The Office Discussion Thread - Page 18

Wow! That might as well have been a "The whole thing was a dream!" type of ending.

 

It seems that the show has reached a new low with every episode this season and the finale sealed the deal for me: DONE. 

This is still a comedy right? Like a sitcom?

 

 

They've given up on likable, consistent characters and mundane storylines, so here are a few suggestions to make next season better:

 

• Film an actual documentary about a real world paper supply company, force Creed to work there.
• Add a laughtrack
• Show more of the characters watching that horrible Jack Black movie from a few seasons ago
• 25% clip shows. Work in an amnesia storyline.
• Time jump 10 years: Office Kids.

 

That whole thing with Erin telling Andy to calibrate; Erin would never use that word.  Just LAZY writing all around this season.

Good to see David Wallace again.  He could play Steve Jobs in a movie!

 

That is all.

I was surprised at just how toothless it was, for some reason. That's your send off for Spader? Pussies.

I actually thought Spader did some funny stuff this year, but why wasn't he written as a total piece of shit from the beginning? Especially if they're putting Andy in the Michael Scott role. Make him a real antagonist instead of half assing the whole thing.

I don't think Spader was a sure thing to be a recurring character, was he? The problem is he was set up as such a weird character, that they couldn't realistically keep that way for him to make an effective antagonist. He was just too out there. But I find the characterization has been off with this show for some time. 

Points for Creed showing up for Family Photo Day with his aged parents.

 

At least, I assume they were his parents...

  This episode reminded me of the one where Dunder/Mifflin is in negotiations to buy the Michael Scott Paper Company; except it wasn't funny and Andy didn't come off as looking as smart as Michael did.

Edited by Chaz - 5/12/12 at 5:48pm

Andy is an idiot.  He rehired Tate.  Even if you disregard that, he's still an idiot.  Everyone on this show is awful.

 

Almost.

 

I did like Daryl making his move for real.  Nice little arc in there, even if it did conclude too neatly.

they need to hire my boss as the new manager.  Today, he cried, put a hole in the wall, then smoked an entire pack of Marbs in his office while yelling "Fuck Obama".

 

 

I was really disappointed in this season, I enjoyed every one up until this.  Steve Carrell's character was the anchor of the show, and without him, the show was drifting in too many different directions.  Even when it had some good stuff, like Jim being tempted by the new girl, it went right back into the "safe mode", with Jim and Pam's relationship being perfect.  That's two failed chances they had at making what were my two favorite characters, interesting again.  The first being Timothy Olyphant's character from the previous season.  Not wanting them to have an affair, but come on, let's see their marriage hit a snag or two. 

So updates on the newest season.  Many people already know, but:

 

-Paul Lieberstein as show runner is done.

-Mindy Kaling may be gone for good.

-BJ Novak is not returning as a regular.

-Rainn Wilson will be in the first episode, but that may be the bridge/unofficial pilot for "Dwight". (which is currently casting for a few roles)

-Clark Duke was just cast and appears to be bumped to a regular.

 

I am one of the most forgiving apologists of this show, but dammit I hope to shit this is the last season.  After seasons 2 and 3 I would have loved to know this show was going to have at least 9 seasons.  Of course, my interest and patience has worn thin.  I have stuck around this long, so I will try my best to finish.  I own seasons 1-7, somewhat proudly, but 8 will test me.

 

Unfortunately, it seems NBC is trying to reboot it again.  And it COULD work if they had a plan.  But they won't.  They will barge ahead and hope everything will work out.

It's like a sinking ship that's not sinking.  It's just that nobody wants to be on it anymore.  Hahahahah

Should have ended it with Jim and Pam's wedding.  Just rewatched it, would have been perfect. 

Can somebody please tell me Tate is gone never to return ?

Yeah Tate is very much not gone.  Last thing I read, she has been full on promoted to regular.  Expect to see her face plastered in the credits if you watch next season.

 

Interestingly, if they did it right, I believe they could write her in a way that honors Brent and Scott while being its own thing.  However, the writers aren't any good anymore.

 

Edited by wd40 - 7/5/12 at 8:13am

I give up. After 30 Rock ends I'll continue watching Parks and Rec, probably on DVR, but NBC Thursday's borderline dead to me. This show makes the Simpsons look like it's aged gracefully.

I guess they all deserve to get paid? At least?

Season 9 is the last season.  Thank the Lord.

It's kind of bittersweet. I'm happy they're not going to just drive this show into the ground, but at the same time sad that there wont be anymore new Office.

even at it's worse, it's still watchable. 

Yeah, but they did totally drive it into the ground.

Maybe because they ran out of content to copy from the Brit version.

8 seasons ago?

The show is currently somewhere in the upper mantle. It's way past driven into the ground. This gives them a chance to end it before it turns into According to Jim.

oh boy, I take it you haven't seen anything post, .... episode 6?

 

If only I had the photoshop skills to put the cast of the Office into a poster of The Core.

No sense in creating a new thread for this season, right?

 

The Highs:

• Pam's hot again! Goodbye awkwardly fitting cardigans! Huzzah! (Okay, I get that this is shallow and she had a baby last year, but just allow me a moment. I've invested a lot of time pining over this imaginary character).
• I like Jim a lot better when he's showing signs of trying to get out of a rut. Seems like maybe they should have milked it this season a little. I think him making that phone call at the end of the series would've been a nice hopeful moment rather than what I assume will be the business taking off over this season and him leaving with some sort of security. Could be wrong on that, just speculating.
• Hints of this being an actual documentary again and paying lip service to the crew still recording
• Toby being hated.
• Nelly showing signs of being likable. Hated her last season and maybe its because I've seen her Dr. Who stint since then, but I found her more likeable her.

