Pam Beesly
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| Pam Beesly | |
|---|---|
| Portrayed by | Jenna Fischer |
| First appearance | Pilot |
| Information | |
| Nickname | Fancy New Beesly |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | March 25, 1979 [1] |
| Occupation | • Receptionist, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton PA • Sales Representative, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton PA |
| Spouse | Jim Halpert (fiancé) Roy Anderson (ex-fiance) |
| Children | Expecting |
| Based on | Dawn Tinsley |
Pamela "Pam" Morgan Beesly is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Pam spends much of the series as the friendly but often frustrated receptionist at the Scranton branch of the fictitious paper-distributor Dunder Mifflin. As the series progresses, she becomes a saleswoman for the branch. She can seem shy or hesitant to speak her mind, but enjoys chatting with her best friend and current fiance, salesman Jim Halpert. She often helps Jim play pranks on his deskmate Dwight Schrute. Her boss Michael Scott often asks her to do strange office tasks, and mocks her about being a receptionist. At the beginning of the series she had been dating warehouse worker Roy Anderson since high school and was engaged to him for three years.
Pam attended Valley View High School.[2], as well as college[3], where she focused on art[3], and played volleyball[4], although she mentions disliking gym class in high school[2]. Jenna Fischer's backstory for the character describes her as an alumna of Marywood University, majoring in art education, but not graduating.[5] Later in the series, she returns to school to take art and animation classes[6] and in "Goodbye, Toby", she is selected to participate in a three month graphic design program at the Pratt Institute, where she also becomes a resident assistant. Pam has above average typing skills and is able to type ninety words per minute. Her favorite yogurt flavor is mixed berry, and she enjoys French Onion Sun Chips. In "The Fire", she reveals her favorite movies to be Fargo, Edward Scissorhands, Dazed and Confused, The Princess Bride, and The Breakfast Club. She drives a Toyota Yaris hatchback in Blazing Blue Pearl, first seen in the third season episode "Grief Counseling" and knows how to change a tire.[7] She is Presbyterian.[8] In "Did I Stutter?" it is shown she is very nearsighted, and usually wears contact lenses instead of glasses. In a deleted scene, she says she has 20/400 vision. During the same episode it is revealed that her middle name is Morgan. In "Weight Loss", her weight is revealed to be 126 pounds. Her AIM Screen Name is Receptionitis15.
[edit] Character history
[edit] Seasons 1 & 2
At the beginning of the series, Pam and Roy have been dating for eight years and engaged for three. Their open-ended engagement has become one of Michael's running gags and a sore spot for Pam.
Pam does not want her current job to become permanent, remarking that "I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist." Pam is apathetic toward her work, evidenced by her frequent games of FreeCell on her office computer. However, in the pilot episode, she breaks down crying when Michael pulls an ill-advised prank by telling her that she will be fired.
Michael has criticized Pam for simply forwarding calls to voice mail without answering and (in a deleted scene) for not sounding enthusiastic enough when speaking on the telephone. Pam is usually happy to abandon her work if asked to do something else by Jim. She will do extra, unnecessary work (such as making a casket for a dead bird or paper doves for the Office Olympics) to make other people happy.
Despite the abuse she takes from Michael, she has never up to this point gone any farther than to call him a jerk.
Pam denied, or was in denial about, having any romantic feelings for her friend Jim. Yet in "Basketball," the camera catches her often looking at a sweaty Jim. Also, while at Chili's during the Dundies, an intoxicated Pam kisses Jim in celebration after winning an award. She appeared to be bothered by Jim deciding to start dating Katy, the purse salesgirl, at the end of "Hot Girl". She also seemed quietly pleased at the fact that Jim might still have a crush on her, even after he told her he was over it.
She was banned from all Chili's locations after she got drunk at the Dundies after a fight with Roy. The manager photocopied her driver's license to enforce this. At one point early in the episode, she drunkenly kisses Jim after accepting her award. Afterward, Jim doesn't mention the incident, but as he carefully guides her to Angela's car at the end of the night, Pam briefly stops to stare at him intently before thanking him.
