That’s very good! 
You could write for the show! 
Yeah, that’s how I look at it too. A lot of the stuff he does is ridiculously crazy, and even the show acknowledges that sometimes. Remember that episode where Jim’s roommate was fascinated with meeting Dwight because the roomie didn’t believe he was real?
Again, I agree. I’ve been in a very similar position as Jim’s, actually. Even when the other person gave hints of having had a change of heart, there was no WAY I was going to put myself out on a limb again after how hurt/embarrassed my first love confession had made me feel. I figured that if he couldn’t find the courage to tell me directly how he felt, the way I had told him, he must not care as much as I did.
Personally, my suspicion is that in the end the show will probably surprise us all by not having Jim and Pam end up together. It seems like the kind of show where the writers are sharp enough not to go for the easy, expected ending. Despite the antics of Michael and Dwight, it’s quite realistic in some ways. Not every real life ending is a happy one!
You know, it seems to me that the times that Michael is the most over-the-top are those times when the show is out of the office (this episode and “Diwali”) or when other groups of new people are around (the episode when the Stamford employees came to Scranton). It’s not just that the regular Scranton employees are used to his behavior (which of course they are), but he they ratchet him up several notches when strangers are around, to the degree where even those who are used to him are mortified.
If that’s intentional, it’s really kind of interesting. I haven’t gone back over past episodes to see if they’re consistent with it, but it’s more than just his employees being used to him - he’s comfortable enough around them to be more of a likeable idiot, but out in the wild he turns into something different altogether.
The improv class is another example.
Very astute observation. Maybe the show is just a bit allegorical. People like Michael and Dwight just seem more bizarre when a normal world surrounds them.
You know, I don’t think I have a problem with that. That IS how the real world works - not everyone (by a long shot) ends up with their massive crush. I also don’t believe in only one right person for everybody - I think there is a continuum of compatibility, and Karen is good on Jim’s continuum.
Count me in with the group that felt Michael was too over the top. This was definitely one of the weaker shows.
Toby’s woman was hot though.
I think it was partially that Michael was over the top, and partly just that the writers made that point too many times. We saw:
-Michael and the wheelchair
-Michael and the photos
-Michael making his horrible toast
-Michael and the cake
-Many talking heads of Michael
It was just too much, from a storytelling perspective even if not from a no-real-human-could-act-like-that perspective.
But he doesn’t love her. No amount of her being good, nice, hot, interested can make that change. He loves Pam, is hung up on her, thought he was over it, then wasn’t. Karen is unlikely to change that. It’s too bad for them, but there it is. Certainly you can’t MAKE yourself love someone.
But you can make yourself not love someone else and then you just make do with the second best option.
That’s horrible. Would you want to be the person who’s partner was just “making do” with you because their first choice was taken? Ewww. Really.
You mean people always find the right person for them who is available and they all live happilly ever after? Some people just move on.
You’re making a lot of assumptions here. How do you know he doesn’t love Karen? How do you know his thing for Pam is anything more than an office crush. I don’t think it’s even possible to know you love someone you’ve never had so much as a date with. Whatever Jim has with Karen is already more than anything he’s ever had with Pam. Karen is more honest with him too. And hotter. I’d choose Karen over Pam in a heartbeat. I actually think it would be kind of cool if the show just lets this non-relationship between Jim and Pam die on the vine and let’s them both realize how inconsequential it’s really been. I know this is kind of a heretical thing to say for all the so-called “Jam” fans out there but in the real world, people idealize crushes all the time and then grow out of them.
I also think that all of Pam’s emotional wounds are entirely self-inflicted. I don’t have much sympathy for a chick that’s going to shoot a guy down and then act all weepy when he moves on to something better (and from this guy’s perspective, Karen is better).
Jim and Karen would probably work if Jim didn’t still have feelings for Pam. As it stands now, Karen is placed in a position where she’s going to get hurt. The sheer fact that Karen thinks the “talks” are helping, and Jim rolls his eyes and say how tiring they are should be plenty enough clue. Jim either shouldn’t have moved back to Scranton, or not gotten together with Karen. Of course, this is a television show, so the obvious choice is not going to be made.
I’m surprised at how many people still hold a grudge against Roy for being neglectful in the past two seasons. He’s really trying to win Pam back! He’s trying harder not to take her for granted because he’s realised exactly how much she means to him. Although rare, people are capable of change. I just wish it wasn’t Pam he was going after because I never really liked her. She portrays herself to be more innocent than she really is. (Notice how the really cruel pranks on Dwight was thought up by Pam, and even last week’s conversation with Karen where she did absolutely nothing but make things uncomfortable for Karen) My main beef with her is that she’s so passive, she sat and stewed when Roy was neglecting her, never speaking up and saying “Hey, I’d really appreciate it if you stayed and hung out with me. It’d really mean a lot.” Nope, it was “Aww… well… okay, I guess you can go if you REALLY want to.” If Roy has really changed, he deserves better!
He doesn’t love Karen. I don’t think I’m making any assumptions. He told her straight out he still has a thing for Pam.
It doesn’t matter what I think. Jim thinks it’s love. Or a mad crush. In any case, poor Karen didn’t really have a chance.
That’s you making assumptions. I think a lot lot lot of people would disagree with you. He’s worked with her in close quarters for years. He might well believe that he loves her. And I don’t know that I would contradict him if he did.
Hey, I agree with you. I think Karen is an all-around better choice. But it doesn’t matter. The heart wants what it wants.
Too bad you aren’t on the show then, eh?
I think Pam has been a total tool about the whole thing. I too wish Jim could give Karen the chance she deserves. But it doesn’t matter what we think, and IRL it wouldn’t matter what was best for Jim. People make these choices based on ::gasp:: emotions, not logic.
Then Jim is really a dickhead. Getting Karen to move for him when he’s not that interested does not say good things about him.
-Joe, in Mississippi on similar grounds
I blame Pam for a lot of this too, and her passiveness is definitely a part of that. Jesus, woman, go have a life already!
Merijeek, I don’t think Jim asked Karen to move for him. I think she moved on her own.
Certainly we have seen something either way.
Didn’t Jim suggest she move? Or was that another peyote-fueled Office hallucination?
-Joe
I don’t think he “got her to move.” I also think he was into Karen at first, then he saw Pam again, single, and it all came back to him. I don’t believe Jim is a dickhead. I think he doesn’t know what he wants and was not anticipating this situation. I’m sure he wants to be over Pam and into Karen, but what can you do? If I were Karen, I wouldn’t want Jim to be settling for me because he thinks he can’t have Pam. His feelings do not speak to the relative merits of each woman, either.
When the closing of the Stamford office was announced and Karen said she would take the transfer to Scranton, Jim asked her something like, “Why would you do that? Manhattan is 45 minutes down the road. If I were you, I’d move there.” That to me, was Jim pushing Karen away.