 

The Lows:

• Kevin.
• Seriously, if this season had begun with them wheeling out his bloated corpse on a gurney, I'd never complain about a fucking thing on this show again. The sheer joy in seeing that character die, would make me so tremendously happy, that it would retroactively make his horribleness worth it. There was nothing wrong with pervy, gambling, drummer Kevin. Why do we instead have this mentally challenged dumbass?!  If there were a service that charged $3 an episode to completely edit Kevin out of episodes, I'd gladly pay them thrice that amount. Fuck Kevin. Also, I really like turtles.
• Dwight's not much better. I sighed when he vomited, I cringed when he had his 20 second gag reel, I wanted to change the channel when he built/rode his bike. Please, let's ship him off to his own show asap.

 

The Other Stuff:

• Andy's always been back and forth for me. Here I liked him. It was a far more restrained Andy than we had last season, hope he keeps it reigned in. It does seem like they've just given in and decided to make him Michael 2.0.  Which, okay, just do a good job of it, whatever.
• The slack-rope was borderline and felt like a low-budget Michael Scott thing, but at least the parking lot bit was pretty low-key (for the show). I mean he didn't take the office off to the circus or something stupid like that.
• The new guy's seem okay, well Dwight Jr. was kinda cool. Plop can stay around as long as they unexpectedly call him "Plop".
• Aren't Kelly and Ryan supposed to be around a little more this season? Kinda hope they just stay gone, but they had nice little send-offs.

 

Overall, I'd say this shows signs of improvement. There's definitely a feeling of, "Hey, let's refocus and get back on track". Take away the Kevin stuff and Dwight's tightrope gag-reel, and I'd be much more taken with this episode. Those two things aside, it seemed like a more restrained and tight episode than we got last season. Not a great episode, but relative to last season, an good episode.

 

Its the feeling of there being a little more effort here that gives me hope. I really loved this show, but last season was brutal, and I hope they can at least end on an upswing.

 

Agreed. The way he was so gleefully proud of basically torturing an animal to death did not sit well with me at all.

 

As for the rest, meh.

I liked it. It was a an above average episode; which after last season I didn't think the show had any left. Hopefully Jim setting up the new business will lead to a good story line. It makes sense for his character, who was never thrilled to be working there. Pam did look hot!

 

The Creed bit at the end was good.

I thought it was decent too.  The Kevin bit was awful, but some stuff did make me laugh - especially Dwight on the bike.  Dunno why, but it was funny to me.  Interestingly, Creed's quick joke fell flat.

I was gonna complain about Roy's random weekday wedding, then the rest of the episode happened and I aside from Daryl's line about Scarface, there was nothing good here.

I actually thought there was some good stuff in the main storyline, and I think I preferred this to the first episode overall, but man was that Nellie/Dwight plot was PAINFUL. Who thought that was a good idea? Who thought that was even remotely funny? Just terrible.

I thought it was good. Its still not as good as the show was in its prime, but solid nevertheless. Creed line about the Tablin having good heroin killed me. Hopefully Jim's side business leads to good material.

Not to bad. Thing is this show has a lot of damage to repair so looks like its shaking some rust.

Daryl walkimg in on Dwight and Nellie made me laugh pretty hard.

Hell, something is finally happening to Jim and Pam. This season so far is miles above the last few.

Holy crap, was that a great episode of the Office? How did that happen? I think that was the best episode since Michael left.

Not to shabby. It does feel about on quality of season 4ish. Looks like not is going to be well in the Halpert family.

The opening prank with Asian Jim was great.

Thirded.  Great episode.  I laughed several times.  (Same for Parks and Rec and Up All Night)

 

Creed looking for Dothraki milk (or whatever it was) was hilarious.  Erin speaking Dothraki to the new guy, and his reaction, absolutely killed me.

It's improved over last season but Dwight does need to go already. His routine has worn thin. And I am not sure I like that it looks like they might turn Andy into a dick just to hook Erin up with newbie.
 

Okay episode this week, not the worst, but far from being great. It did that thing where they make Jim into an entitled asshole. "Hey, I effed up and lied to my wife about a new job. Let me disrupt the lives of my co-workers/friends/company. It's all in good fun."  Maybe it seemed worse since Andy's also a dick now, but I like Andy being a dick. I kind of wanted it to end with Pam even more upset at Jim.

 

I can't think of a more miserable experience than working with that group of people. Never in my life have I actively rooted against a group getting pies, but here we are. Please just kill Kevin.

 

Best moment, Daryl and Dwight Jr.'s cries for the bus to stop.

I was surprised to see Bryan Cranston was the director of this episode, but i guess it makes sense. He does have a lot of experience with RVs.

Wow, how'd I miss that. Wish he had shown up in the episode. Just a short monologue about pies would've been enough.

I really hope they pick up on the subtle look Pam gave at the end.

So, this was strange. It seems Michael didn't just leave Dunder Miflin. He was erased from existense. At least that's what it seems based on Jan's appearance on this week's episode.

Also I wonder if Andy is going to come back wtih a...Hangover.

i'm so sorry.

Tate's single moment, reading her questions for Dwight, was easily the hardest I've laughed at her during her whole tenure.

 

"Have you ever killed a woman?"

 

"How many women have you killed?"

 

"Please, sir, will you not kill me?"

"stop lying about your shoulders" must get used in my office.

 

It took them a whole season, but they're finally figuring out how to use her.

Great episode, the best in what, a year...two...three??