#checkpleasecomic

it's been boiling inside me too long so i have to let this out now. Too many people don't understand Ngozi's symbolism in Check Please! and to increase your enjoyment of the series and her clever writing (honestly, I've seen the worst takes from people about her writing somehow being subpar because of the ending or Parse not getting a happy ever after ugh). Listen to the woman when she says "the pie is Bitty"!

Part I: Pie

Bitty brings a pecan pie to SMH to introduce his Southern identity to a Yankee university and sports team. He brings another four pies to the family skate with Jack and agonizes when a slice is about to be left over. He drops a pie when overwhelmed by Shitty and Nursey's discussion of the rumors about Jack and the secrets he has to keep.

The fruit filling is Bitty's sweet, warm, and tender inner self and the crust is, well, his formal, people-pleasing, selfless outer shell.

A fruit pie is either fully obscured or latticed, both being some sort of cover for the filling.

Bitty is making an intricate lattice on a pie and stopping halfway through to break down while on the phone with his mom. He isn't ready to tell her, even though she does inform him her pie (Bitty) is 'almost ready to come out'.

II: Jam

After "Me & Jack", Bitty goes on a jam making spree. The jam is a similar fruity sweet substance, but it is in clear jars because Jack and Bitty's truth is out, and may even be open to some sympathetic players on other NHL teams (he mentions in a tweet that he owes someone on the Schooners squad a jar of jam, as the preserve is becoming a hit through Jack's generous gifting). He also informs Jack "it's gonna be two trips", foreshadowing the fact they'll have to come out a second, more emotionally wracking time.

Jam also represents Bitty's connection with his aunt Judy, a nonconformist in the family who as Ngozi has explained encouraged him to seek a higher educational option where he could be himself. He has loyalty to Judy above his mother, a secret that eventually and humorously blows up in his face.

III: Bread and toast

Jack tells his entire NHL team about Bitty while they're eating a lopsided (but delicious) loaf of bread and the aforementioned jam, both homemade by the diminutive southerner. Bitty makes sandwiches for Jack as loving gestures, giving him support during his toughest days on the ice. At his worst, Jack sees himself as broken or incapable of moving past the substance abuse and mental health issues he struggled with under an unbearable spotlight as the hockey prince.

Jack is the bread. The same warm and supportive oven that bakes Bitty's pies also allows bread to rise. Samwell helped Jack just as it helped Bitty, but more important, Bitty was a huge part of why Samwell helped Jack.

It's also why two identical slices of toast pop into frame when Whiskey brushes Bitty off when the latter tries to talk to him in the cafeteria.

Whiskey is or at least wants to be seen as masculine through and through, his interests and future as regimented and compartmentalized as a TV dinner. He sees only weakness in Bitty's soft, sweet personality, and feels they don't have anything (else) in common. He rejects not just pies but Bitty's other offers of kindness and help, because he sees Bitty like he's afraid other people will see him if the truth ever gets out.

He represents the awkward, self-denying phase of coming to terms with your queerness later in life.

The story does, however, leave the question open whether Samwell helps Whiskey the way it helped Jack and Bitty and countless others. Whiskey will have Bitty's dibs as well as his support, as Bitty has done important work in college sports, setting a precedent that will even help people as different to him as Whiskey.

Fanart for You’ve Already Won Me Over (In Spite of Me) by @dontfuckingstartwithme

Read it on Ao3!