Current Events > Watching season 9 of the office, lots of issues tbh spoilers

(+) Yeah! (+)

Watching their first real fight when the mic dude talks to pam and I've never analyzed it all before really. Like obviously it's bad surface level but there are lots of problems writing wise

Basically the argument between Jim and Pam boils down to both of them being unhappy, but for the whole show only really ever shows Pam being unhappy. She's the one who goes out of state for college, she's the one who breaks down crying in an earlier season when they discuss their perfect futures and she says that she can't have it in Scranton, she leaves to be a salesman because she hates her receptionist job

Jim only ever wanted more money before season 9. Before that he only wanted oam. The closest we get to seeing his discontent is when he makes a second life where he's a sportswriter in Philly, but the narrative undercuts it because he also learns guitar which he never shows interest in again

Basically the conceit of the last season is that there's a whole lot of stuff the documentary misses in the first 8 seasons and that explains how we get the conflict in the 9th season but it doesn't work. E.g., Jim is really stressed the previous season just worrying about having kids and then the next season he tries to say he's adding stress to their lives for all of them because... Working within arms distance of your wife at a job you don't even have to try at is awful?

Again I get they're trying to show how even seemingly ideal situations can mask deep pain but Pam should have been the one to go strike out on her own and Jim should have had a more serious affair type scenario than Katy trying to bang him in Florida for no reason

---

Tag
---

Ultra boring show

Season 9 didnt seem so bad when I first watched it; Id already set my expectations to the bare minimum, and anything following S8 would seem good in comparison. The Brian the Mic Guy arc was probably the shows all-time worst plot arc though. Also The Farm is the worst episode.
---

To be fair, I think you're missing a lot of moments where Jim expresses his disappointment. There are at least a handful of occasions spread out across multiple Seasons where he has this realization that he might be stuck at that job for life and you can see his expression fall flat. There was the time the intern was like a young Jim, the time that his old high school friend kept taunting him for basically being a failure, and a bunch of times during the Michael Scott manager co-manager stuff.
---

s0nicfan posted...

To be fair, I think you're missing a lot of moments where Jim expresses his disappointment. There are at least a handful of occasions spread out across multiple Seasons where he has this realization that he might be stuck at that job for life and you can see his expression fall flat. There was the time the intern was like a young Jim, the time that his old high school friend kept taunting him for basically being a failure, and a bunch of times during the Michael Scott manager co-manager stuff.

Oh he definitely always hates his job, don't get me wrong

I'm just saying they portray him as way differently oriented before the last season. Like when he plays golf and keeps trying to get that dude to buy paper from him for example. You never see Pam do anything like that in her receptionist job -- except arguably when she figured out the copier and quits immediately

I don't even like Pam but she has a passion that Jim doesn't until it's narratively convenient. Like Kevin is generally shown as a bigger sports fan than Jim due to his gambling addiction

---

Like I actually think Pam is a trifle and selfish character but her thing with the boom mic guy makes no sense and Jim's Philly thing makes no sense. They both make more sense if its swapped

---