leah

the office is a show ive grown to love over the years

i originally hated it because i felt like the shows fanbase was overrun with annoying millennials who put dundies in their wedding registry and think prison mike (and most jim pranks) were the height of humor

i (unfortunately) wasn't alive when the office was airing

so i decided to watch it one day and loved it

but

the reason why i loved it was because of the characters

characters make a big, big part of your show

and it is very clear in the office

the office is a show defined by its characters with unique identities, quirks, and adventures

in the later seasons a staple character (micheal scott) leaves the show under the pretense of him moving from scranton

this void in the show left an abnormally large hole that was filled with multiple characters, even leading to them being altered to fit the mold of micheal (which ruined their characters!!)

"Not enough for me? Pam, I'd be less than a person without you. I was just.. I was a guy who worked at a paper company... You are everything."

James Halpert and Pamela Beesly are one of television's most well-known couples, their relationship developing slowly over seasons 1-3, both of them surrounded by chaos, alternate choices, and tough decisions. Before their relationship was formed entirely, their connection formed in their workplace, both of them not being able to connect fully due to unsaid feelings and bad timing, and this is what defined their relationship in its early stages.

The early stages of their relationship (after Diversity Day) are first shown in S2, E20 / "Drug Testing", where Pam places a jinx on Jim, preventing him from speaking unless he buys his way out of it (with a soda from the vending machine). This eventually leads them both to the breakroom, leaving them in a heavy, loaded silence about things they won't allow themselves to say to each other. This scene shows how their routine of joking and pulling pranks on Dwight will occasionally lapse, and the silence forces them to confront the reality of their unspoken feelings.

The break from this slow-burn culminates in S2, E22 / "Casino Night" where Jim takes a risk and confesses his love for Pam in the parking lot, and later finds her in the bullpen and kisses her. The slow pacing of their relationship in the early season, in my opinion, led to emotional exhaustion in both of them, making their 'predictability/boringness' in the later seasons a reward for the viewer and the character.

Once Jim and Pam begin to date (in S4) and eventually marry, their relationship strays away from their dramatic, tense stakes origins, and can be categorized as more of a domestic, highly predictable relationship. People often view this era of Jim and Pam's relationship as lackluster and flat (which you could argue it is); to me, it is a trade from constant emotional draining to a simplistic, domestic life together.

In the final season, when Pam thinks she isn't enough for Jim, isn't ideal, or has faded from his picture of an ideal woman, he responds by giving her a video compiled with their memories while working at the office and a letter he wrote for her years prior. This moment in the show solidifies that Jim and Pam's relationship is a great thing because it is safe, because it is boring, common. It shows that being "boring" isn't a failure of their love, but the best achievement of being together.

"There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?"

(I wwwas gonna include their marriage + their firstborn but it felt kinda useless to me im sorry if you were expecting that like actually

For five seasons of Stranger Things, the main characters of the show have effectively managed to survive armed soldiers, interdimensional monsters, psychic mutilation, and government conspiracies. Throughout the show, these characters manage to walk away from things that would mean certain death or heavy injuries for any actual person. You may ask: "doesn't this strip away all tension from the series?", "wouldn't this instill in viewers that the main cast is untouchable?" and the Duffers had an answer for your questions, and managed to lay them to rest with a brilliant yet overused trope: the sacrificial lamb.

The sacrificial lamb is a trope used in movies, which is defined by a character being introduced and immediately killed off to be a warning to the main cast. This trope was first introduced in television during the 6os, starting with the original Star Trek with their sub-trope of Redshirt/Redshirting (to kill a security officer in a red uniform after they're introduced). This trope traveled to movies (often slashers; think Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980)). The modern version of this trope used in television gives the viewers a kind, and unbeatable character over a short amount of time, only to kill them off to make you sad. Stranger Things uses this trope constantly throughout the show, starting with the character Bob Newby and his introduction to the show in season 2.

In S2, E5 (Dig Dug), Bob uses his investigative skills to decode Will's drawing of the vines, and it is used to show he is an important asset while also being humanized. In the finale of season 2 (S2, e8 / The Mind Flayer), Bob dies protecting Joyce, Hopper, and the children as he is attacked and eaten alive by demodogs. This shows us that the sacrificial lambs across the seasons are meant to be stand-ins or guardians for the other characters (usually the main cast) instead of having the characters die themselves or be badly injured.

Then came season 4! Eddie Munson is introduced to us in season 4, episode 1 (The Hellfire Club) as a charismatic, older-than-most-students outcast who enjoys metal. The writers humanize him by showing him giving drugs to Chrissy Cunningham (who is a minor), showing that he has a heart of gold despite his appearance. Then came Eddie's death in season 4, episode 9 (The Piggyback). Eddie plays Metallica's "Master of Puppets" to distract a swarm of demobats, leading to him being killed by them.

Season 5... Season 5 didn't have any sacrificial lambs due to the writers being backed into a corner; it's the last season, why introduce anyone new to kill them off? Bad, bad writing, Duffers; just have everyone impossibly survive with no injuries instead, even characters who don't matter like Karen and Ted Wheeler! And yes, unfortunately, this is what they did. Characters came close to dying but never did; no one was injured (Holly being tossed around her room, Ted being flung into a wall, Max being in a multiple-month-long coma, etc.). They all survived with no marks or scuffs to make the fans happy. The Duffers intentionally chose to not kill or injure anyone out of fear that their finale would be hated like the finale for Game of Thrones, and that's horrible! (“But I can promise you it’s not a 'Red Wedding' situation, like from ‘Game of Thrones.’ We’re not gonna wipe out eight of our characters.”)

People hated season 5 for the lack of tension due to knowing what would happen next, no one important dying, glaring issues in episodes, and because the Duffers wrote it.