The Office: You are a thief of joy
Oct. 9th, 2008 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
healingmirthI was really disappointed in The Office this week. Maybe I just didn't get it.
So Jim and Pam tell everyone that they're engaged...and it's just like when the office found out they were dating.
Ryan? Still a generic, self-aggrandizing, and vaguely clueless asshole.
Meeting where Michael promises immunity? Just like airing all the grievances in Conflict Resolution.
Michael wastes more money by throwing out Holly's lunch... just like tearing up the concert tickets in Weight Loss.
I'm just... meh. Maybe it was that the premiere had more time to spin out the plotlines, but Business Ethics didn't even have moments for me. It didn't have a truly great talking head from anyone. There's a fine line between callback and retreads. I feel like "Hired Guy" could have been great if it'd been later in the season once Fire Guy had been beaten to death, or if it hadn't been mentioned at all in the first episode. Maybe it'll evolve into a bit.
And okay, Meredith? I can't have been the only one who was shocked - Shocked! - to learn that she was having sex with a supplier for the benefit of Dunder Mifflin. At a minimum, I would have expected that she'd been sleeping with him for the steak, and he threw in the discounts, and she was like, sure, whatever.
le sigh.
If I had written this week's episode:
- I would have had Jim and Pam - both of them, on purpose - keep their engagement a secret from the office for some reason. Even a stupid, random reason. I don't understand why Pam wants or expects congratulations/validation from them. Have we not been through this? I want Pam to make appointments with the caterer and convince Michael that she needs the time off for female problems, or because her hamster needs chemotherapy. I also wanted Jim to have an ethical dilemma because he is stealing cardstock to print save the date cards on. Actually, they should construct their entire wedding out of stolen office supplies.
- I think Ryan would be a more effective villain if he was a little more stealth about his hatred. I want him to be crafty! Or at least fake-crafty. With a handle-bar mustache?
- Holly's declaration that the office is not a family should have rated some sort of highly inappropriate extended analogy by way of explanation from Michael, or possibly crying that could only be halted by some sort of elaborate dessert at the restaurant.
So Jim and Pam tell everyone that they're engaged...and it's just like when the office found out they were dating.
Ryan? Still a generic, self-aggrandizing, and vaguely clueless asshole.
Meeting where Michael promises immunity? Just like airing all the grievances in Conflict Resolution.
Michael wastes more money by throwing out Holly's lunch... just like tearing up the concert tickets in Weight Loss.
I'm just... meh. Maybe it was that the premiere had more time to spin out the plotlines, but Business Ethics didn't even have moments for me. It didn't have a truly great talking head from anyone. There's a fine line between callback and retreads. I feel like "Hired Guy" could have been great if it'd been later in the season once Fire Guy had been beaten to death, or if it hadn't been mentioned at all in the first episode. Maybe it'll evolve into a bit.
And okay, Meredith? I can't have been the only one who was shocked - Shocked! - to learn that she was having sex with a supplier for the benefit of Dunder Mifflin. At a minimum, I would have expected that she'd been sleeping with him for the steak, and he threw in the discounts, and she was like, sure, whatever.
le sigh.
If I had written this week's episode:
- I would have had Jim and Pam - both of them, on purpose - keep their engagement a secret from the office for some reason. Even a stupid, random reason. I don't understand why Pam wants or expects congratulations/validation from them. Have we not been through this? I want Pam to make appointments with the caterer and convince Michael that she needs the time off for female problems, or because her hamster needs chemotherapy. I also wanted Jim to have an ethical dilemma because he is stealing cardstock to print save the date cards on. Actually, they should construct their entire wedding out of stolen office supplies.
- I think Ryan would be a more effective villain if he was a little more stealth about his hatred. I want him to be crafty! Or at least fake-crafty. With a handle-bar mustache?
- Holly's declaration that the office is not a family should have rated some sort of highly inappropriate extended analogy by way of explanation from Michael, or possibly crying that could only be halted by some sort of elaborate dessert at the restaurant.
