Life In The Office

The long awaited season finale of the office is finally here and I find myself, let’s see what would the correct adjective be……..underwhelmed. I was expecting more out of a season finale filled with such comical geniuses as Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, Ray Romano and Jim Carrey.   Not to say that the episode didn’t have its moments, it definitely did, I was just expecting less over-the-top comedy and more down home funny.

Let’s get to the recap, shall we? The cold open starts with a snazzy looking Porsche being driven at a high speed into the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. It comes to a screeching halt at an angle in front of the doors to the building. Who is in the driver’s seat of such and expensive sports car you might ask? None other than the new “acting” manager himself; Creed Bratton. The car is sporting vanity plates that say, NEW MGR. As Creed get’s out, he tosses the keys to an imaginary attendant and calls Dunder Mifflin, Great Bratton. Do you think being manager has slightly gone to his head? Maybe just a little. He goes on to spew gibberish to the camera, tries to have Jordan identify a made-up language, give a meeting to a near-empty conference room because he forgot to actually call the meeting and tries to come up with acronyms for a nonsensical word for which the first letter is “B”. When Kevin suggests that “B” stands for business, we find out that not only can’t Creed be a manager, he can’t spell either. Pam succinctly states that they need a new manager. I actually thought the cold opening was a pretty good one and I got a kick out of Creed’s antics. You gotta love the bizarreness that is Creed.

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Deangelo Vickers is in the house ladies and gentlemen! The new boss is making changes and ruffling feathers in this episode and it’s wreaking havoc on the staff at Sabre Scranton.

 During the Michael Scott-era, we knew a few things would always just be. Things like: Pam can always be counted on, Kevin is the lovable but goofy one, Toby will always be tortured, etc…These are things that just were. Now? It’s all up for grabs. We see staff member struggle to hold onto their office status, and others do what they can to maneuver themselves into better positions. And it’s all based on one man’s opinion, new boss, Deangelo Vickers. Read on »

Well, that was a whirlwind! As an Office episode, “Goodbye Michael” felt like a salami stuffed inside the pants of a man escaping a black bear in the high country of Colorado. And when it was over, I felt like someone had taken my heart and dropped it into a bucket of boiling tears, and then hit my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer. And don’t even get me started on my grief bone… Uh, where was I? Oh yeah, I was leading up to this: I liked this episode. Greg Daniels wrote it, and it was touching without being maudlin. And, it was funny in the best “Office-y” sort of way. There were a few things I wasn’t crazy about, but I guess everybody could say that about everything. So, uh… on to the recap. Read on »

As Michael’s tenure at Dunder Mifflin comes to a close, we have a throwback episode to one of the most monumental episodes from Season 2, The Dundies. Michael is grooming DeAngelo to take over his hosting duties, but DeAngelo isn’t sure that The Dundies is a tradition that he wants to continue as he builds his own Dunder Mifflin Sabre legacy.

It’s 6 am and much like The Oscar’s and The Emmy’s nominations for the The Dundies are about to be announced. Since the nominees can’t watch their appointments on TV, Michael takes it upon himself to deliver them in person. He enlists DeAngelo to accompany him to each of his employee’s homes to surprise them with their nomination. Michael says this happens every year and DeAngelo is less than enthralled, but he goes along with it. First stop is Jim and Pam Halpert’s home where Jim answers the door and promptly says that Pam isn’t there. We hear Pam calling from inside the house and Jim telling her to stay in bed as he accepts their nomination plaques. Next up is Stanley who, not surprisingly, asks them if they’ve lost their minds and promptly kicks them off his property. I’m curious if this is something that happens every year, why the employees are surprised by these impromptu visits. Next stop is Toby’s house where Michael just throws a few eggs at it and then they high tail it out of there to DeAngelo’s chagrin. He simply asks, “Is this an employee of ours?” LOL, I wonder if DeAngelo will have any more love for Toby than Michael does.

Next up is Meredith and Michael comments that he’s never seen this place in the day time and DeAngelo quips that it reminds him of Katrina. But what’s this? The door is ajar and Meredith doesn’t seem to be behind it. That’s because she’s just getting in from a night of partying and is doing the walk of shame up her driveway. She’s the only one who’s actually happy to see the two managers and invites them in for breakfast, but they are too disgusted and promptly flee the scene.
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Well, here is The Office, hurtling towards the finish of Steve Carell’s legendary run as Michael Scott after the bomb he dropped in “Garage Sale”.  We all now know that Michael is leaving Dunder-Mifflin and heading off to Colorado with Holly. Will there be an emotional send of? Which made me think of something. Michael has long gotten on the nerves of his subordinates in all manner of styles. But would the show become a love fest now? Has love with the perfect woman and a major life change to come leeched away Michael Scott’s penchant for childishness and jerky behavior? As evidenced by “Training Day”….. um….. nope. Read on »

Michael & Packer

There seems to be a trend happening with Michael this season, perhaps in preparation for Steve Carell’s departure; I like to call it a sort of social and emotional awakening.  Every time Michael has a new epiphany, it has something to do with Holly.  Even in the Sex Ed episode, when Michael only spoke to Holly on the phone, she seemed to trigger a kind of self discovery that is very out of character for Michael.  Could it be that Holly, in her own weird way, is making Michael normal?  Even though Holly, to quote Jim, “is kind of a dork”, she has this kind of evolving effect on Michael and it will be interesting to see what his character transforms into by the time Steve’s last episode comes around, which, unfortunately, is coming around way too soon.

Now that I’ve given my psychological analysis for the day, on to the episode:

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What to say about The Search? Yes, the entire episode hinges on a number of unlikely happenstances and it is a little light on laughs… but I must admit I kinda liked it. And it had it’s sweet moments. So…. not a tier one episode by any stretch… but not a complete dog either. Read on »