![the office pretzel day the office pretzel day](https://res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s--s6Re9Oj1--/t_Resized%20Artwork/c_fit,g_north_west,h_954,w_954/co_000000,e_outline:48/co_000000,e_outline:inner_fill:48/co_ffffff,e_outline:48/co_ffffff,e_outline:inner_fill:48/co_bbbbbb,e_outline:3:1000/c_mpad,g_center,h_1260,w_1260/b_rgb:eeeeee/c_limit,f_auto,h_630,q_90,w_630/v1608747412/production/designs/17796754_0.jpg)
The strained, awkward silences and utterances of “what was I going to say” were clear indicators that this is a couple that doesn’t know how to talk to each other. The scene at the beginning of this episode saw Pam and Jim going through the motions on their latest long-distance call Jim was barely even trying with that “let’s not let that happen” retort to the idea of his daughters calling him by his proper name. Not just fancy-cable-drama real, but real-life real. The slow disintegration of their relationship because of lack of communication and inability to tell each other how they really feel, and Jim feeling he deserves to be successful but poorly balancing his home and work life … it all feels very real. The other reason I admire this plotline is because I continually find myself surprised that The Office has this level of verisimilitude in it at this late stage. Even though it might be an act of desperation to bring attention to a show on its last legs, it still takes courage for the writers to portray the Halperts not as an idealized version of a relationship, but as a realistic one, with all the tensions, miscommunications, and rough patches that every couple faces. Sure, it’s ultimately just a show and a couple of telegenic actors reading lines, but as an audience we’ve grown up along with these characters, and the bond feels real. To a generation of young television viewers, they’re almost a sacred text of a relationship.
![the office pretzel day the office pretzel day](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InfantileFailingBarb-size_restricted.gif)
We’ve seen Pam and Jim awkwardly flirt we’ve seen Jim get shot down and Pam pine for him we’ve seen them finally get together and get married and have kids. So if I appreciated the way the show left Pam and Jim alone, why am I praising the way it’s now picking apart their relationship? For one thing, I just admire Greg Daniels and company’s guts. The writers sometimes struggled to find material for these two outside of the relationship (it really should have committed to the Jim becomes the New Michael plot point it used to continually walk up to before scurrying in the other direction, though I guess this complaint is a few seasons old), but the show’s refusal to accept the inherent idea that married people can’t be funny or dramatically interesting was refreshing. There was no “we were on a break” plot machinations à la Friends or near constant relationship status reversals like on Cheers, just two crazy kids in love making it work. One of the things I admire most about The Office was the way that, after a few seasons of fraught courtship, the show’s writers were content to just let Jim and Pam be a couple.