Reasons, 18 May 2015

[Lasenna]

I know that customs among Latin American, Canadian, and European cultures are more familiar with more hands-on, hugging, kissing types of greetings, but Alex kissing Candi like that (even if it's on the cheek - I can't really tell from the picture) just strikes me as skeevy. Sure he expected a goodbye kiss from Candi when he was dating Linda, but it still strikes me as more of his womanizing where he wants every girl to be into him, even though he won't make a non-open-relationship commitment himself. I kind of think he's avoiding Abuela because he doesn't want to admit to her how his relationship with Linda fell apart, and maybe he's trying to test the waters with Candi to see if he can get her back before making that call. Just my feelings...

[Onijin]

I know that customs among Latin American, Canadian, and European cultures are more familiar with more hands-on, hugging, kissing types of greetings, but Alex kissing Candi like that (even if it's on the cheek - I can't really tell from the picture) just strikes me as skeevy. Sure he expected a goodbye kiss from Candi when he was dating Linda, but it still strikes me as more of his womanizing where he wants every girl to be into him, even though he won't make a non-open-relationship commitment himself. I kind of think he's avoiding Abuela because he doesn't want to admit to her how his relationship with Linda fell apart, and maybe he's trying to test the waters with Candi to see if he can get her back before making that call. Just my feelings...

Sounds pretty on the ball to me.
Here's my reaction to both the kiss as well as the possibility of that.

[carbuncle1992]

I know that customs among Latin American, Canadian, and European cultures are more familiar with more hands-on, hugging, kissing types of greetings, but Alex kissing Candi like that (even if it's on the cheek - I can't really tell from the picture) just strikes me as skeevy. Sure he expected a goodbye kiss from Candi when he was dating Linda, but it still strikes me as more of his womanizing where he wants every girl to be into him, even though he won't make a non-open-relationship commitment himself. I kind of think he's avoiding Abuela because he doesn't want to admit to her how his relationship with Linda fell apart, and maybe he's trying to test the waters with Candi to see if he can get her back before making that call. Just my feelings...

I completely agree with this assessment.

I think some part of him either believes, or wants to believe, that Candi was never over him. That she loved him enough that she'll quickly forgive the "mistakes" he made and they can get back together.
I wonder if maybe, in Alex's eyes, even though he broke up withher...he never felt like they were broken up? He still wanted all the benefits of a relationship without a relationship -- because being single made him free to be with Linda. And since in his eyes he did nothing wrong, it allowed him to exhibit similar behavior when he wanted Katy instead of Linda.

[tounces7]

Alex is Cuban. It's not unusual in Cuban culture to kiss on the right cheek in greeting a friend - which is where he kissed her.

Nobody even considered this?

[tounces7]

I think also this is one of those circumstances where it may LOOK worse than it is, simply because the comic panel is frozen on that point. He may well have gave her a friendly peck and pulled back for all we know.

[pixiewolfe]

Alex is Cuban. It's not unusual in Cuban culture to kiss on the right cheek in greeting a friend - which is where he kissed her.

Nobody even considered this?

Candi is his ex, not a friend. At least if I was Candi I wouldn't consider Alex a friend, or want him to consider me on. Joint history doesn't equal friendship. That, and his expression was very creepy to me.

And guys, in Candi's college there is free pizza anyway. I think her asking Alex to pay was a principal.. You want me to come to you, you pay for the inconvenience to me.

[BenjaminT]

I think also this is one of those circumstances where it may LOOK worse than it is, simply because the comic panel is frozen on that point. He may well have gave her a friendly peck and pulled back for all we know.

I'll grant you that it may very well look a lot worse than it is. That said, I don't believe that Alex was born and raised in Cuba, was he? He's been largely acculturated to the U.S. He picks and chooses when to practice any custom from Cuba.

Take Linda. He didn't practice the kissing on the cheek with her even after he broke up with Candi and was officially with Linda. Why? I imagine that part of it was that he met Candi when he was living with his grandma. I imagine Abuela did that with Candi and it gave Alex a reason to start doing it, too, (because he wanted to). He never felt the need to do it with Linda and I think if they met again and even if they were on friendly terms he would not kiss Linda on the cheek in greeting.