After Jim confesses his love for her at the Dunder Mifflin "Casino Night" she turns him down. She later talks to her mom on the phone and says Jim is her best friend (though she doesn't say his name), and says "Yeah, I think I am" to a question that could be assumed to be "Are you in love with him?" or "Are you rethinking getting married to Roy?" Jim returns seconds later and kisses her.
[edit] Season 3
In "Gay Witch Hunt," it is revealed that Pam got cold feet before her wedding and did not marry Roy after all. Pam and Roy break up, and Pam moves into her own apartment. She begins taking art classes, a pursuit that Roy had previously dismissed as a waste of time, and buys a new car.
Meanwhile, Roy becomes depressed, gains weight, and is eventually arrested for a D.U.I. This serves as a wake-up call to Roy, who vows to clean up his act and win Pam back. Roy's desire to reunite with Pam intensifies during Branch Closing when it's initially announced that the Scranton branch will be shut down permanently.
Jim and Pam appear to have ended all communication after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch, but he accidentally calls her at her desk one night when trying to reach Kevin's voice mail. Pam is delighted when Jim moves back into the Scranton office as a result of The Merger, but he soon reveals to Pam that he is seeing someone else, Stamford transfer Karen Filippelli. Pam still harbors feelings for Jim, but awkwardly denies this when confronted by Karen in "Ben Franklin."
Roy's efforts to improve his relationship with Pam are quite successful. In Phyllis' Wedding, Roy reminds Pam of various moments during their history and pays Scrantonicity twenty dollars to play "their song." They dance and leave the reception together, to Jim's dismay.
Once Pam and Roy are back together, he falls back into old habits almost immediately. When Pam has her first art show, Roy offers a half-hearted compliment about how "pretty" her art is, and then leaves early with his brother. Pam later tells Roy that he has to do "boyfriend stuff" if they're going to stay together. Roy agrees to attend an after work get-together at a local bar with Pam and her coworkers. Pam, feeling that she should be more honest with Roy, tells him about Jim kissing her at "Casino Night." Roy yells, smashes a mirror, and trashes the bar. Pam, frightened and embarrassed by his reaction, breaks up with Roy immediately. Roy vows to kill Jim.
Roy unsuccessfully tries to attack Jim at work (Jim is saved by Dwight's intervention), and is fired. Pam later agrees to meet Roy for coffee. After the polite but brief meeting, it appears that their relationship has ended.
In the "Women's Appreciation" episode, Meredith's car has a flat tire, and Pam subtly displays assertiveness when she voluntarily changes the tire by herself. Near the end of the episode, Michael reveals that at a wishing well he "wished for Pam to gain courage."
In "Beach Games," Michael suggests his employees test their bravery by walking over hot coals. Even though Michael has left Pam out of the activities for the day by making her keep "score" and cook 800 hot dogs, Pam walks barefoot across the coals of her own accord and works up the courage not only to tell Jim she misses his friendship, but also to confront her co-workers about their lack of respect and support. She tells Jim that she broke off her wedding because of him, then says she's okay with the fact that he's dating someone else now, but that she misses their old friendship.
In "The Job," Pam has become much more assertive and still doesn't regret her previous speech. She states that she is happy that Jim is with Karen and that she hopes that she may find love too someday. As she is saying this, Jim interrupts her and asks her out for dinner. She happily accepts, forgetting what she was previously saying.
[edit] Season 4
In Season 4, Pam retains the assertiveness she developed in the third season. She wears her hair in a more loose style and has updated her old dowdy wardrobe.
