A perfect caricature of the average workplace and origami-synergized panegyric to normalcy w. encyclopedic comedy references, unparalleled rewatch value, multi-layered genre blending, socially-analytical depth themes, and the best character-cast in TV history, The Office (U.S.) flips 9-5 desperation into a cloud-nine eden of jocularity: Comedy’s [& Perhaps: TV’s] Greatest Of All-Time. 10/10.

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Plot Synopsis: Dunder Mifflin is a paper company based in Scranton, PA. Based on the British show, The Office follows the inner happenings of this average workplace environment, from characters like the boss-who-must-be-popular Michael (Steve Carell), the likeable every-man Jim (John Krasinski), receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer), the hungry temp Ryan (BJ Novak), and bizarre coworker Dwight (Rainn Wilson).

*Possible Spoilers Ahead*

S1 – 7.5/10 / S2 – 9.7/10 / S3 – 10/10 / S4 – 9.8/10 / S5 – 9.5/10 /

S6 – 8.7/10 / S7 – 8.2/10 / S8 – 4/10 / S9 – 7.9/10

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CLC’s Best #TheOffice Episodes: 1. Dinner Party, 2. Stress Relief (Pts. 1-2), 3. Fun Run (Pts. 1-2), 4. A Benihana Christmas, 5. The Dundies, 6. The Merger, 7. Gay Witch Hunt, 9. Finale (Pts. 1-2). 9. The Michael Scott Paper Company, 10. Benjamin Franklin, 11. Safety Training, 12. Branch Wars, 13. Launch Party (Pts 1-2), 14. Dunder Mifflin Infinity (Pts 1-2), 15. Product Recall, 16. Night Out, 17. Goodbye Toby, 18. The Client, 19. wuph.com, 20. Threat Level Midnight

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The Official CLC Review

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica. Admist the diegetic background noise of fax machines whirring, landlines ringing, elevators chiming, and keyboards clacking, one series has and continues to capture the hearts and imaginations of millions of viewers even years after its final air date. It’s a pop culture phenomenon that’s taken over the world; an homage to origamic normalcy-turned-extroardinary; a workplace study so realistic you feel its characters could be your next door neighbors; a whirlwind of master-comedy so addictive people cycle through it time and time again without getting the least bit tired of it. Why is it able to do all these things; what’s the secret sauce? Balancing an inimitable array of genres, diverse storylines, and characters across its 200+-ep, 9-year portfolio elucidating the beauty of normalcy is no easy task – and what NBC has managed to accomplish here is – quite simply – one of the best TV shows ever made. The Greatest Comedy [& Perhaps: TV Show] Of All-Time, The Office (U.S.) is a perfectly-aestheticized caricature of the average workplace and origami-synergized panegyric to normalcy by a paper company’s lens: one that excels past its award-winning U.K. predecessor on every level – from mythological proficiency in office-gag writing encyclopedically-referencing the comprehensive history, techniques, and legends of comedy w. jazzy off-kilter mockumentary cerebral jokes sans the clichéd laugh-tracks to multi-layered genre-blends hyper-addictive to all types of viewers capsulizing everything we go to TV for to unparalleled rewatch value magic to the zenith character-cast in in the history of television, satirizing real-world archetypes led by a career-performance by Steve Carrell as its patriarch M.G.S. to depth of subversively-dark existential themes hidden beneath a superficial, candy-coated N.E. exterior façade: twisting the most boring, cold, nightmarishly-feared place where dreams go to die and we spend lives fantasizing to get away from in suburban 9-5 cubicle office desperation.. to a cloud-nine, edenlike, magnetizing kingdom of bliss and jocularity we happily run towards, and don’t want to leave.

First, the characters: The Office (U.S.) has the greatest character cast in TV history. A wildly-diverse, trope-fitting, workplace-caricaturic one, the characters may be fictional – but are so authentic and brilliantly-scripted, they feel like real-life people and a family you know.. and it’s impossible to not to recognize most-if-not-all of them in your real-life coworkers/friends. From the Falstaffian chili-cooking dumbo gambleaholic dumb teddy bear Kevin (personal favorite) to epically-weird bear/beet-obsessed farmer and volunteer law-and-order authoritarian geek x gullible prank-victim Assistant [to the] Regional Manager Dwight to lovable romeo messy hair everyman prankster Jim to sweet-and-shy girl next d[oor/esk] coming into herself Pam to grumpy insubordinate middle-aged sassy disinterested black fight the power heart attack crossword-puzzling Stanley to plus-sized mama bear x goose with a wild side Phyllis to shy hated eeyore-y God-despised ex-clergyman divorced custody-forbidden father x HR incel bully victim turned homicidal strangler Toby to old and senile rando guy with a sketchy criminal backstory Creed to Mexican closeted gay homosexual accountant Oscar to blonde severe ultra-conservative cat-lady judgmental of everyone else even as she commits the worst of sins Angela to pretentious trust-fund hamptons legacy-admit x parent-rejected teacher’s pet scat-acapella bro Andy to silly x vapid x shallow x materialistic reality tv social media customer service girl ignorant to her culture and immigrant parents’ hardships Kelly to hardcore alcoholic x gross slutty porn/striptease bad influence alcoholic tomboy Meredith to [over]ambitious business school temp-turned-exec cocaine addict fraudster Ryan to creepy awkward horror nut Gabe, toxic DUI bad friend x misogynist Todd Packer, dumb secretary orphan girl Erin, single mother realtor Carol, beloved ladies man Charles, outwardly beautiful yet inwardly shallow/basic bombshell Katy, level-headed CFO David Wallace, whiny rude working newborn-mother Hannah, self-promoting refrigerator salesman x model husband Bob Vance, motivated yet estranged Italiana hopeless romantic Karen, blithe abusive scared-of-commitment manual labor warehouse worker Roy, unapologetic ex-con Martin, cool black guy everybody loves Daryl, miss goody two shoes Holly, messily-divorced pedophiliac shopaholic breakdown pantsuited lonely overachieving girlboss career-woman Jan, etc., there is no better casted and blended character swarm television history. Each of the characters is hyperrealistic – from motivations to backstory to purposeful-flaws to layered social commentary. The canvas is jam-packed with clever subversions of societal norms/expectations to expose hidden meanings: Ryan having never made a sale (even while the secretary pam beats him to one) despite graduating with an MBA from Business School to criticize learning < doing and workers > execs, multiple cultural stereotype subversions like Oscar being Mexican yet the smartest in the office x Stanley being Black yet the best father x Meredith being a woman yet the most sex-crazed x Kelly being Indian yet arguably the dumbest – all the opposite of common racial and gender prejudices/perceptions [while also groundbreakingly one of the most culturally diverse sitcoms ever, especially for its early-2000’s era: Black, Mexican, LGBTQ+, Italian, Japanese, Indian, etc. characters x representation], Andy being the worst salesman despite having an Ivy League education to criticize the whitebread ‘legacy’ admits who clearly don’t/can’t merit or earn their place in top colleges and are only there by endowment donation-bought privilege, the goofoffs like Michael and Jim actually being some of the most productive and talented workers when they want to and regardless, Jan being the most successful career-woman girlboss but the most lonely and unfulfilled spiraling her downwards over time into craziness and externalizing her attraction for her younger happier pre-career self onto young guys and the young-at-heart in Michael, Angela being the most judgmental and Christian doom-preachy on everyone else despite being the worst sinner in the office by her own religion’s laws (adultery, premarital sex, covet-jealousy, even attempted plot to murder because of someone else’s cheating on her fiancé when she did the same thing to Andy) to criticize American faux-religious hypocrisy, etc. – supported by top-notch performances and characterization/writing with each member getting multiple focused arcs to make them feel like a veritable part of the family by series’ end.

