Summary

As his father begins to recover from Covid-19 and his hacking cough recedes, the boy’s mother begins to smile again. The boy is also able to pull some of his sibling’s attention and they begin to feel like a family again.

The narrative ends on an intensely normal note with the boy musing about whether any of his family members have seen the remote, implying that they are finally ready to change the channel from the negative news cycle.

Analysis

The illustrations in the work are overwhelmingly dark and ominous, often featuring fire, amorphous shapes, and ruined homes and cities. Faces are never shown with any detail, and more often mere body parts are utilized as stand-ins for whole people. The illustrations are predominantly black, red, and grey. In this final section, as the haze and fear of the pandemic recedes...