Last week's Office ended with Michael discovering that his new girlfriend was actually married. (Making him, in his mind, "the mistress.")
There might have been a good episode in the fall-out from this revelation. In fact, I really liked the idea of Pam turning the office into a little comfort nest for Michael, instructing everyone on how to deal with him.
But what we got was weird and awkward. I was with this story for maybe the first half of the episode. Then we got Andy's bizarre conversation with Donna's husband, and Michael's descent into utter, non-deluded shamelessness, and things fell apart.
We need to root for Michael, and in the past, when he's done shady things, he usually finds a way to redeem himself. This time, even when he did the right thing -- breaking up with Donna -- he did it the wrong way (a text message).
There were things I liked this week -- Michael thinking the radon detector was one of those little toys that makes animal sounds when you turn it over, Dwight's baby contract having Benjamin Button/Matrix clauses, Darryl's sleep oasis -- but this one really didn't work for me. In fact, if next year's TV schedule remains the same -- with Fringe and The Office sharing a time slot -- it's very likely I'll retire The Office from the blog, until things turn around, and give a bit more ink to the much stronger comedies NBC is airing from the 8-9 block.
Tom Coombe
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