The hilarious (@#$% terrifying) thing about this strip is that so many of us turn into that psychotic ex who overanalyzed every single thing as if we were ourselves living the lives of the characters. A testament to Jeph's talent, certainly, but also not healthy for anyone.
It may be cathartic for some readers, who may have something they've always wanted to talk about--or rather, have always needed to hear an alternative perspective from a relative stranger whom they may see as relatively unbiased. But should this subforum be for that cause? (...Is there an alternative? Yes.)
The problem with what we call overanalysis is that it really doesn't exist. Analysis is, by definition, breaking something down--once it can't be broken down anymore, further work reveals nothing more than what you already know. What we refer to as overanalysis is just misanalysis: the attempt to analyze the situation without having all the facts at hand (which is related to what Orson Welles said about acting: "what we call over-acting is really just false acting"), which results in greater misunderstandings and wild theories that serve no valid purpose (cf. any government on Earth).
Analysis in its purest form, perhaps, but really, who's to judge what serves no purpose? Most people prefer not to break something down to its basic building blocks because it misses the inherent connection between ideas. I.e., we analyze ice and understand that it's hydrogen, oxygen and energy...skipping past the more important revelation that it's frozen water. On a planet, in a solar system, one of quadrillions created by an all-knowing dark matter dachshund.
We could "overanalyze" this strip to mean that Jeph was secretly fearing spending time on vacation, but that might be way more interesting to discuss than "oh, Marten said this in comic 1132, therefore he's still a douche." And interesting thoughts are a good, usually.
Nobody's 'right' here. We've all got baggage (some more than others) and our ability to identify with the characters and/or situation is perhaps adding that baggage onto the comic's situation, where it doesn't belong.
But isn't that sort of the entire point of literature? To engage in such behavior and then realize that maybe you shouldn't, and grow a little bit?
As for no one being 'right'...such would seem to be the case if one believes in moral relativism or that the characters--not being real people--
cannot be right or wrong. Which I would disagree with.
We haven't seen the last of Padma or this storyline, so, like when your best friend broke up with that stupid whore that no one really liked anyway, man (to whom he's now been married for eight years), it's probably best not to be making with the wild (and cruel) speculations.
"If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation."
I agree that people can go overboard, but often they don't, even if they seem to be sinking. Lamemetaphorlol