He chose to specifically start that practice with CANDI and chooses to continue to it now. Sure, it's probably at least partially a habit but any normal person after a breakup would reasonably wonder at least briefly how friendly they should continue to act around that person. He's never shown any sign of wondering at all. He's perfectly confident to act just as intimate in most every respect as before they broke up (more so than we've seen with any other girl or guy he has spent time with). This is what leads me to believe that the kiss is more because it's Candi than because it's his cultural background. The cultural background is pretty much just an excuse as far as I can tell.

[Acidbuk]

I get the Kiss is a cultural thing and I'd be willing to wave it off, but, Candi is not Cuban.though looking at Alex's state maybe, just maybe he has been doing some soul searching of his own and is trying to figure things out and doesn't want the doting grandma waving off all his faults as "Oh Honey its not YOU its THEM" since from what I understand she's been doing that his whole life and maybe he wants to work things out for himself ....it could be progress. but then Alex hasn't exactly shown any capacity for empathy so far so..

[tounces7]

I get the Kiss is a cultural thing and I'd be willing to wave it off, but, Candi is not Cuban.though looking at Alex's state maybe, just maybe he has been doing some soul searching of his own and is trying to figure things out and doesn't want the doting grandma waving off all his faults as "Oh Honey its not YOU its THEM" since from what I understand she's been doing that his whole life and maybe he wants to work things out for himself ....it could be progress. but then Alex hasn't exactly shown any capacity for empathy so far so..

Yes, Candi isn't Cuban.

Cuban's typically kiss another Cuban on the cheek once, and a non-Cuban on both cheeks

So, doesn't matter.

The look on his face is weird - but we don't know that it was actually MEANT to look weird. I mean, maybe Starline didn't actually intend it to be creepy, who knows?

And I'm sure Alex has some empathy, I doubt he's a psychopath.

[tounces7]

I think also this is one of those circumstances where it may LOOK worse than it is, simply because the comic panel is frozen on that point. He may well have gave her a friendly peck and pulled back for all we know.

I'll grant you that it may very well look a lot worse than it is. That said, I don't believe that Alex was born and raised in Cuba, was he? He's been largely acculturated to the U.S. He picks and chooses when to practice any custom from Cuba.

Take Linda. He didn't practice the kissing on the cheek with her even after he broke up with Candi and was officially with Linda. Why? I imagine that part of it was that he met Candi when he was living with his grandma. I imagine Abuela did that with Candi and it gave Alex a reason to start doing it, too, (because he wanted to). He never felt the need to do it with Linda and I think if they met again and even if they were on friendly terms he would not kiss Linda on the cheek in greeting.

He chose to specifically start that practice with CANDI and chooses to continue to it now. Sure, it's probably at least partially a habit but any normal person after a breakup would reasonably wonder at least briefly how friendly they should continue to act around that person. He's never shown any sign of wondering at all. He's perfectly confident to act just as intimate in most every respect as before they broke up (more so than we've seen with any other girl or guy he has spent time with). This is what leads me to believe that the kiss is more because it's Candi than because it's his cultural background. The cultural background is pretty much just an excuse as far as I can tell.

Here's the thing - we don't actually KNOW who he practices it with. Because we only see 3-4 panels. He could have done it with everyone and we wouldn't really know it.

[BenjaminT]

Here's the thing - we don't actually KNOW who he practices it with. Because we only see 3-4 panels. He could have done it with everyone and we wouldn't really know it.

We know that Linda was unfamiliar with it well after she first met him. I'd have to do some hunting but I remember her getting mad about it when she saw him ask Candi for his kiss. If he had kissed Linda from the start before they were together that wouldn't have caught Linda off guard so much and requiring Alex to give an explanation.

Also, can you imagine how red Katia would have gotten if he kissed her at first meet? That didn't happen. Besides the fact that we saw their first meeting, even if it somehow happened off-camera you know it would have come up and colored things going forward with Katia.