A Typical Office Romance: Jim/Pam (The Office)
Title: A Typical Office Romance
Author: Steph, iamtheenemy
Fandom: The Office: An American Workplace
Pairing: Jim Halpert/Pam Beesley
Spoilers: The series up to 3.09 "The Convict"
Notes: Thanks goes to chickpea for the beta and bbeeaannss for the read through. The lovely caps featured throughout were made by heather13, tonicangel and bellanut.
The Office is a laugh-out-loud funny, half-hour sitcom currently in the middle of its third season on NBC. It is a “mockumentary” centering around the lives of the people who work in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder-Mifflin, a fictional paper company. The purpose of the show, originally created for British television by comic virtuosos Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, is to highlight the absurdities and trivialities that occur while working at any normal, American office.
Aside from Jim, Pam and their separate love interests, you need to know two other people on the show to follow this essay:
Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), the self-centered, politically incorrect and socially awkward regional manager of Dunder-Mifflin. Michael always thinks he’s the funniest guy in the room, even when he’s the only one laughing. He wants everyone to like him, even when that means lying to his staff about potential lay-offs to avoid being the “bad guy.” He’s a combination of the worst boss you’ve ever had, and that pathetic guy you met at the bar last week who won’t stop calling your cell phone.
Dwight Schrute (played by Rainn Wilson), assistant regional manager and Michael’s number one (and only) fan. Dwight lives on a beet farm with his cousin, plays paint ball every week, studies karate at a fourth grade level, used to be a volunteer sheriff on the weekends and once tried to write a book about Michael Scott. He’s also over-confident, judgmental and a self-proclaimed “narc.” He’s the weasely guy at work whose death you’ve wistfully detailed with your co-workers during lunch and cigarettes breaks.
The Pairing
The rest of this essay will discuss Jim and Pam - the characters, the subtext and the evolution of their relationship over the past two and a half seasons. The short answer, though, for why I ship them (and why you should too) is that they’re Us. We can relate to them. In a fictional world populated by Michael, Dwight and several other similarly outlandish characters, Jim and Pam ground the show. They’re the heart and the empathy. They’re also the audience, reacting to all of the wacky antics on the show with wryly-raised eyebrows and sharp quips.
Characters
Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski)
”My job is to … speak to clients, um, on the phone, about, uh, quantities, and, uh, type of copier paper. You know, uh, whether we can supply it to them, whether they can…pay for it…and I’m boring myself just talking about this.”
Jim is a good guy. He’s other things, too: a prankster, an instigator, a smart ass, a romantic, a leader. But overwhelmingly and especially, the show tells us that Jim is a good guy. Is that a positive trait? Well, certainly it has women all over America fanning themselves at the mere mention of him. “Jim’s so nice. He loves Pam and he’d do anything for her! That’s so sweet!”
It is sweet, mostly. For instance, in the second season episode “Email Surveillance,” Jim throws a BBQ at his house and doesn’t invite Michael. Of course, as is inevitable, Michael shows up anyway, blundering in and making everyone uncomfortable. He even takes over the karaoke machine, trying to get someone to sing a duet with him. Instead of kicking him out or letting him humiliate himself, Jim saves Michael’s dignity by getting up and singing the song with him.
His pranks on Dwight are harmless fun, meant to annoy Dwight in retaliation for all of the grief Jim gets from him during the course of the day. Once, he made Dwight believe it was Friday instead of Thursday. Another time, he moved Dwight’s entire desk into the bathroom. He listens to Kelly Kapour, the office jabber mouth, yammer on endlessly about clothes, celebrities and her relationship with Ryan.
In some ways, though, it’s not positive. The only thing Jim looks forward to during the workday is hanging out with Pam. They gossip and tease each other and think up new and ever more insane pranks to play on Dwight.
He’s in love with Pam, but of course, there’s a problem: she’s engaged to be married. And despite the fact that Pam isn’t particularly happy with Roy, her fiancé, and despite the fact that Roy doesn’t understand or relate to her the way that Jim does, and despite the fact that Roy takes Pam for granted, for years Jim never makes a move. Why? Because he’s a good guy, and a good guy doesn’t steal another man’s girl.
Pam Beesley (played by Jenna Fischer)
Michael: “Pam has been with us for…well, forever, right, Pam?”
Pam: “Well, I don’t know.”
Michael: “If you think she’s cute now, you should have seen her a couple years ago. Rwar!”
Pam: “What?”
Pam is the receptionist at Dunder-Mifflin. When we meet her, she’s living a very staid, boring life with her long time fiancé, Roy. If the best description for Jim is “good,” then the best word to describe Pam is “safe.” She's afraid to take risks and doesn’t want to rock the boat.
We’re shown time and time again that Roy isn’t the best guy for her. Even she knows it, but she won’t break the engagement. It would be too hard, because they’d been together so long, and they have all these plans, and her life is supposed to go a certain way. She never plans to leave Scranton, and really doesn’t think she’ll be anything more than a receptionist, even though what she wants to do is work on her art.
She has a devious and clever mind, and she can match Jim prank for prank during the day. She always provides Jim with an avid audience for his pranks or impressions, and most of the time she’s a willing accomplice.
