Help Me Understand Jan and Michael
Maybe I’m just a man and I don’t understand these things, but I was a little confused by the Jan/Michael bathroom scene during the Cocktails episode.
From what I can tell, Michael was being a little much during the whole episode. As is usually the case, he was trying to be friendly with eveyone but was a little inappropriate. You could tell that Jan was getting more and more annoyed and she even vented a little bit during her talking head.
When Michael invited the CFO to Sandals, Jamaica (all inclusive) and talked about Jan on their vacation, it became too much. And here is where I got confused. Jan pulled Michael out of the room and I assumed he’d get yelled at, but instead she needed her a serious piece of Michael’s Man Meat. What in the world?
Here is the audio from the bathroom:
Here is the audio from the “talk” later:
Now, I have two guesses:
- The fact that Micheal was a little inappropriate and out of touch with party manners really got Jan turned on. She likes that Rebel in him and she needed some right then. Later in the car talk, she mentioned how exciting it was to sneak around and maybe she was trying to produce some of that magic.
- Jan wanted to be as inappropriate and forward and as sassy as possible so it would scare Michael away for the rest of the night and she wouldn’t have to worry about his remarks.
Am I just totally missing something here? Maybe the femail LITO-ites can explain to the rest of us the working of Jan’s mind.
March 1st, 2007 09:47
I thought Jan was reverting to the one thing that works so well for her and Michael: sex. See the deleted scene where she talk abour bad choices and her sex life. I thought Michael was quite adorable about the whole bathroom scene–he didn’t want to do it because there was no place to cuddle, and we’re seeing more of the in-love, committed Michael that freaked out over the pseudo-lap dance in the warehouse.
March 1st, 2007 09:54
I think you’re much more on track with the first idea. Plus, even though Michael was acting incredibly mature, I think she was very much turned on by how excited he was about showing her off. Right away, Michael says “Jan and I are lovers”…and even though she was a bit embarressed by that (or at least, needed to act like she was), the fact that he was soooo eager to share his Jan-love, really turned her on. She loves how much Michael likes her…even if he displays it in a very obnoxious way.
March 1st, 2007 09:57
I’m in agreement with Jodi about your first idea.
Jan is totally turned on by the “rebel” in Michael and he doesn’t even realize it. Actually, it’s probably better that way.
March 1st, 2007 10:01
I agree with Karo. When Jan is embarrased by Michael, she tries to remember the good thing about their relationship: sex.
March 1st, 2007 10:01
Wow, I am total agreement with the second idea because if I watched the scene correctly, I thought she stops as soon as Michael starts talking about how inappropriate her actions were. I thought this was Jan trying to show Michael how it feels when your partner is being inappropriate and embarrassing you.
March 1st, 2007 10:04
I think it was both, yes she was turned on, and she likes the sneaking around. But note the comment she makes when Micael tells her “your acting inapropriate” she kind of snaps and goes “I’M acting inapropriate” I think she kind of wanted to teach him a lesson at the same time, and that it just got carried away.
March 1st, 2007 10:07
I initially thought she was just trying to show Michael that he was being inappropriate by being inappropriate herself, but it didn’t end up that way…
I think Karo and Lynn summed it up well.
March 1st, 2007 10:14
I thought it was more of option 2. I thought she was just trying to scare him away. It did work though!
March 1st, 2007 10:27
When watching it I thought the 2nd idea- being more inappropriate than him to try to tame him. Odd stance, but as Michael has noted before - reverse psychology does work. But then later in the episode, during their talk and such, and remembering how she says that she makes bad decisions in relationships, etc, it made me think that its more the first idea- shes attracted to people that are bad for her.
March 1st, 2007 10:39
On the car ride home, Jan says that now that their relationship is out in the open, it is lacking the one thing that really turned her on. The “naughty” element of them doing something that was thought to be dangerous (dating a boss). Michael had to sign his “love contract”, so now everything was out in the open. She was trying to recapture some of that element of danger.