That family even grows into the inclusion of major celebrities and stars [as well as pedigreed award-winning actors] like the ones its niche table-waiter cast would grow into afterwards of the show: Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, Tom Cruise, Jessica Alba, Amy Adams, Jack Black, Ray Romano, Will Arnett, Warren Buffett, Conan O’Brien, Ken Jeong, Cloris Leachman, Evan Peters, Stephen Colbert, Dr. J, Roseanne Barr, Ashton Kutcher, Aaron Paul, James Gandolfini, Jo Bennett, and even Ricky Gervais himself cameoing in one or more seasons or advertisements. They, of course, all bow to the godlike patriarch of the series – and one of the greatest performances in the history of comedy: Steve Carell’s Michael Gary Scott. Equally-brilliant as a complement to Gervais’ mythic David Brent while also similar scathingly-critical of the managerial archetype, Carell’s warm/fuzzy approachability and pedigree of acting being able to deliver many of the funniest and most ridiculous lines of farce comedy ever written for television with a straight-face is masked by a manchild insecurity, developmental stunt, and neediness – one he covers up by trying to convince us he’s beloved by the employees he considers his friends/children [even willing to become a cuck to a woman who cheated on him just to have kids] and a hilarious comedian-first-boss-second but forced to confront the gaping dichtomony being shown on national television of how much he isn’t and his employees ambivalize him and begrudgingly shlog through his efforts because he pays their bills.. games, office shenanigans, and epic characters/personas: from Prison Mike to Michael Klump to Santa Bond to Blind Guy McSqueezy to Ping. Even so, behind all the comedic glitz-and-glam, Michael is given much darker subtext and abusive treatment than Brent: consistently beaten up apon by everyone around him – even the company he loves so much (reversing the inexplicably positive treatment Brent was given by corporate promoting him and having to fire him only after his objectively self-inflicted doomspiral for a new angle on the character in a corporate who hates their best manager: oppressing him by failing to give him a standard modest scheduled raise in 14+ years, recommending demotion and actually firing him / closing his branch < Josh before promoting an underling to comanager, leading him on for a corporate job he desperately wants and deserves having been there the longest of any employee and managing the most people while doing so successfully without seriously considering him for the position, micromanaging, rejecting his calls, and breaking his heart by forcefully rejecting his relationship with the love-of-his-life Holly even after he ruined his previous one with Jan for them saving them millions in the process and carrying the company by his branch constistently leading all branches in numbers and sales and even secures major contracts corporate can’t through his unorthodox people-first-business-second sales tactics like the entire county to show he’s a good salesman who deserves his position and the morale / fun breaks evidently boost productivity and excellence), his employees (i.e. rejecting his invitations and doing so to everyone but him for anything outside of the office), and girlfriends (betraying his trust, breaking his heart for arbitrary/hypocritical/mean-spirited reasons) – for just wanting to make everyone laugh and be the friend he always wanted more than anything as a child he is developmentally-stunted/trapped as indefinitely. The show is dark too just like the U.K. version: it hides the same cringe comedy mockumentary style poking often mean-spirited look at these losers energy in sugar-coated fun and dialed up versions of the comedy, romance, drama, etc. to make it 100x more watchable, achieved by the skill of its writers and character cast/performances. What separates – by Grand Canyon-margins – The Office U.S. from the U.K. version is that there is immaculate support from every single character outside its regional managerial star, with every side-character equally as compelling and finely-acted in Scranton than the forgettable and fast-forward-requiscent personality-less husks of Slough. Never before have I gotten so attached and comfortable with characters in a series as in The Office and that is a testament to the dazzling skill of the screenwriters, showrunners, and casters together sculpting such an inimitable triweave of cast many have tried, but few – if any – shows have managed to successfully copy.

From Dwight’s unrequited love x subservience to Michael to Toby’s HR-typified hatred by everyone in the office (especially Michael who envies his children and failed marriage because he didn’t fight for it and takes out the frustrations of his life and clashing tries to make the office fun on him) to Michael’s uberracist stereotypification of Stanley and Oscar x LGBT-curious hottest in office crush on Ryan to Jan’s gender/dynamic-reversed boss x secretary affair with Michael [and darkly: Hunter the underaged secretary, there’s also fandom theory that Astrid is his child and abomination from his and Jan’s illegal affair] to Jim’s new Bugs Bunny x Daffy Duck prankster shenanigans on Dwight and shakespearean romance with Pam (greatest in the history of television) to Erin’s looking at Michael as a father figure since she never had one to Michael’s constant jokes about how old and grandmotherly Phylis is despite being the same age and high school class, every single relationship is fantastic. There’s no laugh-track, no soundtrack of any kind, no gimmicks beyond the boxy rooms of its office buildings: none of the escapist luxuries or gimmicks to distract or take even a second’s notice away from characterization and screenwriting populating every frame of every episode of every season of the show. On paper, The Office sounds like The Worst TV Show Ever Made: a frankenstinian amalgamation of everything normal, boring, and awful about life: from blank paper to corporate 9-5 cubicles dreams go to die and people only limit their existential-hatred existence in for bill-paying subsistence to the most boring genre of entertainment – documentary. Yet, a correction of the over-utilization of the word in modern contexts and in complete antithesization of its concept-pitch x setting, The Office is the most fun we’ve ever had watching a TV show. The ability to take the objectively most unspeakably horrible shared experiences of mankind and civilization and craft arhuably the most entertaining and watchable television show ever made is a feat of pure witchcraft black magic, synergistically comparable to a blank piece of paper complexly-folded into origami. It evokes a feeling/experience of God akin to all-time classics like Citizen Kane by how it lets us watch over, witness, and [omnisciently] analyze the growth, change, joys, heartbreak, etc. of its characters over time.

The amount of genres juggled episode-to-episode is a lot of the secret sauce and what sets The Office into the stratosphere far above its competitors/kin. The Office is almost a zenith comprehension of the artform of television: it’s comedy, romance, drama, horror/action inklings, documentary, etc. all in one.. again, handled in the most impossible of all places we know and spend our lives in daily with zero of the entertainment-value – a workplace. As Kevin might say, “why watch many show when one show do trick?” From its main genre of workplace comedy with incredibly-inventive office gags (Asian Jim, Casino Night Telepathy, the Jello stapler, Office Olympics, Forehead Stares, Bears/Beets/Battlestar Galactica, etc.) blending silly and black comedy along with a preponderance of social themes like gender, race, body image, etc. to romance with the greatest fairytale courtship in TV history in the PB&J Jim and Pam also adorned with other socially-analytic ones like the practicality oppression/abuse/cheated mismatched couples Pam/Roy and Andy/Angela and Michael/Jan, odd couples Kelly/Ryan and Dwight/Angela, incel tragedy of Toby/Pam, hiding addictions breakup of Kevin/Stacy, doomed long-distance relationship of Michael/Holly yet perfectly-matched star-crossed ones of Michael/Holly and Jim/Pam and Phyllis/Bob, futility of rebound B-love against fate Jim/Karen, overclingy Michael/Carol, unrecoited gaybait Michael/Dwight and Michael/Ryan, fake appearance couple x secret homosexuality politics of Oscar/Angela/Senator, etc. Also present are buddy-cop shenanigans in both Michael/Dwight and Jim/Dwight to crime series in The Scranton Strangler (convincingly proven to be Dunder Mifflin’s own HR Rep upon careful rewatch!) to a game-changing mini-interview-vignettes/edited documentary style, it is absolutely stunning how they were able to juxtaposed so many types and subgenres of TV into one overall product that can satisfy really any viewer regardless of taste/desire. The Office is a love-letter to the history and genre of comedy: references from films like Rush Hour and Airplane! to stand-up comics like Steve Martin and Chris Rock, the series takes the most ridiculous and farcical comedy, and masterfully frames it in a satirical, wryly-comedic, and universally-tangible jacket for extreme relatability and entertainment value. There is intellect in the comedy too: the series is a farcical satire/spoof referential of a wide variety of TV series, genres, and real-life situations – even dark ones milked for every droplet of laughter out of the premise, as well as intelligent analysis. From the American house[hold/wives] and quiet suburban destitute existence in Dinner Party to nature survival TV in Survivor Man to legal dramas in The Deposition to sport/triumph-of-the-human-spirit films in Fun Run to gender dynamics in Money to crime dramas in Drug Testing to mortality/death/9-5-meaninglessness in Grief Counseling to dreams unrealized in Take Your Daughter To Work Day to misogyny and cancel-culture in Sexual Harassment to loneliness x FOMO in E-Mail Surveillance/The Carpet to LGBTQ in Gay Witch Hunt, cheating affairs in The Affair, betrayal in The Coup, the prison of 9-5’s in The Convinct, education and healthcare in Business School and Health Care, ethics in Business Ethics, and even depression/suicide in Safety Training.

Objectively dark experiences and feelings [disproportionately affecting those in 9-5’s] are thus realistically analyzed and made subjects for television deconstruction, losing none of their power but sugar-coated in enough physical comedy, slapstick, gags, and sharply-written but silly/juvenile fun to make them actually watchable and hilarious, seamlessly-blended into a secret-sauce it’s easy to gulp down by the gallons. I have watched The Office at least 20x through over the years, and still find just as much unbridled enjoyment out of the process as I did the first time – the show’s biggest miracle of achievement: rewatch value. Finally, the rewatch value. The ultimate exemplification of cinema – and most things in life too – is one thing: the test of time. How do things hold up when they get copied or shamelessly ripped off? Can it still provide the same thrills years, decades, or centuries later in completely-different societal settings and atmospheres? What is The Office’s ultimate display of quality and magnificence of one-of-a-kind palpable/universally-bingeable tonal blend is something I’ve rarely ever seen in a TV series: rewatchability. It’s no secret that TV series are *LONG*, in this case 200+ episodes at 23 minutes a pop for a whopping 75+ hours of content as opposed to 1-2 hours for a film oftentimes preferred by critics like me and many others to even getting into TV series. How can a series set in the most mundane and universal setting we can’t wait to punch out of everyday: 9-5 office jobs be made into something we can’t get enough of watching? That’s brilliant screenwriting and perhaps the ultimate proof of characterization/magic – one the setting would’ve broken by shedding inescapable spotlight on if anything less than a masterpiece set of intangibles which The Office has. But here, that ridiculous prospect is somehow inconsequential, many even finding more joy upon rewatches to notice little details and track characters throughout the 9-season journey to see it in ways they’d never considered before. I’ve actually never seen in another show so masterfully hold up to even double-digit rewatches, with its brilliant signature cocktail of ingredients outlined above for a smooth binge every time and fans not even getting remotely tired by it, even noticing tiny peripheral details down to costume choices and the slightest of background movements/posters giving new reinterpretations of events x characters – says about all you need to know about the craftsmen that molded such a beautiful product all network execs need to study like textbooks.