For all that, though, she is also a very kind person. Pam, more than the others, is oddly fond of Michael. She seems to view him as a kid brother most of the time. For instance, Pam admits that sometimes when Michael gets a call, she doesn’t transfer it to him right away. Instead, she lets him say his opening line once to her, because it’s usually horribly embarrassing. She patches the person through on the second time, and considers the first one a test run, since he usually does better on the second try. In season three, Michael’s boss orders Pam to document what Michael does every day. While Michael spends the day goofing off and being typically unproductive, Pam spends it subtly and not-so-subtly trying to get him to work so she has something good to write.
Canonical Proof
In every episode there is at least one Jim/Pam scene for the shippers to croon over, so to simply list all of the evidence would be pointless. Instead, I’m going to chart out the evolution of their relationship over the thirty-five or so episodes of canon, using specific quotes and scenes as proof.
What I really love about this relationship is that it has been written so realistically. There’s sweetness and sexual tension, but also sadness and stupid mistakes, but it never tips the scale too far on either side. It’s never so adorable that you want to puke, and it’s also never so angsty that you’d confuse it for an episode of The O.C.. The evolution of the relationship, from where it began in season one to where it’s arrived at in season three, has been an interesting and realistic progression.
I think that if you look closely, you’ll see that the dynamic between Jim and Pam has gone through four phases, which I’ve outlined below.
Phase One: Easy Flirtation
(Pilot 1.01 - Basketball 1.05)
The pilot sets up the relationship between Jim and Pam: best friends at the office, they like to play pranks on Dwight and tease each other. Jim is enamored of her, while Pam, on the other hand, flirts with Jim, but never seriously. She may enjoy hanging out with Jim during the day, but she always goes home with Roy, her fiancé, at night. Roy works in the Dunder-Mifflin warehouse. He’s not a bad guy, but he also doesn’t seem compatible with Pam. They’ve been engaged for three years, with no date set for the wedding.
Roy (David Denman)
Pilot
Jim: “If I left, what would I do with all of this useless information I have in my head? Tonnage price for manila folders? Pam’s favorite flavor of yogurt, which is mixed berries?”
When Pam’s told about the yogurt, she laughs and ducks her head, embarrassed and pleased. She seems to like it when Jim’s attention is on her, but won’t admit it out loud.
Pam: “I just-I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist. Um. I like to do illustrations. Mostly watercolor, a few oil pencil. Jim thinks they're good.”
Pam’s dream is to be an illustrator, and even though she’s stuck as a receptionist at Dunder-Mifflin, she defends this dream in her “talking head” (a scene where the character talks directly to the camera) by pointing out that Jim likes her work. This speaks to how much she values his opinion.
The Alliance
Jim: “That was beautiful. All her idea, too. Awesome. She’s so…great.”
This episode is the first time we see Jim touch Pam. They combine forces to play a long prank on Dwight, which ends with Dwight hilariously hiding inside a cardboard box. Jim then convinces Dwight to bleach his hair and infiltrate the Stamford branch of Dunder-Mifflin. While he’s bragging about this feat to Pam, he leans into her, takes her hand and drapes the other arm over her shoulder. Unfortunately, as they’re giggling together, Roy enters and gets very upset. He pushes Jim away from Pam and asks: ”What the hell is this? What, are you trying to cop a feel or something, Halpert?”
Jim backs down and denies any ulterior motive for touching Pam, but this rivalry rolls over into the next episode, “Basketball." Jim channels his jealousy and competitiveness for Pam into competitiveness to beat the warehouse guys in a pick-up basketball game. This ends up failing spectacularly, and leaves Jim feeling hurt and rejected when Pam picks Roy over him. It’s also the catalyst that leads into the second phase of their relationship.
Phase Two: Pam’s Denial
(1.06 Hot Girl - 2.10 Christmas Party)
In “Hot Girl,” Jim finally becomes sick of pining for Pam and asks out Katy, a girl selling purses in the office. He does this after Pam and Roy flirt with each other at Jim’s desk. Though he asks out Katy, it’s obvious he’s not doing it because he likes her (in fact, earlier he says that Katy isn’t his type), but because he realizes how pathetic it is to wait around for someone who is engaged to someone else.
Katy (Amy Adams)
Pam is jealous of Jim’s relationship with Katy, but won’t admit it. She does, however, get vindictive pleasure out of discovering that Katy’s favorite movie is Legally Blonde, a film Jim dislikes, proof that Katy and Jim won't last long. It's at this point that Pam starts to realize her feelings for Jim are less than platonic, and also when she realizes that other people around the office are noticing the flirty way they act together. Pam tries to push Jim away, only to find that Jim’s become a lot harder to ignore.
The Dundies
Pam, after having a fight with Roy, gets drunk at the annual Dunder-Mifflin award ceremony held at Chili’s. She actually kisses Jim on the mouth, leaving Jim shell-shocked, and the other employees intrigued.
Then later, as Jim’s helping her into the designated driver’s car, she says, “Hey…um…can I ask you a question?” When Jim, looking hopeful, tells her she can, Pam glances at him, glances at the camera and visibly loses her nerve. She drops whatever question she was going to ask, and instead tells him, “Um…I just wanted to say thanks.”
The Fight
The title of this episode refers to the hilarious fight that Michael and Dwight have at Dwight’s dojo, but it’s also the first time we see Jim and Pam fight. While at the dojo, Jim and Pam are flirting and playing around, but then Pam sees another employee, Meredith, watching them with disapproval. She self-consciously pulls away demanding:
Pam: “Put me down. Put me down! Oh my god, hey! Put me down!”
