We might’ve skipped this scene if Shanna had gotten a friendlier reception in Guilded Age immediately, but as it was, I felt like her motives were too unclear to readers who hadn’t encountered her in Fans. Some, it seemed, were reading her as someone without compassion (muckraking clickbait-chaser and/or nerd-baiting bully) whose selfish pursuits would ruin everything for the Five.

For better and for worse, the institutionalization of Judith Cochran is Shanna’s “origin story,” and in everything but tone, it’s changed little from her previous incarnation, so I think it put most readers on the same page about her. We were still getting a few gripes that Shanna hadn’t “earned” so much attention, but I’m pretty sure there was nothing we could do about those, and they died off after this anyway.

In panel 2, Shanna is trying to power through this meeting without getting too emotionally involved, because she really cannot afford to become a depressed wreck for very long with Hurricane on her trail. But Dr. Seife here does not know the reason for her disengagement and ever so gently guilts her about it, and so the last few panels are like, TRIGGERED.