The only two conceivable problems with the series are one vexatious character in Nellie and a shaky start/finish. One of our least favorite characters ever being an off-putting, pointless, pretentious, nagging, job-stealing, grating character, as well as, ironically: British, echoing its character failures, Nellie is the one rough amongst a neverending sea of diamonds – thus passable. The series takes a bit to get going from S2-on and ill-advisedly tried to go S8-9 without its patriarch in Michael, but there is no show that does not have one or two bad seasons – and it has at least a 100-episode run of flawless masterpieces of comedy episodes from S2-7 easily making inevitable speed-bumps passable. Its wholly-overlookable 1-2 gripes matter little in the grand scheme of things, especially considered by its comparatively-meek rough-sketch U.K. predecessor lacking the vibrancy, energy, precision, cast, delivery, and scale here. There has never been such a diverse and thoroughly-entertaining comedy series as The Office (U.S.) – and isn’t likely to be again for a few centuries. Though the only badge-of-approval the 5x-Emmy winner really needs is how limitlessly-rewatchable it is for millions of Dunder Mifflinites, there comedy is the most complete package I’ve ever witnessed on television, brought to life by a once-in-a-lifetime meld of characterization, performances, and screenwriting. The Greatest Comedy [& Perhaps: TV Show] Of All-Time, The Office (U.S.) is a perfectly-aestheticized caricature of the average workplace and origami-synergized panegyric to normalcy by a paper company’s lens: one that excels past its award-winning U.K. predecessor on every level – from mythological proficiency in office-gag writing encyclopedically-referencing the comprehensive history, techniques, and legends of comedy w. jazzy off-kilter mockumentary cerebral jokes sans the clichéd laugh-tracks to multi-layered genre-blends hyper-addictive to all types of viewers capsulizing everything we go to TV for to unparalleled rewatch value magic to the zenith character-cast in in the history of television, satirizing real-world archetypes led by a career-performance by Steve Carrell as its patriarch M.G.S. to depth of subversively-dark existential themes hidden beneath a superficial, candy-coated N.E. exterior façade: twisting the most boring, cold, nightmarishly-feared place where dreams go to die and we spend lives fantasizing to get away from in suburban 9-5 cubicle office desperation.. to a cloud-nine, edenlike, magnetizing kingdom of bliss and jocularity we happily run towards, and don’t want to leave.

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Season-By-Season Reviews:

Season 1

The introductory season to the legendary series amongst the greatest of all-time is mixed: unbalanced, chaotically-executed, and comedically-blunt in forced-comedy that goes against the raison-d’être of the series on a foundational level – occasionally, even missing big (diversity-day anyone? yikes). The biggest flaw of S1, in the most unimaginable twist of irony in TV history, is what would eventually [through trial-and-error] become the series’ greatest achievement: Michael Gary Scott. Greasy, hyper-manic, awkward, cacophonous, and bizarrely-hairstylized, Steve Carell’s MGS in S1 is an absolute conundrum – although clearly-intentional in perfidious/vile social-commentary on the managerial archetype, a bad knockoff of Ricky Gervais’ legendary David Brent.. often feeling like a jittery coke-addict in need of tranquilization or a straight-jacket instead of the Michael we know and love today. This is partly due to Carrell’s thespian nescience in big-time projects of the early 2000’s, and partly due to a comprehensive mis-typecasting: a cameo in films like Bruce Almighty and the once-in-an-era Anchorman who did score laughs, but was never under this kind of spotlight in a role of such characterized-antithesization he oversold and had growing pains at first in. As much as it feels sacrilegious to say so: Michael Scott is the achilles heel of The Office S1, but there’s plenty of good to overshadow the bad. Season 1 recreates many of the U.K. version’s gags and plot-points down to even the dialogue, often completely outdoing them by perfect delivery and cleaner comedic timing – a polished version of what was already a groundbreaking & revolutionary season, letting us relive the nostalgia while also correcting superficial flaws. Daniels & co. effectively build the framework of the entire series – laying the foundations for its broad-strokes genres/arcs, premise caricaturizing the average workplace, subliminal normalcy panegyricism, and the greatest character-cast on TV. Though the characterization-here is overtly-similar by the recreation of the British series’ S1: the needy-and-unfunny manager, enabling suck-up assistant-[to-the]-regional manger, lovable prankster & hopeless romantic everyman, and shy and timid artist-receptionist caught in existential crisis, The Office (U.S.) absolutely blows their U.K. counterparts out of the water in performances in lifetime-castings for its Big 4 [with the exception of Carrell’s MGS here] alone carrying the season to an easy win by how perfectly they nail the performances. Great topics/themes to spoof like the basketball game, healthcare plan, birthday party alliance, and masculinity-foible competitions for the purse girl – as well as endearing innocence and normalcy with a hint of melancholy in the fantastic Northeastern aestheticization, sonicized in the now-iconic alt-rock refrain by Jay Ferguson and The Scrantones beginning every episode – let The Office S1 fulfill its job of introducing the series, getting the boring origin stuff out of the way, and laying enough crumbles to invest NBC and us as audiences into greenlighting an S2 [though barely, as showrunners revealed in interviews: the season feeling truncated and like the day before work/school break because they got paused and believed-to-be cancelled, but the end note of Hot Girl was funny, light, and potential-filled enough for the studio to mercifully give them one more chance]. Thank the studio-exec gods for that; if you’re just starting The Office, S2 corrects every flaw and begins the promised land of comedy. 7.5/10.

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Season 2

Season 2 – A near-flawless season of television as well as one that rocked comedic TV history, S2 is where The Office (U.S.) diverged from – and blew out of the water – its U.K. counterpart. It’s often from that very first glimpse of hope that greatness is born; S1 was viewed as such a failure worthy and requisite of cancellation that eventual A-list Hollywood mega-stars like John Krasinski (Jim) literally went back to waiting tables because they said on-record ‘nobody is ever going to watch this show’… how wrong they were. From its very opening second, the series is blasted with light, crisp (expensive-feeling) cinematography, and vibrancy – not only visually but also comedically and character-developmentally foremost in the instantaneous hyper-evolution of its savior: Michael Gary Scott. Cleaner, leaner, polished, and dramatically more-refined/reigned-in than his chaotic/manic S1-counterpart, this was the beginning of a beautiful dynasty of American workplace comedy achieved by the bold yet brilliant decision to no longer copy/replicate The U.K. Version and pave its own path. Michael is not only naturally funnier in every way [also by a near-impossible jekyll-and-hyde 180 in Carell’s performance], but also given depth beyond just the goofball man-child we know-and-love – he’s also a talented salesman who earned his position by weaponizing his friend-first-business-second demeanor, even winning prestigious contracts like the whole county.. while doing it with plenty of laughs [Cue: The Dundies & I want my baby back, baby back, baby back.. Chili’s baby back ribs]. S2 masterfully fine-tunes its construction, precision, screenwriting, and gags for a brilliant, brighter, tonally-pure showcase of sitcom-glory that deserves unfathomable praise for how instantaneously it was able to flip the switch and self-analyze and listen to fans/critics to diagnose/cure ~every single one of your show’s problems. Perfectly-balanced, casted, & scripted characters begin to take shape – holding each their own down to even the peripheral faces of Kevin and Creed all the way up to Dwight’s magnetic bizarrity and the series’ breathtaking romance escalation of Jim and Pam from friends-to-star-crossed-lovers with a beautiful arc cascading to a stunning (dark – the season impossibly blending comedy with dark emotions like heartbreak, rejection, loneliness, etc. for multiple characters like Michael and Jim) finale cliffhanger for maximum addictiveness and momentum going into S3 [a high-stakes all-in bet in synergation with casino night]. This is alongside side-splitting office hi-jinx and too many All-Time Classic comedy-TV episodes to count – like Casino Night, Drug Testing, The Client, Sexual Harassment, The Fire, and CLC’s vote for the greatest episode in The Office-history (and one of the greatest TV episodes ever for how instantly it hyper-evolved a mixed-to-bad precursor season into a comedy masterclass): The Dundies. The season is like crack mixed with xanax – or better yet, the joint Dwight was so hilariously-obsessed with as (volunteer) sheriff’s deputy: hyper-addictive and energized-yet-smooth/comforting; a masterclass of television and how to fix and de/reconstruct yourself from the foundation up unlike anything I’ve ever seen.. and studios should be forced to major and study in school. and learn from: one failure or a rocky start does *NOT* define what a TV Show or Movie series can be. Only one minuscule flaw is to be nitpicked: a slight 2-3 episode lull around E12-14 that’s not as magnetic as the rest of the season but can be forgiven 100x over in the rest of the portfolio and achievement. S2 of The Office (U.S.) is, arguably, one of the greatest seasons of comedic TV ever scripted – and opened the flood-gates for not only the series’ dynastic reign, but a litany of modern copycats trying to sponge off the magic lightning-in-a-bottle character docudrama in a workplace comedy CV the almost-cancelledseries managed to captured against-all-odds here. 9.7/10.

