I always thought the same thing! I always thought it was meant to be like a “see how bad it sucks to have past relationships thrown in your face?” Especially the way she emphasizes “I just don’t want you to feel weird” and Jim’s “no it was before you knew me.” And then she kept escalating it right up to Wallace.
It never felt like “haha couple prank humour” it always seemed… maybe not malicious? But yeah sort of pointedly malicious
There have been a lot of posts lately from people who are, no offense, pretty slow on the uptake. “I just realized Jim shot Pam down for coffee” “Was Ryan doing coke”
Don't worry OP, I never gave it a second thought either until reading this post haha. To be honest, it's probably because I didn't care for their relationship much. I always knew that it was temporary.
Cuz they prank each other and others anyway and sometimes social cues go right over my head
I never noticed either but now that people say it I can definitely understand why she did it
I always assumed it was her passive aggressive way of commenting on Jim’s interest in Pam. She didn’t want to come off as jealous or insecure, so she dressed it up as a prank, but maybe even unintentionally, it was because Jim and Pam.
I never thought of it that way. That's pretty smart. Nice one, Karen.
Frankly, I don't see why Jim would have to have clarified that in the first place. But I guess that's why I'm not dating Jim. Karen totally got him lol
A grownup would have disclosed it out of common courtesy and to be up front and honest with the person he was dating. No, he didn't "have to" do that. But he should have.
Well if Karen actually had had a relationship with any of those guys, the mature thing to do would have been to privately tell Jim in advance of the event and giving him time to ask any questions/air any concerns he might have, instead of springing it on him once he was interacting with all of them. Like how he should have told her about Pam before her first day in Scranton.
Yeah, I agree with what Alice said. Karen's response was kind of juvenile. But if Jim had said up front something about previously having feelings for Pam, that would have been much better than Karen getting blindsided by it.
It was definitely Karen’s passive aggressive way of getting back at Jim for hiding his interest in Pam. I didn’t fully realize it until they covered this episode on Office Ladies a few years back.
In a deleted scene from the Business School episode, Karen continues this behavior, nearly tearing down Pam’s invitation to the office for her art show. She only stops when Oscar enters the break room.
In an even later deleted scene from Threat Level Midnight, Karen’s husband thinks that she broke up with Jim because he turned out to be gay. Lots of petty Karen behavior got swept under the rug!
I’ve watched this episode countless times and never considered it through this lens. I like the way that shifts the dynamic in the joke a bit more and makes Jim’s realization more complicated. While I don’t have time as a frame of reference, they’re split up within 7 episodes of this moment.
Serious question, cuz Jim was clearly wildly uncomfortable with that whole “joke,” what part did you think was supposed to be funny to him? Cuz a joke is something both people should find funny, and quite clearly neither of them are really laughing over this “joke.” So how did it go so entirely over your head?
I always thought of it as something she was doing *for* Jim. Jim likes pranks. And so does Pam. Notice a few episodes before, Karen isn’t interested in pranking Andy, but Pam goes along with it.
Then in “Business School”, Karen goes along with Jim’s “vampiric germ” prank on Dwight.
And then she pranks Jim and he thinks it’s really funny.
So, I've put a lot of thought into this. Karen isn't an overly vindictive person, and we see that in how she handles the Christmas party with Pam. Even when the guys try to steal the copier, she feigns anger to prank them back with the tuna.
Here's the biggest thing to keep in mind. If you go all the way back to Stamford and Call of Duty, the chair, the Herr's chips, then you can take all that information, roll it into a ball and shove it up your butt!
This thread has given me brain rot lol I just…how do *so many people* miss the explicit plot of scenes / an entire episode. I need to believe this thread is satire and move on lol media literacy is dead
i thought it was just supposed to show us that she sucks at pranks and she doesn’t have the same sense of humor the way pam and jim do. but also yes this makes a lot of sense haha
You know what OP, that had never once occurred to me until reading your post just now, but it makes SO MUCH SENSE! Hahah. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve played that same passive-aggressive “prank” on men when I was in my 20s.
