The relationships on The Office were central to the show and its success. Many of the romantic couples in the series made viewers feel quite invested in the story. Jim and Pam were loved by many fans and definitely kept people interested and rooting for them. There were also many other couples such as Michael and Holly and Dwight and Angela that people were invested in. However, when looking back at the show, there are some rather troubling things about many of these relationships.
Here are the ten things about the relationships from The Office that haven’t aged well.
The fact that Erin was basically ed from boyfriend to boyfriend
One flaw of the series was the fact that it often tried to create romantic relationships that just didn’t make sense. The most obvious example of this is with Erin. They never really seemed to know what to do with her character, she was given many boyfriends and none of them ever really had chemistry. Her relationship with Andy got weirder and weirder, and the brief stint with Gabe was even stranger. Also, the relationship with Pete just didn’t resonate.
Jim was actually a pretty selfish boyfriend
While Jim and Pam might be talked about by many as one of the most romantic and adorable couples on television, they weren’t always perfect. Jim had quite a few flaws, and one of his worst was how he treated the other women he dated before Pam. He basically just used Katy, and he even used Karen. He also broke up with them rather unceremoniously, and he spent most of this time pining after Pam.
The extremely messed up dynamics of Dwight and Angela’s relationship
While Dwight and Angela become a couple that is easy to root for in the later seasons, the fact is most of their relationship was pretty messed up. From the multiple different affairs they had with each other, to Dwight killing Angela’s cat and Angela keeping their relationship secret, it wasn’t a great situation. This doesn’t even include the fact that Dwight had some rather outdated views on gender roles.
The way Jim made huge life decisions without consulting Pam
This is another example that shows that Jim isn’t exactly as great as he’s been made out to be. He might have done things that seemed like romantic gestures, but they actually were rather disrespectful to Pam’s part in their partnership.
He would make decisions such as buying a house without her. But, the worst example is everything he did with Athlead without making the decision with Pam.
How Michael treated most of his girlfriends and his sexism
Michael Scott might have a rather cute relationship with Holly Flax, but he was a pretty bad boyfriend overall. He was often someone who crossed boundaries and was rather sexist. He objectified women’s bodies, and was disrespectful to some of the women he dated, such as Helene who he broke up with on her birthday. Overall, Michael got away with being a rather rude and sexist person, and both his employees and fans of the show never critiqued him enough for this.
The way Ryan used Kelly as well as how she acted
While there were quite a few toxic relationships on The Office, the one between Ryan and Kelly was probably one of the worst. These two were both rather selfish and narcissistic people. They both could treat each other poorly, But Ryan was especially bad at using Kelly to get what he wanted whether that was money or attention. He never really seemed to care about her that much.
The fact that Oscar never gets a good romantic storyline
One troubling thing about the series is that there was very little LGBT+ representation. While having Oscar be gay was a good step, he was often the butt of jokes and was expected to just roll with things. And he never was given a positive romance. Much of the latter part of the series focused on him in a relationship with the closeted, conservative Senator Lipton. It would have been much better if the show had given at least one example of positive representation.
There’s a lot of sexism overall
One thing about The Office that many have people pointed out recently is how there’s a lot of sexism as well as racism. Characters such as Michael exhibit these kinds of behaviors but are still written to be lovable and like they aren’t that bad.
It’s hard to tell the line sometimes between what is seen as funny or not. In the relationships, many of the men hold some rather sexist attitudes and that comes out in small ways.
The fact that Roy was actually probably abusive was ignored
While Roy is portrayed to be a jerk and Jim is clearly shown to be the better guy, there’s not enough emphasis on the fact that he was controlling and showed signs of possibly being abusive. This is most apparent when he learns Pam kisses Jim and he gets super angry and begins throwing things at the bar. While he might not have been physically abusive, the way he treated Pam was rather appalling.
The fact that Jan appears to have assaulted Michael
While the men of the show might do some pretty bad things, some of the women do too. Jan is actually shown to be quite abusive in many ways. She's rather mean to Michael and controlling to the point that she doesn't even let him sleep in his own bed, but rather makes him sleep on a small cedar chest at the foot of the bed. However, the worst thing she does is apparently not listen to Michael's safe words and force him to do things in bed he doesn't want to do. Yet, on the show, this is mostly presented as kind of funny.