Pam Beesly: Office Villain
Yep. From her first moment on screen in the pilot episode to the series finale, Pamela Morgan Beesly (later Halpert, almost Anderson) is the villain of The Office. She’s a liar. She’s a cheat. She’s a shameless flirt. She’s a terrible, terrible artist. Pam is so very many things and not many of them are good. She’s a basic bitch, a flailing mother, and destroyer of Jim, who I have my issues with as well. He made his choices. Who buys their parent’s house as a “surprise” for someone? Jim is a dummy, for sure, but Pam didn’t do him any favors. There are quite a few layers to this, so let’s start on the surface and get deeper as we go.
Image: Bitch Media
Pam’s Shitty Art
Good lord look at that garbage. Flowers? In a vase? Holy crap, Pam. My mind is blown. A bowl of fruit? Stop it. A mug of coffee? Is it steamy, Pam? Are there little squiggles of steam coming off it? It’s not just that the subjects are boring. The technique, if there even is one, is boring too. The straight parts are crooked and the perspective varies wildly. Objectively, the art is bad. There’s a reason no one stops to check it out. It’s not because Pam is so radical and revolutionary that people don’t “get it”. Gil was being generous when he said it was “hotel art”. Pam should be so lucky to have her trash watercolors anywhere but in the garbage bin or hanging up inside a 3rd-grade classroom. If Pam had any sense of self-reflection she would have taken the offhand remark as a compliment.
Consider this: her only fan is Michael Scott. If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the quality of her work then I don’t know what. Do you have eyes? Are they open? Michael Scott loves her picture. But why? Not because it’s good. No. It’s because it’s ON PAPER. That’s it. If she’d painted the same crap on canvas he wouldn’t have even noticed it. And she is so desperate for any kind of affirmation that she is overjoyed when, again I say, MICHAEL SCOTT buys it. So sad.
And let’s stop with the “her co-workers are selfish” for not going to ger “art show”. You don’t think they knew what was going to be there? They’ve seen her little doodles. I’m sure she’s drawn a bunch of stuff behind that desk. And if she was doing still life of office supplies, do you think she brought them home with her, or is it more likely that she painted them at work? I say her officemates knew exactly what was going to be at that show and they didn’t want to waste a night walking around pretending to be interested like Roy and his brother. Speaking of Roy…
Pammy’s a Liar and a Cheat
Oh hey, look, another life ruined by Ms. Beesly. Yes, Roy is responsible for his actions and he did not need to react violently to anything. The same rules apply to Roy as Jim. Women are not responsible for what they do with their emotions and the decisions they make. But man. Pam wronged Roy and it’s yet another indicator of her poor character, lack of morals, common sense, and decency. Let’s go over some facts.
1) Pam does not love Roy. She doesn’t even seem to like him. When he promises her the “best sex of her life” she seems repulsed by that idea. But not only that. She seems to think him incapable of achieving that degree of pleasure. And why? Because her WAP has eyes for someone else — Jim.
2) Pam is fully aware that she does not want to marry him. And yet, she carries on like she wants to. It can be hard to break an engagement. But to let Scrantonicity get their hopes up is just cruel.
3) Pam lies (via omission) when she gets back with Roy. Of course, Roy would want to know that she kissed Jim when they were STILL ENGAGED AND WEEKS AWAY FROM THEIR WEDDING. Kind of important. And the guilt she displays is evidence that she knows that she’s lying. After getting liquored up, she finally tells Roy so they can have some bullshit “honest” future with each other. But hol’ up. Is Roy’s reaction really a surprise? She knows her man. She knew how he would react. That’s why she did it in public. “Oh, hey hun, just FYI so I feel better, I cheated on you like two months ago with that guy you were always suspicious of. Kiss?” This is no conversation to have in public, let alone surrounded by work colleagues. And yet, Pam was in control of it all.