March 1st, 2007 10:40
I think it’s the second idea. And I’m a woman, so that’s what I’d do. I thought it was hilarious. It worked….sorta. Michael still didn’t connect his inappropriateness with Jan’s.
March 1st, 2007 10:44
I also agree with karo, jodi, and lynn. Also, I think that Jan felt that if she had taken Michael aside and tried to tell him to stop embarrasing her she would not have gotten through. Therefore, in her mind, the only escape she had from the awkward moments at the party was sex in the bathroom. As long as that was going on things couldn’t get worse at the party!
Also, I think this episode in general highlights the differences in how Michael and Jan view there own relationship. To Jan, it is more physical that emotional - she would be content to keep it a secret. (She actually says this in the car scene at the end: “You know, we were good when it was just running around, you know, in secret - it was wrong and it was exciting. Maybe it was a mistake to take it public.”
Michael feels differently - while he obviously enjoys the sex, he craves the attention of having a “girlfriend” - he wants everyone to know (recall the numerous times he made a point of telling the office about him and Carol?) He gets more enjoyment out of being out with Jan in public then he does hooking up with her in secret, which is why the cocktail party is so important to him. Notice how he doesn’t kiss her back and is not even interested in her attempts at seduction. He woudl rather go out the party and be a couple, and have everyone know they are together. His relationship with Jan tho goes even beyond his regular crave for attention, as we also learn from the final scene in the car, when he says,
“I want the house, Jan. I want the picket fence, I want the ketchup fights and the tickling and the giggling.”
This is the point at which Jan realizes how serious Michael is about their relationship, and it softens her annoyance with him that resulted from that night. She apologizes for hurting him, and may begin to view their relationship differently following this.
—
On a related note, I think the writers of this episode did a BRILLIANT job at converying numerous serious plotlines and subjects, while keeping these topics humorus. The whole Michael / Jan thing above is one such instance (we learn a lot about them, but laugh because Michael used the example of “ketchup fights” to explain how he feels). Also, Roy’s explosion over Pam’s confession about Jim’s kiss is not funny - but it is made funny when Roy’s brother comes over and starts breaking bar stools (”JET SKIs!” - I lost it!) As anyone who has ever written comedy knows, making these serious scenes funny is NOT easy, and takes serious skill. Of course, the writers for The Office are some of the best in comedy, and that’s one reason why I love this show.
March 1st, 2007 10:56
I agree with Karo…I think this relationship for Jan is largely a sexual one where she is attracted and repulsed at the same time. I think she wants to be with someone, anyone…as such, when it came down to the fact that she was repulsed by his behavior, she went for what worked…sex.
March 1st, 2007 10:57
Sorry, I think it’s neither. Here’s my .02…
I think she was just trying to shut him up - distract him, like you might give a new toy to a 2 yr old. It backfired, though, since he’s obviously thinking differently about the relationship than she is….
March 1st, 2007 10:58
Karo - I couldn’t have said it better myself. The only place Jan and Michael are good is in the bedroom (well, that we know of). Anything in public is a mess of epic proportions!
March 1st, 2007 11:04
I think the show is becoming increasingly silly over-all! The characters used to be believable (strange but endearing) and now the writers are making the characters outlandish…I think over-all they went a little far with the whole cocktail party behaviors which is why Jan and Michael did not make sense.
March 1st, 2007 11:04
Oh, yes and as far as why they’re “together” - well, I believe Jan. She makes wrong choices. Sadly, I know too many real people with this self-destructive tendency to question it in a sitcom character.
Were I to get psychological I’d say something like, well, deep down, these folks don’t believe they are worthy of “right” choices - or that they will ever be able to make them work.
While Michael’s antics are, often, (as here, and the wedding) too over the top - I attribute that to the fact that this is a comedy and that’s the schtick. But the reason I love the show is that the characters ring so very true.
Any thoughts?
