2013-04-06
Explanation
This comic depicts a couple's argument as a bizarre escalation of "taking things back." It begins with the woman saying she takes back all the bad things she ever said about the man. He agrees, but only takes back the bad things that were inaccurate. She then reinstates the accurate bad things; he reinstates insults that "felt right in the moment." From there it spirals: she takes back the nice things she said, he takes back nice things about her hopes and dreams, she tries to take back all the sex they ever had ("What? You can't do that." "Can and did."), and they proceed to take back dates, their marriage, and every moment of emotional vulnerability.
The absurdist escalation reaches its logical endpoint when they conclude they are "just two people who share a house and a bank account now." But then the man realizes it would be a huge inconvenience to get a new place and divide up the bank account -- so he proposes marriage again. The joke is a darkly cynical take on long-term relationships: after rhetorically stripping away every emotional bond, the only thing keeping them together is logistical convenience, and that's apparently enough to restart the whole cycle.
The votey shows someone in bed saying "I convert all the bad thoughts I had into words," suggesting a person whose filter between private resentment and spoken cruelty has completely dissolved -- an extension of the comic's theme about the destructive power of airing every grievance in a relationship.