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Season 3

Season 3 – The best season of The Office, third time’s the charm for NBC and Daniels in this flawless masterwork of comedy, characterization, and screenwriting amongst the best seasons of television [comedic and overall] ever made. Boasting full command over its magnitude of comedic prowess, the season opens in the most f*cked up way imaginable: the (riskiest), most brazen and controversial-land mine topic and handling we’ve ever seen from a major TV show, Gay Witch Hunt. A Progressive Gay Pride episode disguised as anti-LGBTQ propaganda, GWH is It’s Always Sunny on steroids – framing the then-uncomfortable/controversial off-limits conversation [gay marriage was not even legal back then, let alone of even remote public normalization/acceptance] with so much batsh*t crazy farce invoking and squeezing every bit of comedy imaginable (Gaydar and The Improvised Kiss are still amongst the funniest and most insane gags in the show’s history) to cleverly frame and make us laugh at the ignorance of Michael & Co. while foundationalizing an eventual acceptance and normalization in just one day (in the most genius screenwriting way possible: ‘That’s what she said. Or he said.’). The bravery to lead with such an impossibly-controversial episode that likely scared the f*ck out of studio execs when they saw it live after already being near-cancelled once before and one fleeting season of universal celebration shows how confident the showrunners were they had mastered their craft – and the rest of the season only gets smarter, funnier, and crazier from there. Multiple tour-de-force of All-Time classic episodes too numerous & diverse to count – often with very ambitious ideas flipping dynamics and expanding locations [without losing the small-town normal/basic life underdog charm of the series] to places like Business School, Traveling Sales, Benihana, Staples, Philadelphia Office Convention, Diwali Hall (bonus points: atoning for the biggest sin of S1 in the Kelly-Apu racism by a celebration spotlight of Hindu culture we especially appreciate as Indians ourselves), Outlets, IHOP, Corporate-NYC, Art Studios, The Mall, Wedding Venue, and Lake Scranton being stages for comedy. There’s even dark themes and underlying storylines incuding betrayal, mortality, grief, rape, child abuse, homophobia, racism, adultery, misogyny, sexual assault/harassment, and even the ultimate off-limits one: depression/suicide [Safety Training, FTW].. all tackled while still impossibly not losing its comedy heart and being able to make fun out of its antithesis with mythic-level pranks/sketches and God-tier farce like Benjamin Franklin The Stripper, Product Recall News Conference, Prison Mike, The Crentist-Coup, Lazy Scranton, Gaydar, Vampire-Jim, Future Dwight, and the series-defining Bears/Beets/Battlestar Galactica. S3 finds gold in its back-to-basics self-analysis perfecting its tonal mix of innocent and thoroughly-watchable wackiness/gentility, while also reaching peak character portfolio – boasting such a miraculous, surgical understanding of its richly-scripted characters, it’s able to innovate, expand, and wildly shake-up its roster for maximum entertainment value. Moving perhaps its two most-beloved characters in Jim and Dwight (as well as Oscar) around like chess-pieces across the 23-episode board is high-stakes brilliance that could’ve [and probably would’ve in most shows] failed but worked opened up limitless new doors and visions – perhaps exhibiting better than ever the prowess of the showrunners by tackling head-on the primally scariest part of life mankind fears: change by not only changing and moving around all of its characters but even taking them out of the office more frequently than inside. Et. al also proves even further the show’s greatest achievement in perfect characterization/casting creating an entirely-new secondary office with even more incredible characters: the gorgeous power-suited Karen (making for a complex love-triangle and phenomenal romance-arc) and Ed Helms’ star-making, Cornell-braggadocios, wealth-satirical acapella-bro Andy Bernard. The biggest validation of how much infinitely-better the U.S. version of The Office is than the U.K. version is clear to see in S3: how they handled the same overarching storylines – the closing and merger between the two branches of Wernham-Hogg/Dunder Mifflin and even the fakeout-moveon new girlfriend for its star male protagonist – as its predecessor, so inexorably-boring and support-nonexistent that they were cancelled a mere two episodes after their second season painfully screeched to a close, 1,000x better. Maintaining S2’s craftsman brilliance and top-notch comedic writing/character development while even somehow even one-upping its own previous-perfection while correcting its predecessor shaky handling of the same storyline, S3 is the summit of comedic-TV Mount Everest – delivering a masterpiece collection of 23 episodes for the ages. Oh, and there’s a magnitude of finality in the season finale (teasing many threads mimicked by the actual series one later on it almost serves as here with a fakeout): Michael leaves and Dwight takes over as Regional Manager and we get to see a taste of his management tactics/shenanigans, and Jim x Pam [right at the apex moment of the will they or won’t they tricking us into believing they won’t and are finally moving on from each other] finally get together as we’ve been waiting seasons on. Bonus points: the post-credits of Ryan going to Corporate: a plot-twist and multi-thread cliffhanger of epic possibilities and proportions. 10/10.

