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I think Jim fantasising about Pam is entirely reasonable - I can understand your caution, but I think he's allowed to be sexually attracted to her - even though it was inappropriate at the time - and I don't think I would call it as objectification unless he doesn't also see her as a person whom he respects - and we know that's not the case. I thought it was realistic, and not in bad taste. Todd Packer fantasising about Pam is different from Jim doing it.
You wouldn't write some of those exchanges for TV now, but at the time - and even more so when the British Office was released - a lot of those comments or incidents wouldn't have been questioned, however people might have felt about them privately.
I sometimes felt, watching the show, that Jim could and should have stood up for Pam more. Perhaps they felt that the character would have been uneasy about being too pro-Pam, and giving himself away?
Anyway, I'm really enjoying this!

Author's Response: I appreciate your comments on the fantasy - I've been done with this for weeks and am still going back and forth on whether or not that should've been included. As I mentioned, *very* striking to me watching some of this from the perspective of 2020 - and that's even thinking about it knowing that we're meant to understand this is all inappropriate. It's just odd seeing it coming out of the mouths of characters we're supposed to like anyways, and seeing people not react. Definitely not unrealistic for the time, though. It's funny, actually - I had similar thoughts about Jim, and reached a similar conclusion in writing this, as a result of which his schemes to stand up for her tend to be pretty subtle. Pam's lack of awareness about her own feelings in some ways frees her up to defend Jim, which means when this is finally done (it's been, um, delayed due to certain events) she's mostly going to have gone a lot farther than Jim did in standing up for him. It's a theme I keep coming back to in writing fic, how Pam's lack of sense of what she was feeling actually allowed her to be more expressive and enjoy their dynamic more.

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I like this chapter a lot. I agree with you that this piece isn't that simple as it might seem. Your interpretation makes a lot of sense, though the timing of Jim's daydreaming is terrible (to be honest, I feel like I simply don't know the way guys' brains function, and if (random) fantasy could appear even in a wrong moment, my remark is irrelevant; I'm sorry if this my comment is confusing a little, hope you understand what I meant).
I remembered that I cringed a lot watching earlier seasons, and sometimes I feel like there is no particular connection between episodes (like, in one episode, characters could have a huge fight, and in another — act as if nothing happened at all). And I feel like the show that started as painfully realistic and awkward turned into something milder and more comfortable to look at (though a little less realistic). I explained to myself the change in Pam-Michael's dynamic that way.
The other explanation is that Pam is a saint, and she, luckily, not.
And I like that Jim isn't perfect either.
Thank you for your thought-provoking chapter, and looking forward to the next one!

Author's Response: No, I get what you're saying - speaking as a guy, I do feel like the idea that Michael talking about Pam performing a sexual act would put certain images in Jim's head is, unpleasantly, realistic. It's a reflex, not something to be proud of, but something that happens. I definitely agree that the show got deliberately more comfortable as time went on, and that showed up in some of the relationships that would have been tested by the more realistic and awkward version. It is always a fun challenge to try to explain those challenges and the lack of connection between episodes in fanfiction though! I'm glad you liked this one... the next one is, um, in progress. ::sweats::

So an interesting chapter to be sure. I agree that Michael crossed many lines during his course on the show. In today's actual real world he would have been fired for so many different things. However in the fantasy of TV he can get away with it. It's not always right but there you go.

Early season Pam let Michael get away with it too. However as the show progressed it's my impression she was less tolerant of such behavior. Part of the growth of her character.

Not bad with Jim. You're right, he's not perfect. Also in this phase of their relationship I'm sure he's got many a fantasy about her. Part of the pining after the girl who's not mine. I'd like to think that as Jim grows as a character he'd realize that reality with Pam is better than any fantasy he might have had.

Author's Response: That's always an interesting question about fic, isn't it? How much you want to try to address the conflicts between the rules of this fictional universe and our world? Opens up a lot of potential. (Someone from a listicle website should definitely do a rewatch of the series and mark every time a character does something that would have gotten them fired in the real world.) I do think Pam stands up to him more as time goes on (and I think their relationship is also not that close at this point in the season), but it is hard to avoid the idea that this is a lot about deliberate choices in the writers' room - they're still in the process of transitioning away from American David Brent to Steve Carell's more personally appealing version of a boss here. I'm glad this version of Jim worked for you - and I agree that down the road he's going to eyeroll at this stage of himself.