In the first episode of season 4, "Fun Run", it is revealed that Jim and Pam have started happily dating, saying that "it's going really great". They initially try to keep it a secret from their coworkers, but they first announce it to the documentary crew after confronted by footage of them kissing. The office ultimately learns of their relationship in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". They reveal to the cameras that they kept it a secret because they did not want their coworkers gossiping. They seem to be playful and not too stern with their relationship, and they more often than not try to pull minor pranks on each other, such as Pam not assisting Jim while he's acting as regional manager in Michael's absence[9] and Jim attempting to leave Michael's unpleasant dinner party without Pam after he fails to get her out with him.[10]
In "Chair Model", Pam tries to set Michael up with her landlady, which turns out to be unsuccessful. When Jim jokes that Pam has probably just been kicked out of her apartment, Pam jokes back that maybe she should just move in with her boyfriend. When Jim takes her suggestion seriously, Pam shyly backtracks, saying that she'd only move in with someone if they were engaged. "Have I not proposed to you yet?" Jim asks Pam. Pam takes it as a joke, and Jim half-seriously warns her to "stay sharp" because a proposal is coming. Afterward, Jim tells the documentary crew he is not kidding around about an engagement, showing them a ring that he got a week after he and Pam started dating. In the next few episodes, Jim fake-proposes to Pam several times.
In "Job Fair", Michael takes Pam, Oscar, and Darryl to a job fair at Pam's old high school. As the job fair ends, she comes across a booth for a graphic design internship. The representative tells her that she would require experience in numerous software programs in which she currently does not have experience (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Corel Painter, Adobe Illustrator), though he assures her the programs are not complicated. The representative also tells her that if she were serious about a career in graphic design, she should pursue it in places like Philadelphia or New York.
In "Goodbye, Toby", Pam discovers she's been accepted at Pratt Institute, an art and design school in New York City. She tells Jim, who is supportive, reminding her they'll only be apart for three months when she appears hesitant about going. In an interview later in the episode, Jim announces that he will propose to Pam—he even pays Phyllis to work fireworks into Toby's send-off, so that the moment will be romantic. Just as Jim is preparing to propose, however, Andy Bernard stands up and makes his own impromptu proposal to Angela, asking for her "tiny hand" in marriage (to which she replies with a half-hearted "okay"). Having had his thunder stolen by Andy, Jim reluctantly puts the ring back in his jacket pocket—leaving Pam visibly disappointed, as she was expecting Jim to propose after spotting the fireworks during the preparation for the party.
[edit] Season 5
In the Season 5 premiere, "Weight Loss", Pam begins her three-month course at the Pratt Institute. She gets off to a rocky start, having trouble finding her class on the first day. She does, however, manage to find ways to keep in touch with Jim, including chatting with him via her computer's webcam. Jim visits her at her dorms, where we see a sign stating that she is the Resident Advisor. Pam makes friends while at school, having conversations with them in-between classes. While discussing plans for the weekend with Jim, he suggests that they meet that day for lunch at a gas station where a soda had exploded on him. There, in the rain, Jim surprises her with his marriage proposal, and she happily accepts.
Not much is seen or heard of Pam during the first episodes of the 5th season due to her being at school. One occasion that we hear from her is over Jim's speakerphone as he announces to the office that they are engaged. In "Baby Shower", we watch Jim and Pam's relationship get a little bit rocky as they have communication problems over the phone. However, at the conclusion of the episode, they both leave each other nearly identical voice mail messages, displaying their obvious compatibility. In "Customer Survey", Pam buys a miniature Bluetooth device for her and Jim to use the entire day without anyone knowing. At one point, Pam's friend Alex comes to visit her at the office and tells her that it wouldn't be wise to go back to Scranton if she is serious about her career. Pam is left in silence, as well as Jim, who was listening through the Bluetooth.
In "Business Trip", Pam learns that she is failing one of her classes. She calls Jim about it, explaining that she would need to stay another three months to retake it. Pam is unsure if she wants to, but Jim tells her she is in New York for her own benefit and she should only come home "the right way". Pam breaks down crying afterward, but she ultimately makes the decision herself to come home. In the office parking lot, she tells Jim that she hated graphic design and missed Scranton. In a deleted scene, Pam shows Jim some of her projects, which he thinks are "cool". She then shows him a notebook filled with hand-sketched drawings which Jim finds to be a lot more impressive than her graphic design projects, suggesting that her passions lie more with hand-made illustrations than graphic design.
In "Frame Toby", Pam is surprised by Jim with the house he bought from his parents without asking her. Jim shows her around the house, which isn't perfect, and finally shows her the garage, which he transformed into an art studio for her. Pam initially looks disappointed and Jim tells her he acknowledges the house's imperfections and the risk of not telling her. Pam then says she loves that he bought the house.
