Dear Tina,
After watching The Office on Thursday I would like to make a simple plea to the writers and producers. Please don’t turn Erin into a total head case. Erin, the red headed secretary who replaced Pam towards the end of last season, appears to be developing into a crazy person and it’s just not working for me. As we have gotten to know Erin we see she has a quirky personality and a childlike perspective on life, but her warmth and optimism is so refreshing in an office filled with naysayers. Her willingness to seek out the good in everyone is a sweet balance to her suitor Andy’s shy yet boundless efforts to date her. They seem like a perfect match–one as wholesome as the other.
So it was a delight when Andy finally mustered up the courage and asked Erin out a few episodes back. But then we discovered on the date that Erin lives with her foster brother, who doesn’t appear to recognize the cultural boundaries expected of sibling relationships. Then on Thursday’s episode, Michael takes Erin out to lunch in honor of Secretary’s Day and lets it slip that Andy was formerly engaged to Angela. Erin pushes all of her hair over her face and this response feels uncharacteristically aggressive and irrational. Although I will say Erin’s explanation for this behavior, “In the foster home, my hair was my room,” was pretty hilarious. Still, I worry that continuing down this road will turn Erin into a full-blown mental case who quickly loses her appeal entirely. They did the same thing with the character Jan, Michael’s former boss. She started out as this smart, sophisticated woman who served as the voice of reason to Michael’s buffoonery. To everyone’s surprise (including Jan’s), they started seeing each other, but as long as she continued to do her job well and didn’t allow Michael to take advantage of their relationship at work, then we the audience could buy that Jan had true feelings for Michael. However, by the fourth season Jan had lost her job, gotten a breast augmentation, and started a candle making business in one of Michael’s spare bedrooms. She became a shadow of her former self and when she eventually left the show for good, no one was really sad to see her go. I am wary of The Office doing the same thing to Erin, who again, adds such a refreshing voice to the show. Plus, she is the best thing Andy has going for him right now and isn’t about time Andy got his? After all that Angela put him through last season and his long history of extravagant courting, I think Andy deserves to find his soulmate and settle down. So please, let Erin be that woman for him, and pretend like the foster brother with a propensity toward cuddling never happened.
30 Rock Quote of the Day:
Pete: Maybe we’ll be preempted by some national news event. How’s Gerald Ford’s health?
Dear Tina 