Mrs. Jim Halpert

I was watching a first season episode ("The Alliance") of The Office (thanks, TBS!) and it really struck me how John Krasinski/Jim looked that early in the show. It was really seeing him talking to Dwight (picture) that made something in my brain click, and for a minute, I saw him as I saw Jim when originally watching the first season. I enjoyed the first season OK when I first saw it, but every episode made me want to pull out my DVDs of the British Office. It wasn't really until the second season that I stopped thinking of the characters as Not!Tim and Not!Dawn and Steve Carell.

Looking back at that picture, I remember when I wasn't all caught up in the Jim-Pam story. I think my perceptions of characters change once I've spent a lot of time reading about them online; I've spent way more time on TWOP, reading about Jim, than I've spent actually watching the show. Looking at the Jim in that picture...he looks like a normal guy. Which, really, is part of the point of the show. But when I think of Jim now, he's all idealized and dreamy.

I guess that's kind of how it works in real life, too. You kind of stop seeing people as they actually are, and how they look is colored by your relationship with them. And Jim? Jim, to me now, is just about the cutest boy in the world. I can't remember the last time I watched an episode of the American Office and wanted to watch my British DVDs right afterward.