In "Stress Relief", Pam's parents are having marital issues, and her father stays with Jim and Pam. Upon discovering that her father communicates easily with Jim, Pam asks Jim to talk with her father about his marriage. After the talk, Pam's mother calls with news that her father is moving out. Pam is initially concerned that something Jim said to her father is the reason for the break-up, and it causes her to contemplate her own impending marriage. At the end of the episode, Pam's father meets her in the office parking lot and tells her that the reason he chose to leave her mother was because he realized, after speaking with Jim and seeing the depth of his love for Pam, that he had never felt that way about his own wife. After the meeting, Jim nervously approaches Pam about the situation, only to learn how touched Pam felt over Jim's love for her. The two tearfully embrace and Pam remarks that their own future children will be right in believing that their parents are soul mates.
In "Two Weeks", Pam spends an entire day at Dunder Mifflin setting up the office's new copier. Throughout the course of the day, she slowly begins to remember—as seen through fleeting glances and a dejected comment to the camera—that she wants to be more than a receptionist. As Michael leaves the office, having given his two weeks' notice a week earlier, she impulsively quits with him, agreeing to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Co., as a supportive Jim looks on.
In "Dream Team" Pam begins her first day as a saleswoman for Michael's company. The day is filled with setbacks, and Pam ultimately breaks down, expressing her disappointment in Michael, as well as herself for making such an impulsive decision, and anxiety for the future. "I just keep getting bored," she says tearfully, "and I let things build up and build up."
In "The Michael Scott Paper Company", Pam's frustrations continue as the new business team, completed by Dunder-Mifflin expatriate and former bowling-alley employee Ryan Howard, moves into a closet-like room in the Scranton Business Park. Desperate, Pam returns upstairs to the office and asks Charles Minor for her old position back, which he informs her has just been filled. Pam is clearly upset, but she manages to sign-on a client after a Michael-organized pancake lunch. The new company is elated, particularly Pam, who has just made her (and the company's) first sale.
In "Broke", Pam becomes disheartened again as the Michael Scott Paper Company, while gaining clients, is losing money due to its incredibly low prices. In a talking head, she reveals yet again her annoyance with herself for trusting Michael. She calls Jim, who meets with her as she explains that the company won't last much longer. She is clearly concerned about her and Jim's finances, but Jim simply kisses her and tells her not to worry. When Pam returns to Ryan and Michael, she emotionally reveals that she had previously applied for weekend jobs at Old Navy, Target, and Walmart, to help pay for her upcoming wedding, but no one called her back. After Jim informs Michael of David Wallace wanting to buy out their company, Pam, Ryan, and Michael join the meeting with David Wallace and Charles, where they end up rejecting the offer, opting instead to simply have their old jobs back. Wallace informs Michael that they have a new receptionist in Erin. Michael tells Wallace that he wants Pam placed in sales to which Wallace reluctantly agrees. Pam is officially brought on as a saleswoman of Dunder Mifflin in the season's next episode, "Casual Friday".
In "Cafe Disco", Pam and Jim decide to elope to Youngstown, Ohio that day as Ohio doesn't have a waiting period for marriage licenses. They make their plans, which are found by Dwight as their map to the Mahoning Courthouse in Youngstown was sitting on the printer, and take off early from work. But before they leave, they stop by Michael's dance/coffee relaxation room where 'The Michael Scott Paper Company' used to hold its office. They stay for a few minutes and dance along with their co-workers. Towards the end of the episode, Pam confesses to Jim that she would like to have 'a real wedding'. Jim agrees with her, and the two are back on track to planning a formal ceremony.
In "Company Picnic", Pam reveals herself to be a very talented volleyball player during the company volleyball tournament, but she injures her ankle during the game against the corporate branch while trying to save a point and is taken to the hospital against her wishes. At the hospital, the camera crew is stationed outside Pam's room while Jim and Pam receive an update on her status. No audio is placed inside the room but Jim and Pam are visibly happy and embrace. It is implied that the routine pregnancy test given before an X-ray has shown that Pam is pregnant. Jim heads outside the room and calls Dwight to "send in the subs" and, with tears, heads back inside to embrace Pam again.
