Fair enough.
For what it’s worth, I agree with Dio. Though, in my agreement, I can also see where Pam was coming from- that said, just because you WANT to act, doesn’t mean you do. Professionalism and all that.
I was not aware that playfully calling my dad “old man” was really a secret but totally obvious way of trying to make my mom divorce him.
I’m a terrible person apparently.
As for me, I’ve enjoyed the more bitchy Pam so far this season. Maybe it’s just her hormones while she’s pregnant. And while Pam has shown a darker side, Erin has become the new Pam, the original sweet D-M receptionist. What I like about this show is that the writers seem to give every character a meaty line or scene in every episode. The best scene tonight was Toby showing Pam how to throw a punch. I can imagine him thinking “Yesss!” when she actually punched Michael. And the scene in the parking lot was well done. Just when you thought Michael has defused the situation he stupidly opened his big mouth again! Classic.
Were you watching some different edit of the show than the one that was broadcast on NBC? Because what you describe isn’t what happened in the show I saw. Pam had no reason to believe that Michael was unaware of Helena’s true age (he knew she was literally old enough to be Pam’s mother, and they’d been dating for a month so he’d had plenty of time to ask her) or that he was bothered by the idea of dating an older woman. If Pam had thought this would be a dealbreaker for Michael she’d have brought it up two weeks ago.
Pam made reference to a long-standing family joke about her mother pretending to be younger than she is on each birthday. To the extent that this was “catty”, the cattiness was directed at Michael – Pam was also reminding Michael that he’s not a member of their family and doesn’t know about all the Beesly clan in-jokes. It wasn’t a crack about Helena’s age per se. Pam’s second remark was again a slam at Michael, this time for not being able to add properly. It did apparently bother Helena to have her true age emphasized, hence her own very catty remark about Pam being a pregnant bride. Pam then dropped the subject. More than that, she soon had a change of heart about Michael and decided that he really did care about her mother. But she was wrong. Michael was, typically for him, infatuated with Helena but did not really care about or even know her very well as a person.
Michael is the one who chose to ruin the birthday lunch, not Pam. He was within his rights to end a relationship he didn’t think would work, but a less selfish and impulsive man could at least have restrained himself until later that evening rather than barking at Helena to finish her cake so he could dump her than and there.
Sweat Zombie Jesus:rolleyes:
Pams comments about “what is this, your ninth 49th birthday?” and “this would be our longest family tradition” are typical jokes one might make at a birthday party. She probably had not given Michael a second thought while making them.
Michael Scott, however, in his typical arrogant, narcissistic, almost sociopathic, disconnected from reality, cluelessness heard she was 58 (IIRC) and was simply turned off, apparently never having discussed or considered how old she was. All that stuff about wanting to bungie jump and experience life or whatever is a load of crap. Michael would never do any of that. But he likes to indulge in the fantasy that he might someday. And if kids were really an issue, he might of thought about that before he started dating someone who already has a 30+ year old daughter.
The character of Michael Scott is a complex one because he has to act like a contemptable jerk-ass and an imbecile, and yet still be likeable and competant enough that we can empathsize wth him and find him believable in a roll managing people and selling to clients.
One hilarious undercurrent to that awkward dinner was Michael apparently not piecing together than if Pam was pregnant, then her mom was about to become a grandmother. Didn’t he see The 40-Year-Old Virgin?
It would actually be kind of funny to see Michael quoting from that movie.
It wouldn’t. It would be a weird and awkward breaking of the 4th wall.
I am shocked at what the writers have done with pams character. In the earlier seasons she was sweet and passive. The only time she would complain would be to jim or the camera. Now they have made her quite abrasive. She is calling people out on everything. No one in the show is acting any more annoying or clueless then they always have.
She has slapped Michael, screamed at the top of her lungs in the office, looked in the eyes of one of her coworkers and puked in a trash bin, called andy out about kissing her tummy, etc. Justified as these actions all were, she would have never done so in earlier seasons. This could be attributed to her pregnancy but I surely hope they don’t keep her character like this.
Also what is with her no longer listening or taking the advice of Jim? Their chemistry since they have gotten married is gone. He seems to have taken a role of her yes man.
The show has passed its 100th episode and I really hope the writers still have the steam to keep it as good as it always has been.
Totally agreed. Some will write this off as ‘character development,’ but really, it’s been a pretty poor and unbelievable transition.
I’ve just come to accept that The Office now, while still funny, is not the same Office that hooked me during seasons 1 and 2. The characters are all caricatures now–the antithesis of what was true when the show began.
It’s called Flanderization. It happens in most sitcoms that last long enough.
true. It is an impressive feat for them to have avoided it as long as they have.
I really think that they’re setting Pam up to fail. They’ve made the point to mention several times in the last few episodes that she’s doing really bad with her sales.
You’ve never known any married couples, have you? :rolleyes:
(Emphasis mine.) Do you really want Pam to be the kind of woman who’d passively put up with a coworker behaving in such an inappropriate way? I can understand not wanting Pam to continue losing her temper at Michael (it’s funny in small doses, but much more of it would just be nasty), but Pam would have been well within her rights to be much more forceful in telling Andy that he needed to keep his hands to himself. *Especially *in front of a potential client.
I certainly do not want to see Pam go back to the doormat she was in the first two seasons who let everyone walk all over her with barely a protest.
'Nuff said.
I think Pam’s natuarally become who she is as oppose to the first season. For better or worse. I think she stopped being such a rag-doll, after seeing what being more assertive could get her, perhaps ‘miss-used’ her new powers at times, but doesn’t like to be called “Pammy”… and that’s why Michael go slapped.
On a show where the camera man is some times involved in the action on screen?
I didn’t like this episode too much, and this was part of it – not that he showed her the picture, but that the writers seemed to have abandoned the C-plot. It seemed clear to me that Ryan was trying to persuade Erin to pose for him, but they were so busy with A (Michael and Pam re Helene) and B (Dwight and Andy’s favor exchange) that they never came back to C. I haven’t checked online for deleted scenes, but this was either sloppy writing or sloppy editing. It didn’t have to be resolved, but it shouldn’t have been left out to dry.