Jim starts to write her an email apologizing, but stops when he sees the cameras watching him.
The Client
In this episode, Jim learns about Pam’s worst date with Roy.
Jim: “We’re doing worst first dates.”
Pam: “Oh my god, I win! It was a minor league hockey game. He brought his brother. And when I went to the bathroom, the game ended and they forgot about me.”
Jim enjoys this information:
Jim: “I always knew Pam has refused to go to sports games with Roy, but I never knew why. Interesting…”
Jim and Pam also go on their first date, which is a stark contrast to Pam and Roy’s disastrous date. Michael is out of the office, so Jim makes them grilled cheese sandwiches and he and Pam eat together on the roof while watching Dwight and Kevin set off fireworks down on the street below. It’s all very romantic, and Pam even begs off going home with Roy to stay with Jim. Afterwards, though, instead of forgetting about it going back to the status quo of their relationship, the way they'd always done in the past, Jim refuses to ignore their flirtation.
Jim: “Some might even say we had our first date last night.”
Pam: “Oh, really?”
Jim: “Really.”
Pam: “Why might some say that?”
Jim: “Because there was dinner, by candlelight. Dinner and a show, if you include Michael’s movie. And there was dancing and fireworks. Pretty good date.”
Pam: “We didn’t dance.”
Jim: “You’re right, we didn’t dance. It was more like swaying…but still romantic.”
Pam: “Swaying isn’t dancing.”
Jim: “At least I didn’t…leave you at a high school hockey game.”
Jim tries to apologize when Pam gets angry, and he backs down. Still, that is one of the first times we see him pursuing Pam, and not letting her brush off the attraction between them. It’s the beginning of a more aggressive Jim that is, if you can believe it, even hotter than the passive Jim we’d seen up until then.
Email Surveillance
For the whole episode, Pam tries to find out if Dwight and Angela are in a relationship. Instead, she finds out that other people in the office think it’s her and Jim in the secret office romance. She lashes out, saying to the camera:
“Just because two people are hanging out, it doesn’t mean that they’re together, you know? Like, people could just be friends. And I think it was really unfair of us to assume anything else was going on.”
The attraction between her and Jim is becoming harder to deny, but Pam keeps trying, because she doesn’t want to shake up her life and deal with her feelings.
Christmas Party
Jim gets Pam’s name for the Secret Santa, and he gets her a very thoughtful, personal gift with a card that, presumably, admits his feelings for her. As he says in his talking head, “Because Christmas is the time to…tell people how you feel.” For one of them to finally admit that something is going on between them is a huge step in their relationship.
Of course, because it’s Dunder-Mifflin, Michael messes things up, and Dwight ends up with Pam’s gift, while Pam gets a $400 iPod. Instead of keeping the very expensive iPod, Pam trades it away to Dwight for her original gift. This, I think, shows Pam’s feelings for Jim. As hard as she tries to fight it, she likes him, and she doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. And in the end, his $20 teapot is worth more to her than the iPod.
Unfortunately, before she can see it, Jim sneaks the card out of the box and tucks it into his pocket. Again, he loses his nerve, but it’s obvious that the status of their relationship is something that is pressing on his mind, and this episode leads into phase three.
Phase Three: The Inevitable Confrontation
(2.11 Booze Cruise - 2.22 Casino Night)
The latter half of season two, as far as Jim and Pam are concerned, is all about ratcheting the tension higher and higher. The audience knows that a confrontation is inevitable. Those last episodes buzz with sexual tension and unspoken attraction between the two of them, and every episode brings them inexorably closer to the breaking point.
It starts in “Booze Cruise” when Roy, a little drunk and a little inspired, finally decides to set a date for the wedding. This crushes Jim and spurs him into action. He dumps Katy, only a poor replacement for Pam anyway, on the same night.
Pam stays busy planning her wedding and tiptoeing around Jim, trying not to bother him with her wedding plans. As she’s doing that, though, she begins to realize what being married to Roy means, and how she’ll just be settling if she goes through with it.
Booze Cruise
The first time Jim admits his feelings for Pam, it’s to Michael, after Pam and Roy set a date for their wedding. Even more surprising is that Michael gives him the advice that he's been needing to hear.
Michael: “Well, Pam is cute.”
Jim: “Yeah. She’s really funny, and she’s warm, and she’s just really...I don’t know.”
Michael: “Well, if you like her so much, you should…don’t give up.”
Jim: “She’s engaged.”
Michael: “BFD. Engaged ain’t married.”
Jim: “…Huh.”
Michael: “Never, ever, ever give up.”
The Secret
Of course, Michael ruins any camaraderie he might have had with Jim by telling the whole office about Jim’s feelings for Pam. Jim tries to save face by telling Pam that his crush on her ended a long time ago, but Michael even messes that up for him. And finally, finally the attraction between them is voiced in a way Pam can’t deny.
Pam: “No really, it’s okay. I know that Jim had, like, a crush on me when he first started, but that was a long time ago, so…”
Michael: “It wasn’t that long ago. It was on the booze cruise.”
Pam: “Jim…had a crush on me on the booze cruise, or he told you about it on the booze cruise?”
Michael: “Okay…shut it, Michael. I’m done. That’s it. I’m out.”