[edit] Coworker relations
[edit] Jim
At the beginning of the series, Pam is the object of Jim's affection even though she is engaged to Roy Anderson, a warehouse worker at the office. After a fight with Roy at the Dundie Awards, a drunken Pam momentarily lets her guard down and kisses Jim on the lips. In the parking lot afterward, she seems to want to tell him something, but becomes aware of the camera, and just says "thanks". Pam's ambition to be an artist has been openly supported by Jim, while Roy continually rejects it.
When Pam's mother visits in "Sexual Harassment", she asks Pam about Jim. Pam's embarrassed reaction reveals that she has discussed him in private. Someone complains to Toby about Pam making wedding preparations in the office during work hours ("Conflict Resolution"). As the complaint is anonymous, Pam initially assumes the person who filed it is Angela, who complains about everyone in the office "except Bobble-Head Joe" (Dwight). However, Jim confesses to Pam that he filed the complaint, saying "I was just venting," and that he was complaining unofficially and didn't know it would be recorded by Toby. Embarrassed, Pam drops the subject without another word.
In the final episode of season 2, Jim finally tells Pam that he is in love with her. Later, Pam is talking to her mother on the phone when her mother asks her a question to which she responds, "I think I am," leading to speculation over what her mother had asked—particularly if it might have been "Are you in love with Jim?" or "Are you still going to marry Roy?". Afterward, Jim returns and kisses her, and even though she returns the kiss, she tells him she still intends on marrying Roy.
She ultimately calls off the wedding, but not until after Jim has transferred to the company's branch in Stamford, Connecticut, and the two have seemed to have stopped speaking to each other. Even when Jim moves back to Scranton due to the merger, their friendship remains very distant, due to Jim's relationship with Karen as well as Roy's attempts to win Pam back. In "Beach Games," Pam reveals to Jim (and the entire office), that she called off the wedding because of him—specifically that there were a lot of reasons not to marry Roy, but none that mattered until she met Jim.
In the finale of season three ("The Job"), Pam gives Jim an affectionate note wishing him luck on his corporate interview, which prompts him to leave Karen in New York and return to Scranton to ask Pam on a "date," which she tearfully accepts. (Note: This is both a nearly direct reference to, and a reversal of, the British series' Tim-Dawn relationship, in that Tim was the giver of the gift that made Dawn realize she wanted to be with him, resulting in the two getting together.)
In the first episode of season 4 it is revealed that Jim and Pam have started happily dating, saying that "it's going really great". They initially try to keep it a secret from their coworkers, but they first announce it to the documentary crew after confronted by footage of them kissing. Afterward, the rest of the office finds out about them when Toby files a complaint about them. Toby secretly has a crush on Pam and appears to be acting out of bitterness; however, when Jim and Pam assume the complaint memo to be a joke and the rest of the office appears supportive of the relationship, he saves face by agreeing with them.
In "Chair Model", after Michael's blind date with Pam's landlady turns out disastrous, Pam tells Jim that she never really cared that much for her apartment and she is thinking of moving out, but she doesn't want to move in with Jim unless they are engaged. After the two joke about when they'll get engaged, Jim reveals to the documentary crew he is very serious about proposing to her, showing them an engagement ring he says he bought a week after they started dating. Jim's most recent pranks on Pam since mentioning the engagement have been faux proposals which she has laughed off, once by kneeling in front of her and asking her to wait for him to tie his shoe, and again by "proposing" that Pam get him a coffee.
In the episode "Goodbye, Toby," Pam shares the news with Jim that she was accepted into the Pratt Institute, and Jim happily shows his support. She reminds him that she'll be in New York for three months, but it doesn't worry Jim as he'll visit her. Jim decides to propose to Pam that night at the party for Toby, even going so far to pay Phyllis to buy fireworks. But while fumbling to retrieve the ring out of his pocket, Jim's engagement is interrupted by Andy's impromptu proposal to Angela, ruining the moment. Pam is deeply disappointed, as she had suspected that Jim would propose that night.
