The Office – Requests, worker’s comp, and wedding headaches (Liveblog/chat)
It’s Thursday! Which means, of course, that it’s the most important day of the week, because there’s a new Office tonight, and things are due to start heating up. They already have on the interwebs, with Entertainment Weekly featuring Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski (sigh!) on their cover this week, in preparation for the hour-long upcoming wedding special in two weeks. (Spoiler alert! It’s super-adorable, as is the brief video interview they posted on their site.)
What crazy shenanigans are sure to ensue tonight? Check in with us at 9:00pm EST while we liveblog it all.
Are Jim and Pam good for The Office?
Right off the bat, I’d like to make it clear that I like Jim and Pam together. I was with all the rest of you warm-hearted fans as their relationship rode the rollercoaster of “will they or won’t they,” and I cheered both their secret relationship, their hidden engagement, and finally their plans to imminently wed (the ones that got canceled at the impromptu disco).
No, what I’m wondering is, once Jim and Pam get to the major intersections of life (marriage, children), do they still have a place on The Office? Think about it for a second; this is a show about office humor. Yes, the characters have become such strong individuals that they’ve been able to successfully roam into alternate territories, like beet farms, new houses, etc. But, ultimately, the show revolves around a bunch of people who work together in an office environment. Stanley’s not going to show up at Dwight’s beet farm with his crossword puzzle and a cup of coffee.
So, what happens next? Read the rest of this entry »
And I was expecting a wedding on The Office
Okay, not really. Maybe earlier in the season, but it became pretty clear that wasn’t going to happen. What we did get was a reunion of Michael and Holly which reaffirmed that there aren’t two people on the planet more suited for one another. Certainly no fully sane person would be able to be completely happy with either of them.
Well, maybe Holly because she seems a bit more grounded, but who else is there for Michael? The picnic was a fun diversion, as it showed us how petty and immature Charles Miner could be (I knew it), how clueless Michael remains capable of being (I knew it) and that Pam and Jim are ready for what’s next (that one I didn’t know).
Cupid’s sparrows and giant nets: love The Office way
It isn’t Valentine’s Day, but in light of the fact that The Office is filmed documentary style, I can forgive them being late on a holiday. In fact, you’d almost expect it. What an amazing episode, and with so very little happening. Pam and Jim went off with Phyllis and Bob for a couples extended lunch, while everybody else in the office stayed for a “Lonely Hearts” party. I never realized that everyone was now single save our favorite couple.
And I find myself torn on whether I like single Michael better or involved Michael. Michael and Jan was a train wreck, but it made for some classic moments. Michael and Holly were so perfect together it was wonderful to see, but then Michael is at his most awkward best when things aren’t going well for him. In this episode, though, Michael got to grow a little and that doesn’t happen too often.
The roast of Michael Scott
“I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense I had no idea what to do.” — Michael Scott (Doesn’t that pretty much sum up Michael Scott in one sentence?)
First of all, I think we all know that Michael is way too sensitive to survive a roast, and this one wasn’t even as scathing as some of the ones we’ve seen. Does that make it even more mean-spirited that the rest of the team went ahead and threw him under the bus? Surely they knew he would be devastated by their comments.
I’m incredibly disappointed that we didn’t get to see Creed roast the maestro. I can’t say for sure he would have been any better than what we did see, but more Creed is always a good thing. Still, there were some good digs, particularly from Pam and Andy. iPod Shuffle? Ouch!
The Office – The great debates: hot or not & heart or brain
(Season 5, Episode 12 – “Prince Family Paper”)
What a fantastic blend of the emotional heart of this show with the unique humor that makes it so special. There’s nothing like The Office for taking something completely mundane and making it entertaining. Tonight, while the major story featured Michael and Dwight’s infiltration of a rival smaller paper company, the rest of the cast participated in that age-old debate. Is a chick hot … or not? Tonight’s candidate: Hilary Swank. I actually remember getting into this exact same debate about her shortly after her gender-bending performance in Boys Don’t Cry back in 1999.
And here we are ten years later still having the debate? And yet, Hilary Swank is one of those actresses where you can see why there would be some uncertainty. But the show did a great job of breaking it all down. Isn’t it interesting how it was Jim who tried to curb the entire debate early into it to get everybody to go back to work. Not that it worked, but Jim is certainly stepping up in the world of office responsibility. No longer the prankster playboy. Maybe he’s finally taking his potential career seriously.
The Office – Serious ramifications for serious behavior
(Season 5, Episode 11 – “The Duel”)
Well, that was a departure from the norm. The Office has successfully straddled comedy and drama in a way that half-hour shows have never truly mastered. This week things were far more serious, dealing with the fallout of the office finding out about Dwight and Angela’s affair. Ultimately, I was very satisfied with the way things turned out. Unlike most episodes, the B-story was almost inconsequential, taking up virtually no time during the show. And yet the time seemed to just fly by and suddenly it was time for 30 Rock.
Ever since we found out about Angela cheating on Andy with Dwight, I’ve wanted this to come into the light, and for Andy’s sake I was hopeful that it would do so before their wedding day. That it became known by the entire office before Andy, I didn’t anticipate. Going into tonight’s episode, that burden has apparently been weighing on everyone for seventeen days, and especially Dwight who leapt to his feet constantly expecting the inevitable confrontation.
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