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Fans Of 'The Office' Are Saying Cathy Was The Same As Jim... Here's Why They're Wrong

Since its original premiere in 2005, NBC's comedy The Office has steadily won reputation yr after yr. Now, a decade and a part later, it is one of the most beloved tv collection of all time, proper up there with giants like Cheers, Seinfeld, and Friends.

With all that reputation, there naturally comes so much of debate and dialogue. Some issues are lovely universally agreed upon, like that you'll't assist but love Michael or that David Wallace can get it, but different issues are a little more arguable or turn out to be extra controversial over time.

It is smart: If you watch something sufficient occasions, you are going to start to have a look at it another way, and see things you never did before. This can sometimes lead to a couple lovely hot takes.

One of the most recent discussions is set the minor personality Cathy from Season 8. Cathy comes on as a temp to replace Pam as place of business administrator when she goes on maternity depart. She ends up sticking around for just a little after Pam comes again, and when some of the workers get sent on a industry commute to Tallahassee, she is going with them... and so does Jim.

This is the place the drama begins. Before she is going, you see her on the phone together with her buddy, saying Jim and Pam's marriage is "not good" and he or she's "definitely going to hook up" with him. During the commute, her attempts to flirt with him get increasingly overt, (and increasingly weird), till it culminates in her pretending the heating in her room is damaged, coming to Jim's room in her pajamas, sitting method too with regards to him, and making an attempt means too hard to get in between his sheets, literally.

Obviously, we as the target market are meant to hate Cathy. She's seeking to come between the two characters who, at the time, are the happiest couple on the display, and she or he's being in point of fact malicious about it. However, some other people are now arguing that what Cathy did is no worse than what Jim did with Pam in the first two seasons.

Now, for those who take a look at that argument on paper, (and don't take into consideration it for too long,) it does sort of make sense: Jim was flirting with an engaged girl, Cathy was flirting with a married guy. Both issues are, technically, wrong. But, as with maximum issues in lifestyles, it gets more complicated while you look at the details of the scenario.

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First Off, Their Marriage Was Rock Solid

There's no telling the place Cathy were given her impression that Jim and Pam's marriage was dangerous. Remember, this was earlier than Athlead. Pam and Jim by no means had a big fight earlier than that.

Maybe it was just that she wasn't round them sufficient (she was only there as a result of Pam wasn't, in spite of everything), and did not see how deeply in love they were. Maybe she simply heard what she sought after to listen to once they occasionally bickered in the place of work. Maybe she simply does not know what love looks like (her awkward attempts at flirting no doubt appear to signify so).

Regardless, she's wrong, and Jim and Pam are an overly robust couple. Just a little stressed with the new baby, perhaps, but very sturdy.

Pam and Roy, in the meantime, were not. Roy omitted Pam emotionally. He did not like to hear her issues, did not do things for her except he was doing it to "earn himself points," and he purchased a couple of WaveRunners with the cash that was supposed to be for their marriage ceremony.

Simply seeing that somebody's relationship isn't going neatly isn't actually an excuse to check out to wedge your self in there, however it at least makes you (slightly) less of a jerk. At least if you'll be able to see an individual is being emotionally overlooked, you might be filling a need in their life. Which brings us to our next level...

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Jim and Pam Were In Love... Cathy Was Just Pushy

The line between flirting and friendship was at all times very blurry with Jim and Pam as a result of they have been so shut to begin with. The two had a deep emotional connection, and their friendship was crucial to each of them. It's exhausting to be too disappointed at Jim for flirting with Pam because it was almost definitely unavoidable from time to time. You cannot lend a hand falling in love with someone, and if you're buddies with them, every now and then just goofing around is going to turn out to be flirting.

If Jim had stopped being pals with Pam just because he didn't want to risk flirting together with her, he would no longer most effective have made them both sad, but it additionally would have type of devalued Pam's personhood. If Jim halted his friendship with Pam just because he could not be along with her romantically, it will be like saying he handiest wanted a relationship along with her if it had been a romantic one. Simply the truth that he is keen to sit off to the aspect and just be her buddy displays how in point of fact he all the time liked her.

Cathy, meanwhile, was no longer that close with Jim. They don't even hang around that much when they're down in Florida in combination. Jim spends extra time with Stanley than he does with her. When she flirts with him it is not natural, both. She's not joking round with him, nothing she's doing could also be disguised as friendship. All she does is act dumber than she is, talk about herself, and check out to not-so-surreptitiously get Jim to the touch her in several ways.

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Even when Jim does after all open up and take his emotions out of the shadows, he does so through telling Pam he loves her, no longer by means of putting her in an uncomfortable scenario that she could not break out.

That's some other main distinction: When Jim flirted with Pam, Pam flirted again. And when Pam gave any indication that she was uncomfortable, Jim sponsored off. Cathy did not come up with the money for Jim the same courtesy. Jim made it identified, both through frame language and by way of explicitly, verbally telling her, that he was now not buying what she was selling, and she persisted anyway. Yikes.

The flirting between Jim and Pam was emotional, mutual, and charged through friendship and love. Cathy was simply seeking to get into bed with Jim, and he or she was in reality creepy about it. Cathy and Jim are no longer analogous characters at all.

NEXT: The Office: 15 Little-Known Details About Jim And Pam's Relationship BTS

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Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-04-12