Watching The Office, as Jim ...
Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski, The Office
Question: Watching
The Office, as Jim showed the camera the engagement ring he bought Pam a week after they started dating, I was cheering (literally). But after the initial excitement wore off, I realized I was left with a sense of dread — a "what are they going to do to break Jim and Pam up" type of dread. It feels like the TV audience has been conditioned to think the worst when our favorite couples are on the brink of happiness. Maybe I am still jaded by the whole
Gilmore Girls debacle, but it seems the only way we know a couple is safe from contrived roadblocks is when the show is near its end. That just isn't fair to the audience or the characters. My question is: What do you think of this latest development on
The Office? Clearly Jim and Pam have issues they are not dealing with (both are working in underachieving jobs without trying to step out into careers they actually care about), but there doesn't seem to be anything realistic that could ruin this relationship that writers have used in the past to keep couples apart. Do you think the writers can keep one of the healthiest TV relationships interesting enough to follow through with an actual marriage? I hope they can, because I will quit watching the show if Jim finds out he has a long-lost daughter.
Answer: Or that Pam is unbeknownst to him a blood relation. Or Rashida Jones returns (no, I think they've put that conflict to rest). You're absolutely right.
The Office needs to be above such hokey tricks when it comes to spinning out the Jim-Pam romance. I've heard people say they're boring now that they're together and in the open about it, and I couldn't disagree more. This may be my favorite TV-comedy relationship since the early phase of the Monica-Chandler reveal on
Friends, or of course Luke and Lorelai before April became a "Cousin Oliver" style spoiler. There should be some challenges ahead for this couple, but I want them to be more on the order of Jim trying to bail on and leave Pam at the dinner party and then paying for it later. Soap opera nonsense will not be tolerated. We should be happy that they're happy, and that they're still great and funny company. They are easily my favorite part of
The Office these days (with Michael and crazy Jan's bizarre relationship a close second, not to mention a terrific contrast.)