Boys and Girls
In this episode the audience again sees how much better off Pam would be with Jim instead of Roy. Jan Levinson, the area director of Dunder-Mifflin, talks to the women in the office and gives Pam a pamphlet about a graphic design program that the company offers. When Pam tells Jim about it, he’s thrilled and urges her to pursue it. When she tells Roy about it, he quashes the idea immediately. Jim knows just by looking at her that she's not taking the opportunity, and that makes him angry and disappointed with her, prompting this exchange:
Jim: “You gotta take a chance on something sometime, Pam. I mean, do you want to be a receptionist here always?”
Pam: “Oh, excuse me. I’m fine with my choices.”
Jim: “You are?”
Pam: [less certain] “Yeah.”
And then in her talking head Pam tries to dismiss having dreams as nothing more than wishful thinking:
Pam: “Dreams are just that; they’re dreams. They help get you through the day. Like the thing about the terrace. It’s nice, but, umm…I don’t know. It was just something that I read in a book when I was twelve. Uh, the girl in the book has a terrace outside of her bedroom and she planted flowers on it. I just loved that, it always stuck with me. It’s impractical. I’m not gonna try to get a house like that. They don’t even make houses like that in Scranton, so I’m never gonna…” [she covers her eyes with her hand and begins to cry]
She can’t imagine moving away from Scranton or trying to pursue a life more fulfilling than settling for Roy and working at Dunder-Mifflin. Jim and Pam's desire for change is becoming more urgent, only Pam’s afraid of what that change will entail. She’s afraid to take a chance on a better life with Jim.
Valentine’s Day
This episode is important in the evolution of the Jim/Pam relationship for what DOESN’T happen. It’s Valentine’s Day, and Pam starts out excited and cheerful, but ends up depressed because Roy doesn’t get her a gift. The audience is waiting, anticipating, what nice, sweet thing Jim has planned for Pam. And you can tell by the way that Pam keeps sneaking glances his way that she’s waiting for it too. But Jim does…nothing. He says good bye to her at the end of the day, and that’s it.
I think this is important because it’s a wake up call for Pam. Phyllis, another employee, receives three bouquets of flowers and a gigantic teddy bear from her fiancé. Since Pam is the receptionist, she has to sign for all of those gifts that aren’t hers, each one causing her mood to worsen.
This disappointment makes Pam realize that no, Jim won’t always be there to rescue her. It also shows that Jim’s not going to selflessly look out for Pam anymore.
Casino Night
“Casino Night” is the second season finale, and what a way to end it! Jim gets up the nerve to tell Pam how he feels. He lays it all on the line, and when that doesn’t work he kisses her. It’s one of those perfectly wrenching and heart-stopping moments that every shipper dreams of. And if we loved Jim before, when he was passive and pining, we love him even more now, when he stops hiding and goes after what he wants.
Jim: “I was just, um…I’m in love with you.”
Pam: “What?”
Jim: “I’m really sorry if that’s weird for you to hear, but I needed you to hear it. Probably not good timing, I know that, I just…”
Pam: “What are you doing? What do you expect me to say to that?”
Jim: “I just needed you to know. Once.”
Pam: “Well, I, um…I…I can’t.”
The last scene of the season is Pam in the empty office, talking to her mother on the phone about what happened. Jim approaches her, and she quickly hangs up. Before she can say anything, Jim leans down and kisses her. And more importantly, she kisses him back.
Phase Four: Pam Takes A Chance
(3.01 Gay Witch Hunt - )
After Jim’s admission and their sad, bittersweet kiss, Pam still won’t be with him. Instead of dealing with seeing her every day, Jim transfers to the Stamford branch to try and move on. He even starts seeing a new co-worker, Karen, who is real competition for Pam in a way that Katy wasn't. She’s friendly, funny, pretty and has the same sense of humor as Jim. And in a nice change of pace, she is the one chasing Jim instead of the other way around.
Karen (Rashida Jones)
Currently, the Stamford and Scranton branches have merged, so Karen, Jim and Pam are all working together.
Sometime over the summer break, Pam called off her engagement. Now, she’s single, taking art classes and has an apartment of her own. She’s finally gone out on a limb and done what she should have years ago.
Breaking off the engagement turned out to be a wake-up call for Roy, though, and he’s begun trying to win Pam back. Interestingly, this kinder Roy could prove more of a roadblock for Jim, and more of a conflict for Pam, than he ever was when they were together.
So it’s Pam, Jim, Karen and Roy all knocking elbows in the Scranton branch. Juicy watercooler gossip, angst, sexual tension and hilarity are sure to be in high supply over the rest of the season.
Compounding this quartet of awkwardness is the fact that Pam still hasn’t admitted her feelings for Jim. She never even told him about calling off the engagement. He had to hear it from someone else.
Jim did everything he could for their relationship, and now the ball is in Pam’s court. We’ve seen her take some promising baby steps in the third season: she text messaged Jim from a party, though he was away from his phone at the time; and when he came back to Scranton, she asked him out for coffee. She’s still playing it safe for now, but it’s going to be fun to see Pam finally take control of her life and go after what she wants.
Fandom Guide
Livejournal
theoffice_us
jam_stillness
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the_dundees
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scranton_times
tv_club
Show/Actor Web Sites
Jenna Fischer's MySpace - Includes her blog and lots of adorable behind the scenes pictures.
