Reviewing - The Office
Season 5 is the best, Season 8 is the worst, but I'm still glad we got a Season 9.
This is my go-to feel-good television show. Almost a decade ago in 2010, my family had just finished watching the series finale of LOST, and after six years of fevered questions, sleepless nights, and spirited debate, we felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under us and that all our musing had been for naught. We needed something that didn’t require much from us – and something that wouldn’t monopolize our dinner conversation.
I was first introduced to The Office when visiting my friend John, who had the first season on DVD. We watched through the whole thing in one sitting, and although at first I wondered how on earth he found any enjoyment in it, I was hooked by the basketball episode. There was something about the painful awkwardness of the characters that really made me laugh. I couldn’t stand Michael Scott, but Jim and Dwight were hilarious, and it was them that made me want to see the next season.
Somewhere along the line my siblings saw an episode or two as well, and soon enough, we asked our Mom if we could try watching the show as a family – season 7 was on the air at the time. However, one day we casually flipped to a rerun of the Season 5 episode “Casual Friday” where Meredith’s dress was far, far too small. Within seconds we were forced to change the channel.
I’m not sure how it ended up happening, but I got seasons 1-6 for Christmas that year. We burned through them at a rapid pace, and by then, we’d fallen in love with the show as a family. Even Mom was on board – and once we’d caught up with the show, we sat down and watched it every week as it came out. We were there just in time to feel the pain of Michael’s departure, and we stuck through right till the very end.
The Office is now that show that I put on whenever I fold laundry, wash dishes, or eat an early breakfast. I’ve watched through the whole thing several times, and it’s become the familiar-comfort-TV for me that Friends is to my wife. Although there’s certainly a few low points in the series, and although the quality does take a noticeable dip in the last two seasons, I still proudly display all nine seasons in my DVD shelf.
Season One
Season One is brutal – there’s a reason that I started my wife on Season Two when we started watching through it together. The awkward silences hang thick in the air, everyone looks exhausted, and Michael is a wholly unredeemable character. What kept me going was the fun antics of Jim and Dwight, and Jim’s crush on Pam. The shtick of the guy who likes a girl who’s with another guy is an old one, but it’s by no means obsolete. They do a great job of showing the intricacies of that kind of dynamic. What turned things around for me with regards to Michael was the basketball episode. Here, he’s still a crummy character. He screws over his staff after intimidation from the warehouse workers, and he deliberately calls the game off just to try and get ahead. That said, I give him credit for trying to get a fun team-building activity going, and it’s fun seeing him try to prove his competence to his teammates.
Season Two
Season Two is really where the show comes into its own. It loses the bleakness of the original British series it is based on; the colours get a bit brighter, and the length of the season (as opposed to the measly six episodes of the first season) really allows for a slow burn on Jim and Pam’s relationship. There are a few episodes where Jim comes so close to confessing his love for her, and you can really feel the tension. We also get a lot more of Dwight and Michael’s hilarious relationship, and the weird whatever-it-is that’s going on with Dwight and Angela is also really fun. To top it off, Season Two gives us the first of many great Christmas episodes, which have become a staple of the holiday season for me.
Season Three
Season Three is filled with terrific moments. We get the immortal kiss from “Gay Witch Hunt”, which was entirely improvised by actor Steve Carell. There’s Prison Mike from “The Convict”, and the bat incident in “Business School”. And who could forget “Dwight, you ignorant slut” from “Safety Training”? This season is packed with laughs, and it also leaves us with a promise of a new chapter for Jim and Pam. The new cast members of Karen and Andy were both fine, but Karen wasn’t too funny on her own. She’s really there to provide tension between Jim and Pam, which she definitely does. Andy’s relationship with Dwight is what makes me enjoy his character – but on his own, Andy’s just a little too real for me. I definitely know one or two Andys in my life that are hopelessly annoying and have no idea. He’s fun as another victim of Jim’s pranks, but not much more than that.
