So I'm re-watching the series and just now realized now much I dislike Pam in the early seasons. She clearly leads on Jim and when he expresses any level of feelings for her she gets all offended and oblivious when she spends half of her time flirting with him. Plus she totally shrinks around him when Roy comes around as if they don't spend all day talking and what not. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me??
shareHow dare you!!! Go to hell!!!!!!!!!!
shareI bet Roy smacked her around. She looked like she belonged in a battered womens shelter the first few seasons. LMAO. I mean i know she's probably kinky in the bedroom but hell! I also sensed a bit of autism on her part (maybe it was just Michael's autism rubbing off on her) but she was a bit off. I think she's just a simple person who doesn't know what she wants that early on. From season 4 on she was more natural and easy to watch.
shareFck off.
I'm the opposite - I disliked Pam post-Jim+Pam. I enjoyed watching her mousy character and the unrequited love/yearning/flirting between her and Jim. Her mousy character was a more memorable character due to her mousiness (what's another word for mousy??). Post-Jim+Pam Pam was boring to me, ironically. Her pre-Jim self was much more edgy and more dimensional.
I can see how her up and down behavior towards Jim was irritating as a viewer. But that was the whole point - Pam struggled between her familiar, miserable, unfulfilling life w/Roy and possible happiness with Jim. I never saw her a leading Jim on; more like that was the natural chemistry between the two. She was a different person with Jim. When Roy was around, she was the "old" Pam.
LOL I just re-read what I wrote and I swear its not that deep, but I hope you know what I mean!
Shy, timid.
Yes I dislike her post marriage ! She is practically insufferable . High and mighty , shrill , bossy.
I agree with the OP, she seems like a battered woman with Roy , or at least, I think she would likely have been had she married him.
Not me. I LOVED pre-Jim Pam. She's in denial about her feeling for a loving, respectful, attractive, compatible friend. She's stuck in a rut of a relationship with her high school boyfriend who couldn't give a flying *beep* about her.
She didn't lead Jim on. She was just in denial. Too scared and underconfident to do anything. Her character was so real and multidimensional. I loved it!
I don't think she was in denial at all. Her feelings for Jim were obvious at times. Remember her phone call to her mother at the end of Casino Night.
Yeah, I do. By 'in denial' I meant she knew there was something between them but had given up to her fate in a 'Right person, wrong time. Cant do anything' kind of way.
I'm sorry, may be I didn't use the right words..
I'm the opposite. I don't care for Pam and Jim once they've gotten together.
shareI totally agree. I just think they're both kinda A-Holes in general. Jim flirted with an engaged woman non stop and Pam didn't shut it down. Look at how wrecked Roy was once he lost her.
shareRoy did wreck a bar when he found out Pam had kissed Jim. Then tried to pepper spray Jim later. Bless his little cotton socks.
True. I just hate the way they painted Roy to be kinda a villain so we would root for Jim+Pam. Like it's ok that she's engaged and they flirt constantly cuz Roy is a jerk. She should've left him if that was the case but she was a weak person.
shareI don't think they made Roy out to be a villain, he never really came across that way. Jim and Pam didn't flirt because Roy was a jerk. Pam did leave Roy, she even cancelled the engagement. True she was timid to begin with, as that was how her character was written, but that did change.
Are people forgetting the fact that if it wasn't for all of that he wouldn't have found the actual he wanted, and get married seasons later.
shareIt's not easy to just leave someone that you've known and cared for as long as Pam with Roy. He was her High School boyfriend after all. and Roy did care for her but at the same time he clearly just wasn't ready to commit to her even though they got engaged which is why that status stayed the same for as long as it did and eventually became a running joke around the office.
At the time Pam probably thought that he might be her only realistic option considering all of that history she had with him, plus the fact that she'd be seeing him everyday at work anyway so the thought of being with Jim probably seemed like just a fantasy for her so she just settled for just being friends rather than nothing at all with him while also trying to hold on to that receptionist job.
There was a lot of uncertainty in her that she kept bottled up that helped her become a better person in her own opinion once it all went away and I loved every second of it. It wasn't always perfect but hey, that's real life which is what the show was partly trying to portray along with the goofy comedy bits.
Nobody gives two sh!ts about Roy. His character was written as a typical jerk and his entire existence was to pave the way for Jim and Pam's story. I could careless if Jim and Pam flirted or kissed behind his back, that dude didn't deserve anything the way he was in the first two seasons. I guess he reformed himself later on but what happened to him in the beginning, he was not an innocent victim.
I don't know about reformed himself, he did end up as a Billy Joel fan. I would call that a step backwards.
I really like that the show atleast gave the two some decent closure when they had the two talk things out after he went to pick up his last check. Seeing them hug then go their final separate ways. Great scene.
Clearly the both of them mutually needed to go through that experience in order to get to the happy endings that they got to later on.
She wasn't the most entertaining character then, but I thought her storyline was really interesting and relatable. She was torn between something that she was comfortable with and used to (Roy) and something that was potentially new exciting. I always thought the Jim/Pam/Roy triangle was really well-written because you could really understand why Pam was so torn.
As for leading Jim on, I don't think it was intentional. She was clearly very attracted to him, so it was natural that sometimes her behavior toward him would be flirtatious. I don't think she was trying to hurt him, quite the opposite really. She wasn't acting offended when he confessed feelings, she just panicked because for once she actually needed to make the decision (Jim vs. Roy) that she had been wrestling with for years.
I think another interesting aspect is the introduction of the camera crew. In S1 and S2 they both seem to be on the edge of saying something to one another but then notice the camera.
Without the camera crew Pam and Jim could've happened sooner but I'll agree with others in saying that Pam was used to Roy and had been with him for like 9 years. Even if he is so neglectful and a boob when we see them, we do see them happy after their vacation and other smaller moments. They were high school sweet hearts and it would be hard to throw that relationship away.
I don't think Pam hadn't really been happy with Roy for a while, exacerbated when Jim joined the firm. She would have done something about it sooner, but was too meek to do anything. It was only when Jim left, she thought enough was enough, and cancelled the engagement and left Roy.