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"'Shipper," "'shippiness," "'shipperhood." Those words -- used to describe your allegiance to certain fictional characters getting together with other fictional characters -- make my skin crawl, as do the multitude of forums and sites devoted to the discussion of said 'ships.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, count yourself lucky. Until now -- because once I explain it, you can't unread it. So, "'ship" is the abbreviated way of referring to a "relationship," because in this impatient world where we communicate in 140 characters or less (hey, I've been bitten by the Twitterbug, too, so I'm not judging), it takes too long to say "relationship," so we say "'ship." As in, "I'm a big fan of the Archie and Betty 'ship, but NOT the Archie and Veronica 'ship."
Taking it a step further, fans of various "'ships" refer to themselves as "'shippers." They put themselves squarely in one "'ship" camp or the other and quite often come to online blows with fans in an opposing "'ship camp." Like, "I'm SO an Edward-Bella 'shipper! I loathe the idea of a Jacob-Bella 'ship." Those "'shippers" often come up with combined names to shorten the term even more. So, if you are in the tank for Pam and Jim over on The Office, you might call them "Pim" or "Jam." Personally, I call them Pim, but only because I like to drink.
Aaaand that is how I will segue into my topic o' the week: The Pim relationship on The Office.
Gael over at PopCultureJunkMail linked up to some spoilers for the new season, and commented, "Love that show, but I'm not sure how the big new Jim-Pam plotline will help things." I'm of the exact same mind.
At the risk of becoming HUGELY unpopular after only my second post here at BlogHer, I have to admit that while I've been a Pim 'shipper in the past (sigh, it's unavoidable, that word), I got not just a little sick of their Jim and Pamminess last season. I was thrilled when they finally got together at the end of season three for two reasons. The being the way they got together. Jim just running in and asking Pam for a date was subtle, sweet, and not cloying in the least. The second reason is that in season four, the writers did an excellent job with Pim. In fact, the writers did so well that they actually managed to prove wrong the well-founded idea that TV relationships are ruined once they are consummated and the public yearning is gratified.
Quite the contrary, plenty of story lines kept the signature quirkiness going for Jim and Pam. Among others, there was the time they spent their first night away together to Dwight's beet farm bed and breakfast ("Money" is one of my favorite episodes of all time); and then there was the "Dinner Party," that horrifically strained, hysterical, craw-under-the-couch-and-hide awkward episode. I ask you, how can a couple be cloying when one of them tries and fails to ditch the other at a dinner party from hell?
And yet. There were a few moments last season where I caught myself rolling my eyes over their cuteness. Like, I found it a bit much when Pam got offended when no one from the office had congratulated her on getting engaged to Jim. And when they spent the entire day on their bluetooths (blueteeth?) together? Yeah. That made me throw up in my mouth -- not a little -- a lot.
It leads me to believe that the Pim 'ship works best when the light isn't shined directly on it. Instead, as it catches the glints bouncing off other story lines, it manages to give off its own comical, yet endearing, glow.
Because of that, I'm afraid I must disagree with both Queen at GlossLip, who commented, "I am sure Pam and Jim’s nuptials, Pam’s pregnancy and their journey into parenthood will be simply hilarious" and Jane from TV Squad who said, "Now I can't wait to see how things develop with the wedding and (possibly) baby. Just the thought of the storylines and reactions from their office-mates is making me giddy."
I'm actually really concerned over how precious Pam's pregnancy is going to get. Because, as I said, if their relationship was already bordering on the so-sweet-it-makes-your-teeth-itch side for me, throwing a baby in there is just going to shove it into a root canal.
And I don't say that as someone who hates kids and babies