The Office - The Official NBC web site
Dunderball - A fansite with lots of quotes
Fan Fiction
/tag/the+office+us - My fanfic recommendations at polyfandomrecs
the speed of glaciers, maybe - Fic by annakovsky
Narrowstreets - Fic by kyrafic
into the heart... - Fic by sophia_helix
/tag/the+office:us - Kate Andrews' The Office tag
Author: Steph, iamtheenemy
Fandom: The Office: An American Workplace
Pairing: Jim Halpert/Pam Beesley
Spoilers: The series up to 3.09 "The Convict"
Notes: Thanks goes to chickpea for the beta and bbeeaannss for the read through. The lovely caps featured throughout were made by heather13, tonicangel and bellanut.
The Office is a laugh-out-loud funny, half-hour sitcom currently in the middle of its third season on NBC. It is a “mockumentary” centering around the lives of the people who work in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder-Mifflin, a fictional paper company. The purpose of the show, originally created for British television by comic virtuosos Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, is to highlight the absurdities and trivialities that occur while working at any normal, American office.
Aside from Jim, Pam and their separate love interests, you need to know two other people on the show to follow this essay:
Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), the self-centered, politically incorrect and socially awkward regional manager of Dunder-Mifflin. Michael always thinks he’s the funniest guy in the room, even when he’s the only one laughing. He wants everyone to like him, even when that means lying to his staff about potential lay-offs to avoid being the “bad guy.” He’s a combination of the worst boss you’ve ever had, and that pathetic guy you met at the bar last week who won’t stop calling your cell phone.
Dwight Schrute (played by Rainn Wilson), assistant regional manager and Michael’s number one (and only) fan. Dwight lives on a beet farm with his cousin, plays paint ball every week, studies karate at a fourth grade level, used to be a volunteer sheriff on the weekends and once tried to write a book about Michael Scott. He’s also over-confident, judgmental and a self-proclaimed “narc.” He’s the weasely guy at work whose death you’ve wistfully detailed with your co-workers during lunch and cigarettes breaks.
The Pairing
The rest of this essay will discuss Jim and Pam - the characters, the subtext and the evolution of their relationship over the past two and a half seasons. The short answer, though, for why I ship them (and why you should too) is that they’re Us. We can relate to them. In a fictional world populated by Michael, Dwight and several other similarly outlandish characters, Jim and Pam ground the show. They’re the heart and the empathy. They’re also the audience, reacting to all of the wacky antics on the show with wryly-raised eyebrows and sharp quips.
Characters
Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski)
”My job is to … speak to clients, um, on the phone, about, uh, quantities, and, uh, type of copier paper. You know, uh, whether we can supply it to them, whether they can…pay for it…and I’m boring myself just talking about this.”
Jim is a good guy. He’s other things, too: a prankster, an instigator, a smart ass, a romantic, a leader. But overwhelmingly and especially, the show tells us that Jim is a good guy. Is that a positive trait? Well, certainly it has women all over America fanning themselves at the mere mention of him. “Jim’s so nice. He loves Pam and he’d do anything for her! That’s so sweet!”
It is sweet, mostly. For instance, in the second season episode “Email Surveillance,” Jim throws a BBQ at his house and doesn’t invite Michael. Of course, as is inevitable, Michael shows up anyway, blundering in and making everyone uncomfortable. He even takes over the karaoke machine, trying to get someone to sing a duet with him. Instead of kicking him out or letting him humiliate himself, Jim saves Michael’s dignity by getting up and singing the song with him.
His pranks on Dwight are harmless fun, meant to annoy Dwight in retaliation for all of the grief Jim gets from him during the course of the day. Once, he made Dwight believe it was Friday instead of Thursday. Another time, he moved Dwight’s entire desk into the bathroom. He listens to Kelly Kapour, the office jabber mouth, yammer on endlessly about clothes, celebrities and her relationship with Ryan.
In some ways, though, it’s not positive. The only thing Jim looks forward to during the workday is hanging out with Pam. They gossip and tease each other and think up new and ever more insane pranks to play on Dwight.
He’s in love with Pam, but of course, there’s a problem: she’s engaged to be married. And despite the fact that Pam isn’t particularly happy with Roy, her fiancé, and despite the fact that Roy doesn’t understand or relate to her the way that Jim does, and despite the fact that Roy takes Pam for granted, for years Jim never makes a move. Why? Because he’s a good guy, and a good guy doesn’t steal another man’s girl.
Pam Beesley (played by Jenna Fischer)
Michael: “Pam has been with us for…well, forever, right, Pam?”
Pam: “Well, I don’t know.”
Michael: “If you think she’s cute now, you should have seen her a couple years ago. Rwar!”
Pam: “What?”
Pam is the receptionist at Dunder-Mifflin. When we meet her, she’s living a very staid, boring life with her long time fiancé, Roy. If the best description for Jim is “good,” then the best word to describe Pam is “safe.” She's afraid to take risks and doesn’t want to rock the boat.
We’re shown time and time again that Roy isn’t the best guy for her. Even she knows it, but she won’t break the engagement. It would be too hard, because they’d been together so long, and they have all these plans, and her life is supposed to go a certain way. She never plans to leave Scranton, and really doesn’t think she’ll be anything more than a receptionist, even though what she wants to do is work on her art.
She has a devious and clever mind, and she can match Jim prank for prank during the day. She always provides Jim with an avid audience for his pranks or impressions, and most of the time she’s a willing accomplice.