…

Season 4

Season 4 – A Trifecta?! No way. There was zero chance The Office could recapture lightning in a bottle after not one but TWO ~100% perfect seasons of television and comedy amongst the greatest ever made. Right? Those were my thoughts as the opening flickers began… and lasted not even 50 seconds until the end of the very first scene of the season. S4 begins with a bang: quite literally, 1-Uping the plot-twist shock value of The S2/3 Finale cliffhangers by a seemingly-normal cold open morning breakfast and drive to work (even tempered with subliminal iconography/advertising of paper/office-like normalcy like cereal and suburbia and background building paraphernalia) that instantly gets to god-tier farce [the kind that literally made me spit-take the first time I saw it; I think I was actually eating cereal at the time] when it ends with Michael hitting Meredith with her car. Fun Run is an absolute masterclass in how to open – arguably The #1 Greatest Episode Of The Office Ever Made, filled with the craziest and funniest farce situational comedy of the series in one episode IMO by the ‘double-jeapardy’ car accident x healthcare exposition [with stripper-nurses wielding giant check splurges made out to the entity of Science costing a large portion of their funds to comedically criticize charity organizations, additionally] contrastively juxtaposed with a spoof of religion dramas and clichéd motivational sports movies (and sports in general – spoofing carboloading, non-circular routes, chafing, and the fake-turned real gun at the beginning of races) for a cure for an already-cured disease (it ironically invokes by Michael getting dehydrated in a rabies-themed event, as well as almost getting rabies by sharing a lollipop at the end to spoof the ignorance of such organizations to their causes) – layered with many of the most famous, funniest, and greatest lines of the series [‘Guess what I have flaws…’ / ‘European offices are nude all the time’ / ‘I hate hospitals. In my mind, they are associated with sickness’ / To get rid of the curse, maybe we could make a sacrifice.. to something with the body of a walrus/porcupine/egret, the antlers of a reindeer, and the head of a sealion/meercat/monkey (the imagery alone is hilariously striking. God, what brilliance of writing)], as well as bold and exciting new directions capitalized on and fleshed out by a time jump as to what’s happening with its characters: Jim, Pam, Karen, Dwight, Angela, and Ryan [later: + Kelly, Darryl] and a fresh new structural change in 2-parter 45 minute episodes allowing the writers and characters to push episode-a-week plots farther and reap more focused comedy, storytelling, and characterization. The Office gets even more intellectual from there on – the dynamics of gender finances in Money, tradition vs. modernism and technology vs. personal human connection (+ letter-baskets of food x cars in lakes) in Dunder Mifflin Infinity, legal chess battles [tragically, all beating up on Michael to really twist the knife of cruelty against the character even by the company and girlfriend he loves more than anything when all he wants is to make everyone happy and laugh] in The Deposition, nature and the evolution of mankind vs. the elements contrastively juxtaposing real jungles with concrete ones in Survivor Man, and The Greatest Episode Of The Office: Dinner Party. The *Infamous* Dinner [Not-So] Party is the apex of cringe – one of the most (purposefully) uncomfortable episodes of television ever made: a perfect analogical fiery car crash sad/tragic but you can’t bring yourself to look away; it proves the U.S. version of The Office could (easily) be the U.K. one if it really wanted to – every bit as wry, dark, bold, gloomy, nihilistic, and mean-spirited as its predecessor [even more so by the target expansion to all of its watcher-base demographic nation of The U.S.A. it corely shifts from laughing with to at here; it also takes the general aesthetic of the British one and intensifies x squeezes every droplet of it into one episode] as it once again takes us away from the office we’re so used to to what its characters are like in their domestic lives in an unspeakably nightmarish 20 minutes few shows could or would ever be crazy enough to attempt. The episode’s coming back party after a 5 month long Writer/Actor SAG strike in Hollywood c. 2007 just further gave everyone involved time and insatiable hunger to surgically maximize and quadruple-check every nuance of the episode: perfectenschlag. Dinner Party psychoanalyzes the interrelationship gender dynamics and functional dysfunction of the suburban American household in a Virginia Woolf 2.0 recontextualized for the modern USA (from the man working and paying the bills to fund their wives/girlfriends’ privileged, wasteful, unearned, ignorant spending and hogging of the house [i.e. painting walls white to eggshell white, hanging decorations of only her and none of him, starting a candle business and forcing husband to invite his coworkers to dinner solely to trick them into investing in her bad company, having multiple rooms like an office and a workspace she doesn’t even have a job or use], only to be relegated to a ‘man cave’ or tiny sliver of the tiny blah condo purgatory/hell they’re trapped in and watch <plasma> TV to escape in.. as well as both sexes ‘hating their lives’ [and each other] deep down in subconscious id despite what the ego/superego of cute nicknames like babe would suggest, though both feeling a confusing tragic undertone of love too by how both in the end show signs of caring like Michael willing to take the fall for Jan and Jan gluing Michael’s Dundie back together. These themes are only further exacerbated and hinted at by the episode order of S4 with DP following ones like The Deposition and Money, both adding important context and pushing the boiling point pressure-cooker to the edge with Michael even working two jobs while she works none and spends his money on overindulgent furniture that ‘costs what it costs’ and trading in two cars for a Porsche for her to not even use but refuse to pick him up from because she’s alcoholically drunk and Michael being betrayed by Jan and ruining her lawsuit in DP) as well as the other couples all in the episode [each exhibiting problems in their relationships: Angela similarly hating/unappreciating Andy’s more Romeo-like gentlemanship like giving her a rose, Jim willing to leave Pam at the dinner party just to get away for a night if push came to shove, and Dwight using his babysitter for a date and refusing to take care of her is like she did him when he’s homeless and passes her on the freeway] and H.P. Lovecraftian horror in how these nightmarish situations of dysfunction between Michael and Jan & co. are just scratching the surface of Dinner Party level events that happen often in every household in America (+ darkly tapping into the same part of humanity’s psyche that inexplicably enjoys horror movies), just without the cameras to capture them. DP is a farcical black comedy masterwork for the ages – impossibly finding humor in these most off-limits topics [regardless of the hilarious fact this is supposed to be a dinner party: the absolute last place social decorum says anything remotely like this is acceptable to bring up and unprivatize for the comfort of your guests: here the most uncomfortable pour souls to ever to watch on as the nightmare evening unfolds and never ends – an inescapable un-‘Serenity’ Hell of their own design (one whose crazy experiences the language/dialogue implies are common and happened before/often; Michael’ she’ll be back out of the bathroom soon’) clearly evoked by the fire and devil iconography down to the tiniest of details like Jim’s opposite flood getaway attempt being put out (and later confused even by him for a fire) and Jan being Satan from the burning of candles with the mentioned one being bonfire and slow-roasting the ossa bucca endlessly to even wearing red and making horns laughing sadistically next to a fireplace to further synergize with the suburban everyday domestic hell theme, even taking classically ‘fun’ things to do like house tours, board games, and group conversations and make them difficult to watch/enjoy on purpose – even sitting in silence and crying for maximum awkwardness and unspeakability], made worse by the fact it’s their boss so they couldn’t just leave or say anything out of fear for their jobs so they’re trapped like animals in a cage there – as well as us in an episode that feels 10 hours long by the bizarre rhythms and atmospheric omniscience of awkward pauses of speechlessness and how much is f*cking going on. Themes buoy like domestic violence/abuse (Jan throwing the Dundie at the TV, reversion of her previously-awful acts like videotaping their sex and showing to their therapist for commentary, the wild screams of argumentation between the couple), infertility/fidelity (multiple snip-snap reversed vasectomies [god that makes any guy quake by-mention] and a nihilistic refusal to bring kids into a f*cked up world), murder (Michael positing Jan has been trying to poison him – further parallelable to Romeo x Juliet but in reverse instead of both in love taking the poison one side doing it to the other in the opposite of Adam/Even Eden matrimony), alcoholism (all of the ‘oaky afterbirth’ vino flowing and inhibitions lowered as the night progresses w. the aforementioned Money reference of how wasted Jan gets on red wine), sanity and psychological/emotional manipulation (all of Jan’s actions, even going out of her way to embarass and humilate Michael like with the glass story and pry/gaslight Pam on Michael), and even child rape/adultery (Hunter aka Jan’s secretary’s laughably bad country-rock song being secretly about her taking his virginity and ‘making him a man that one night’ as to why she loves it to exhibit her insane psychosis at lack of remorse and instead highlight/flaunt to make Michael jealous as to why hates it so much and lies about Pam liking him to retaliate, plus Jan’s pregnancy timeline being sketchy further hinting it’s a bastardized abomination product of their forbidden ‘raw’ aka condomless affair as well as a jab at Michael whom she knew wanted nothing more in life than children his entire life but she denied him only to have with her underage secretary). Holy f*ck, that’s dark; even darker than anything The U.K. Office brought to light, and still 10x funnier – also fitting in romance angles along with the drama, horror, and comedy to exemplify [even down to its greatest details and techniques like the trail off and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brilliance of writing jokes/puns] a miniaturized 20 minute comprehensive summarized version of what The Office by all of the genres it encompasses and executes x blends flawlessly as a show. Despite all of this dark etcetera, The Office S4 never loses sight of what got it to this stage however, all of these tackled through farcical spoof while maintaining its massively-fun atmosphere [perhaps the most pure fun season of The Office, both inexplicably in addition to holding the title of darkest too] like in the frat-like prankster shenanigans of Branch Wars, A.I. spoof x Ryan-contextualizaed teenage pizzaman-hostage kidnapping Launch Party, clubbing x bromance Tolkien x Amazons fantasy-meets-realism NYC adventure in Night Out, the esoterica of Shrute Farms x Powerpointing Bankruptcy-declaration x Michael back to an employee and runaway train from responsibilities in Money, golf x career day field trip of Job Fair, and the carnival / amusement park fun [+ Kevin retardation-believed-flirtation: one of the funniest gags of the show] of Goodbye Toby. All of these are really dark behind-the-scenes too: the hostage kidnapping situation of LP, Ryan exhibiting symptoms of cocaine overdosing with his best ‘friend’ Troy being his dealer but not caring about his health and secretly asking for help with his drug problem in Night Out, Michael having a midlife crisis and self-realization of his job’s loserdom everyone rejects/ignores it in Job Fair, Ryan getting arrested for fraud crashing the wunderkind career darkly, Pam potentially leaving to go to art school, Dwight having to deal with heartbreak of a breakup pushing the character to new grounds and even changing his interplay with Jim from prnanks to shared empathy understanding/bromance, etc. There’s also classically office-related/managerial episodes too on smaller everyday real-life intimate scales like dealing with insubordination x disrespect in Did I Stutter? S4 is one of the most character-balanced seasons of television we’ve ever seen – nearly EVERY member of the office is given their own arc or gag set as it weaves past members in new ways with romances and rivalries, as well as introduces an important new one: Holly Flax. A female Michael Scott, Amy Ryan exhibits her acting pedigree x prowess honed on HBO’s The Wire by impossibly mimicking and ~matching the zany/chaotic yet composed/reigned-in, weird, nerdy, lovable energy of a post-S2 Carell for a cute perfect star-crossed will-they-or-won’t-they match comparable to Jim-Pam [even more ironic and clever by Michael falling in love with the replacement of his most hated persona and job role in Toby and HR, as well as Toby being the one who hired and chose her and forced an unwanting Michael to introduce himself; without Toby, Michael would not have ever met the love of his life] – ending in tragedy just like many of its romances do (Toby/Pam, Dwight/Angela, Jim/Pam all not getting together as much as one wants to – even more tragic buy how Michael is so desperate for friends and kids that he forgoes love to be a cuck for a woman who cheated on him just to be ‘kind of a daddy’) in the all-time great szn finale of Goodbye Toby, a near-flawless masterclass of television weaving new beginnings, new endings, new characters, angles/evolutions, unpredictability, dynamic-shifts, laughs, and cries – like the rest of S4: tragicomedy of the highest order. 9.8/10.