In the Season 5 premiere, Pam is in New York at the Pratt Institute and Jim is in Scranton. Throughout the episode, they find different ways to stay in touch while they're apart, as they employ a webcam to speak to one another, and Jim drives to New York to visit Pam at her dorm. In a talking-head interview, Jim confesses that he and Pam have not gotten engaged yet because Pam will be away for three months, and she doesn't want to have a long engagement, since her first one (to Roy) was long and unpleasant. Pam and Jim have agreed that they will think more about engagement after she returns from the Pratt Institute. Their long distance relationship starts to take a toll on them, particularly Jim, who's forced to endure the office's antics by himself and is finding it difficult to visit Pam. At the end of the premiere episode, Jim and Pam get on AIM to arrange an impromptu lunch date; they decide to meet "halfway" between Scranton and New York, at a rest stop. The camera crew, evidently waiting across the highway with a camera trained on the rest stop, captures the two meeting in the driving rain. As Pam starts to tease Jim about the rest stop being "not halfway!" between their two locales, Jim drops his jacket and falls to one knee. To Pam's utter shock, Jim proposes then and there, saying "I can't wait." She happily accepts, and they kiss in the rain. In "Business Ethics", Jim and Pam announce their engagement to the rest of the office to no congratulations from anyone, save from Michael, who tackles Jim with a flying hug.
In the episode "Baby Shower", the strains of their long distance relationship begin to manifest themselves. Pam calls Jim to quickly tell him a story about something that happened to one of her friends, but he has trouble following the story and she hangs up abruptly before saying goodbye. Jim later calls Pam to tell her about Jan's baby shower, but she can't hear him since she's at a laundromat. She tells the camera crew she isn't that frustrated as even if she were in Scranton the two would have days where they would be "out of sync". At the end of the day, though, the two call each other at the exact same time and leave each other voicemails that are extremely similar, suggesting that they are not as "out of sync" as they felt throughout the day. In "Crime Aid", Jim starts to feel insecure about their long distance relationship when he mentions a night out she spent with friends to Roy, who responds by saying that Jim was also her friend, suggesting that what Pam did to Roy might also happen to Jim. Jim decides to drive to New York to visit her, but changes his mind when he realizes that they are "not that couple". In "Employee Transfer", Pam and Jim have lunch with his brothers, Tom and Pete. The meal is awkward as his brothers continue to poke fun at her interest in art. They later reveal it was a prank orchestrated by Pam, who awkwardly confirms this, though she had a different idea for a prank. However, Jim receives a message from his brother saying he welcomes Pam into the family.
In "Customer Survey", Pam and Jim stay in constant contact throughout the day without getting caught due to miniature Bluetooth devices Pam bought. Their relationship hits another bump when her friend Alex suggests that she has no future in Scranton if she wants to further her career in art. Jim, who was listening on his Bluetooth device, and Pam are left in silence, realizing that Alex may be right. In "Business Trip", Pam is expected to come home soon, much to the excitement of Jim. Jim tells the documentary crew that he is in the process of buying the house owned by his parents, and has decided to keep it a surprise for Pam. Pam's return is made temporarily uncertain of it happening when she learns she is failing one of her classes and would need to stay another three months to retake it. Jim tells her he will support her if she decides to stay. Pam decides to come home without retaking it, claiming it's not because of Jim, but that she doesn't like graphic design and that Scranton is her home. Jim welcomes her back and they kiss. In "Frame Toby", Jim stops by his parents house after work to surprise Pam with the news that he has bought it for them. As he shows her the house, her reaction appears ambiguous until Jim reluctantly tells her that he knows it doesn't look great. However, Pam finally becomes visibly overjoyed and exclaims that she loves it.
