Come back the wrong way

I am a big fan of The Office. I recently watched the episode with Pam failing a course in her graphic design program in New York City. In order to complete it, she would need to spend another 12 weeks away from her fiancé, Jim, who is in Scranton. They are both dismayed at the news, but Jim tries to console her. Art is Pam’s dream, and she should give it another shot. “Come back the right way,” he says. It wouldn’t be difficult for me to imagine a character grinding through another 12 weeks of school, especially if their partner was supportive of it. (In fact, I did something like this during summer school!) Except Pam does precisely the opposite. She returns to Scranton. She was homesick, and decides the pain of being away wasn’t necessary. She chooses the more modest setting of life in Scranton over the grandness of “chasing her dreams” in New York City. She embraces the comic mode. “I’m coming back the wrong way,” she says, surprising Jim in the parking lot at the end of the…

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