Talk:Cathy Simms/@comment-140.254.77.165-20190205002616/@comment-67.59.41.130-20190711022310

In season 2's "Email Surveillance", Jim hosts a part at his house, inviting everyone from work but Michael. On his personal desk is a clearly visible Call of Duty box.

Why is that important? Because, in Season 3, Jim indicates not only that he can't play it (by jumping into walls, choosing sniper rifles for inappropriate missions etc.) but that he hasn't even heard of it. Keep in mind that Jim created a Second Life character based on his own fantasies about himself ("Local Ad").

Why pretend he can't play? Because feigning ignorance is one of his methods for attracting women. In "Niagara" (the wedding episode) Jim confesses to pretending not to know how to drive stick so he could spend time with Pam so she could "teach" him.

He pretended he couldn't drive stick in order to interact with Pam. He pretended to be interested in but not understand purses in order to get close to Katy (Amy Adams). He pretended not to know about Call of Duty to get close to Karen.

Evidence for cheating? Not yet, but keep in mind what this says about Jim's character. He regularly lies in order to approach women. There's no relationship on-screen in which he's been honest from the start, in fact.

So why the cheating accusation? Cathy Simms, the season 8 temporary replacement for Pam while she was on maternity leave. This is the woman who, on camera, spoke to a friend about her intentions to seduce Jim. Additionally, this is the woman who that Jim "drove out" of his hotel room in Florida with stories of bed bugs.

The last season of the show makes it clear everything was recorded - Brian, the "documentary" employee who rescued Pam and had a crush on her says so explicitly. So everything we see as viewers is something that occurred.

So how exactly would Cathy think she could seduce Jim while being filmed on a PBS documentary?

Because Jim was genre savvy and set things up to make himself look innocent. The cameras were clearly in the room while he was "rejecting" Cathy. Bed bugs, inviting Dwight, having a big blowout pretending to reject her - it's all a setup so that he could feign innocence because he actually did have sex with Cathy.

Everything we saw between those two was part of Jim's plan to have deniability.

Jim's not a heroic nice guy. He spent years trying to get with a committed woman, he discarded Katy in an instant when he was bummed that Pam got her engagement date picked, and dragged Karen to Scranton as a rebound while still being into Pam - oh yeah, and he dropped Karen like a sack of bricks to ask Pam out.

He's kind of a dick regarding his "romantic interests."

At some point around or after season 8, Pam found out about Jim's infidelity. In S09E01, Pam has that disappointed tone with the documentarians about how life won't change. Jim dismisses a lot of Pam's feelings and ultimately dumps their life savings without even talking to her. He moves to another city and relishes in the bachelor life. Ultimately, they wind up in marriage counseling.

Jim wasn't faithful.