The Office: ‘The Target’

The complaint card tower story was Office at its finest. A character desperately attempting to have some fun at the dead end job he’s stuck at, some of the side characters getting involved in the action and allowing them to each have a good one-liner or two, and a little hint of romance. Erin smiling at Pete after he calms everyone down from yelling at Kevin was enough for me to immediately care more about their relationship than I have cumulatively for Erin/Andy over the four seasons they’ve been trying to develop it.

And speaking of Andy, it’s no surprise that these have been two of the best episodes of the season with the absence of Ed Helms who I presume was off filming Hangover Part 8: Drunker and Stupiderer. I still can’t explain why and how the character deteriorated so quickly but I actually think The Office would be best served if Andy’s boat sank or went missing in the Bermuda Triangle or something along those lines because the stories are simply much stronger when they don’t have to devote a main story the “star” of the show.

I certainly could have done without the Oscar/Angela/Senator love triangle storyline as always, but at least it’s finally over and for once it had a few funny bits throughout it. Also, I think that Oscar Nunez was doing some fine comedic acting during the duration of the last couple episodes; it’s just too bad that it couldn’t have been served elsewhere. Lost in the shuffle of this one was the fun little lunch Jim took Phyllis and Stanley to in order to try and sway them into covering for him while he’s off establishing his new sports marketing company. It was pretty amusing and had a sweet ending to it, can we ask for anything more at this point?

Other notable moments:

• Weird title sequence showing Jim and Pam kissing for the first time. Was that the first time this has happened or was I not paying attention before?
• Chris Gethard showing the receipts for all of his important purchases.
• Phyllis pulling off the glued down decorative bottle of wine was hilarious.
• Dwight making the first ever Office meta joke? It certainly caught me off guard when he said a documentary crew had been following him around for 9 years.
• “Ladies and gentlemen, we just lost a client! Yay!”

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

The Office: “Work Bus”

An episode about the desire for affection and pie.

It’s the final season of The Office, that much is clear. The only questions that remain, or at least what we really care about, pertain to how we are going to leave these characters. Michael Scott got the sendoff a character of his stature deserved when Steve Carrell decided that season 7 would be his last. And while I’m not expecting that kind of resolution for every character, I’d like to see most of them go out on a high note.

“Work Bus” really had that great sense of vintage Office as we got a good amount of workplace comedy intermixed with solid emotional moments as the employees of Dunder Mifflin struggle to keep those they love happy and try to avoid a future of loneliness.

Jim is still feeling guilty about leaving Pam in the dark for so long about his potential sports marketing job in Philadelphia so in an attempt at a grand romantic gesture, Jim is able to get them out of the office for a week with pay. The only problem is that it backfires when Dwight decides to keep business going by renting a mobile office. The last couple of seasons have been really lacking when it comes to anything interesting Jim/Pam related, but I’ve slowly found myself caring for these two crazy kids again, and I was positively elated by the fact that Jim was able to get Pam that Peach Cobbler before closing time at Laverne’s pie stand.

Dwight has a whole other host of romantic/family problems than what Jim is facing these days, mostly because in that he is lacking any tangible problems. Ultimately, this looks like the perfect set-up for the eventual Dwight spin-off that’s in the works. He’ll come to the realization that he wants to improve his actual family (the Schrute’s that will be populating Schrute Farm), and we’ll probably watch his pursuit of the future Mrs. Schrute as/if that show progresses. So as far as the final Dwight resolutions will go on The Office, is that I think we need him and Jim to have one last acceptance of each other and their realization that they’ll miss each other as they progress separately in their future careers.

There was really only one glaring problem throughout this episode and it stems from Andy Bernard. I still don’t understand why they've made Andy so unbearable and mean-spirited this season when last season was all about how he was a sweet, incompetent goofball who needed the loving support of his coworkers. His new personality, coupled with the Nellie’s story line just didn't work until the end where it allowed for Andy to get in on the sentimentality most of our characters have joined in on the episode. At this point I’m kind of hoping that Erin ends up with the new guy, like they've been hinting at, because I just don’t see how we can root for Andy at all at this point.

A few other thoughts:

• Bryan Cranston appears as part of NBC Thursday for two consecutive weeks, this time behind the camera directing the episode. Based on the rare high quality of this episode of The Office, I think it’s safe to say Cranston is a genius and we should make sure he’s involved with everything, everywhere, from now until the end of time.
• I really liked the pairing of Clark and Darryl. First, when Clark asks Darryl about Jim: “So Creed is that dude’s step-dad? “…. “Correct.” – Darryl. And secondly when they both start lamenting over the fact that the work bus is leaving without them. “Stop. Come back. Too late.”
• “Thanks. Playing a little hooky from work today.” – Creed when he accidentally gets a ride from the work bus while hitchhiking.
• For Germany’s sake, I really hope "buildingkinder" is not actually a thing.

Comments are certainly welcome, whether they are for agreement, disagreement, or indifference.