March 1st, 2007 11:09
Okay, I’ve only seen it once so far, but I was under the impression that Jan was looking for action from the beginning of the evening. Wasn’t she asking Michael to ditch the party so they could go fool around? I think Jan was so horny she couldn’t help herself. And Michael, excited about being out in public with his girlfriend, chose this time, in the bathroom, of all times, to be appropriate.
I think that most of the time, Jan realizes that Michael is just another bad choice. But, he wants the things that she wants (maybe not ketchup fights, but kids, etc.), and so she’s struggling with that.
March 1st, 2007 11:25
My vote goes for option 2!
March 1st, 2007 11:31
Like many above me have said, Jan wanted to have sex with Michael. In her own weird way, she finds him irresistible. And from her earlier comment on the phone, she was feeling a little frisky from the get go. So, yes she was feeling embarrassed by Michael and dragged him away to yell at him, but once she got him to a private place and had her hands on him, sex kitten!Jan took over. That anger turned to lust (someone on another board said that Jan is turned on by anger…her own! And I think they are right).
In the bathroom though, when Michael said she was acting inappropriate, I think the irony suddenly struck her because initially she pulled him aside to tell him HE was being inappropriate and suddenly he was telling HER that she was being inappropriate. This was coming from the king of inappropriateness, himself and it pissed her off.
She’s also using sex as an excuse. For her, if the relationship is all about sex, she doesn’t have to acknowledge that she actually has real feelings for him and could fall in love with him. But then Michael actually said to her that he wants more, the house, the picket fence, etc.. Jan knows that that is what she really wants, too (we know from The Client that her marriage broke up partly because she wanted kids and Gould didn’t). It scares her that she could have a future with Michael, but I think it scares her even more that she just might really want that future and could be happy with him. I don’t think she knows how to be happy.
March 1st, 2007 12:48
I think that Jan is just really really turned on by sneaking around and being naughty. I think Michael on the other hand is now really gung-ho about putting their relationship in the open. I think it really flustered him that she seemed distant from him in the company of others and wanted to tear him apart while hiding in the bathroom. Especially now that they have “gone public.” I dunno…just my two cents.
March 1st, 2007 12:48
Jan’s comment to the camera talks about her conflicted relationship with Michael. He is embarassing and annoying, but she is still drawn to him. She knows what he is like, but he is real and adores her, and she loves that. I think in the moment before she kissed him, she was torn between these two extremes. I found it funny and ironic that Michael wanted so badly to go rub elbows at the party that he was truly amazed that she would choose this time to come on to him when there were so many people to “impress.” He was so excited about being invited to the party, partly because he could “come out” with Jan but also because he lives for those moments. He is so insecure, but he thinks that these events are his strong suit.
March 1st, 2007 13:25
You’re right on Crystal.
March 1st, 2007 14:40
The joke is that she acts like the man and he acts like the woman in the relationship. she is focused on the physical part of the relationship and he wants the emotional connection. The role reversal is the gag.
March 1st, 2007 14:42
I agree with Joe and Look Alive Halpert and I think Jan’s conversation with Michael after the party supports that. She was excited by the clandestine aspect of their relationship which was lost once they came out about it. She was just trying to get a little bit of that back by fooling around in the bathroom since it was becoming increasingly clear during the party that there wasn’t too much else that was attracting her to Michael.
March 1st, 2007 14:46
My first reaction upon watching the scene was that of Alisa’s — she mostly wanted to shut him up, but also to gratify herself.
It’s so nice to have a show that lets viewers interpret things in more than one way!
March 1st, 2007 14:55
I 3rd Alisa’s opinions!
March 1st, 2007 15:06
I was at the pharmacy today waiting for my Rx and I was browsing through Cosmo (the only magazine available, I swear!). There was an article in there about spicing up relationhsips and one of the ideas involved a woman slamming her partner up against a wall and getting sexually aggressive. Maybe Jan is a Cosmo girl.