…

Season 5

‘Laughter Is My Job. Tears Are My Game. [Comedy] Is My Profession.’ Despite a few speed-bumps in the bizarre weight-loss opening, two All-Time series lows like Baby Shower and Employee Transfer, and infuriating Angela-affair arc highlighting the meanest character in The Office’s worst, S5 hits a ‘britney bitch’ rip-roaring stride in what might be one of the best back-halfs of the series – and TV history. Developing strong new characters in eventual-staple breath-of-fresh-air new-receptionist Erin and female Michael Scott-Holly, prismatic in character-development for all of its cast, and one-upping its quotability and wackiness with classic lines sprinkled throughout its phenomenal directional arcs/storylines like the Michael Scott Paper Company (perhaps *the* most entertaining arc in Office history masterfully spoofing the start-up world in an only MGS-way), The Surplus, Kevin’s (famous) Chili, Prince Family Paper, Gene Wilder-Wonka proud Golden Ticket, and Michael Klump. That’s not even including the *sacred* Stress Relief Pts. 1-2: arguably the best episode of The Office containing its most famous and likely-greatest scenes: the fake fire scare exemplary and culminating of an entire apocalypse’s downfall-of-humanity in a mere few minutes in an office building and BeeGees-CPR training. Although not the exact same level/pedigree of S2-4 by its slow start and a few dud episodes, S5 is a spectacularly-funny season of comedy TV miles ahead of its competition – course-correcting midway to a magnificent back-half keeping the hits a’ rollin. 9.2/10. /// starts as strong as ends s4 every thread answered inluding ryan coming back to temp funny and pam jim proposal heart fluttering rain notebook like yet still keeps aesthetic of normalcy gas staton shot exact same way reversed as roy pam splitting up diner going apart shot from afar long shot across street with cars passing in between here coming together genius michael klump hilarious cool new angle pam art school college romance business ethics hilsriarious the hypocrsy of companies preaching ethics time thief when making bilions and ignoring objectively poor ethics situations like meredith pimp-brivery prostitution just bc profit proto woke satire, also tragedy toby 3rd day in costa rica freak accident breaks neck been in hostpial never saw beach gosh so dark look in eyes hypothesizable as moment he beecame the scranton strangler first appearance in s5 coincidence life gone so wrong nothing right pam retirement etc, astrid scandinavian viking princess ass a god frior bueautiful divinely bueautiful how sees young self and young people jan singer, The office baby jan s5 first real bad episode ever truly sound alarm knew streak was over not only boring drama but weird michael mean to holly and mistreatment crazy jan has baby michael cuck to wo even telling awful sure used for plot advancement michael holly get together but still also add corporate treatment michael dark crazy best mgr branch leads in salesbeen 14 years never ask raise but esrns barely more than warehouse new guy and broke up gf holly and babysit idris avoid calls good quit but stoll even after he saved rhem ms in lawsuit even when they were mean led on wo chance to hire corporate job dark corporate theme ul even offered him raise us played him never even considered just boost his ego for nothing everyone argues uk darker but no us darker in major theme corporate, Office michael retains tragedy of of character wants to be funnt loved but not children office nee angle but further trafic by how company he loves more than anything never asked raise unorthodoz but effective morale methods work broken heart led on etc /// multiple episodes just not funny sure uncomfortable tragic drama characterization like breakup and dwight cornell antics of employee transfer objectively not funny previous seasons did same w/o sacrificing funny sure makes up for in stress relief but can tell starting to fade again there is not anything funny about it just pure uncomfortable not funny uncomfortable dialsup even ptsd of job faking regional supervisor job wallace tells michael even after bringing to nyc to acknowledge he only mgr doing well and makes him destroy small company for him icky ethics but still doesnt give the job and worse gives it to someone who babysits belittles cancels his 15th anniv party idris elba; tragedy but loses heart of comedy, we see dark side of dunder mifflin potentially money laundering how is michael branch the one that goofs around the only successful one and declining market paper paperless world close to oblivion bankruptcy cannibalizes small companies michael realizes he plays into corporate hunger to destroy lives nice people not a shark, the duel serious drama acting affair confrontation, birth of scranton strangler crime drama toby pstracized from office physcally and metaphorically in annex, /// some great gags and pranks in betwixt like buttlicker fake call, fun business trip international to canada 2 hours away foreign concierge marie antics drunk bro wingman bar shenanigans, willy wonka golden ticket promotion bad twist, jim/dwight party-planning deflated brown grey balloons it is your birthday., prince family paper sting undercover spy operation coup, hot or not hillary swank debates, moroccan christmas party x alcoholism intervention spoof (dragging someone in kicking and screaming literally hilarious), /// heartwarming moment valentines lonely hearts mixer ///

michael biggest casualty takes most beloved character in tv history and even further dials up the tragedy and dark takes more cues from uk office s5 what ppl praised about it dark human emotions and makes focus center 10x more mgs feeling like wasted life and company he loved sole purpose spent life serving doesnt care or value him beyond just another employee slave, not only funny ways toby returns archenemy funny drug not wearing a wire in drug negotiation frame sexual harassment fails hilarious bust spoof rame toby but also dark learns how much corporate disrepected them he chocse them and saved them millions of dollars in jan lawsuit and they repay him buy fcking up his life holly bully corporate dynamic changes pushes character biggest of all job and company he loved most realizes he has been taken advantage of and just another employee to them dont care about him great character growth depth ballsy war with corporate feels direspected not humans unthinkable quit start own paper company spoofs startups and fresh injection of energy best plotline of show gets revenge and shows ore competent than thought wins underdog, S5 TAKES ANOTHER PLOTLINE FROM THE UK OFFICE AND EXECUTES IT 1000x BETTER AND FUNNIER dinner party 2.0 the neil godwin vs brent s2/3 storyline easter eggs show does eulogize subtle clever ways the uk series while evolving it address of dunder mifflin is 1725 slough ave slough the town uk office set in charles miner is neil also dark david wallace forced michael to destroy acompany prince family fpaper for vp position then gave it to someone else best branch mgr even goes on tour yet doesnt promote or even let him enjoy a 15th anniv party micromanages him doesnt even make sense why if his branch doing best mess with that why fix something that isnt broken maybe bc doesnt like michael thinks weird is after willy wonka controversy strange but same broad strokes as brent michael feel disrespected micromanaged powerless unappreciated alone by mgmt and quit or fired and have to deal with outside dm ultimate push of character how can the crux of their being characterlive without it and funniest comedy parts best plotline of show hilarious how does michael scott do a startup

pam also college feel long distance romance art school one time took chance new charcter dynamics again move away her turn fails and quits bc feels unfilled join m scott paper company becomes salesman more evo, andy cuckold cheating romance dark gives up dream for jim just like he gave up corporate for pam mirrors and long distance mirrors michael, toby scranton strangler doesnt want to be searched cops rings phone private desk only one missing when caught his exact car everythign went wrong life, ryan leaves for thailand back together kelly unpredictable, /// dark how scranton best sales when all other branches struggling is it money laundering keleven goof off boss even days not there lecture circuit etc or good morale, even hints at is there some evidence line if hire cirque du soleil as salaried employees help tax stuff cfo thinks about it fraud