In "Stress Relief", Pam's parents are having marital issues. Pam asks Jim to talk to her father (who has been staying with them) knowing that he will confide in Jim. After Jim and Pam's father talk, Pam's mom calls Pam and tells her that her father is buying his own apartment. Initially she blames Jim, saying that something he said to her father must have caused him to take drastic action. After Pam and her father talk, Jim asks her if it was his fault that Pam's father is getting his own place. She tells him that her father told her he is moving out because "even at their best" he never felt the same amount of love for Pam's mother that Jim feels for Pam.
In "Blood Drive", Pam mentions that it is her and Jim's only Valentine's Day as an engaged couple, suggesting they have possibly set a date for their wedding. In "Cafe Disco", Pam and Jim decide to obtain a marriage license in a court house in Ohio as planning their expensive wedding is stressful. They decide to go for a traditional wedding instead after having a fun time in Michael's cafe disco. In "Company Picnic", when Pam has her ankle examined after injuring it in the company volleyball tournament, the doctor gives her and Jim some surprising news that causes them to be ecstatic; though it is not heard, it is suggested that Pam is pregnant.
[edit] Roy
Pam has dated Roy since high school, but has become so comfortable in the relationship that she ignores his faults. They were engaged for three years without ever setting a wedding date, until Roy set a wedding date during Booze Cruise. Roy openly admits to being attracted to Angela and to Katy (the purse salesgirl) with Pam right next to him. He bosses her around, ignores her at parties, makes fun of her interest in art, and offers her sex as a gift on Valentine's Day. Jim, with a hint of disgust, comments in Season 2 that Pam does not like to "bother" Roy with her "thoughts or feelings" and previously noted that her job and Roy seemed to be the only two problems in Pam's life.
In "The Client," it is revealed that on Pam and Roy's first date, he took her to a minor-league hockey game, brought his brother and left her there when she went to the bathroom and the game ended.
When Jan informs Pam of a graphic arts internship offered by Dunder Mifflin, and Pam expresses enthusiasm, she becomes unsure about taking it after arguing with Roy, who objects to the opportunity (while Jim supports it). Pam elects not to take the internship, saying that the impracticality of it was the deciding factor (followed by a moment of her breaking down into tears), but Roy's role in cajoling her to change her mind is undeniable.
Between Seasons 2 and 3, Pam decides they are no longer engaged nor a couple anymore, which sends Roy into a downward spiral. He eventually gets arrested for driving under the influence, but he also vows to turn his whole life around and become more supportive and friendlier to win Pam back. For a time, this works out for him, as they reconcile and get back together.
However, the reconciliation is ultimately short-lived. In an attempt to be completely honest with Roy, she tells him that Jim kissed her during "Casino Night." Roy reverts to type and becomes violent, which forces Pam to break up with him for a second time. The next day, Roy confronts Jim—but just as he is about to hit him, Dwight steps in and sprays pepper spray in Roy's eyes. Shortly after the altercation, Roy is fired from his job in Dunder Mifflin, and he apologizes to Jim for the incident.
After losing his job, Roy meets up with Pam for lunch and discusses her relationship with Jim, proceeding to tell her that Jim is more deserving of her than he is, as well as encouraging her to at least try to get together with Jim (even though he is dating Karen at the time). After lunch they share one last hug, officially ending their relationship, and part ways. In an edition of the "Dunder Mifflin Newsletter", Daryl writes that he does not keep in contact with Roy and thus doesn't know what Roy's been up to since losing both his job and Pam.
Roy's last name was revealed in the episode "Conflict Resolution" when Angela held Roy's and Pam's wedding invitation up to the camera. Roy's last name is Anderson, which means that if Pam had married Roy, her name would have been Pamela Anderson. Pam makes mention of this at the start of season 4, saying, "Almost marrying Roy Anderson was as close to Pamela Anderson as I want to be".
[edit] Michael
Michael often makes inappropriate jokes about Pam. He tries to cajole Pam into acting romantically with a female blow-up doll during a sexual harassment seminar. A depressed Michael also tries to kiss Pam in the episode "Diwali," and though disgusted by his attempt, she still agrees to drive him home but only if he sits in the back and doesn't talk. In the episode "Job Fair", Michael tells a potential intern how great it would be to work with a babe like Pam, only to then wait until Pam walks away to admit how smart and talented she is but can never tell her that.
