To me, this whole arc smacks of "Hey, these are the two weirdest characters in the strip right now, let's shove them together, watch it all go to hell, and then point and laugh!", both in-universe (Claire and Marten being mean and messing with Clinton and Emily for kicks) and out-of-universe (Jeph deciding that they must suffer to make a few punchlines).
I'm not looking kindly on this storyline, since I have plenty of experience with being the odd/bookish person in the room/class/group and getting messed with relentlessly because others found it "funny". So no, I'm not getting a kick out of this one. If this is Jeph's way of backhandedly making me (and others) sympathize with Emily and Clinton, well, it's working.
On top of that, the contrast between relationships could not be any more stark. Claire and Marten get a hundred strips of relentless saccharine overkill; meanwhile, Faye and Angus are no more, Dale and Marigold get no screen time, Dora and Tai get one brief strip of one argument, and Emily and Clinton get used as the butt of jokes. Gee, I totally can't tell who the author's favourites are ...