1 [Report This]Date: December 23, 2021 12:52 am Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
Oh... this is very moving and insightful.
The clash between Jim's role in Pam's life and his actual hopes and intentions always grabs me, and I liked this bit which sums it up very well:
"Jim freezes, because if he can’t give her this, than what good is he to her? And there are moments when he is not the funnest most super awesome source of entertainment, there are moments when he can’t come up with some new game,... there are moments when he just wants to drop the act he always puts on for her and just be honest, be a man and not a playmate, and he’s… He’s got it."
I also really liked:
"The odds have always been against him. The idea that Pam was secretly harboring feelings for him, enough that she might leave Roy, while also dragging Roy kicking and screaming to the altar? It just didn’t make sense."
On the one hand we have the received truth of Jim's cowardice / weakness. But we're probably being more than a bit unfair, because, yeah, he spends his days being confronted with a bit of a Pam paradox. He thinks he can see that she has feelings for him, and he sees that Roy makes her unhappy, she sees it too and complains about him... yet she's the only one in that relationship who's actually invested in getting into a church and wed. You've illustrated his dilemma very well there, and the direction his thoughts would likely be taking in the run up to his big moment.
Great stuff!
Author's Response: Thanks for bringing me back to this one - trying to create a Season 2-style Jam moment that felt like it had something to say and wasn't just a carbon copy was a challenge.
I maintain a lot of sympathy for Jim (up to and through Season 3) for just that reason - without the awareness of the genre of show you're in and everything we're seeing of Pam's reactions without him around, he's wrestling with a lot of information that just doesn't fit what he wants things to be.
Thank you, and thank you for taking the time to review!
1 [Report This]Date: April 27, 2021 02:37 pm Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
I really hope there are many more of these random holidays, because having TWO chapters of this to read is honestly very exciting. This one is such a perfect mix of heart-breaking and very sweet. I love the subtle hint that Penny knows about the jellybeans/JIm (and that Pam might know that she knows), and all of their dialogue in this - especially Pam trash-talking Jim - is brilliant. You've just got all of their mannerisms/interactions down so well. And then, oof, all the Jim pining for Pam and not ever being sure if she knows what she's doing for him or if she's giving him an opening (which I don't think she knows herself half the time) - it's so painfully well written. But I think my absolute favourite part is him panicking that he's not going to come up with something fun for her, and the acknowledgement that actually maybe it's not fair that he has to be that person 24/7, before he...does it anyway. It's not fair, but he does also do it to himself. I also thought the ending was a really good build-up for Casino Night. I loved all of this, basically!
Author's Response: There are actually kind of a lot... I have a sneaking suspicion I will run out of ideas before I run out of holidays. *ducks* But there will definitely be a few more coming down the line.
Oh, yes, Penny definitely knows about the jelly beans... and probably understands what they mean way more than Pam does at this point in their relationship.
The Pam-Jim dialogue was a lot of fun to write - they just delight each other so much!
I don't think she knows either... Pam is so hard to pin down in the second half of Season 2... which makes it all that much harder for Jim.
And I'm REALLY glad you saw the build-up towards Casino Night here! Thanks for taking the time to read and review!
1 [Report This]Date: April 26, 2021 07:26 pm Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
“But Jim’s life is not a romantic comedy. He is not Hugh Grant or Colin Firth or whatever stammering, awkward English dude women find charming these days. There is no music swelling to tell him the moment is right. The lighting is the same harsh fluorescent it always is. There’s not even the camera crew there, trying so desperately to not attract attention to themselves he can tell they think something big is happening.
And perhaps most importantly, if he’s wrong, there will be no cut to black. Jim will have to live with the fallout.”
Wow, wow, wow. I loved all of this.
I really like your insights into Jim during this timeframe. Acknowledging complaining to Toby was actually mean (it was!) but he understands he’s running out of time.
Love the use of holidays in this story!
Author's Response: I'm glad you liked it! I'm always a little bit leery of fictional characters talking about how they're not fictional characters, but I think with them it kind of works because they are very much supposed to be real people living a small, real sort of life.
I think Jim is in a genuine tailspin in the late stages of Season 2, torn between taking a risk and accepting that everything is already over, and I'm glad you feel like I captured that.
Thank you! And thank you for reviewing!
1 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2021 02:14 pm Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
"He’d hurt her a little on Valentine’s Day, and while it hadn’t been the point, he’d kind of liked knowing he could. He wishes he doesn’t know that he’d liked that." Ooooooof.
This encapsulated the feeling of season 2 so well it hurt. Especially Jim slowly realizing it's all slipping through his fingers and something is going to change in their relationship whether he likes it or not. Well done, friend! Loved this one.
