The Office often had characters come and go from Dunder Mifflin, including employee Cathy Simms, who appeared to disappear with no explanation. When Pam is preparing to go on maternity leave for the second time in The Office, Cathy is hired as a part-time replacement to fill her role. Cathy is young and energetic, a bit of a different character from the usual employees still working in Scranton. She shadows Pam for the first time in season 8, episode 7 “Pam’s Replacement” and there is a minor stir among the office, who tease Pam about there being a younger version of her at her desk.
When Cathy arrives, there is a minor plotline about Pam feeling inadequate compared to the younger worker taking her place. Jim would never cheat on Pam, and it’s clear he has no interest in Cathy beyond as a coworker. It seems that’s it for Cathy’s story in The Office but when Dwight, Jim, Cathy, and a handful of others are sent to Florida for a business trip, she becomes central to an unexpected storyline. It turns out that Cathy is very interested in aggressively pursuing Jim, and the awkwardness that results from her boldness and Jim’s disinterest is her most memorable part of the show.
Cathy Simms Was Written Off With No Conclusion
Cathy very quickly looks to have an affair with Jim on the Florida trip. Jim appears blissfully unaware of her flirting until she decides to make a grand gesture and goes to his hotel room claiming her heating is broken. The Office is filled with cringe-worthy moments, but this might be the worst since Michael Scott left. Having Jim put into this situation was highly irregular for the show and made for an unusual character dynamic. Pam and Jim’s relationship formed the heart of The Office, and anytime it appeared that their fairytale relationship was in trouble, audiences became upset.
This was most widely seen The Office season 9 during the Athlead arc, but there are hints of it here. The audience knows Jim won’t cheat so watching this story can get tiresome. After the Florida story, Cathy is never seen or heard from again. For a half-hour network sitcom, there are only so many minutes to tell a compelling story and make jokes, so sometimes The Office had unresolved storylines in order to return to the main plot. This can be jarring on-screen, but it’s better than spending an inordinate amount of time on filler story beats.
Lindsay Broad Has Continued To Find Work
Though Cathy was unceremoniously written off The Office, actor Lindsey Broad didn’t stop working. She appeared in movies Don Juan and 21 Jump Street where she had a memorable scene as a drunk prom-goer enjoying a limo ride/police shootout. Broad has also appeared in a number of television shows, in single episodes and multi-episode arcs. She was recently on Impeachment: American Crime Story and was a recurring character on The CW’s In The Dark. Cathy may not have left The Office elegantly, but the actor has continued on in her career without missing a step.