For all that, though, she is also a very kind person. Pam, more than the others, is oddly fond of Michael. She seems to view him as a kid brother most of the time. For instance, Pam admits that sometimes when Michael gets a call, she doesn’t transfer it to him right away. Instead, she lets him say his opening line once to her, because it’s usually horribly embarrassing. She patches the person through on the second time, and considers the first one a test run, since he usually does better on the second try. In season three, Michael’s boss orders Pam to document what Michael does every day. While Michael spends the day goofing off and being typically unproductive, Pam spends it subtly and not-so-subtly trying to get him to work so she has something good to write.
Canonical Proof
In every episode there is at least one Jim/Pam scene for the shippers to croon over, so to simply list all of the evidence would be pointless. Instead, I’m going to chart out the evolution of their relationship over the thirty-five or so episodes of canon, using specific quotes and scenes as proof.
What I really love about this relationship is that it has been written so realistically. There’s sweetness and sexual tension, but also sadness and stupid mistakes, but it never tips the scale too far on either side. It’s never so adorable that you want to puke, and it’s also never so angsty that you’d confuse it for an episode of The O.C.. The evolution of the relationship, from where it began in season one to where it’s arrived at in season three, has been an interesting and realistic progression.
I think that if you look closely, you’ll see that the dynamic between Jim and Pam has gone through four phases, which I’ve outlined below.
Phase One: Easy Flirtation
(Pilot 1.01 - Basketball 1.05)
The pilot sets up the relationship between Jim and Pam: best friends at the office, they like to play pranks on Dwight and tease each other. Jim is enamored of her, while Pam, on the other hand, flirts with Jim, but never seriously. She may enjoy hanging out with Jim during the day, but she always goes home with Roy, her fiancé, at night. Roy works in the Dunder-Mifflin warehouse. He’s not a bad guy, but he also doesn’t seem compatible with Pam. They’ve been engaged for three years, with no date set for the wedding.
Roy (David Denman)
Pilot
Jim: “If I left, what would I do with all of this useless information I have in my head? Tonnage price for manila folders? Pam’s favorite flavor of yogurt, which is mixed berries?”
When Pam’s told about the yogurt, she laughs and ducks her head, embarrassed and pleased. She seems to like it when Jim’s attention is on her, but won’t admit it out loud.
Pam: “I just-I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist. Um. I like to do illustrations. Mostly watercolor, a few oil pencil. Jim thinks they're good.”
Pam’s dream is to be an illustrator, and even though she’s stuck as a receptionist at Dunder-Mifflin, she defends this dream in her “talking head” (a scene where the character talks directly to the camera) by pointing out that Jim likes her work. This speaks to how much she values his opinion.
The Alliance
Jim: “That was beautiful. All her idea, too. Awesome. She’s so…great.”
This episode is the first time we see Jim touch Pam. They combine forces to play a long prank on Dwight, which ends with Dwight hilariously hiding inside a cardboard box. Jim then convinces Dwight to bleach his hair and infiltrate the Stamford branch of Dunder-Mifflin. While he’s bragging about this feat to Pam, he leans into her, takes her hand and drapes the other arm over her shoulder. Unfortunately, as they’re giggling together, Roy enters and gets very upset. He pushes Jim away from Pam and asks: ”What the hell is this? What, are you trying to cop a feel or something, Halpert?”
Jim backs down and denies any ulterior motive for touching Pam, but this rivalry rolls over into the next episode, “Basketball." Jim channels his jealousy and competitiveness for Pam into competitiveness to beat the warehouse guys in a pick-up basketball game. This ends up failing spectacularly, and leaves Jim feeling hurt and rejected when Pam picks Roy over him. It’s also the catalyst that leads into the second phase of their relationship.
Phase Two: Pam’s Denial
(1.06 Hot Girl - 2.10 Christmas Party)
In “Hot Girl,” Jim finally becomes sick of pining for Pam and asks out Katy, a girl selling purses in the office. He does this after Pam and Roy flirt with each other at Jim’s desk. Though he asks out Katy, it’s obvious he’s not doing it because he likes her (in fact, earlier he says that Katy isn’t his type), but because he realizes how pathetic it is to wait around for someone who is engaged to someone else.
Katy (Amy Adams)
Pam is jealous of Jim’s relationship with Katy, but won’t admit it. She does, however, get vindictive pleasure out of discovering that Katy’s favorite movie is Legally Blonde, a film Jim dislikes, proof that Katy and Jim won't last long. It's at this point that Pam starts to realize her feelings for Jim are less than platonic, and also when she realizes that other people around the office are noticing the flirty way they act together. Pam tries to push Jim away, only to find that Jim’s become a lot harder to ignore.
The Dundies
Pam, after having a fight with Roy, gets drunk at the annual Dunder-Mifflin award ceremony held at Chili’s. She actually kisses Jim on the mouth, leaving Jim shell-shocked, and the other employees intrigued.
Then later, as Jim’s helping her into the designated driver’s car, she says, “Hey…um…can I ask you a question?” When Jim, looking hopeful, tells her she can, Pam glances at him, glances at the camera and visibly loses her nerve. She drops whatever question she was going to ask, and instead tells him, “Um…I just wanted to say thanks.”
