First, Yayy Marten! 
Second, someone stated how this Marten+Padma+Elliot dynamic is, I assume, no different than the Marten+Faye+Angus dynamic and I have to say I agree. If Padma doesn't see Elliot as anything other than a friend (Faye+Marten), then that's that. Marten+Padma not getting together won't change the Padma+Elliot dynamic.
It's not even close. Had Marten consoled Angus on his feelings for Faye, got turned down, and then immediately after Angus made out with her, Marten would have the right to be angry about it.
While the situations were different, the similarities are important because emotions don’t see the details. Which is why Marten was upset when Faye told him she didn’t want to string Angus along, which is exactly what she did to Marten. Everything goes back to, “why did you treat me different.”
Also, when Faye rejected Marten, Dora stepped right in. The only difference there is that Dora didn't mention anything to Faye--her friend--at all beforehand, and that personal guilt wound up hurting their relationship, despite everybody else being okay with it. Marten, unintentionally, cleared the way for himself by telling Elliot he should tell Padma his feelings. Padma rejected him (and that wasn’t preordained), and while Padma and Marten starting something will make it awkward, Elliot has no right to be angry. He doesn’t own Padma, and Padma was honest with him. Marten didn’t do anything before Padma rejected Elliot, and unless you’re saying it’s better for Elliot to still have his unrequited crush on Padma with her with Marten (which would need an explanation), I don’t see where Marten did anything wrong.
The start of any new relationship causes collateral damage. You just have to hope that people are adult enough to deal with it.
I also have a tough time fathoming why Padma likes Marten at all since she's shown no romantic interest in him until this point. She's talked about herself only until this comic, and she's immediately bored by Marten's pipe dreams when she finally lets him speak. If you're going to hook Marten up with someone, at least set it up to be believable! I have to assume that Padma is very loose when drunk.
She isn't immediately bored. She's actually not bored at all. She initiates the conversation, asks him questions about it, and then clues Marten into the fact that, hey, I may want to kiss you. If you're bored with someone, you tolerate and either try to divert the conversation elsewhere or excuse yourself.
And yeah, Padma has shown interest in Marten before. On the hike, she invited Marten--not Elliott--over to see the view with her, she wanted to dance with Marten, she immediately invited Marten on the hike in the first place...It just hasn't been overt because she doesn't know Marten as well or as long as the other characters, so it was more of a feeling-out process. She's always liked Marten as a new friend, and she probably didn't realize that Marten was interested until his reaction to her news that she was leaving (her facial expressions in those last two panels are obvious). This is the first time we've seen Padma since then, and its only natural that if they're both interested in each other, they do something about it now.
And if you were paying attention to body language, Jeph has been pairing Padma and Marten off with everybody else on the outside since the plane engine dance comic.
She's bored at what he's talking about, yes. She just wants to make out because she's drunk and he's looking kind of cute. She may regret this action later.
The fact that she is just now finding out Martens only interest besides going to small businesses means she has never had a real conversation with him, on screen or off. If she actually liked Marten, wouldn't she know something about him beforehand?
Marten is a nice guy, that she knows. All he is to her is an awkward guy that lets her talk about herself and only adds in reassuring comments about everything she says/does. That is what a nice guy goes. Multiple times her personality has been a huge turn off to Marten but he ignores it because he has a high school mindset of "ooh, pretty girl, I'll do/say anything. I'll do all the listening."
No, she's not bored. As I already pointed out, she's actively engaged in the conversation and she shows no sign of not being interested, vocal or in body language. The only panel that can be even remotely interpreted as Padma being bored is the second to last one, and if your interpretation of that panel is "boredom," then you gotta be dead.
Also, Marten wasn't "telling her his hopes and dreams"; he was making small talk about his band, the one that Padma just asked about. In fact, this is how most of their interactions have been to this point--mostly joking, talking a bit, Padma apologizing for whatever unintentional damage she just caused, getting to know each other's personalities a bit more. There has been very little to zero indepth personal discussion between the two, outside of the reasons why Padma is moving back home, which just occurred back the last time they saw each other, which also was the first time Padma probably even knew Marten was interested. The idea that Padma's done nothing but talk about herself doesn't hold water with me at all, so the whole "nice guy" thing is something I simply don't agree with at the least. Especially since Marten's been interested in Padma for a while now.
This is how many people start relationships with new people...they meet, become friendly with one another, hit it off, and if they get a little drunk, there's liplock. A bridge has been crossed, the mutual attraction has been acknowledged, and then a dating relationship follows. Most people I know don't stalk or do a complete background check on somebody they're interested in.
Poll
1 (0.9%)
Author
Topic: WCDT 2051-2055; Nov. 7-11, 2011 (Read 122156 times)