Season Four
Season Four feels short, but that’s probably because 5 of its episodes are broken into two parts. This season was supposed to be 30 episodes long instead of 19, but due to the Writer’s Guild of American Strike that took place that year, a lot of material never made it to production. There’s still some great stuff though in the episodes that we do get. Jim and Pam are back to enjoying each other’s company, which is nice. The highlight of the season is “Dinner Party”, which sees Michael and Jan’s volatile relationship literally implode over a matter of hours in the most awkward social gathering you’ve ever imagined. We are introduced to Holly at the very last minute, who is a really fun character and a great fit to go with Michael Scott. I think Season 3 was better, but “Dinner Party” alone stands as one of the greatest Office episodes ever.
Season Five
This might just be the best season in the series. We get a little bit more Holly + Michael time, Andy and Dwight go through a tumultuous but thoroughly entertaining roller coaster of a relationship with each other, Michael leaves to start his own paper company with Pam and Ryan, and Pam & Jim receive some really exciting news. Whereas Season Four had really only the one highlight episode for me, Season Five has many. “Frame Toby”, “Golden Ticket”, and “Broke” are all must-watch episodes – but beyond that, Season Five has what is probably the greatest Office episode of all time: “Stress Relief”. This one episode includes a Dwight-induced fire drill, an anarchical CPR training class, a roast of Michael Scott, and a special look at the fictional film “Mrs. Albert Hannaday” which features Jack Black passionately kissing a 90-year old lady. What’s great about the fire drill is how wild it is in comparison to the average episode. We’re used to seeing these characters sitting in their chairs, occasionally getting riled up, but more often than not just rolling their eyes with abject disapproval at whatever misadventure seems to be going on at any given moment. Here, we see every character in a state of utter panic, and every character remains in-character without becoming a caricatured version of themselves. It’s definitely the funniest opening in the entire show. If you don’t watch any other episode of this show, watch “Stress Relief”.
Season Six
This is a big season for Jim and Pam, as the two two-parter episodes “Niagara” and “The Delivery” both focus on major developments in their lives. Of the two, “The Delivery” is the funnier episode, but the fallout of “Niagara” leaves us with a great story arc where Michael starts dating Pam’s mom. The season has a few more fun developments in store, like Andy and Erin’s blossoming crushes on each other and Jim’s co-management stint with Michael. Seeing the two of them forced to work together made for more than a few laughs. Aside from the two-parter episodes I already mentioned, the highlight episode from this season for me is “Scott’s Tots”, where Michael has to go to a classroom of high school students who he promised full tuition – and tell them he doesn’t have the money. It’s a nice standalone episode that’s just funny in and of itself. The Christmas episodes are always fun, but this season’s “Secret Santa” is one of the top Christmas episodes of the series. Michael Scott posing as Jesus Christ is comedy gold, and there’s not too much plot knowledge needed to enjoy the jokes this time around. The season ends on an optimistic note with regards to Erin and Andy’s relationship as well as hope for Holly’s return.
Season Seven
The opening of this season forcibly delays the Erin-Andy relationship for the entire season – which is mildly annoying given that neither of them are characters that I care about too much. Gabe Lewis is a fun addition to the cast, although he’s funniest when people are making fun of him. The main focus of this season is Michael Scott and the return of Holly Flax. It’s really nice to have someone around as crazy as Michael, and seeing them rekindle their relationship is definitely fun television. When Michael finally says farewell in “Goodbye, Michael”, it’s an emotional and heartwarming episode that many argue should have served as the end of the series. Some days I think they’re right, but then we wouldn’t have got Robert California, who I think is the highlight of the next season. I’m just thankful Will Ferrell’s character Deangelo Vickers didn’t stick around. He wasn’t funny at all.
In terms of standout episodes, “Threat Level Midnight” is the funniest of the season and one of the top five episodes in the entire series. It’s both a hysterical look into Michael’s mind and a fun look back at all the characters we’ve met over the course of the show. “Counselling” is one of the best Toby-Michael episodes, and “China” and “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager” both give us Dwight at his Dwight-est. This may not be the best season, but it’s a satisfying conclusion to Michael’s story and it’s packed with a number of quality episodes.