It isn’t the physical cheating that sends Roy off on a destructive tirade. No. It’s what the physical act has meant to the last several years of their relationship. Roy could live with Jim as an emotional outlet for Pam. He wasn’t all that interested in that stuff. (You might ask yourself here why Pam would be with a man who neglected her emotionally…hmmm…) But by kissing Jim, Pam confirms for Roy that he hasn’t only been an emotional outlet for her. They have a relationship now, far deeper than what Roy and Pam have. And by sealing that pact with a kiss, it’s clear to Roy what Pammy has been up to all these years. Jim isn’t some harmless, mild threat. The fox is in the henhouse eating the chicken.
It’s a devastating thing to realize and it’s especially bad when drunk. Pam may have liked to get on her high horse about his reaction but it couldn’t have gone any better for her. Remember: she did not have to get back with him. She only did that after all her other easy options had dried up and Jim left. He was the safest place for her to go and she lied her way back into his bed. It’s diabolical. Pam sucks.
Pam Sucks. No Really.
Everything this woman has tried to do she has failed at. We’ve already discussed her local art lessons and her shitty watercolors. Bigtime failure there. But hey, we were all beginners once, right? She just needs a little instruction. Pam gets accepted into an NYC art school and pretty much immediately fails her way out of that. Why? Because she can’t pass a beginner’s course. LOL. Naturally, she gives up and drops out.
But ok, maybe that’s not her thing. She’s been answering phones and making copies for years, tough work to be sure. Lots of brain energy going on in Michael Scott’s Scranton office. Opportunistic as always, Pam waits until Michael creates his own paper company, then she leaves her job and uses Michael’s desperation to leverage a job she is in no way qualified to do or good at. Sales. Luckily, before her incompetence is exposed they get bought out, bringing her back to Dunder Mifflin on the sales team. Is her luck any better? Nope. In spite of Jim’s assistance, she fails again and again. And just when it seems like her time on sales is up, she lies to and manipulates another fool into giving her a job that doesn’t even exist.
You’d think that a person who got away with as much sneaking and lying as Pam at this point would be satisfied with their greed. But, as Pam proves, this is more than a phase. It’s a way of life. Grifting isn’t new and Pammy grifts with the best of them, always hiding behind her 5 out of 10 face and bad hair. What does she do with her newfound power? I’ll let her answer:
Look at how happy she is when she says it. That’s not a quirky, funny thing. She’s evil.
“Pam is kind of a Bitch”
Let’s be real about this. Pam does Karen DIRTY. And that’s why she calls her a bitch.
Pam calls her wedding off because she’s in love with Jim…. but doesn’t call him or do anything to contact him? Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. New phone, who dis? No, it’s only when Jim tries to move on and starts dating Karen, who is 1000x hotter than Pam (which also probably means she’s 1000x more work, which seems to be true based on how many episodes featured them having “late night talks” and not in a good way). But Karen seems cool otherwise. She’s clever, a lot smarter than Pam, and far more accomplished. Also, she knows how to dress in a professional work setting. A hint: it’s not like how an old librarian would dress, ratty sweaters, and whatnot. Karen is, in many ways, the opposite of Pam. And it’s a credit to the writers for creating such a good contrast.
Best of all? Karen and Jim really seemed to like each other! If not for Pam’s incessant meddling, who knows where they could have ended up. Maybe in NYC living the life in Brooklyn. Was working at Dunder Mifflin Corporate Jim’s dream? No. But when his dream did finally come along he’d have been making a lot more money and would have been able to invest more. He also could have moved and served the business better. But no. GOTTA CONSIDER OL’ WET BLANKET PAM.
But Pam’s worst behavior comes at the firewalk. She brings shit up about the art show. She spills the tea about Jim, RIGHT IN FRONT OF KAREN. And how does she address this? She gives Karen and Jim permission to be together. “It’s fine,” she says. Thanks, Pam. I’m sure Karen appreciates that. Pam wraps things up by again noting that she really only cares about Jim and everyone else can fuck off. Jeez, Pam, I wonder why they didn’t go to your art show?
