The Office ended its fifth season with some of its strongest episode ever. But since returning last month, the show has been disappointing. Last season's episodes -- at least the stretch at the end -- showed The Office at its darkest, its funniest and its most humane. Michael got a hard-assed new boss, quit to start his own paper company, and made a triumphant return to Dunder Mifflin.
So far this year, I feel like I've been watching a cartoon. Last week, I complained that with Jim and Pam gone, the show was missing the two main characters that kept it in the realm of the rational. This week, they're back, and it's Pam who's acting irrational (with Jim sort of watching helplessly, until he comes through for her in the end). And it's not funny. Not at all.
Yes, Pam isn't going to like Michael dating her mom ( a relationship that's apparently serious enough for Michael to have given her the pet name "Pickle"). Yes, she's going to be upset. But for her to literally have a screaming temper tantrum? I don't buy it. It seems to go against everything we've learned about the character over the years.
It was doubly irritating because the main story bled over into the subplot about Dwight's wiretap on Jim, something that could have been very funny (I liked Jim's idea about making Dwight reenact the movie National Treasure).
The fact that Jim doesn't do that, and that he in fact uses Dwight's nonsense to help make Pam feel better, is a sign the character is maturing. I just wish the show felt more grown-up.
I did laugh at a few things:
- Dwight stating that the "punishment fits the crime" when Jim had him wash the car, and his insisting everyone call the duck by its proper name, a "mallard."
- Stanley, the only person who wanted to join in with Pam's "No more meetings" chant.
- Ryan and his fedora.
- And that's really it. A few more like this, and I may have to think about retiring The Office from the blog.
Tom Coombe
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