Author's Response: Being in love, especially unrequited love, and especially unrequited love with a friend, does not always bring out the best in us. I've always taken Valentine's Day more or less as what the show implies, that this is Jim post-Boys and Girls making an attempt to accept his fate and set up boundaries... but I imagine he would have kind of liked knowing that she cares enough about him that he has the capacity to hurt her. Glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to review.
1 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2021 01:41 pm Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
This broke me, so thanks for that. You have a gift, my friend, to make something like National Jellybean Day into a piece of art. Also, I would also like the backstory on why Penny knew Pam would care about Jellybean Day please and thank you.
Author's Response: You're very welcome. What I'm here for. I'm glad you liked it! And maybe we'll find out how Penny knows Pam would care about this one day, but I think we know Pam talks a little more about Jim than is strictly appropriate for an engaged woman about a man not her fiancée to her mom and sister.
1 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2021 04:33 am Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
How you can turn this colorful, happy, sugary day into this story is just brilliant. From the beginning, with the note and disclaimer - I thought we were in for a happy little tale of colorful fun- once into the first few paragraphs I knew it would be more than that and knew exactly where in the timeline we were (yeah, I didn't notice the date was right there in the chapter title).
Love the peek of what's on the monitor - great way to make us feel the excitement (as if the dialogue that comes next wasn't enough). Great way to bring out his being put on the spot to always be clever - but well - I like like even when he is stressing about it he always comes through (reminds me of someone I know who came through on some very important holidays).
Have to mention your portrayal of Michael here while not a big part is spot on.
The next bit was so wonderfully written - comparing to movie scenes and bringing in the instances of why she knew (ice skating, big trips) but his doubt of how it all would go down holding him back - the line no cut to black may have been one of my favorite.
The nod to Larissa - check. The nods to Valentines' day episode - check. The nod to conflict resolution - check.
The whole idea of being worried that it might ruin the friendship but could friendship be enough (braid bracelets -check) really does resonate with me.
Ugh and how does the colorful, sugary holiday fic end with such an angsty good line? However, like jelly beans -too much sugar can make you feel sick - so this was the perfect ending.
Author's Response: Well, I don't want to be too predictable. Into every fluff, a bit of angst must fall. Props to you for finding the website in the first place, that's come in real handy. I do think being around Pam must be deeply stressful for Jim in some ways we don't explore much, one of which is that he's basically constantly in first date, pulling out the stops to impress her mode for like three years. Not so easy. I'm glad you liked this Michael, because this may be about as much of him as I'm capable of handling writing. I'm glad you enjoyed some of those lines! I go back and forth on whether fictional characters pointing out that their lives aren't fictional is lame or not, I'm glad it worked here. I do think fear of losing the very good relationship they have plays a big role of both of them. And I'm REALLY glad you liked the ending, which I kind of thought I whiffed on.
1 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2021 12:02 am Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
Ah! What a wonderful way to start my daily routine — with deliciously sweet angst. I love it, love every single bit, the way you paint Jim's thoughts about everything and their games — silly, but fit so very much to the canon. And the moments when they so suddenly become them... goosebumps.
Thank you so much for writing this!
By the way, the National Paper Airplane Day is celebrated on May 26... just saying...
P. S. Martin Freeman. I'd say Domhnall Gleeson, but he's Irish, so... Martin Freeman.
Author's Response: Better than caffeine to get you going in the morning! I'm really glad you enjoyed this. I'm never sure if I get the swirl of Jim's thoughts right, or if it just seems like his confusion is bad writing. The fun-moment-that-suddenly-gets-serious VERY much inspired by Drug Testing, which will take place just a days down the line. Rough month for Jim. Thank you for reading and reviewing, and giving me another chapter idea. Martin Freeman's solid, but would he already have been well known by 2006? *checks IMDB* Yes, yes he would have, from a little show called "The Office." Ugh. Missed joke opportunity.
1 [Report This]Date: April 22, 2021 10:45 pm Title: National Jelly Bean Day (April 22, 2006)
So this was great. The addition of the graphic from the first time this was posted to the re-post was a welcome addition. Really leaning into S2 JAM bittersweetness with this one. I mean it's all there. It's fun, funny, sweet, JAMMY, angsty. Pam pretty much knowing what she's doing to both of them by denying her feelings. Jim hoping for any and every shred of attention he can get from her. How it seems he wants to turn away, but there's no way he can.
But they still have so much fun together and it's both slowly killing them even if they can't say it. Great job bringing all that out.
Author's Response: Glad you liked it! (And sorry about your first review disappearing. I have technical issues, and NLM had to teach me how to tie my shoes to make this work.) Yeah, I really wanted to capture that late-Season 2 vibe where they're really doing a fair amount of damage to each other and can't quite figure out how to stop here, I'm glad that came through, and that the sweetness and fun of it didn't get overwhelmed by the angst. Thank you so much for taking the time to review (twice)!