Poor Stupid Jim
Once again, to be clear, this is not a piece about how a woman ruined a man. No. Men are quite capable of making their own decisions and doing what they think is best based on the circumstances. Jim didn’t have to get with Pam. He could have stayed with Karen. His life is his own choice. It’s unfortunate he fell in love with someone as horrible as Pam.
Call me old fashioned but I don’t think women who are engaged should be carrying on with single men like how Pam does with Jim. I would say the same of engaged men as well. Years, literally years, go by as the two of them build their secret romance, all right under Roy’s nose. It isn’t a friendship and they both know it. When we meet them they are already very clearly in love. This isn’t a story about how two people fell in love and, against all odds, made it together. No. That all happened before season one. The affair is happening in the pilot. Jim is in love with a (soon-to-be) married woman. And instead of doing the respectable and honorable thing, AT WORK MIND YOU, she goes full bore into it. She is cheating on Roy in every meaningful way. And yet, we’re supposed to think that she is our hero?
Ladies, ask yourself how you’d want your man (or woman) to behave at work? Imagine you’re Roy. Think about all the closeness Pam and Jim share. How badly their bodies clearly want to bang. You’re OK with this? Sure, I guess, Pam and Jim are romantic. But most people consider Romeo and Juliet romantic and that ends with teenage suicide! That’s not an excuse to cheat!
Pam messes with Jim throughout the run of the show. She denies him, more than once, so he moves on. And then when Fate brings them back together, she wedges herself, multiple times, between him and Karen. Eventually, they break up, leaving Jim available to ask Pam out. His first mistake.
“Bro, she didn’t want you for years. Think of how many times she and Roy boned while the two of you were in love. It’s a lot. And it means something. But now, you get Karen, who’s awesome btw and suddenly she’s into you and walking on fire and shit? Dude, she wouldn’t even give you a minute of hope that you had a future. She was clear. Fuck her man, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
That’s what I would have said to Jim if he had any friends (which we never really see on the show). I don’t think he does since he invited his office over to his place for a BBQ and they were like the only people there. We’ve all been where Jim is at some point in life. Loving someone more than they love us. It gives all the power to that person. It’s only through mutual love and grace that the balance can be restored. Pam ain’t about that though. She wants power. She might have been a doormat for Roy. But that was a means to an end. From now on, she’ll be calling the shots. Look at her face in the clip where Jim brings her to the home that he bought. She’s super unhappy until she realizes that she’s getting some prime real estate (the studio) and a good deal. That’s Pammy for you.
The worst aspect of Pam and Jim’s relationship has to do with Athelead, a terribly yet accurately named sports management company that Jim starts with his buddies. As we covered, Jim would have had more money to put in if he’d taken the job with corporate and left Pam the Banshee behind. But alas. Look at his behavior. Is he honest with Pam? Nope. He don’t want mama to shoot him down. So he goes behind her back, something they are both VERY good at, and invests without telling her. Sneaky sneaky! But if he thought for one second that Pam would support him and encourage his dreams, he wouldn’t have. That speaks volumes as to where they are in their relationship.
It ends slightly happy for Jim, with the family relocating to Texas so he can pursue his dream job, years deferred, and under duress. I’d wager that one, if not both of them, have since cheated on each other and aren’t together anymore. What makes you think they’d change? Pam has shown that she will always pursue her own interests over others. I bet the only reason she moved from Scranton was to get away from the guilt of WHATEVER was going on between her and the sound guy. Jim had a hot chick younger than him explicitly throwing herself at him. She was in his bed! And he didn’t do anything. Yet Pammy can’t last a few months with Jim working crazy long hours without needing that handsome shoulder to cry on. Sure, Cathy was fucking crazy. But he ain’t marrying her neither.
What else can I say? I’m sure there’s more evidence of Pam’s rottenness out there that I missed. She’s not a good person. She’s a bad, uninspired artist. She’s not very bright but she IS clever. A rat will never cure cancer but it can find its way out of tight spots. That’s Pam. A lying, cheating, dirty rat.