A Pam And Jim Playlist

The US version of The Office may have started as a carbon-copy of the original UK series, but it deepened into a far richer, more character-based comedy, and has stayed that way for nearly a decade. With just weeks to go before the show’s final episode, a devoted fan contemplates the fate of the show’s central couple, Jim and Pam, in the form of a playlist. It’s been a rocky few months for the pair, so this selection of ‘80s power ballads seems like an appropriate way to chart their trajectory through the show’s final season. Please enjoy.

Eurythmics – ‘Would I Lie To You?’

Jim and Pam are one of the most delightful couples on TV. They’re scrappy, they’re funny, they’re cute – they’re basically perfect. We’ve watched their relationship progress from unrequited office crush all the way through to married domesticity. Jim’s awesome and sweet and wonderful and loyal to Pam above all things, but at the start of the show’s final season, he’s keeping a secret from her.

Paula Abdul – ‘Cold-Hearted’

Some college buddies of his are starting a new business venture – a sports marketing firm in Philadelphia. Pam insists that getting involved is too risky, but Jim, tired of his dead-end job, goes behind her back and agrees to invest anyway. When she realises he might be keeping a secret, her imagination begins to spin wildly out of control. She even suspects him of having an affair, and even after he comes clean, her trust in him actually seems shaken.

Warrant – ‘Cherry Pie’

The more Pam tries to put up a happy front, the angrier she seems to get. It’s not just that Jim was keeping a secret, it’s that everyone in the office seemed to know about it before her. The ever-resourceful Jim goes to desperate lengths to make it okay, even spiriting her away to a rural pie stand. His gifts are always thoughtful (he’s just so damned sweet, after all), but even he seems to know that this diversionary tactic can only buy him so much time. Lies trump pies, even delicious ones.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – ‘Free Fallin’’

You know what’s fun? Fighting about money is fun. Actually, it’s not fun at all. It’s stressful and awful and pretty much the worst. At a meeting with his partners, Jim gets spooked and invests $10,000 of his and Pam’s money in the new company – way more than they had planned. The Office has turned warm and fuzzy in recent years, but this particular storyline feels like a return to the old days, when it was still a show about the gut-wrenching horror of everyday life.

INXS – ‘Never Tear Us Apart’

Jim starts splitting his time between the paper company in Scranton and his new job in Philadelphia, and the separation starts to get to them. The differences between Jim’s shiny new life in Philly and Pam’s stinky old one in Scranton become clear – he has the best day ever playing basketball with one of his heroes, while back at the office, she’s revealed as the cause of a lice infestation. The fun, vivacious Pam of old is starting to seem pretty beaten-down.

Roxette – ‘Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)’

When Pam visits Jim’s fancy new office, one of his co-workers lets slip that he “can’t wait for you to move here”. Pam starts to freak out, realising that she’s not ready to leave her old job and life to move to the big city, while Jim, feeling the pressure of a new job, is distant and grumpy. The couple who used to flirt across the office and hang on eachother’s every word suddenly feel like they have very little in common.

Pat Benatar – ‘Love Is A Battlefield’

If you have any kind of attachment to Pam and Jim (and as a long-time Office fan, it’s hard not to), their blow-up phone-fight feels like the darkest the show has ever gotten. He’s tired and stressed out and can’t make it home for his daughter’s first dance recital, and his blow-up at Pam, when she fails to record it, is a horrible gut-punch. Jim and Pam are great, they’re the kind of couple you’d want to hang out with, which makes it really awful to watch him shout at her until she cries.

Bryan Adams – ‘Run To You’

As Pam sits at her desk crying, a handsome guy from the documentary crew steps into the shot to comfort her. His name is Brian; he’s beardy and scruffy and has clearly been a part of their lives this whole time, and you start to wonder: what is actually going on here? This guy knows Pam and Jim as intimately as we do, and the thought that he might come between them suddenly seems like a possibility.

The Outfield – ‘Your Love’

Brian loses his job after defending Pam during a fight in the parking lot, and at a lunch soon after, the extent of their relationship begins to dawn on Jim. He’s surprised to learn that Brian consoled Pam after their fight and worried to hear that Brian has broken-up with his girlfriend. Back at work, it takes all that Pam has to convince Jim that he should stick around for the night rather than returning early to Philadelphia.

Donna Summer – ‘She Works Hard For The Money’

For the first time, Pam contemplates moving to Philly. She goes to a job interview at a real estate agency, but is spooked when she realises the similarities between her potential boss and the incompetent Michael Scott. Jim’s upbeat about the whole thing and tells her that she’ll find a job eventually, but when she admits that she might not even want to move to Philly, things hit the fan yet again.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – ‘If You Leave’

So Jim and Pam are in a pretty bad place right now. As a fan of the show and of them, I want them to work it out and for everything to be okay. As a fan of good TV, though, I wonder what would happen if The Office had the balls to break Jim and Pam up? It would make for an unhappy ending, but for a show that’s at its best when it’s at its bleakest, that might not be a bad thing. I’m leaning towards a happy ending, but I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

Stream the complete playlist below or on Spotify and think about love and life and Pam and Jim.

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Alasdair Duncan is an author, freelance writer and video game-lover who has had work published in Crikey, The Drum, The Brag, Beat, Rip It Up, The Music Network, Rave Magazine, AXN Cult and Star Observer.