Stat stress, relief opening one of the funniest scenes in television history, the complete devolution of society and the chaos through the lens of the office nightmare Saul, like it’s caulking scenario of being trapped in the office in a fire. By the way, Dwight every character gets to shine in one scene From Kevin Taking The, foing, complete chaos force of the highest possible quality. What’s that starts as a seemingly normal day turned into the craziest day imaginable how to take the premise of the office and create the craziest idea, imaginable, while still it being a true life scenario of safety demonstration, playing by its own rules, how to maximize squeeze every droplet of comedy out of that premise premise probably the highest preponderance of fan favorite almost quarter lines like when I frequently go to when I’m near a window just say the city and the office is a place where you live it up to the fullest obvious sarcasm and irony when it’s the opposite in office as a place to live life to the fullest and I was a place where dreams come true just complete, self-awareness irony, sarcasm advanced, and it’s a complete opposite of regular in real life, CPR training scene, one of the funniest in the most famous believe since I have a found them in the show master class and had involve all the characters in a gag and once again find humor in every day situations, the MO hard on sleeve in the office, the most boring CPR training and safety Fire alarm drills turn into the funniest situations, microcosm of anarchy in society when chaos ensues and Bee Gees times silence of the lambs insanity of CCR this is also again just like dinner party taking a premise from the British UK office and executing it 1 billion times funnier, but still in the same style. There is an episode unless one of the UK office where Brant and Cole deal with a all day seminar that is not nearly as funny as anything in Stress relief part one is probably the best gag for gag episode in the office with Easley the two funniest singular scenes in the office but part two is just a little too mean-spirited and against michael and makes it feel bad and that is not as good that is a lovable as a all time episode where it somewhat falls apart in that regard, but still usually top five also, the side plot of the weird old lady Romance movie in divorce a Pam’s parents is kind of cringe worthy even despite all the A-list star cameos like Jack Black, Angelina, Jolie, etc. it is the tale of two all time comedy classic scenes, but the rest of the episode is kind of the hilarious lines like, Michael, wearing a turtleneck and no rest for the sick, I state my regret you couldnt have memorized that, it does blend genres drama romance comedy but here just not the best on 2/3 angle, never expect that you’re the killer great twist quote michael, Stat stress, relief opening one of the funniest scenes in television history, the complete devolution of society and the chaos through the lens of the office nightmare Saul, like it’s caulking scenario of being trapped in the office in a fire. By the way, Dwight every character gets to shine in one scene From Kevin Taking The, foing, complete chaos force of the highest possible quality. What’s that starts as a seemingly normal day turned into the craziest day imaginable how to take the premise of the office and create the craziest idea, imaginable, while still it being a true life scenario of safety demonstration, playing by its own rules, how to maximize squeeze every droplet of comedy out of that premise premise probably the highest preponderance of fan favorite almost quarter lines like when I frequently go to when I’m near a window just say the city and the office is a place where you live it up to the fullest obvious sarcasm and irony when it’s the opposite in office as a place to live life to the fullest and I was a place where dreams come true just complete, self-awareness irony, sarcasm advanced, and it’s a complete opposite of regular in real life, CPR training scene, one of the funniest in the most famous believe since I have a found them in the show master class and had involve all the characters in a gag and once again find humor in every day situations, the MO hard on sleeve in the office, the most boring CPR training and safety Fire alarm drills turn into the funniest situations, microcosm of anarchy in society when chaos ensues and Bee Gees times silence of the lambs insanity of CCR this is also again just like dinner party taking a premise from the British UK office and executing it 1 billion times funnier, but still in the same style. There is an episode unless one of the UK office where Brant and Cole deal with a all day seminar that is not nearly as funny as anything in Stress relief part one is probably the best gag for gag episode in the office with Easley the two funniest singular scenes in the office but part two is just a little too mean-spirited and against michael and makes it feel bad and that is not as good that is a lovable as a all time episode where it somewhat falls apart in that regard, but still usually top five also, the side plot of the weird old lady Romance movie in divorce a Pam’s parents is kind of cringe worthy even despite all the A-list star cameos like Jack Black, Angelina, Jolie, etc. it is the tale of two all time comedy classic scenes, but the rest of the episode is kind of the hilarious lines like, Michael, wearing a turtleneck and no rest for the sick, everyone involved creed pickpocketing dummy, kelly dancing, stanley woozy, andy singing beegees, michael calculating, dwight texas chainsaw x silence of lambs fire drill cpr training seminar how do we make funnniest possible while still in line? /// funny contemplative turtleneck in park winter day feeding pigeons like scene out of manhattan movie but feeding with full pieces of bread and cawing when pgeons dont caw guess they all flew west for the winter not right even serious depression after roast handled in comedic way another end on bang 3x charm still great ep top 5 crazy tom cruise cameo too every a list movie star cameos in show about oppste of glitz and glam boring ormnal it s balanced ep romance drama comedy horror action blended skillful feat of tv showing office goayed just better examples of each eps alone speedruns every character’s personality cpr song ‘at first I was afraid, i was petrified’ ‘you were in the parking lot earlier, that’s how I know you’ kelly dancing kevin lazy phyllis caring wanting to bury dwight creepypasta stanley noncaring toby not present michael illogical jim making face to camera creed in own world andy rooting and singing angela in fear /// somehow even in confines of office building craft whole action adventure horror movie opening in one scene // if wasn’t for the jack black banging the grandma b-scene weird it would easily be #1 but bc worst b-line in a main ep have to drop to 4 but in the big 3 scenes it is easily #1 /// b-line forgivable though as it was time top of game the office following right after the super bowl this is their equivalet to a halftime show make biggest impression possible rise to greatness with cold open fire drill greatest scene bar none of office and probably comedy tv history b-line greg daniels was very opposed to bringing in stars to world of dunder ,iffin bc antagonizes point of show seeing a-list mega celebs but network demanded it bc right after super bowl so their way of doing so without comproisng vision, they actually hired the cameraman from survivor for opening scene to give it real wildernes surivval chaos feel epic/// no way a hunting wilderness survival horror nut wouldve made it simple, just like s5 michael main character pushed to limits roasted by everyone imagine at any workplace if employees could roast the boss they would be 10x harsher and ruin workplace dynmic laughs off but realizes expected not as mean he not as friends with everyone as thought but gets revenge boom raost sesh at end, pam is annoying in this ep blaming jim tfor parent divorce and saying when say to me ik shocked but also old mature enough to understand overreact and how can you doubt jim resolved in end but annoying /// further funny

dark aspects add to main, adds nihilism by black comedic aspect of time period being a paper company in increasingly paperless world break of bankruptcy changing dynamic world paradigm tech age, money laundering ab=ngle how mcahel branch good off keep having strong numbers carrying company commentary on morale mgr maybe if fun ppl work better but also potential dark side even some throwaway commetns dwight who stands to gain from our downfall the mob but dm qwould have to be a front for money laundering and there’s little evidence of that. is there some evidence? a keleven cook the books kevin stupid and documented gamble probblem as acct making up numbers to balance michael ask connections mob fighter throw fight looks scared, already little ethics prostition discounts company lturns blind eye even when hr reports, when surplus spends on chairs instead of giving back to corporate, limusine corporate dining high life on company credit card wine at lunch hooters on card fraud ryan

add scranton strangler toby: Toby the office foreshadow strangler silent kil literal strangle cant scream michael says u are he says youll see strange joke say when caught why all watching at toby desk instead of conference room roomier maybe suspected at least subconsciously and calls reception first to tell pam love but no answer so straight to desk nobody would know tobt extension he has nobody so has to be him and victim happens day of birth of jim pam kid anger rage from that event spawns shown ability to scale insane fences feels hated by gd suprressed laying clues as early as s2 bizarre dialogue line gamble casino noght felt rly good to take money from michael going to chase that feeling of take something precious valuable only thong that eventually suffices for him is life ultimate to take out rage divorce custody failed love deadend job no retire costa etc, Later suppresses whole thing like ppl do traumatic loses so much weight afterwards of caught frame guilty punish self doesnt eat frames other man ironically strangles him anger put death row jailed his car driving, Acranton strange place for high profile case gruesome grisly only starts after jp marrriage pregnancy news defile all wmn victims to toby like pam subconsciously for not choosing him maybe?, stuffs feelings eat gains weight, physically and metaphorically exiled from office, Also suspcious day after meredith neighbor mdr toby absent from office in duel the one day hr needed employees fighting to death ashamed of what done or doesnt care abt job also newpaper night of birth and who the one person absent toby triggered rage hmc pam giving birth and knows up also xmas time off when feel alone and weight gain loss extremes bc know ironically hr doing worst of all, Even timing suspect after xmas time family alone and when angela affair revealed why not him pam her neighbor mere maybe wante dmere but mistake or couldnt do to friend so settled next door symbol pam neighbor have to deal with seeing every day reminder of what lost, Meredith neighbor was toby trying to get her first victim bc look like pam subconscious redhead, office dark under seams jan rps michael, angela htm oscar, etc, Acranton strange place for high profile case gruesome grisly only starts after jp marrriage pregnancy news defile all wmn victims to toby like pam subconsciously for not choosing him maybe?, Later suppresses whole thing like ppl do traumatic loses so much weight afterwards of caught frame guilty punish self doesnt eat frames other man ironically strangles him anger put death row jailed his car driving, Toby the office foreshadow strangler silent kil literal strangle cant scream michael says u are he says youll see strange joke say when caught why all watching at toby desk instead of conference room roomier maybe suspected at least subconsciously and calls reception first to tell pam love but no answer so straight to desk nobody would know tobt extension he has nobody so has to be him and victim happens day of birth of jim pam kid anger rage from that event spawns shown ability to scale insane fences feels hated by gd suprressed laying clues as early as s2 bizarre dialogue line gamble casino noght felt rly good to take money from michael going to chase that feeling of take something precious valuable only thong that eventually suffices for him is life ultimate to take out rage divorce custody failed love deadend job no retire costa etc, ironic strangle cant say what need same as him to pam genius writing, // Already seen has trouble controlling hands grip pam leg and hop fence maybe wanted to mere tried to but only once saw face realize not her too late already crime heat of moment forgotten blank out crime only way of living with

Office format involves viewer makes feel like made for them directly jim makes faces to you at how kooky this office is what they deal with narration asides from characters to you directly magic part of sauce interactibility turns boring fact spew part of docu makes interesting, dark aspects

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Season 6

Season 6 – Where things start to get weird in the Office-verse, S6 is all-over-place in arcs. Bursting with energy from its season opener – arguably the best in series history after The Dundies and Fun Run – things weirdly devolve & dissolve into a mess early on, wholly-uncharacteristic of the NBC-hit’s usual tight-as-a-drum writers’ room – somehow making Jim Halpert uncool and featuring two of The Office’s worst episodes in Mafia and Koi Pond. A yawning Sabre introduction siphons energy as well, with okay new characters in Gabe & Jo [that would become better with time], but these are mere speed-bumps to-be-expected after a ~100-episode run of pure greatness and flawless comedy – and I respect the continual innovation and vigor to try something new, take chances/character-risks, & push the envelope script-wise every season. There are plenty of great episodes like The Lover, Shareholder Meeting, Double Date, The Cover-Up, and Happy Hour, even more magnificent characters/gags by Steve Carell’s lifetime Michael Scott (Date Mike and Blind Guy McSqueezy, FTW!), and huge payoff in its Jim and Pam-arc that exposés the iconic romance into all-time great genre categories: the phenomenal Niagara fall-soaked wedding we’ve been waiting 6+ years for and Delivery. Oh, and – of course – the masterpiece of Scott’s Tots: one of the purposely-most uncomfortable/cringe watching experiences in the history of TV, even perhaps outdoing Dinner Party 10x make up for the series abject flaws and slightly-lower consistency-overall. 8.7/10.

