Not a good way to begin 2010, Office, especially after being off the air for over a month. As TIME's James Poniewozik pointed out, clips shows seem like something that from an earlier, forgotten sitcom age.
Yeah, it was fun seeing the parade of disasters that have befallen Dunder-Mifflin over the course of six seasons (including the fire drill and Michael, Dwight and Andy's parkour attempts). And despite devoting a lot of its running time to clips of old episodes, "The Banker" actually gave the underused Toby more screen time than he's had in awhile.
All the same, in the era of YouTube, Hulu and mass DVD ownership, I don't know that I need to see all of Jim's pranks on Dwight, or a lengthy valentine to his relationship with Pam.
Worst of all, the framing device (a banker visits Dunder Mifflin to assess its value) had a lot of promising start. Michael's version of a hip, cutting edge company was pretty hilarious: the younger, thinner "Fake Stanley," Dwight serving as Computron, Pam as the multi-lingual international liaison, and Andy landing the NFL as a client.
Plus, you had David Costabile (who played the creepy Det. Messer on Damages, and will soon join the cast of Breaking Bad) as the banker. Too bad it was all stuck in the middle of an outdated cliche.
Tom Coombe
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