March 1st, 2007 15:49
I agree with Scott.
March 1st, 2007 16:05
To me it was obviously reverse psychology (option 2). She leads Michael out of the conversation with an angry look on her face, her “oh please I want you” is totally unconvincing (you can even see it in the screenshot above — she’s sticking out her tongue!), and then she says “*I’m* acting inappropriate?” in this self-satisfied way when she finally gets Michael to say the magic words.
March 1st, 2007 16:28
I don’t think it’s “rebel” so much as “idiot” that turns her on about Michael. Kinda like how some guys go for ditsy airhead girls, you know?
March 1st, 2007 19:28
Crystal, I think you’re right on. Good analysis!
March 1st, 2007 21:28
I thought she just wanted to shut him up.
March 1st, 2007 21:54
My guess is that she gets fed upwith him, but then says “f it” and goes with soething different than what her guts tell her because it hasn’t worked in the past. She has mentioned Michael being totally wrong many times so that’s my only clue.
Although women are weird and we’ll never figure them out. There is no way to know what’s inside a tiger’s head.
March 1st, 2007 23:32
Wow. That’s a lot of comments. Anyways, I thought she was trying to pull him aside to get him to stop being so ‘candid’ (is candid the right word?) and then either used sex to shut him up or just gave up on trying to talk to him and subsequently pulled him into the bathroom.
March 2nd, 2007 05:41
I was thinking about Jan’s other bad choices (that list of exes from the deleted scene) in combination with the scene from the episode (going blank on the name right now) where she tells Michael that her shrink thinks she should indulge her self-destructive whims…
Aren’t those other exes also self-destructive, bad choices? Maybe her shrink is using reverse-psychology on her. Telling her that Michael is bad and she should indulge that impulse, all the while knowing that Michael is ultimately a good choice for her.
I’m thinking about imaginary people (and their shrinks) way too much. We need a new episode!
March 2nd, 2007 08:53
I don’t have a whole lot to base this on, but I think it’s possible that Jan is pregnant. She seemed very moody in the episode. One second being completely fed up with Michael and then all of a sudden turned on by him. True, that seems to be the way their relationship works, but we’ve never seen her go from one extreme emotion to the other that fast. Secondofly, on the car ride home she said she felt nauseous. Now, I’m guessing this isn’t the case. It’s probably just part of the quirks of their relationship, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she is pregnant.
March 2nd, 2007 09:01
But she was smoking outside, so let’s hope she’s not pregnant. Although one can easily imagine how over-the-top Michael would be all throughout the pregnancy!
March 3rd, 2007 09:13
turn these audio clips into mp3s!!!!
May 7th, 2007 21:18
jan just loves how her and michael lived more dangerously in secret and it was more fun when they were sneaking around w/ eachother
April 5th, 2008 10:43
I think you’re more accurate with the first idea.
I don’t really get it either…
it’s just.. kinda.. weird all over.
August 5th, 2010 00:29
I’m a little late to this party, but I wanted to throw my two cents out there. To me, both of their actions are totally understandable; what I don’t get is the confusion others have about it lol. Here’s how I see it:
Clearly all Jan wants from Michael is sex. She isn’t looking for a steady, mature relationship–clearly Michael can’t give her that–and makes that clear a number of times. She is sexually attracted to him and wants to be with him physically but not have to deal with all of his mental crap that comes along with it. So she thinks having sex in the bathroom during a party is awesome–and it is–but Michael won’t do it because he wants to cuddle. I felt for her during this scene. She wanted someone wild (read: wild, not socially inept) to have a little adult fun with, and all he wants to do is cuddle. It plays on the stereotype of a woman wanting to cuddle and the comedy lies in a man wanting to this time, and not taking a beautiful woman up on her offer to have random, naughty sex. I don’t think it has anything more to do with Michael than it would be with anyone else Jan was interested in. I can see why she would be angry with Michael, I would be too. What a loser to want to cuddle!