1 [Report This]Date: February 07, 2021 06:34 am Title: Hold her, tell her everything's gonna be fine
You touched on some interesting ways in which starting their relationship not too long after Casino Night would've changed things. Pam still has a *ton* to figure out about what she wants from the rest of her life aside from Jim at this moment, and she's still wrestling with the monumental decision she's made to leave Roy. I love this gentle moment of Jim helping her work her way through it. It's nice to think of her having someone there for that breakdown. (And thank you for trolling Ryan here.) I'm looking forward to seeing you explore that more.
The recurring bit of Michael respecting all cultures and walks of life was funny.
I thought you did a good job recontextualizing Jim's actions in this episode - why he's so willing to drink, for instance - and building out the struggles of their long distance relationship. I like that they're trying to work through it together. Her showing up at his door at the end is a really fun new take on the standard Diwali fix-it fic.
Jonathan! He's an old fave. (Girl7 is, as far as I can tell, his inventor, and her stories are well worth checking out if you haven't gotten to them yet.)
Author's Response:
Many thanks! Yeah, that breakdown would've happened anyway, but having Jim there really does bring her peace. It's moments like that I'm exploring here, because Casino Night still would've been "The Night That Changed Everything" even if they'd gotten together, and I wanted to explore how.
Don't get me wrong, despite my feelings on the episode, there were some bits I just loved writing, and Michael respecting all cultures was just too good to not reuse.
Since this is just under a week before Stamford's closing (there's a timeline I'm making for this), I wanted to crescendo the long-distance thing with this chapter; they're getting impatient, antsy, and desperate, and when the next Tuesday rolls around, they'll really start to panic. But it won't last for long.
I'll check some of Girl7's stuff out, since there is *a lot* of this site I have yet to cover. Thanks for the recs, and the review, as always!
Date: February 06, 2021 07:11 pm Title: Hold her, tell her everything's gonna be fine
Loved the trip to Philly. Reminded me of a time back when my wife and I were first dating that we took a train to Chicago for the weekend. Really like that Jim is just there for Pam when she realizes the date. He doesn't push her into anything she's not ready for, he also doesn't try to disregard her feelings. He has his own feelings but his puts them on the shelf for now in order to look after her. Good job Jim.
The episode portions ring true to canon for the most part. It is an awkward episode in the best Office tradition. However it's sweeter this time around knowing Jim and Pam are together.
His drunk voicemail was interesting. Seems there's still some things they all need to work out, but they're on the path to work them out, so that's good.
Thanks for the shoutout there at the end. Glad I could inspire you.
Author's Response:
Aw! Glad I could take you back down memory lane. And, again, the inspiration is much appreciated.
I wanted Jim to be extra careful this time around. He finally has her and because of all the mistakes he's made, he's like "I'm not about to screw this up." But I also wanted to acknowledge that, yeah, this is a *very* awkward situation for him.
I'm a sentimental person, so episodes that are especially funny or uplifting I love, but I can gel with the especially awkward ones ("Dinner Party"). This one didn't do it for me, but it was mostly Diwali and the Quarterly Report Drinking Game; everything prior to that - plus the Sandler tribute - was hilarious.
Yeah, I mentioned the whole 'Stamford Jim' thing last chapter, and this is the peak of it. Again, there was no "why" in him drinking, it was just "Cool, let's get drunk during an important task at work". I'm not sure how well my framing device works but at least it's something.
Thanks for the review, as always!