Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT January 9-13, 2012 (2096-2100)
NotAwesomeAnymore:
There is no way of looking at Faye's pose in panel 3 that makes sense to me, and I'm not sure why.
Tova:
It has occurred to me that, amidst the caterwauling, blaming and various accusations flying about, that we're missing something important. It was something someone said - I forget who, sorry - and it wasn't that we're at the restaurant at the end of the universe, and would we like a drink before dinner.*
Rather, it was the obvious point that we really don't know what's going on with Padma. No one seems to have questioned it, and whether people think she's too scared to do the right thing on one extreme, or the bitch from hell on the other, the common factor is that those people have just assumed what has happened at the other end. And we really just do not know.
So I went back to this comic - and I do apologise if someone has already brought this up. The forums have been kind of like that recently. I can't keep it all in my head.
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2091
The assumption seems to have been that the thought processes went something like this:
* Padma sighs because she is getting closer to Marten than she expected
* Padma makes a remark about it, but Marten reacts flippantly
* Padma is disturbed about the remark but doesn't press the point
And then as a result, she stops calling him etc etc. And it doesn't really make sense, except some of us just assume that therefore Padma must be a horrible person to do this to Marten.
But honestly, it just doesn't make sense to me at all.
We're missing something important. Oblivious, in fact. Just like the comic title.
So I'm going to throw a different interpretation onto the comic just to see what happens. It's almost certainly wrong. But what the hell. I've just had beer and pizza - it stimulates the creative juices.
Before that comic, something happened to Padma that we don't know about. I don't know what. Maybe it was her parents calling and saying they would be there tomorrow to make sure she gets back home on time like she was supposed to. Let's just go with that, because I'm really just guessing on top of supposition at this point.
So whatever it was, she goes through the night wondering how she can tell him that she really won't be able to see him again. This is where it gets hazy, because why wouldn't she be able to tell him? That's why I think I'm not quite right - that instead, it's something that she just can't share with him for some reason. God knows what.
So let's get back to the comic. She's thinking that this is the last night and sighs.
Marten: Something wrong?
Padma: (can't tell him) why couldn't I have met you a year ago?
Marten: jokey reply - doesn't make her feel better, but of course he is oblivious to what is going on in her head.
Padma: (has a dismayed expression - not directly because of what Marten has said, but rather because of her internal conflict).
Then the next day of course she can't be with him for whatever that reason was. And can't until the very last night.
Sorry, I'm just "thinking out loud", and normally those kinds of half-formed thoughts wouldn't make it all the way onto the forum, but I hope at the very least it provokes a new line of conversation.
Whatever the answer is, I suspect the story has one last surprise in store for us.
Because for me, it still doesn't quite add up.
* If you're not a Douglas Adams fan, I do apologize for that reference.
http://www.otostopcu.org/yazi/h2g2/b2c15.php
truestatic:
It is an interesting line of thought Tova, and I had considered that we really didn't know what was up with her, which I realize is probably a very deliberate thing on the writer's part. I came to the conclusion that, whatever it was that was going on with her... she probably coulda called. I don't know, I realize I'm still not deviating from the previous conversation we've been on about, about blame Marten, blame Padma. I would very much like to KNOW what's going on with her, but... I don't know. We'll see. I can't say I'd be surprised if we never learned. If last strip was the last we'll ever hear from her. Leaving what exactly happened to her as a big question mark forces us to think about it for ourselves and come to our own judgements, just like Marten has to, and I think it takes us... well, if the last few pages tell us anything, it takes us interesting, contentious places. If this is indeed the end of the arc, I can't complain. It's a thought provoking, if not particularly satisfying ending.
snubnose:
--- Quote from: Akima on 13 Jan 2012, 01:50 ---From a purely punchline point of view, I think Faye's line in the last panel should simply have been "NO!"
--- End quote ---
Not actually very punchy.
It could be:
- NO, I wont say that.
- NO, you are not an a**h***
Thus, having double meaning, it would have been awful as a "punchline".
Tova:
--- Quote from: truestatic on 13 Jan 2012, 02:28 ---I came to the conclusion that, whatever it was that was going on with her... she probably coulda called.
--- End quote ---
I know, right? So why didn't she? We may never know the answer, but I think it's the key to the whole shenanigans.
Whatever it was, I don't think it's callousness. That doesn't seem Jeph's style.
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