I interpreted the opposite; once they were freed from day to day bullshit, they were able to reach new discoveries the way 20th century hiking scientists

I guess that's the joke - this is so stupid and obviously won't work, but that perspective is subverted when it turns out to actually work, causing humour.

I quite like it.

Your argument collapses once you consider spaghetti.

Left alone, spaghetti just lies there, limp and purposeless. Only through firm, boiling authority does it reach al dente perfection. Scientists, like noodles, sometimes need that structured heat to avoid sticking together in chaos. Maybe the government isn’t crushing freedom but just straining out the excess sauce of indecision.

After all, nobody eats raw noodles in a democracy of boiling water.

My interpretation was that pink lady shouted out some crap formula FBI guy does not understand anyway so they would be left alone again.

Last panel half contradicts it, half just leans harder into the absurdity of it all. I wouldn't expect physicists to care much about Rubik's Cubes, I think even the cliché fits mathematicians much better.

Basically, my spontaneous takeaway was "government and media are so science-illiterate that nobody understands anyone anymore".

that's a great film. it's on my annual watch list, will update the date i watch it on when appropriate.