Last week I mentioned that I was less-than-impressed with this season of The Office. I caught up on the last couple episodes this week. The entire time I was thinking about why I feel the disappointment that I do. I still really enjoy the series, and it continues to be better than a lot of other stuff on tv. When I watch it I still laugh. There is just something different about it. I have great memories of the second and third seasons. Those seasons were able to capture a sort of magic that has been missing since.A television series that goes on for several years allows you to spend so much time with the actors in their roles. This is great when you want to create depth and really explore all aspects of the characters. However, there is only so much depth that can be achieved, and then you are tasked with maintaing consistency. The Office did a really good job of creating the characters. Even the secondary characters are fully realized. However, now the secondary characters are only there to deliver their same old quips. They each have their own quirks, and all of their jokes have to play on that. It is still funny, but it is starting to feel stale. I don't know how much longer that formula will continue to work.
Back when I started watching The Office the Jim and Pan relationship was the most compelling thing about the show. When you set up a romance like that, so much of the interest hinges on Jim pining after Pam, but never really being able to get her. Now that they are together it is amazing how much mileage they have been able to get out of that relationship. They seem to be duplicating that with Andy. I think it is a concious choice by the writers to basically have history repeating itself, and is supposed to be funny in a sort of meta way.
The progression of Jim is one of the things that actually really bothers me about The Office. When we first met Jim he was the guy only working at Dunder Mifflin to make money. He was the guy who was smart enough to break out of his crappy job and go on to bigger and better things. Selling paper was beneath him, and as soon as he got an opportunity for something better he was going to take it. We could identify with that character and we were all rooting for him.
Five years later he is still working there, only now he has graduated to middle management; locking himself in to the job he hated. He has become the very thing he despised. Like so many of us who came out of college ready to take on the world, his spirit has been crushed.
I just finished watching the most recent episode of the office and I was amazed by the conversation between Michael and Dwight at the dump. They are supposed to be talking about Dwight's sense of superiority from the recent importance that was placed on the sales staff. However, they could be talking about the entire character progression of Dwight since the beginning of the show. The writers have a way of making the characters say things that could be meaningful on several levels. While I found this moment interesting the overall show was really bad. This episode was a perfect example of the devolution of the dynamic that made the show great back in the day. Granted, it was somewhat of a "filler" episode, but even those used to be pretty good.
I will continue to watch The Office and continue to hope for a reemergence of the clever comedy that made it so popular. The stories and characters all have a feeling of stagnation, but I am optimistic they will be able to get things going again soon.
-deric
