‘The Office’: Jim and Pam Were Written Like ‘Divorced Parents’ to Help Michael
Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) got married on The Office. But before that, they were written to be like divorced parents to help Michael (Steve Carell.) There is one scene that showed their strong bond and their concern for their unpredictable boss.
Jim and Pam were separated in ‘The Office’ Season 3
Jim and Pam went different ways after kissing at the end of season 2. That started with Jim leaving for a different branch. Then he returns to the Scranton office, but he starts dating Karen (Rashida Jones.)
Pam also considers getting back with Roy (David Denman) for some time, which didn’t help their friendship. But the characters still found small moments to come together. One of those moments involved Michael.
Michael pulls a scary stunt to prove a point about depression
“Safety Training” shows Toby (Paul Lieberstein) going through safety training for the office. Michael decides to take control of things to show the dangers of the office.
He teamed up with Dwight (Rainn Wilson) for a stunt. Michael got on the roof and pretended he was thinking of jumping off due to depression. Dwight got everyone outside to be his audience.
Some of the employees weren’t worried about the situation. But Jim and Pam immediately wanted to get him down so he wouldn’t hurt himself.
They were written like divorced parents
Jim and Pam were alarmed by Michael going on the rooftop. They quickly tried to come together to figure out how to convince him to come back down.
Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin, talked to Fischer about this episode on the Office Ladies podcast. She said writer, B.J. Novak talked to the show creator, Greg Daniels about Jim and Pam coming together in the scene. Kinsey said the creator told Novak the characters are acting like divorced parents.
“I sorta see them as a couple that had been together for a long time and they had a child together,” she said. “And that child is Michael. And they are no longer together. They moved on, but like often times divorced couples who have kids when there’s a crisis with your child they work together to help their child.”
Kinsey said they have a “shorthand” with one another when it comes to Michael so only they can help him. Fischer shared what she liked about the scene.
“Something I really appreciated about them was that Pam and Jim were not laughing about this. This was not a joke to them,” Fischer said. She also pointed out it wasn’t a flirty moment but showed their bond.
Everything worked out in the end. The scene did show the characters work well together and care a lot about Michael.