The Fight
The title of this episode refers to the hilarious fight that Michael and Dwight have at Dwight’s dojo, but it’s also the first time we see Jim and Pam fight. While at the dojo, Jim and Pam are flirting and playing around, but then Pam sees another employee, Meredith, watching them with disapproval. She self-consciously pulls away demanding:
Pam: “Put me down. Put me down! Oh my god, hey! Put me down!”
Jim starts to write her an email apologizing, but stops when he sees the cameras watching him.
The Client
In this episode, Jim learns about Pam’s worst date with Roy.
Jim: “We’re doing worst first dates.”
Pam: “Oh my god, I win! It was a minor league hockey game. He brought his brother. And when I went to the bathroom, the game ended and they forgot about me.”
Jim enjoys this information:
Jim: “I always knew Pam has refused to go to sports games with Roy, but I never knew why. Interesting…”
Jim and Pam also go on their first date, which is a stark contrast to Pam and Roy’s disastrous date. Michael is out of the office, so Jim makes them grilled cheese sandwiches and he and Pam eat together on the roof while watching Dwight and Kevin set off fireworks down on the street below. It’s all very romantic, and Pam even begs off going home with Roy to stay with Jim. Afterwards, though, instead of forgetting about it going back to the status quo of their relationship, the way they'd always done in the past, Jim refuses to ignore their flirtation.
Jim: “Some might even say we had our first date last night.”
Pam: “Oh, really?”
Jim: “Really.”
Pam: “Why might some say that?”
Jim: “Because there was dinner, by candlelight. Dinner and a show, if you include Michael’s movie. And there was dancing and fireworks. Pretty good date.”
Pam: “We didn’t dance.”
Jim: “You’re right, we didn’t dance. It was more like swaying…but still romantic.”
Pam: “Swaying isn’t dancing.”
Jim: “At least I didn’t…leave you at a high school hockey game.”
Jim tries to apologize when Pam gets angry, and he backs down. Still, that is one of the first times we see him pursuing Pam, and not letting her brush off the attraction between them. It’s the beginning of a more aggressive Jim that is, if you can believe it, even hotter than the passive Jim we’d seen up until then.
Email Surveillance
For the whole episode, Pam tries to find out if Dwight and Angela are in a relationship. Instead, she finds out that other people in the office think it’s her and Jim in the secret office romance. She lashes out, saying to the camera:
“Just because two people are hanging out, it doesn’t mean that they’re together, you know? Like, people could just be friends. And I think it was really unfair of us to assume anything else was going on.”
The attraction between her and Jim is becoming harder to deny, but Pam keeps trying, because she doesn’t want to shake up her life and deal with her feelings.
Christmas Party
Jim gets Pam’s name for the Secret Santa, and he gets her a very thoughtful, personal gift with a card that, presumably, admits his feelings for her. As he says in his talking head, “Because Christmas is the time to…tell people how you feel.” For one of them to finally admit that something is going on between them is a huge step in their relationship.
Of course, because it’s Dunder-Mifflin, Michael messes things up, and Dwight ends up with Pam’s gift, while Pam gets a $400 iPod. Instead of keeping the very expensive iPod, Pam trades it away to Dwight for her original gift. This, I think, shows Pam’s feelings for Jim. As hard as she tries to fight it, she likes him, and she doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. And in the end, his $20 teapot is worth more to her than the iPod.
Unfortunately, before she can see it, Jim sneaks the card out of the box and tucks it into his pocket. Again, he loses his nerve, but it’s obvious that the status of their relationship is something that is pressing on his mind, and this episode leads into phase three.
Phase Three: The Inevitable Confrontation
(2.11 Booze Cruise - 2.22 Casino Night)
The latter half of season two, as far as Jim and Pam are concerned, is all about ratcheting the tension higher and higher. The audience knows that a confrontation is inevitable. Those last episodes buzz with sexual tension and unspoken attraction between the two of them, and every episode brings them inexorably closer to the breaking point.
It starts in “Booze Cruise” when Roy, a little drunk and a little inspired, finally decides to set a date for the wedding. This crushes Jim and spurs him into action. He dumps Katy, only a poor replacement for Pam anyway, on the same night.
Pam stays busy planning her wedding and tiptoeing around Jim, trying not to bother him with her wedding plans. As she’s doing that, though, she begins to realize what being married to Roy means, and how she’ll just be settling if she goes through with it.
Booze Cruise
The first time Jim admits his feelings for Pam, it’s to Michael, after Pam and Roy set a date for their wedding. Even more surprising is that Michael gives him the advice that he's been needing to hear.
Michael: “Well, Pam is cute.”
Jim: “Yeah. She’s really funny, and she’s warm, and she’s just really...I don’t know.”
Michael: “Well, if you like her so much, you should…don’t give up.”
Jim: “She’s engaged.”
Michael: “BFD. Engaged ain’t married.”
Jim: “…Huh.”
Michael: “Never, ever, ever give up.”
The Secret
Of course, Michael ruins any camaraderie he might have had with Jim by telling the whole office about Jim’s feelings for Pam. Jim tries to save face by telling Pam that his crush on her ended a long time ago, but Michael even messes that up for him. And finally, finally the attraction between them is voiced in a way Pam can’t deny.
Pam: “No really, it’s okay. I know that Jim had, like, a crush on me when he first started, but that was a long time ago, so…”
Michael: “It wasn’t that long ago. It was on the booze cruise.”
Pam: “Jim…had a crush on me on the booze cruise, or he told you about it on the booze cruise?”
