Karen Filippelli, as played by Rashida Jones on “The Office”, seems to get a lot of hate from Office fans. Even Dane Cook has been known to express his hate for her:
…example: Karen, is always a douchebag. Every group has a Karen and she is always a bag of douche! And when she’s not around, you just look at each other and say, “God, Karen, she’s such a douchebag!”
…it’s possible that he wasn’t referring to this Karen in particular, but I’ll continue with my point anyway.
Granted, this post might be a little out of place because Karen is really only a significant character in Season 3, but there are rumors that she will be in a future spin-off series. While I do not plan on watching said spin-off, for multiple reasons, my (lack of) hate for Karen will have nothing to do with it.
What it comes down to, I am assuming, is that most people hate Karen because she only further complicated things for the beloved “PB and J” (Pam Beasley and Jim). And as much as I also love that couple, I can’t help but empathize with Karen in the mess that Pam and Jim created for themselves.
To quickly catch any of you non-Office people up to speed (SPOILER ALERT!): The series starts off with Pam engaged to warehouse worker Roy, who is more or less an unappreciative jerk. It’s immediately clear that Pam and single Jim have a close friendship, one with a little bit of awkward sexual tension, which becomes more and more evident throughout the first two seasons. Both seem to be in denial of this, and as Jim becomes increasingly frustrated with the situation, he tries to show his feelings to Pam, who clearly (to the audience) shares the feeling but rejects him anyway. Jim then runs off to a different branch, wanting to escape the situation. After which, Pam eventually realizes maybe she and Roy aren’t meant to be (duh), and breaks the engagement off. Jim meets Karen, Karen and Jim more or less fall for each other, and eventually both return to the original branch that Jim worked at, creating yet ANOTHER season of awkward sexual tension between the now single Pam and committed-to-another-relationship Jim. Jim clearly is not over Pam though, Karen eventually sees this, tries to work through it, and is eventually dumped for Pam.
I guess it just surprises me how much I hear Office fans express their dislike for Karen. Really, I can relate to her more. Pam is the girl who was engaged to one guy while blind to the fact that she actually likes the amazing guy that is in love with her (…I can’t recall ever being in such situation). Karen, on the other hand, is honest with her feelings for Jim from the beginning, tries to work through the relationship and remain honest with him, and is eventually dumped for another girl (…that, sounds more familiar). She completely, unknowingly walked into a relationship that was doomed from the beginning. What I liked about Karen was that she didn’t play the “I’m in love with you but I’m going to pretend like I’m not” game. She recognized that she had a crush on Jim and admitted it (to the cameras) within the first few episodes that she starred in. She was nerdy and cute (who doesn’t like a girl that plays video games?) and only wanted to make things work. She moved to Scranton for Jim, when it took Pam years to even admit to herself that she actually liked him.
In the end, I would agree that it’s clear that Jim and Pam are crazy about each other and belong together. But that doesn’t make Karen any less of a likeable person for me- and why should it? At no time did Karen purposely sabotage anything for them. She fell for Jim (can you blame her?), pursued a relationship with honest intentions, and got dumped due to reasons outside of her control. How can you have anything but empathy for the poor girl?
We have had many discussions about this……..
i understand where you are coming from….but still….
While you make valid points, I felt like once Karen started liking Jim, she changed her personality to act just like Jim. It was like she was mirroring his facial expressions and sarcastic tone of voice. I hated it. Also, she kind of tricked Jim into liking him:
1. She knew he was going to get drunk when they stayed late. She purposely didn’t drink and then drove him home.
2. She says “well, there’s nothing for me in Scranton.” (or something like that) EXPECTING Jim to say “yes there is! Me!” Which he eventually does (in his own words).
Also, instead of backing off when she knew that he liked Pam (and it was a long term sort of crush), she hugged him and flirted in front of Pam like a baby. Pam never tried to break them up. She didn’t know she was in love with Jim because she had been with Roy for so long and just assumed that her relationship with Roy was real love.
Pam was also honest with Karen and Karen called her a bitch for it.
Plus, Karen’s hair is ugly and her pants were always too tight, creating a muffin top. (Yes, superficial, but whatever).
I just don’t like Karen.
1 – Maybe she “purposely didn’t drink” because SHE KNEW she would have to drive home. Way to hate on responsible choices, former MNMer!!
2 – The whole “she should have backed off” argument is unrealistic crap. Real girls in the real world don’t do that. If you suspected that your boyfriend had leftover feelings for a girl, you would not immediately release him and wish him the best of luck with that girl. Hopeless or not, you would at least attempt to work it out.
3 – Pam “assuming” her crappy relationship with Roy was real love just shows that Pam is kind of a self-disrespecting idiot – sorry. It shouldn’t take another guy to make her realize the one she’s currently with is a jerk. A jerk is a jerk is a jerk.
Pam’s hair has always been ugly up until recently, but nooooo one has a problem with that! Pam can avoid her dreams, wear crappy clothes and hairstyles, commit to an asshole while ignoring the good guy, and everyone still loves her! It is CRAP! YOU ARE MAKING ME LIKE HER EVEN LESS THAN I DID BEFORE!!!
This is a heated debate, allow me to throw my hat in the ring. And while I may not be as experienced in The Office as you ladies, just like the Republican party, if you attack me for inexperience, I’ll call you sexist.
Listen, Jill is right. Here’s why:
We see the development of both Karen and Jim’s feelings for each other, just like we saw Jim and Pam Examples for Jim and Karen are: The Herr’s Chips fiasco and the Call of Duty playing. That should prove their feelings were real.
Also, let’s not make the case that Karen should have backed off when she saw Pam’s feelings for Jim. Lest we forget ladies, your number one guy Jim MADE A PASS AT A WOMAN WHO WAS GETTING MARRIED!! Jim is the LEAST innocent person in this entire discussion, a point often forgotten.
If Karen is guilty of being a douchebag, then Jim is certainly a slightly larger bag of douches.
“Pam is the girl who was engaged to one guy while blind to the fact that she actually likes the amazing guy that is in love with her (…I can’t recall ever being in such situation).”
Wha… wha…
What do you call me and you… freshman year….? I mean.. I know you weren’t engaged, but… still…
joking aside, I don’t mind Karen. She seems pretty cool, but she was just getting in the way of the inevitable: PB&J
I need to find me a Pam….only younger.
In my opinion, I didn’t ever really feel “hatred” towards Karen. I DID feel that her and Jim weren’t right for each other once the awkwardness set in on Jim’s return to Scranton. It was on Jim to figure that out though, not Karen.
As Brittany pointed out though, Karen did some things that made the situation worse/more awkward in front of Pam. However, she was just being protective of her boyfriend; perhaps she sensed he was being drawn away? There probalby are better ways to gain that security and feel confident in your relationship, but hey, we’re not all mature or detached enough from the situation to realize that at times.
To wrap it up, Karen is all right. I am happy that Jim is no longer with her, but more because he is better suited with Pam. When he was with Karen, she cared for him and looked out for his interests and such. She also brought him up to speed on some realizations in his life that he didn’t necessarily reach in his single-but-still-pining-for-Pam stage. So, no hard feelings for Filippelli. Good luck in Utica.
Karen is cool in my books. Game over. I win.