The Office: 0404: Money

As the seasons of the Office gradually roll on towards the great home in the sky for TV shows, the writers must find new locales, as the traditional Office setting perhaps becomes more difficult to write for. It’s perfectly understandable to expect some amount of fluctuation in the quality when this happens, as there’s a pretty clear locale-number to quality ratio in television: The more show locales, the worse the quality of said show.

That being said, Money, or even the Office at large, is making me eat crow (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write) Tonight’s episode (along with Business School in season three) demonstrated that the Office can travel to an obscure location, still be poignantly funny, and have a core that resonates emotionally.

I think perhaps the main difference between the Office and other shows this that whilst other shows turn to different locations to rekindle interest, the Office has no choice but to move to continue the character development.

For example, would viewers have really been able to grasp the desperation of Michaels situation had he not had to work another job? Or could Pam and Jim’s relationship have really moved forward with the show still stuck in the Office?

Of the two I particularly liked the crazy, upside telemarketing office where Michael is respected, although holds no position of power. It demonstrated that Michael can probably be a perfectly likable person, and even kind of funny, maybe it’s a little like how he operated at Dunder Mifflin before he went crazy with power.

Michael in general was great throughout the episode, Paul Liberstein really succeeded in making Michael an emotionally viable character, a position that is generally overlooked in favor of (sometimes outright) zaniness (which this episode still had).

Speaking of zaniness, Dwight’s farm perhaps wasn’t as grounded in rational thought as the alterna-office, but still gave us a somewhat disturbing look in Dwight’s home life. More Moss is always a treat, and the way it was handled turned a potential tragedy in a wonderfully sweet detour from the Office.

That, and the totally shocked ‘What Century is This?’ was already entered my everyday vocabulary.

After almost being an ass last week, I feel that Jim returned to character. Oh lord, the ‘I’m in Love with Italian food’ line? Or the speech to Dwight, that almost felt sarcastic at times, but was still (as a straight male) disturbingly sweet. Damn it, this show continually just breaks down the fact that I’m a total fucking pussy.

I think that the whole PB&J relationship could be a signal of how great the Office could be, and what exactly its legacy is going to entail. I’d be disappointed if the writers treated the whole relationship as some sort of commodity used to heighten ratings during sweeps, or whatever the occasion may be. I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if they were just happy? In stark opposition to almost every TV show ever?

Even though I promised I’d stop the comparisons, this episode captured the melancholy feeling of the UK one (see? It wasn’t a real comparison, just an observation.). I hope that the season continues this, although I’m not sure if I’m happy that the hour long episodes are finished or not. I mean, hour episodes are a treat, and they have had some depth, but I feel like it’s home is in the short, sharp half hour episodes.

Whatever the case, Season is in great form, and is ramping every aspect up. Increased focus on the office itself (with the Dunder Mifflin Infinity theme) and relationships in general (although I’m sure as hell not sold on the whole Darryl-Kelly debacle).