Pam and Michael's professional relationship isn't much better. She often must order Michael to do his work, or must deal with him as a mother deals with a child. She covers for Michael by lying to Jan about his location (for example, she tells Jan that Michael was out on a sales call when he was actually asleep at his desk), often finds herself having to perform odd tasks at his request(such as scanning tapes of Dundie Award ceremonies to find "highlights"), and having to come up with various ways to pull Michael out of embarrassing situations.
Michael is generally meaner to Pam in Season 1 than ever in the series. In "Basketball", we see her tell Michael, "Please don't throw garbage at me." Toward the end of the episode, he pretends to fire her from Dunder Mifflin, causing her to break down in tears.
Despite her animosity and his obnoxiousness, Pam and Michael seem to share mutual empathy. When Michael was publicly humiliated at Chili's to the point of cutting the Dundie Awards short, Pam began clapping and cheering wildly to make Michael feel better and change his mind (though she was severely drunk at the time). She also builds a casket for a bird's funeral, and writes a speech using the bird as a metaphor to assure Michael that people love him and he won't die alone. When Pam's first art show is roundly criticized and ignored, Michael shows up and buys one of her paintings which he later hangs in their office. He then fusses about how talented she is, telling her that he is proud of her, lifting the spirits of a teary-eyed Pam. Pam can be very sympathetic towards Michael, and provides him with good relationship advice in "Women's Appreciation." When he confesses that he feels unhappy when he is with Jan, Pam points out that he shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t make him happy. He later seeks her advice again regarding his relationship with Jan.
After moving in with Michael after being fired from her corporate job, Jan begins to suspect that Michael would have an affair with Pam, insinuating that Pam was "peeping" when she walked in on Michael naked and viciously states "he's mine". When Pam and Jim come over to Michael's condo for a dinner party, it is revealed that Michael lied to Jan and told her that he had a romantic past with Pam. Her suspicions are fueled further when Michael offers Pam technical support and gives her his sweater when she gets cold. Pam sarcastically refers to herself as "Michael's former lover" in an interview where she thinks she would be the most likely person out of anyone sitting at the dinner table whose food would be poisoned by Jan.
After Michael breaks up with Jan, Pam sets Michael up with her landlady to help him cope with his new found loneliness, saying she doesn't like seeing Michael depressed. Additionally, when it is revealed that Michael gave Toby a rock as his going away present, she helps Michael save face in front of Holly by having him give Toby his Seyko watch as his actual present.
Michael takes Pam as his driver and personal assistant on his lecture circuit. When Pam tells Michael she's happy she found closure with Karen at the Utica branch, Michael is inspired to go to Nashua to find closure with Holly, which Pam agrees to. When they arrive there and Michael becomes devastated upon learning about Holly's new boyfriend, Pam empathizes with Michael, citing Jim's relationship with Karen, and encourages him to give the best presentation possible so that the employees will tell Holly about it. They try to, but ultimately fail when Michael breaks down in front of everyone, including Holly's new boyfriend. Later, at a diner, when Michael tells Pam about the copied document from Holly's computer, she urges him not to read it, but suggests that she read it herself. Afterward, she deletes it and tells him that Holly still has feelings for him and that it might not be over yet, thus cheering Michael up significantly.
[edit] References
- ^ Age according to Pam Beesly's Myspace
- ^ a b "Job Fair". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job+Fair+%28The+Office+episode%29.
- ^ a b "Boys and Girls". The Office (NBC). February 6, 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys+and+Girls+%28The+Office+episode%29.
- ^ "Company Picnic". The Office (NBC). May 14, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company+Picnic+%28The+Office+episode%29.
- ^ University information according to Pam Beesly's Myspace
- ^ "Local Ad". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local+Ad%28The+Office+episode%29.
- ^ "Women's Appreciation". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s+Appreciation.
- ^ "Fun Run". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun+Run.
- ^ "Survivor Man". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor+Man+%28The+Office+episode%29.
- ^ "Dinner Party". The Office (NBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner+Party+%28The+Office+episode%29.
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