving, firm, fair and kind and that she'd never been cross with Mike and Lizzie.