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Season 7

Season 7 – A return to the clear-cut, focused storytelling implications of early seasons, S7 finds phenomenal endgame in Michael’s final arc – one so good, it could serve as a series-finale if one wanted to save the pain of watching S8-9. Matching the ridiculous, airy, innocent comedic stylings that made the series such a hit in the first place while upping the nostalgia factor, S7 finds a near-complete dilution of Sabre-isms, revamp of Gabe into a quirky/plucky presence, classic episodes like Threat Level Midnight, The Seminar, Classy Christmas Pts. 1-2, The Sting, and wuphf.com (one of the series’ best episodes masterfully spoofing the start-up & social media worlds), and fine character shake-ups in swanky newcomer Danny Cordray, Darryl thrust into the spotlight, and returning Holly to Scranton set the stage for the ultimate climax. The greatest character and performance in comedy [& perhaps: TV] history, Carrell’s Michael is the sole focus of the show again in S7 – given a brilliant and highly-emotional sendoff that ties up all out-standing arcs from the past 6 seasons beautifully, completing his character arc of wanting to always be the center of attention and having friends who love him to false-leaving a day early so that he could get a closure-filled and intimate goodbye with each of his coworkers and the office (and fittingly: one final [off-mic] ‘that’s what she said’). Though I wish Michael had stayed til the end from a completeness perspective, I completely understand the decision to go out on top – and 7 seasons and 200+ episodes of comedy and TV greatness is a hell of a high-note to leave on – one incredibly perfet and detailed in writing withe parallels and callbacks to the entire history of MGS like reversing the Phyllis ove n mitt Xmas present and Michael/Holly’s first bonding moment in sitting nerdgasming over Yoda being paralleled in an office-realistic fire hazard impromptu Notebook-esque rain shower in the proposal, etc. Beyond the magnificently-written and executed sendoff of MGS, the set-up for the new manager is fantastic: a slew of legendary cameos from the biggest heavy-hitters in comedy from Jim Carrey to Ray Romano to Will Arnett to James Spader to Warren Buffett to Ricky Gervais’ David Brent. We also get Creed as manager (FTW!), Dwight as an [acting] manager, and the only person who could’ve filled the shoes of Carrell’s Michael Scott: Will Ferrell.. although his character was a bit flatly-written and performance too toned-down [something more align with Elf would’ve been better] but not bad. Perhaps the worst season opening in The Office (somehow wasting a cameo by talented AHS-veteran Evan Peters) and a few chaotic episodes like Todd Packer & Andy’s Play are mere speed-bumps. Overall, S7 impressively finds the fortitude and classic screenwriting prowess to send its major character off brilliantly, while also doing a commendable job of setting up limitless possibilities/opportunities for a new manager. 8.5/10.

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Season 8

Season 8 – Feeling the gaping hole of Michael’s absence hopelessly sending S.O.S. calls for his (inimitable) show-carrying energy/presence, S8 is a lethargic/soulless identity crisis that wreaks of superficiality and corporatized intention. What was NBC thinking trying to keep this going without MGS, and for what purpose – two more seasons usually skipped by fans anyway while still not even reaching double-digit season count they desperately [I guess] wanted? While the series is still passable even here by any other workplace comedy-standards, reveals the strength of its character cast to even be able to survive without its patriarch, and is helped by the (ambivalent) intrigue of James Spader’s wildcard je-ne-sais-quoi bizarrity in Robert California and serviceable episodes led by The List and Pool Party (+ mixed storyline potential in the Florida and Dwight’s parental arcs deserving better execution), S8 is a slog that feels like a chore to get through.. and the fall-from-grace rightfully draws ire and hatred from fans. How could they think going with Andy [especially a watered-down/whitebread version of his S3-4 self] as the new manager to fill MGS’ shoes was a good idea.. when they had choices like Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey – whose starpower alone would’ve easily carried the show past the 10-season mark finely on sheer A-list celebification and novelty? And how could the screenwriters, after delivering a masterpiece of characterization and easily the best character-cast on TV for 7+ years beforehand, write a character like Nellie Bertrand: CLC’s vote for quite arguably The Worst Character In TV History by her pretentious, grating, pointless, self-important tastelessness.. worse by the sharp, antithesization of everything we loved in Michael. If there was ever a point of contention wherein U.K. Office fans could argue their show did it better on, it’s the fact that at least they knew when to call it quits and go out with a [decent] bang – although they only lasted like 15 episodes and 1.5 seasons comparatively and is worse in every other category. Every TV series has at least one bad season, so The Office does get a pass here – but watching S8’s like being a Pennsylvania-based paper-pusher.. in real life, and could’ve lowered the series’ legacy if continued like this. 4/10. /// andy such a bad choice for mgr telling me with all those heavy hitters 27 finale not one wanted to take over carrey ferrel etc needed starpower that couldve made up for but then again maybe misexecute like ferrel

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Season 9

Season 9 – The final season of The Office course-corrects after the disastrous S8 unloading baggage like Sabre and lazy/complacent screenwriting with an influx of energy and nostalgia to reboot the system. The season still feels the ripple-effects of Michael’s absence keeping it from true original greatness, but.. it actually does very well without him: a testament to how great the show and its characters can be, when they want to. S9 skillfully wraps up with a bow almost all out-standing series story threads and questions, while brimming with resolute characterization and adding some new flair of its own. An energy infusion by a pacing boost and more quick cut-editing, two strong new characters in New Jim/Dwight whose performances are just as good as any of the main cast’s, resurgence of fantastic pranks like Asian Jim [legendary, perhaps the best prank in the show’s history], Stairmaggedon, and The Dunder Code, revitalized Andy even given a villainous Caribbean twinge amidst thoroughly-entertaining Erin/Pete romance and Stardom-Chasing arcs, great new characters in nostalgic-S1 Dwight/Jim-reminiscent Clark and Pete, fleshed out side plots we wanted to see like Toby & the (framed.. by him) Strangler + Senator-Affair & Schrutian customs, and absolutely-brilliant fourth-wall-breaking innovative social experiment angle play up the series’ docu-structure while giving it emotional resonance & intellectually-advanced analytical worth. For all its pros though, there are two major flaws: First, not only do they keep the worst character in show history in Nellie perplexingly and idiotically after Andy gets his job back and refuses to fire the person who almost ruined his life and stole his job, but she’s in damn near every frame. How dare they put such an indescribably-awful character [whom, despite plenty of attempts to soften and add humanization to her looks and characterization, still sucks] in the bullpen when every character in the annex would’ve been a better choice: to flaunt and have a character literally no one likes be forced upon us every scene. Finally, Brian and the Jim/Pam arc. Now, I applaud the screenwriters for the bold decision to shake-up the fairy tale and make its star romance more realistic [all couples fight and compromise on decisions for the family] while giving Jim an intriguing character-true (goes all the way back to Jim’s Philly sports writer Sim in S4; every character’s final trajectroy arc is stisfyingly true to canon/detail like Dwight becoming Rgl. Manager marrying in the graves to Andy’s dreams of musical stardom and anger management issues) sports-themed Athlead arc revisiting his inferior U.K. counterpart’s Tim quarter/mid-life crisis, but they go way too far and near-ruin the show’s star-crossed lovers arc. Pam gets the brunt of the blame: what was once a quirky, timid, relatable receptionist and small-town girl has now been retconned into a hypocritical narcissist – having the audacity to throw temper-tantrums and threaten Jim with divorce and adultery with a pointless temptation-character we HATE in Brian undermining their relationship if he doesn’t give up his only dream to achieve something with his life and stay in a mediocre/underachieving life because she wants to. Jim’s done nothing but blindly support her constant failures over the years without question: Art School, Michael Scott Paper Co., Sales, etc.. and gave up relationships with infinitesimally-more beautiful women in Katy & Karen while staying in a job he hates (S1E3 – “If this were my career, I’d have to throw myself in front of a train”) for her, and she repays him by only finally giving her blessing when the business is a guaranteed success and sees Darryl balling out with a rich lifestyle she wants herself. Now, while these two flaws do siphon large parts of enjoyment out of the series in vexation, they are but few compared to how well it does everything else, impressively it delivers classic-Office quality without its patriarch, and wraps up everyone’s arc beautifully from Dwight to Jim convalescing into one of the All-Time great, tearjerking, closure-filled, incredibly-satisfying event-feeling series finales in modern TV history – a nice ending to our time at The Office. 7.9/10.

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