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Dwight really does always win big against Jim the few times that he does. I was a bit appalled about the client stealing. This is another great chapter (please please write more of these!) - I think Jim's aside about how he should lose a big client every week might be my favourite line. I also loved Jim initially being too embarrassed to tell she was angry, and the fact that Pam knows straight away who Deckerd are and how much they love Jim, and the little flashes of his concern when Dwight goes for her, and that she could get fired.

Author's Response: It's just such a low Dwight moment - especially because it's him screwing up Jim when he's actually *trying* to work for a change. The aside about him feeling like he should lose a big client every week is what I started with and built everything else around, so I'm glad you keyed in on that. And I definitely appreciate you noticing the little show-not-tell touches about where they are in their relationship at this point. There are definitely more of these coming - this should be seven parts overall, although the next one is pretty short. Hope you continue to enjoy!

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I love it. From the first line to the last, it's fantastic!
I really, really, really like the way Pam got her revenge. What could be more pleasing than a cheater getting the taste of his own medicine? Lovely!
And though the whole story was more about friendship and mutual help, I enjoyed these little romantic snippets. 'But he’s done way stupider things than splurge on a Big Mac to make Pam happy,' — this one is one big pure 'awww!'
Thank you so much for this wonderful chapter!

Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, this is one of Dwight's worst moments, and it always irritated me that they never came back to it - I do think that a Pam sublimating her feelings for Jim would have gone all in to get revenge. That is part of the fun of this story for me - developing the friendship that's at the bedrock of their romance and offering little hints of how it's becoming more. (The next few chapters are still very much in the in-progress stage, but I'd like to say the evolution will show up a little more strongly as we go along.) Thank you for reading and reviewing it!

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This was delightful. I love that Pam is instantly on Jim's side. Yeah, Dwight was simply being petty in poaching that client. He did it specifically to screw with Jim but not in the funny prankser way Jim screws with Dwight.

Pam is lovely with everything here. She's already more than equal to Jim in her schemeing. Even moreso since she knows she has the paper trail to have things go her way. Jim being gobsmacked by it all was a great touch.

Love this look into their dynamic.

Author's Response: Very dislikable Dwight moment in this episode - especially because his motive is basically that Jim is trying to work and is upset with Dwight for disturbing him, which is not at all something Dwight should be getting upset about. Oh, Pam's got some game in her own right that she's just not prepared to acknowledge, and of course Jim adores it. Glad you liked it!

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I like it a lot! I can't pinpoint the exact moments I enjoyed the most; the whole story feels like the one absolutely seamless moment from the original show (I don't know how you do that, but please, continue!). But the moments when Jim fell in that pit of 'get over Pam,' was dragged back with a ping of IM, and thrown back with a mention of Roy... that was hurtful.
And I like that Jim wasn't so perfect and flawless here, I like that you showed that he could be cruel (the reason for it was quite noble, and yet...)
Thank you! Looking forward to the next chapters!

Author's Response: Yeah, Jim's kind of on a roller coaster ride in this one - I think an upset Pam puts him in some bad places, and Season 1 is kind of a hopeless moment for him. And he's definitely taking out his inability to push back against Roy on Michael here - although honestly, Michael's pretty awful in this episode.

First off, I love that you are digging into the different reactions to the new film crew. It's great insight to how they were on day one compared to how normal it becomes for them as time goes on.

It's a nice tie back how he talks about this boring job in episode one and how at the end everything he owes to the same job (you know the line I don't have to repeat it for you)

Very astute line "like they’re saving the rainforest instead of killing it"
and a fun one
He had needed to let off some steam right away, and his supplies were already on-hand. Since he couldn’t stick Michael’s beloved World’s Best Boss mug where he’d have liked to stick it, into the Jello it went.

I like the new twist on how it really began with Jan. Clever. The long con, huh? That he doing it for Pam's honor makes it even better.

Looking forward to more.

Author's Response: Yeah, as we've talked about before - there's a lot to be said about the way the documentary crew impacts what's going on onscreen. I felt like that was particularly important for this episode, where Jim and Pam seem noticeably more distant from each other than they'll be even in Diversity Day and Health Care, and other than the presence of the cameras it's hard for me to identify a reason why. Really, imagine Jim and Pam in an office where they actually had to WORK most of the time. Who knows what their story would've looked like? I'm glad you flagged those lines - I feel like Jim would have been very lost as to what exactly the documentary crew was doing there at that point. And the thing about the mug just made me giggle. And it all paid off! Mainly at Jan's expense! (Although also a little bit at Pam's.) Poor Jan. I felt bad, but really, I didn't do anything to her TPTB didn't already do.