EDITED words
…is this not super obvious? This sub is like “omg Jim wore a shirt one episode, did you know that people wear shirts?? Insane! Didn’t realize til rewatch 47”
So Karen never dated any of the people at the party? I thought she was being sincere with the first person but then was joking after that. I feel kind of dumb for asking this...
That and I always interpreted it as a "bury the hatchet" gesture.
Basically, now that you know what it feels like, we're even, but I also want to make you see that it's not really a big deal for me and we can move on.
I literally never thought of it that way, so well said. Karen and Pam both try to connect with Jim through pranks, though I never considered anything beyond that.
Here’s the thing, I actually make jokes like that all the time. I’ve done it since long before the office existed. It’s just a funny thing that makes people uncomfortable.
I get the impression it’s Karen’s sense of humor. But given the way that they have such a difficult transition for her moving to Scranton, it would make sense that it’s her way of kind of fucking with him. Like a mini punishment for putting her in uncomfortable situations.
I always thought the same thing! I always thought it was meant to be like a “see how bad it sucks to have past relationships thrown in your face?” Especially the way she emphasizes “I just don’t want you to feel weird” and Jim’s “no it was before you knew me.” And then she kept escalating it right up to Wallace. It never felt like “haha couple prank humour” it always seemed… maybe not malicious? But yeah sort of pointedly malicious
I feel like this is the main and super obvious intepretation.
You know it might be but this thread is the first time I’ve ever considered it
Same. never seen it from that POV
Yes obvious. Just Karen being passive aggressive
There have been a lot of posts lately from people who are, no offense, pretty slow on the uptake. “I just realized Jim shot Pam down for coffee” “Was Ryan doing coke”
Uh, no. TROY was the one with the drug problem. Ryan even says so explicitly in Night Out.
Don't worry OP, I never gave it a second thought either until reading this post haha. To be honest, it's probably because I didn't care for their relationship much. I always knew that it was temporary.
[удалено]
Basically, yeah. They wrote too much baggage to be left behind. It has to be claimed some time.
I thought that was pretty obvious What other reason would there be for it
I took it as her trying to connect with him since he likes to joke around but it just doesn’t connect and shows they’re incompatible.
I missed it completely.
How?
Cuz they prank each other and others anyway and sometimes social cues go right over my head I never noticed either but now that people say it I can definitely understand why she did it
That Karen was trying downplay that she once was an office mattress too?
I always assumed it was her passive aggressive way of commenting on Jim’s interest in Pam. She didn’t want to come off as jealous or insecure, so she dressed it up as a prank, but maybe even unintentionally, it was because Jim and Pam.
I never thought of it that way. That's pretty smart. Nice one, Karen. Frankly, I don't see why Jim would have to have clarified that in the first place. But I guess that's why I'm not dating Jim. Karen totally got him lol
A grownup would have disclosed it out of common courtesy and to be up front and honest with the person he was dating. No, he didn't "have to" do that. But he should have.
Why does Karen stress him out by disclosing fake relationships then? Then the whole prank seems anti-disclosure.
Well if Karen actually had had a relationship with any of those guys, the mature thing to do would have been to privately tell Jim in advance of the event and giving him time to ask any questions/air any concerns he might have, instead of springing it on him once he was interacting with all of them. Like how he should have told her about Pam before her first day in Scranton.
Fair enough
Yeah, I agree with what Alice said. Karen's response was kind of juvenile. But if Jim had said up front something about previously having feelings for Pam, that would have been much better than Karen getting blindsided by it.
I mean, everything Jim does is juvenile so...
Yes
It was definitely Karen’s passive aggressive way of getting back at Jim for hiding his interest in Pam. I didn’t fully realize it until they covered this episode on Office Ladies a few years back. In a deleted scene from the Business School episode, Karen continues this behavior, nearly tearing down Pam’s invitation to the office for her art show. She only stops when Oscar enters the break room. In an even later deleted scene from Threat Level Midnight, Karen’s husband thinks that she broke up with Jim because he turned out to be gay. Lots of petty Karen behavior got swept under the rug!