Season Eight
Although I didn’t really notice it the first time around, I have to admit there’s a significant dip in quality in this season after the departure of Michael Scott. As much as Ed Helms was the brightest ‘star’ of the show given his success in the Hangover movies, I don’t think he was a good pick for the replacement manager. I think Dwight would have been a much more dynamic and fun choice. In this season, Andy kind of collapses like a dying star into himself. He’s not very funny, and more often than not his antics are the kind that make us dislike instead of pity him as we pitied Michael Scott. His character arc of struggling to earn his own position starts earnestly enough, but by the end of the season he’s put both his love interests and his subordinates through a whole lot of unnecessary turmoil. And to be honest, I never really cared much about the Andy-Erin romantic tension. What made the whole will-they-won’t-they of Jim and Pam’s relationship effective was the believability of the motivations that brought them together or apart. Here, Andy’s inability to develop his relationship with Erin is purely due to his own character faults. He lacks confidence, and spinelessness is not an admirable quality for any character. Michael Scott may have been an idiot, but he was a confident idiot (take the episodes ‘Women’s Appreciation’ or ‘Did I Stutter?’ for example).
What saves this season is Robert California. This guy is hysterical. Whereas Michael Scott crossed the line frequently due to his own stupidity, Robert California crosses the line because he feels he is beyond lines entirely. His overconfidence and bravado terrify everyone in the office, and the way he makes everyone uncomfortable is exactly what the show needs at this point. On that note, “Mrs. California” is probably the best episode of the season, and it starts off terrifically with Robert bursting in to tell Andy, “In four seconds, my wife is going to be coming through that door. I told her she could work here. Under no circumstances can that be allowed to happen.”
But as much as I like Robert, I can’t say he justifies the rest of the season. The brief stint with Kathy trying to hit on Jim wasn’t too interesting, and even though Nellie Bertram was funny, her presence seemed a bit forced at times. I really think Dwight as manager would’ve been a better call. And there were a few times where I think they recycled some of their old jokes. For example, back in Season 4 when Michael Scott announced to the office that he had hit Meredith with her car, the joke was that the first part of his monologue made everyone think she had died when in reality she was fine. Here in Season 8, we got a similar joke of Andy announcing to the office that Dwight was being promoted in a way that made everyone think he had died. Am I stretching it, or does anyone else feel kind of cheated here?
Season Nine
The final season of this series is thankfully not its worst – the quality improves from Season 8 by shifting the focus from Andy’s self-destructive tendencies to the relationship of Jim and Pam. Andy is still kind of a loser here (and not a likable loser), so it’s really for the best that he gets written out of a significant chunk of the season. The season-long story arc that we follow mainly has to do with Jim starting a new business in Philadelphia, putting a strain on his relationship with Pam. That part is terrific. I said in Season 8 that the Andy-Erin dynamic wasn’t working for me because the obstacles keeping them apart weren’t really believable (or admirable). But with Jim and Pam here, both of their motivations are clear, believable, and to an extent you totally get where both of them are coming from. That’s what makes good storytelling, and on top of that, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer both perform really earnestly. Their story is the best part of the season – “Customer Loyalty” in particular is a great episode in this arc.
There was a bit too much shark-jumping this season, where characters went far beyond what they’d ever done before for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Many of them involve Dwight – there’s a tightrope incident, a tranquilizer incident, and a bug-repellent bomb that all strain credulity. It’s just a bit too wild for this show. Also, the new characters of Pete and Clark didn’t really add much in the way of laughs for this season. There’s still some great moments to be had, though. The affair involving Angela, Oscar, and Robert Lipton gives us a great episode in “The Target”, and “Livin’ The Dream” brings us somewhere I wish we’d gone in Season 8. The final few episodes of the season are more about tying up loose ends than they are about making us laugh, but they’re by no means skippable. The relationships between Dwight and Jim, Dwight and Angela, Jim and Pam, Phyllis and Stanley, and others are all brought to the forefront, reminding us of the good times we’ve had on the show. It’s a well-executed and heartfelt goodbye, culminating in “Finale”, which is as good of a final episode as anyone could have hoped for. Best of all, Michael Scott himself comes back for a brief cameo. At the time the series finale aired, no one had known about this upcoming cameo, so it was a terrific surprise to see him one last time.
Season Nine wasn’t the best season, but it did what many shows fail to do. It ended on a good note and managed to tie up all the loose ends before it was too late. And given that I first came to this show because the LOST series had failed to do that, I’d have to say that The Office gave me and my family exactly what we needed – closure.