An Introduction and Analysis of Karen

Greetings. I am the American to this Canadian's craziness. I just want to say, maybe as warning, that I am not the world best writer/blogger/storyteller. I am going to try my best to make sure that things make sense and that my grammar and punctuation are top notch. With that said, again Greetings. Welcome to the Canadian-American Office Alliance. This endeavor was dreamt up while the two of us where waiting in line for the Writer's Block at the Office Convention in Scranton. We, I guess I can speak for we, are fanatic fans of The Office. One being Canadian and the other American. I guess our mission statement is "To provide an analysis, insights, and ramblings of the television show The Office from both a prospective of a Canadian and an American". (OMG! I totally just wrote a mission statement for our blog!) FYI: I should also put it out there that I am a huge PB&J fan!! HUGE!

Now that the introduction is out of the way...On to the true meaning of this post:

As Christina as oh so lovingly posted in "Who's from Scranton?", my analysis will be over Karen. Why did she move to Scranton and would she have fit in? I should state that this analysis... er statement, comes from a question that the creator Greg Daniels asked: "What do you think of Scranton"? I took this question as more of who do you think would actually be from Scranton.

Karen. When she was first introduced, she was seen as just Jim's co-worker. She was supposed to be someone who would bide his time until Jim returned to Scranton and hopefully into the arms of dear Pam. However, Karen has a character flaw and it comes from the fact that the writers did a poor job when it came to understanding just who Karen was. Karen in the end was never was meant to stay. When it came time to shut down the Stamford branch, it was unclear who was going to stay with Dunder-Mifflin. It was eluded to that Karen just maybe has feelings for Jim and that maybe she would move hundreds of miles away for a man she had only meet 6 months earlier. By the time "The Merger" aired, Karen is settling in at the Scranton Days Inn mindless working at the Scranton branch. This becomes the start of a stretch for me. (I moved a thousand miles away for school, but not before I came to visit a few times.) It is unclear whether Karen had ever been to Scranton or even heard of it. Why would Karen move hundreds of miles away to Scranton without a reason. During this big move, Karen and Jim started dating. Now, is this because Jim really liked Karen or was it because this woman just moved to a new city and he felt that it was something he should try to help him cope with seeing Pam on a regular basis? I have to say personally I see it as the latter. Since the writers did properly give Karen a back story and a reason for wanting her to stay for me Karen is just as filler to Jim. (She is simply a plot device to help push Pam in the right direction...)

After visiting Scranton, I truly tried to imagine Karen (and the others) walking down Adams Ave. or any other Scranton street. Scranton is a beautiful town. However, even though the population is around 75,000 people, I felt that it would be a hard transition for Karen from Stamford life. Scranton has nothing. I mean the nearest Wal-Mart is well... I don't know since I could never find it. I find it hard to believe that she moved because it was in her best interest (i.e., a great and wonderful job). I believe that Karen moved to Scranton solely for Jim. Karen is a "New Yorker" (or a city girl) at heart. The fast cars, the freedom, the lights… I don't see Karen wondering around the streets of Scranton wanting to have a beer at Molly Brannigans or The Bog. It is too "small town" for our uptown girl. When Jim and Karen go for the interview in New York, Karen sees herself living in New York either working at Corporate or being with Jim. I do not think Karen ever saw herself staying in Scranton in the long term. She had only been in Scranton for a few months and she already wanted out. I often wonder what would have happened if Jim never went back to ask Pam out on their oh so important "It's a Date!" date. Would Karen and Jim survived much long after Pam's confession? I think if Karen were real (What you saying she isn't?!)... Karen would have left at some point. She would have found a way to get out Scranton (i.e., different branch, new job) and in the end, Jim won't leave... leave Karen just at the same place she is today.

However, I do need to say that I do have a new soft spot for Karen after visiting Scranton. She did take a risk that most people only dream of. She did not know what was going to happen when she moved to Scranton. She did try to make it work. I see now why she had those 5 nights of long talks with Jim. If it did not work out with Jim, her move would have been in vain. I believed that when she was falling in love with Jim, Jim was falling deeper in love with Pam. In the end, was it her naivety that was her downfall or was Jim's fault for leading her on when he still has feelings for Pam? As we all waited with baited breath for the return of Karen, I wondered just what happened to someone who had moved for all the wrong reasons. I guess in the end you become a little bitter, a little scorned and maybe just a little bit all right.