‘The Office’: Why Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey Have a Big Beef About Jim Halpert
Is it possible to hate The Office character Jim Halpert? While Jim is a fan-favorite for his epic pranks, romance with Pam, and his looks to the camera, there have been some instances over the run of the series where he was… well… a bit of a jerk. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey pointed out some of those moments during a discussion of a season 3 episode.
‘The Office’ episode that brings Jim back to Scranton
During the July 22 Office Ladies podcast, hosts Fischer and Kinsey discussed season 3 episode 8 “The Merger” in which the Stamford employees come to work at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin.
This brings Jim (John Krasinski) back to Scranton again and Pam (Fischer) is excited about his return. Jim transferred to Stamford when Pam rejected him after he said he loved her. Jim and Pam shared a kiss at the end of season 2, but she said still planned to marry Roy.
In Stamford, Jim got close with his co-worker Karen (Rashida Jones) and, in the previous “Branch Closing” episode, told her to take the job in Scranton. In her talking head interview, she admitted she is “kind of into him.”
Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer have a beef with Jim
In “The Merger,” Jim appears cold towards Pam — not telling her that he’s in a relationship with Karen until the end of the day, and never telling Karen about his history with Pam.
The fact that Jim doesn’t clue Pam into what’s going on between him and Karen doesn’t sit well with Fischer and Kinsey. During their podcast, they explain how they have a beef with the way Jim handles this.
Fischer and Kinsey discuss an interaction with Jim and Karen involving Karen passing him a stick of gum. “This leads me to wishy-washy Jim and the stick of gum,” Fischer explains. “Listen, are they dating or are they not dating?,” she asks.
“Because when you bring a girl that you are dating into a new office where you used to work and you then don’t sit next to her in the first group meeting? Wishy-washy. What is that?,” Fischer notes.
“We’re going to learn at the end of this episode that they are dating and I don’t think he’s regarding Karen as a woman he is dating right now,” Fischer explains.
There’s heartbreak for Pam
Fischer also references the “heartbreak in the breakroom” moment where Pam approaches Jim alone and “she wants their old banter back,” but her efforts to do so are met with a cold response.
Pam later spots Karen scratching Jim’s back. “They’re clearly dating. Why does Jim come into the new office and not tell the new woman that he’s dating that he’s kissed the receptionist and why doesn’t he give Pam a heads up?,” Fischer says. “This is our beef with Jim.”
At the end of the day, Jim tells Pam that “things were a little weird today,” adding, “I just think I should tell you that I sort of started seeing someone.” Pam tells him, “That’s totally cool. You can do whatever you want. We’re friends. We’ll always be friends.”
Fischer explains that Jim’s admission is “too little too late for Pam,” adding, “She’s really stung. She’s embarrassed. She would have liked this information… she really would have behaved differently in this day had she known. So she kind of cuts him off.”
Kinsey and Fischer have more beef with Jim
In addition to the way Jim behaves in the episode towards Karen and Pam, Kinsey explains another moment that didn’t win her over.
Jim is a bit of a jerk when he sees Toby, who offers up a fist to bump and Jim doesn’t bump back. He asks, “Oh, is this what you’re doing now?,” prompting Toby to say “Just forget it.”
“I have a little bit of a beef with Jim in this moment,” Kinsey explains. “He knows that Toby is trying to be cool. He knows that Toby just wants Jim to like him. He should have just fist bumped him back instead of commenting, ‘Oh is this what you’re doing now’ and sort of giving him shade.”
“Jim, I have issue with you right there. Just fist bump back. Don’t comment on the fist bump, just do it back,” Kinsey notes.
