I want to smash my computer screen. I soldiered through the writers’ strike with saintly patience…for this?
I’m not one of those TV (or “download” to be more precise) junkies who follow five TV series at the same time and foamed at the mouth for months, waiting for the strike to end. I follow only one TV series religiously, and that’s The Office.
I have to admit, riding on one series to make my bumming time meaningful is a pretty inefficient practice. I should probably devote some time trying to care about McDreamy or the Pie Maker or Ugly Better or whoever the hell else is out there, but it takes so much effort to watch stuff that are outwardly escapist. When I get home from work, I only have enough energy left to watch “nothing” happen.
The Office exists primarily under the conceit that it’s “real”; that a documentary crew is actually filming these office workers, and that their boss is really making a complete ass of himself, albeit unintentionally, trying to impress the audience. The original British version was more successful in carrying this charade, to the extent that the “nothing” that happened from episode to episode actually elevated the show to existential levels. The current U.S. version is a little more exaggerated and cartoon-y. However, they have retained some of the “nothingness” on certain plot points and episodes (this is especially true with the stellar 2nd season).
Nothing demonstrates this better than the Jim and Pam storyline.
Based from the British version’s Tim and Dawn, Jim and Pam are the American torchbearers of the doomed office romance. Jim, the wise-cracking, bored salesman realizes he has perfect chemistry with the equally wise-cracking but sullen receptionist Pam. Problem is, Pam is engaged with the oafish warehouse worker Roy.
From season 1 through 2, we saw Jim fight through the pain of his unrequited love while working in the most humdrum of places. The tension culminates in the now legendary season ender where Jim tells Pam his feelings, gets rejected, then proceeds to kiss her before the closing credits.
In season 3, the agony deepens when Jim transfers to another branch, does not talk to Pam until the 5th episode, and then comes back to the branch with a new girlfriend. This time, it’s Pam’s turn to suffer. After breaking off her engagement with Roy, she now has to watch the man she secretly loves share wise-cracks with another woman.
People familiar with the U.K. series knew it was only about time before Jim and Pam ended up with each other. But where the British series brought Tim and Dawn together in a poignant reunion scene, the U.S. version was only able to bring their secret lovers together in an anticlimactic “are you free for dinner tonight?” denouement.
So now, it’s season 4 and office fans all over the world have just witnessed the most boring episodes ever produced by this franchise. Non-fans may argue that The Office has always been boring since, indeed, “nothing” happens. But that’s not the point. The “nothing” that happened in the past seasons wasn’t boring because it was organic. In the current season, it seems like the writers are trying to make stuff happen.
But that’s not my main complaint. My real caveat (which I’m sure I share with 90% of Office fans) is that Jim and Pam are now together. They’re a couple. They hold hands and stuff. In other words, they’ve taken the piss out of the whole thing.
On the surface, it’s easy to blame the boredom on this. The lazy thing to say is that happiness is boring, and therefore, reflexively, pain is more interesting, more artful, more intelligent. It seems to be that way, doesn’t it? Isn’t that why movies like “In the Mood for Love”, “Before Sunrise”, and “Remains of the Day” are so fucking amazing? Isn’t that why happy endings are associated to dumb, uncomplicated, and artless stories?
Well, thanks to recent developments in the boring plot that is my life, I won’t fall into that trap. Jim and Pam’s loving relationship in season 4 isn’t any more boring than Jim and Pam’s unrequited love in season 2 was sophisticated. These are all illusions harbored by the heartbroken.
The reason why season 2 of the office was so riveting was that it was real. Jim not ending up with Pam, despite the fact that they’re perfect for each other, was real. It’s what happens in real life. You don’t end up with someone you’re absolutely perfect with. Sometimes, you don’t end up with anyone at all. And season 2 validated this truth, thereby making it the single most comforting season of any show in the history of television.
This is the exact same reason why season 4 seems boring. But the fact is we don’t want Jim and Pam to be happy. They seemed more interesting when they were miserable because they were like us. There’s no emotion in this world that can quite match the power of envy. When we see a couple on TV that was so fucked up just a season ago, then are suddenly so happy, we cry “no fair!”
I’d rather watch season 2 any time of day. I want to see the sheer hopelessness on Jim’s face as he goes to work he knows can never fulfill his dreams and sees the girl he knows he’ll never have. I want reassurance that that feeling exists in other people too. I want reassurance that I’m not the only pathetic character in this world. I want the comfort in watching a show where the writers have confirmed to me that other people’s lives are indeed heartbreaking too, that my life isn’t an exception but the rule.
My favorite Office episode of all time is “Conflict Resolution”; not because it was the funniest, but because it was the most depressing. It featured the single most genius moment in the U.S. version – Jim, recounting all the pranks he pulled on Dwight, gradually goes from giddy to sad. He doesn’t say it, but you can see it in his face: “What the fuck am I doing here?” Scenes later, he admits to Pam that he was the one who made the anonymous complaint over her wedding planning during office time. His face is weighed down by regret, and perhaps more tellingly, by the revelation of his own despair. He realizes he has been exposed as the bitter motherfucker that he is and he just wants to crawl into his shell.
I am almost tempted to say that these are dense, intelligent stuff for a comedy series, but there’s nothing really smart about that episode. It was just plain real. And that’s why I love it.
That's the thing about pain. It isn't more interesting than happiness. It’s just more real.
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