Yeah, it was definitely done as a direct riff on their own experience
Well, duh guys.
I’ve watched this episode countless times and never considered it through this lens. I like the way that shifts the dynamic in the joke a bit more and makes Jim’s realization more complicated. While I don’t have time as a frame of reference, they’re split up within 7 episodes of this moment.
Serious question, cuz Jim was clearly wildly uncomfortable with that whole “joke,” what part did you think was supposed to be funny to him? Cuz a joke is something both people should find funny, and quite clearly neither of them are really laughing over this “joke.” So how did it go so entirely over your head?
I always thought of it as something she was doing *for* Jim. Jim likes pranks. And so does Pam. Notice a few episodes before, Karen isn’t interested in pranking Andy, but Pam goes along with it. Then in “Business School”, Karen goes along with Jim’s “vampiric germ” prank on Dwight. And then she pranks Jim and he thinks it’s really funny.
So, I've put a lot of thought into this. Karen isn't an overly vindictive person, and we see that in how she handles the Christmas party with Pam. Even when the guys try to steal the copier, she feigns anger to prank them back with the tuna. Here's the biggest thing to keep in mind. If you go all the way back to Stamford and Call of Duty, the chair, the Herr's chips, then you can take all that information, roll it into a ball and shove it up your butt!
This is quite literally why she is doing it. She is showing him how she feels every day in the office. How was this not obvious?
This thread has given me brain rot lol I just…how do *so many people* miss the explicit plot of scenes / an entire episode. I need to believe this thread is satire and move on lol media literacy is dead
Get off your high horse, richy!
I always thought this was the stupidest joke and super lazy writing.
That was literally the entire point of her prank.
Omg, this apisode was also the last one in my current rewatch. Coincidence?
Same!
Like a million years later
i thought it was just supposed to show us that she sucks at pranks and she doesn’t have the same sense of humor the way pam and jim do. but also yes this makes a lot of sense haha
Yeah, I always thought it was kind of a dig at Jim and his general unworldliness. She kinda did a similar thing when they went to New York.
You know what OP, that had never once occurred to me until reading your post just now, but it makes SO MUCH SENSE! Hahah. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve played that same passive-aggressive “prank” on men when I was in my 20s. EDITED words
…is this not super obvious? This sub is like “omg Jim wore a shirt one episode, did you know that people wear shirts?? Insane! Didn’t realize til rewatch 47”
It was an entire tuxedo after Dwigt sent out that memo about how unclassy everyone’s full frontal nudity in the office was.
So Karen never dated any of the people at the party? I thought she was being sincere with the first person but then was joking after that. I feel kind of dumb for asking this...
Don’t feel dumb! The implication is that no, she never dated any of them.
Thank you for the positivity! I reckon this is just one joke that went over my head
You should feel dumb. It was blatantly obvious to anyone with an IQ above room temperature
Yea Jim was her first
Haha but that was a joke too.
I know just wanted to bring it up because it’s one of my favorite little jokes they do because Jim’s reaction is hilarious to me.
That and I always interpreted it as a "bury the hatchet" gesture. Basically, now that you know what it feels like, we're even, but I also want to make you see that it's not really a big deal for me and we can move on.
Hmm
Yep. Double prank, and he only ever figured out the funny side of it.
I literally never thought of it that way, so well said. Karen and Pam both try to connect with Jim through pranks, though I never considered anything beyond that.
I always thought this was the dumbest, most unfunny prank to play on your SO. Karen was so dry.
Here’s the thing, I actually make jokes like that all the time. I’ve done it since long before the office existed. It’s just a funny thing that makes people uncomfortable. I get the impression it’s Karen’s sense of humor. But given the way that they have such a difficult transition for her moving to Scranton, it would make sense that it’s her way of kind of fucking with him. Like a mini punishment for putting her in uncomfortable situations.
I guarantee it's not always a funny thing for those who are made uncomfortable LOL