It appears Jim has picked up all the bricks and rebuilt his wall. This sounds like a step backwards, but there is a silver lining. His wall is nowhere near as strong as it was before, (he forgot a couple bricks). Pam will be able to knock through this one much easier! Jim obviously scared himself with his admission of still having feelings for Pam. This is causing his self-preservation model to kick in once again. He's looking to protect himself from Pam, the pain, and the truth.
The conference room scene (among other things) in The Return caused him to face his broken heart and his failed plan of moving on. Rather than deal with the pain associated with these realizations, Jim has chosen to run back into the fog and back to Karen. It's an escape that is just easier to deal with. The puzzling aspect of all of this is he'd rather talk to Karen about CN as opposed to Pam. Somehow, that seems easier to him! Lucky for us, the fog isn't obscuring his view of Pam as much as it did before. Karen's long talks are actually causing Jim to think more about Pam and are inadvertently preparing him for the BIG talk with Pam, (Give a Karen a break! She's an unwitting accomplice to JAM).
Yawning/Talking Head:
Jim lets out a huge yawn while working at his desk. He looks exhausted even as he give Karen a smile. We haven't seen him give her a smile like this (or anything close to it) since Stamford. He's clearly redirected his attention towards her. Karen has again taken on the role of a comfortable escape. This has roots in his broken heart and his fear paradox in that he's returned to his intention to build a real relationship with Karen as a means to distance himself from the pain of Pam and elevate Karen beyond a rebound. But, it also stems from a feeling guilt for hurting Karen. He knows he hurt in the conference room in The Return, so now he naturally is giving her more attention to make up for it. He does care about her and he's obviously still trying to get on her good side.
In his talking head, Jim recounts his long discussions with Karen with a combined air of annoyance and amusement. He explains that he Karen had a "looong . . . talk last night." The extension of the word long clues us into Jim's irritation. He continues to explain that they've had long talks "every night, for the past five nights." He stresses the words every and five. Jim's is making it pretty clear that he's had enough of talking. He makes sure we know it's been going on for days by extending the length of his explanation. He could have very easily just said they've been talking for 5 days and left it at that. But, he chose to elaborate! It isn't exposed until later in the episode that Karen and Jim were talking about Jim's past with Pam and the kiss. No wonder Jim is so exhausted. Karen has worn him out mentally, emotionally, and physically with their long, late night talks. This is not an easy topic for him discuss with himself or Pam, let alone Karen! His sounds so tired as his raspy voice describes his past five evenings.
Despite Jim's tired and annoyed state, he manages to poke fun at his situation. This is so Jim. He's very close to rolling his eyes during his monologue. He's glazing his statements with light sarcasm. For Jim, he needs to find the humor in his situation in order to make it bearable. This tactic has been used since the very first episode. Pranks and humor may have been a way to connect with Pam, but they are also a way to get through the day at Dunder Mifflin. The same kind of humor is being used to get him through a tough situation with Karen.
The bottom line here is Jim's relationship with Karen is not easy and it's starting to wear him down. Just as his wall blocking Pam isn't as strong as before, I suspect Jim's resolve to work things out with Karen isn't as strong either. His heart is putting up a much stronger fight against his head than ever before.
Karen Hugs Jim:
Jim does not expect Karen to come out of nowhere and wrap her arms around him for a hug. He is incredibly uncomfortable with Karen's impromptu PDA. Jim's shoulders clench up as she hugs him. His eyebrows raise completely befuddled by what has transpired, "What the heck?" Jim does not return the hug. His arms never even move off of his desk. He doesn't even look at her while she walks away or when she returns to her desk. Instead, he looks at the camera a little embarrassed by what happened. He's hoping the camera didn't catch it, but deep down he knows it did. Jim wants the camera to focus on someone else at this point. He then looks in Dwight's direction with the same expression. He didn't want anyone see it. It makes me wonder if he's upset on a subconscious level that Pam probably saw it.
Jim did not take well to Karen's PDA, which is probably a result of her insecurities. If she gets any more clingy, Jim will hit the end of his rope very soon.
Break Room #1:
Jim is digging his soda (Yes! This is a promising sign that he's moving out of his "bottled water" phase!) out of the vending machine as Pam walks in on him. The opening seconds of this scene are so reminiscent of The Merger's break room scene, that I literally braced myself the first time I watched it. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.
Jim's wall is rebuilt and prepared to keep Pam at arm's length. His admission in The Return scared him and so did letting Pam get so close to him during the prank on Andy. Despite the barrier he still greets her with a warm "Hey." This is the first indicator that his wall isn't as strong as before. This is the only natural and easy going part of the whole conversation. Jim is confused by Pam's odd "Ughhh." He's not sure how to respond to that, so he simply mimics it to get her to elaborate further. He even looked a little uncomfortable when she said it. It just didn't seem normal to him. It's not how Pam usually starts a conversation.
Pam breaks into the question "Everything okay?" Jim tries to sound like everything is fine in order to avoid a conversation with Pam with "Oh yeah. Why?" He uses "why" to throw Pam off the scent. He wants to Pam to think that he's fine and that she's mistaken that something is wrong. Pam doesn't drop it and continues with "You seem a little tired." Pam is onto him and he knows it. He knows she knows him better than anyone. He breaks eye contact to avoid her.