Michael: “Okay…shut it, Michael. I’m done. That’s it. I’m out.”
Boys and Girls
In this episode the audience again sees how much better off Pam would be with Jim instead of Roy. Jan Levinson, the area director of Dunder-Mifflin, talks to the women in the office and gives Pam a pamphlet about a graphic design program that the company offers. When Pam tells Jim about it, he’s thrilled and urges her to pursue it. When she tells Roy about it, he quashes the idea immediately. Jim knows just by looking at her that she's not taking the opportunity, and that makes him angry and disappointed with her, prompting this exchange:
Jim: “You gotta take a chance on something sometime, Pam. I mean, do you want to be a receptionist here always?”
Pam: “Oh, excuse me. I’m fine with my choices.”
Jim: “You are?”
Pam: [less certain] “Yeah.”
And then in her talking head Pam tries to dismiss having dreams as nothing more than wishful thinking:
Pam: “Dreams are just that; they’re dreams. They help get you through the day. Like the thing about the terrace. It’s nice, but, umm…I don’t know. It was just something that I read in a book when I was twelve. Uh, the girl in the book has a terrace outside of her bedroom and she planted flowers on it. I just loved that, it always stuck with me. It’s impractical. I’m not gonna try to get a house like that. They don’t even make houses like that in Scranton, so I’m never gonna…” [she covers her eyes with her hand and begins to cry]
She can’t imagine moving away from Scranton or trying to pursue a life more fulfilling than settling for Roy and working at Dunder-Mifflin. Jim and Pam's desire for change is becoming more urgent, only Pam’s afraid of what that change will entail. She’s afraid to take a chance on a better life with Jim.
Valentine’s Day
This episode is important in the evolution of the Jim/Pam relationship for what DOESN’T happen. It’s Valentine’s Day, and Pam starts out excited and cheerful, but ends up depressed because Roy doesn’t get her a gift. The audience is waiting, anticipating, what nice, sweet thing Jim has planned for Pam. And you can tell by the way that Pam keeps sneaking glances his way that she’s waiting for it too. But Jim does…nothing. He says good bye to her at the end of the day, and that’s it.
I think this is important because it’s a wake up call for Pam. Phyllis, another employee, receives three bouquets of flowers and a gigantic teddy bear from her fiancé. Since Pam is the receptionist, she has to sign for all of those gifts that aren’t hers, each one causing her mood to worsen.
This disappointment makes Pam realize that no, Jim won’t always be there to rescue her. It also shows that Jim’s not going to selflessly look out for Pam anymore.
Casino Night
“Casino Night” is the second season finale, and what a way to end it! Jim gets up the nerve to tell Pam how he feels. He lays it all on the line, and when that doesn’t work he kisses her. It’s one of those perfectly wrenching and heart-stopping moments that every shipper dreams of. And if we loved Jim before, when he was passive and pining, we love him even more now, when he stops hiding and goes after what he wants.
Jim: “I was just, um…I’m in love with you.”
Pam: “What?”
Jim: “I’m really sorry if that’s weird for you to hear, but I needed you to hear it. Probably not good timing, I know that, I just…”
Pam: “What are you doing? What do you expect me to say to that?”
Jim: “I just needed you to know. Once.”
Pam: “Well, I, um…I…I can’t.”
The last scene of the season is Pam in the empty office, talking to her mother on the phone about what happened. Jim approaches her, and she quickly hangs up. Before she can say anything, Jim leans down and kisses her. And more importantly, she kisses him back.
Phase Four: Pam Takes A Chance
(3.01 Gay Witch Hunt - )
After Jim’s admission and their sad, bittersweet kiss, Pam still won’t be with him. Instead of dealing with seeing her every day, Jim transfers to the Stamford branch to try and move on. He even starts seeing a new co-worker, Karen, who is real competition for Pam in a way that Katy wasn't. She’s friendly, funny, pretty and has the same sense of humor as Jim. And in a nice change of pace, she is the one chasing Jim instead of the other way around.
Karen (Rashida Jones)
Currently, the Stamford and Scranton branches have merged, so Karen, Jim and Pam are all working together.
Sometime over the summer break, Pam called off her engagement. Now, she’s single, taking art classes and has an apartment of her own. She’s finally gone out on a limb and done what she should have years ago.
Breaking off the engagement turned out to be a wake-up call for Roy, though, and he’s begun trying to win Pam back. Interestingly, this kinder Roy could prove more of a roadblock for Jim, and more of a conflict for Pam, than he ever was when they were together.
So it’s Pam, Jim, Karen and Roy all knocking elbows in the Scranton branch. Juicy watercooler gossip, angst, sexual tension and hilarity are sure to be in high supply over the rest of the season.
Compounding this quartet of awkwardness is the fact that Pam still hasn’t admitted her feelings for Jim. She never even told him about calling off the engagement. He had to hear it from someone else.
Jim did everything he could for their relationship, and now the ball is in Pam’s court. We’ve seen her take some promising baby steps in the third season: she text messaged Jim from a party, though he was away from his phone at the time; and when he came back to Scranton, she asked him out for coffee. She’s still playing it safe for now, but it’s going to be fun to see Pam finally take control of her life and go after what she wants.
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Fan Fiction
/tag/the+office+us - My fanfic recommendations at polyfandomrecs
the speed of glaciers, maybe - Fic by annakovsky
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into the heart... - Fic by sophia_helix
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