Hi all-- new here, and had to literally join LJ today (and grab a cute supertvjunkie icon) to vent about this episode among folks whose work and thoughts I've quietly enjoyed for a while now. I finally got to see it this morning after having recently caught up on season 4 and am feeling really empty and let down about MJ. They are by far my favorite part of the series-- the reason I watch frankly, and I hate what has been done to them, to Jan in particular. I haven't enjoyed the show as I used to since late season 3, and I'll be bummed if it never turns around again.
First of all, what the hell has happened to Jan??? Where did she go?? Who is this tracksuited cartoon character? I saw realJan briefly during Money, but seriously... what happened? PG by a sperm bank? Seriously?
Next, what the hell happened to Michael?? He's been woobified and that bugs me to no end.
Thirdly, who the hell is this Holly person and when will she be leaving?? I mean, she's nice and all, but she's gotta go. I need a "Something's wrong with Holly" moment when Michael finds out she's too good to be true. Or just hook her up with Kevin, whatever.
They need to rebuild Jan. Get her out of Scranton and back to NYC, to take back the position Ryan suddenly vacated, or David's job for that matter, when top management decides the company simply cannot survive without her genius. Have her do her damnedest to forget Michael and put him behind her as a part of a nervous breakdown she had after being fired. Make her ice boss lady again, but give her back her sanity, smarts and skills-- hey, do it for the baby-- and let Michael remember/realize what it is about her he loved and lost.
As for Jan's feelings about Michael, let her fight them even as they have to work together to fix Ryan's mess and get DM back on track. She should be aloof, but still have love for him despite her better judgment. In other words, I want them to back this train up a ways to move forward.
At the end of the day, Holly should = Karen, and I hope that is where they take this. If they keep Jan a crazy hanger-on and/or phase her out, I'm sadly done.
Anyway, thanks for reading and for all the awesome MJ material and discussion you've generated!
Welcome to Live Journal and welcome to Without a Thought :)
You sound like you're a big fan of season 2, as am I. That season was really the best for Jan, I'd say. It was really difficult to go from those nervous glances to the camera to safety words, boob jobs, and the possible deflowering of one Hunter James Van Der Beek. They could have written her nervous breakdown in a much more realistic way and still have made it pretty damn hilarious. All they needed to do was have Michael talk about their relationship more after Back from Vacation. He may have been blinded by love during that time but I'm sure he'd have some strange details to offer to the camera. It would have just made all of us say "Okay. So Jan's a little kinky. And nuts. And this can't be good for their relationship." Which is a lot better than the reaction we all had when we found about the details of Women's Appreciation. I was shocked and disgusted when that stuff came out before that ep aired. That show used to be incredibly subtle in its writing. It was just too much of a change from that formula, I guess. And Jan was never the same again. As for Michael, I don't know how I feel about how the writers are treating him. I feel like every time that man seems to be getting one step up in the world and feeling even a little bit happy, they just decide that no one would find him funny this way and he slips back into the lonely, socially retarded man-child again. It's just one extreme to another for both Michael and Jan, together and as individual characters. And it just doesn't make sense. I don't know. We'll have to see how this current storyline comes together (hopefully) in Season Five. Maybe the writers will surprise us and reveal things about Jan that will make a lot of previous incidents make a little more sense to everyone.
Yes, Women's Appreciation was written by the devil. Michael, near tears talking about his humiliation by Jan (to half the population of the office no less)-- was that supposed to be funny? It was hateful and ugly and really the beginning of a whole other show for me.
I just felt at that point that someone felt Jan had to be taken down hard, and it sucked. And it was lazy. Here was this great, yes, flawed character who despite everything remained relatable and even sympathetic, and suddenly she was some sort of sexual predator who made Michael a miserable wreck. I kept hoping they'd come back and fix Michael's POV with the "truth" (maybe via hidden camera, I don't know...) but it never happened. Still waiting for that.
I have to say here that I do still love Jan, and want MJ despite everything, and can only hope all of this idiocy will get fixed/explained, perhaps revealing the limitations of the documentary crew in capturing "reality". There's got to be some glimmer of hope, right?
First of all, what the hell has happened to Jan??? Where did she go?? Who is this tracksuited cartoon character? I saw realJan briefly during Money, but seriously... what happened? PG by a sperm bank? Seriously?
Next, what the hell happened to Michael?? He's been woobified and that bugs me to no end.
Thirdly, who the hell is this Holly person and when will she be leaving?? I mean, she's nice and all, but she's gotta go. I need a "Something's wrong with Holly" moment when Michael finds out she's too good to be true. Or just hook her up with Kevin, whatever.
They need to rebuild Jan. Get her out of Scranton and back to NYC, to take back the position Ryan suddenly vacated, or David's job for that matter, when top management decides the company simply cannot survive without her genius. Have her do her damnedest to forget Michael and put him behind her as a part of a nervous breakdown she had after being fired. Make her ice boss lady again, but give her back her sanity, smarts and skills-- hey, do it for the baby-- and let Michael remember/realize what it is about her he loved and lost.
As for Jan's feelings about Michael, let her fight them even as they have to work together to fix Ryan's mess and get DM back on track. She should be aloof, but still have love for him despite her better judgment. In other words, I want them to back this train up a ways to move forward.
At the end of the day, Holly should = Karen, and I hope that is where they take this. If they keep Jan a crazy hanger-on and/or phase her out, I'm sadly done.
Anyway, thanks for reading and for all the awesome MJ material and discussion you've generated!
Reply
You sound like you're a big fan of season 2, as am I. That season was really the best for Jan, I'd say. It was really difficult to go from those nervous glances to the camera to safety words, boob jobs, and the possible deflowering of one Hunter James Van Der Beek. They could have written her nervous breakdown in a much more realistic way and still have made it pretty damn hilarious. All they needed to do was have Michael talk about their relationship more after Back from Vacation. He may have been blinded by love during that time but I'm sure he'd have some strange details to offer to the camera. It would have just made all of us say "Okay. So Jan's a little kinky. And nuts. And this can't be good for their relationship." Which is a lot better than the reaction we all had when we found about the details of Women's Appreciation. I was shocked and disgusted when that stuff came out before that ep aired. That show used to be incredibly subtle in its writing. It was just too much of a change from that formula, I guess. And Jan was never the same again. As for Michael, I don't know how I feel about how the writers are treating him. I feel like every time that man seems to be getting one step up in the world and feeling even a little bit happy, they just decide that no one would find him funny this way and he slips back into the lonely, socially retarded man-child again. It's just one extreme to another for both Michael and Jan, together and as individual characters. And it just doesn't make sense. I don't know. We'll have to see how this current storyline comes together (hopefully) in Season Five. Maybe the writers will surprise us and reveal things about Jan that will make a lot of previous incidents make a little more sense to everyone.
Reply
Yes, Women's Appreciation was written by the devil. Michael, near tears talking about his humiliation by Jan (to half the population of the office no less)-- was that supposed to be funny? It was hateful and ugly and really the beginning of a whole other show for me.
I just felt at that point that someone felt Jan had to be taken down hard, and it sucked. And it was lazy. Here was this great, yes, flawed character who despite everything remained relatable and even sympathetic, and suddenly she was some sort of sexual predator who made Michael a miserable wreck. I kept hoping they'd come back and fix Michael's POV with the "truth" (maybe via hidden camera, I don't know...) but it never happened. Still waiting for that.
I have to say here that I do still love Jan, and want MJ despite everything, and can only hope all of this idiocy will get fixed/explained, perhaps revealing the limitations of the documentary crew in capturing "reality". There's got to be some glimmer of hope, right?
Reply
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