Jim does not want to discuss his late night talks with Karen. First of all he's had enough of deep conversations concerning his feelings. It's been five long nights. Secondly, he talked to Karen about the kiss and his past feelings for Pam. He doesn't want to talk about this with Pam. It's still the elephant in the room. The past will inevitably come out if Jim talks to Pam about his late night talks with Karen. Plus he doesn't want to reveal what precipitated his discussions with Karen in the first place (the infamous "yes"). Jim knows he has to give Pam some sort of an explanation or she will dig deeper. He admits there's been a couple of late nights because "Karen and I have been up talking." He's honest without giving too much away on how much he is bothered by the situation. He doesn't want to peak Pam's curiosity with too much information.
Interestingly, Jim caps off his statement with a facial shrug similar to the one he gave in the Back From Vacation conversation. It's a sign of discomfort. In BFV he didn't want to talk to Pam about Karen because he didn't feel comfortable to discuss it with her until she offered. In this case it's signifying the same thing, but he doesn't back down this time. It feels like she's getting too close and his wall jumps into action. He doesn't give her the chance to offer a conversation as he starts edging his way to the door. Jim doesn't want to hurt Pam's feelings, but he also wants out of that break room and Pam's radar.
At this point, Pam's conversation completely weirds out Jim. He responds to Pam's odd statements of getting more sleep casually and politely while he edges closer to the door. At the same time, he curious to see what she will say next. He's never seen her like this before. When she breaks into the big difference between 6 and 8 hours of sleep, Jim laughs softly. He's not laughing at the statement. He's laughing at how strange Pam is behaving. He is as amused by her as he is confused. Pam's advice of REM and sleeping is enough for Jim. He uses the dead end feel of the statement to make his exit. He tells her thanks for the advice and leaves, but not before saying "I'll see you out there." It's his way of telling her the conversation is over without hurting her feelings or sounding rude. He was stuck in the sticky spot of wanting to end a conversation politely with someone who won't stop talking, (haven't we all been there on both ends of this scenario?).
Jim has absolutely no idea that Pam was trying to flirt. He could barely make heads or tails of Pam's behavior much less suspect flirting. Besides, he was too busy deflecting her with his wall to be receptive to any type of flirting.
Choosing Blonde:
This scene is highly symbolic of the dilemma currently faced by Jim. His noticeable pause before answering "blonde" signifies his subconscious struggle with the two women in his life. Neither Karen nor Pam is blonde. The "blonde" symbolizes his current state of limbo. He's in the middle between Pam and Karen and it's his own doing. He is still struggling between his head and his heart on which direction to take.
Break Room #2:
Unaware that Pam is still reeling from her horrible day, Jim follows Kelly's lead and teases Pam for "flirting" with Ben Franklin (sadly she flirted better with him than with Jim). The fact that Jim teases Pam is another indicator that his wall is not nearly as strong as it was before. It wasn't just a small tease either. He teased her about dating with is a touchy subject between them. Both have felt a boatload of jealousy with the other dating someone else. He went as far as asking if there were any "possibilities." He's playing with fire here. However, his teasing also shows that he's trying to keep her at a distance from him. Teasing about dating other people pushes the focus off of their relationship, (or lack thereof).
Nonetheless, Jim did not expect his teasing to blow up in his face. Jim totally misses Pam's signal, "God I need a boyfriend." His wall is too busy blocking him from such signals. He is completely thrown off guard when Pam says she's ready to be set up with one of Ryan's business school friends. Jim's wall fails him completely as he is struck with a huge surge of jealousy. His face says it all. Jim doesn't want to watch Pam be with someone else again. His expression matches the one he gave in The Convention after learning Pam had a date via Michael's cell phone call. Some things never change. Good job Pam, you knocked one heck of a hole through Jim's wall.
Well, this isn't as detailed as I would like, but I'm running out of time! Besides, I am still fried from dealing with Pam! Even though Jim's wall is back in place, I'm not worried. His brush with honesty in The Return is still effecting him deeply. Pam was able to knock a hole through his wall much quicker than before. Furthermore, his relationship with Karen is simply exhausting. His head won't be able to convince his heart much longer to stay in that relationship.
- - -
Questions to Ponder:
1) Should Jim have told Karen about the kiss? Do you think part of Jim knows this will get back around to Pam or is he just hoping it won't?
2) Why did Jim talk to Karen about Casino Night and the kiss as opposed to Pam? (Try to think about this beyond Karen dragging it out of him.)
3) Was Jim uncomfortable with Karen's PDA in general, or was he uncomfortable because it happened in front of Pam?
4) Does Jim need to see Pam with someone else again before he's emotionally honest with himself again?
Chapter End Notes:
Commonly Used Acronyms:
PD = Pam Dichotomy,
JP = Jim Paradox,
CN = Casino Night,
FNB = Fancy New Beesly,
QTP = Questions to Ponder
This post was written nine years ago so go easy on me in terms of writing style! I’ve decided not to revise the original posts beyond filling in missing words or fixing wayward punctuation. Call it nostalgia if you will, but there’s something to be said for preserving this little snapshot of fandom.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
PD = Pam Dichotomy,
JP = Jim Paradox,
CN = Casino Night,
FNB = Fancy New Beesly,
QTP = Questions to Ponder
This post was written nine years ago so go easy on me in terms of writing style! I’ve decided not to revise the original posts beyond filling in missing words or fixing wayward punctuation. Call it nostalgia if you will, but there’s something to be said for preserving this little snapshot of fandom.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
