No Characters Will Be More Traumatized Than Jim And Pam's Children In 'The Office'
It's hard to believe that there's a more iconic television love story than Jim and Pam's will-they-wont-they-okay-they-did-it-now-what romance from The Office. You'd think NBC owned Tinder considering all of the profiles saying, "I'm just a Pam looking for her Jim," yet for all of the Pam/ Jim love buzzing about, there are two people who might look back on this Office romance and feel a bit of disgust. I'm talking, of course, about Jim and Pam's kids.
Remember, The Office is a sitcom to us, but it is a docuseries in the reality of The Office universe. The docuseries is released to the public in the finale, and the workers of Dunder Mifflin become minor celebrities as a result, even attracting a full audience to their tell-all panel. I wouldn't put them on the level of saying the Kardashians in terms of visibility, but the moments are in some ways more intimate than anything you'd see on typical reality television. (Probably because of all of the hidden camera work.)
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Still, the characters then seemingly move on with their lives, but you have to wonder how weird it must be for the children of these characters, specifically Cecelia and Phillip Halpert. I mean, you know how it can be kind of icky as a kid when your parents kiss in front of you, and they then hold the smooch for a couple of beats too long? Now imagine that feeling, but amplify it by the length of a long-ass documentary. Imagine seeing your mom shacking up with some guy named Roy, or imagine how hard it would be to respect your dad after he coldly dumps his girlfriend on a cruise. Hell, what do you say to your friends when they bring up how there is footage of your horned up parents sneaking around a warehouse looking for a place to smash or footage of your mom flirting with her boss to get a desk chair.
But this problem breaks in the other way too. It's not just that your parents' love-story is icky to watch. It's also that it is, by everyone else's account, the greatest love story ever told. Phillip and CeeCee are going to struggle not to hold every relationship up to this rom-com standard, whether they are conscious of it or not. It's a frustrating psychological problem to have, and I wouldn't envy them, no matter who I was -- except maybe if I was Dwight and Angela's kid:
He's going to have much bigger psychological fish to fry.
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Top Image: NBC
