Way back in April 2006, I just so happened to turn my TV on one Thursday night and was rewinding a tape (yes, I had a TV/VCR combo at the time, don’t judge), and I flipped my analog channels until I hit a TV show. That show just happened to be The Office, at the time nearing the end of its second season run. There was a break between new episodes and they were showing reruns of the first season. The episode playing? Healthcare. I immediately got sucked in, and fell in love with Jim and Pam. I then proceeded to download season 1 and all the season 2 episodes I’d missed from iTunes, then went on to watch the rest of the shows run live.
Every so often, I’ll go back and rewatch my DVDs and I did so recently and want to share some of my realizations. Warning: I only own seasons 1-7 because when Steve Carrell left, the show went downhill, so I will mostly be discussing those seasons.
I Still Love Jim and Pam
Jam are one of my favorite ships and they will remain so forever and always. I just love their progression from work friends to best friends to lovers. The writers did a good job dragging the will they/won’t they tension out just long enough before people got too impatient or annoyed. I’m still looking for my Jim and hopefully one day he’ll show up.
Dinner Party is Not the Best Office Episode Ever
I read an article recently that proclaimed “Dinner Party” from season four the “best Office episode” and I have fervently disagree. In fact, when I’m doing a rewatch, I almost always skip that episode (though sometimes I’ll watch Michael manipulating Jim and Pam into coming to dinner, Jim and Pam trying to leave the dinner and sabotaging each’s efforts to leave, and the end where Jim and Pam are eating fast food in the car). To me, it’s so much more uncomfortable than funny. Seeing the utter dysfunction of Michael and Jan’s relationship on full display makes me cringe, not laugh. And I know that that’s the point, that TO is all about the cringe humor but I just don’t like it. And if I had to pick the best episode of the entire series, I’d probably pick “Niagara”. Shocking, right?
Jim & Pam’s Marriage Troubles in Season 10 Sucked
One of the main reasons I dislike the last season of TO is because of Jim and Pam’s marriage in peril storyline. Jim gets his dream job in Philadelphia and neglects Pam and the kids. As a result, Pam grows dangerously close to one of the camera men. It’s just sooo stupid and reeks of the writers thinking, well, we’ve done about all we can with Jim and Pam so let’s give them marital problems for the last season. I hated every second of the storyline and what made it worse was the rushed wrap up job the writers gave it at the end.
The Show Should’ve Ended After Season 7
I already mentioned this above, but Michael Scott was the heart and soul of The Office so when Steve Carrell wanted to leave, they should’ve just gone dark. Seasons 8-10 have a completely different tone and feeling and the show’s just not the same.
I Hated Erin
Some naïve/dimbulb characters add humor to a show while some are just too stupid to live and you wish they’d fall off the nearest cliff. That is how I feel about Erin. The writers made her way too idiotic, thus my hatred towards her. Other characters on the show could also be dumb in certain ways but the writers usually balanced it out with them being smart in other aspects (Kevin, for example, wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but he had his moments of intelligence, like when he suspected long before Jim and Pam announced it that they were dating).
Erin and Andy Were No Jim and Pam
The writers clearly wanted to create Jim and Pam 2.0 with Erin and Andy but it didn’t work. Partly because Erin was stupid and I didn’t care about her happiness, but also because the writers threw too many obstacles in their path. Andy spent almost a whole season pining for Erin but before he could ask her out, the new guy, Gabe, did. Then Andy spent more time pining while Erin lacklusterly dated Gabe. When Erin finally realized she wanted Andy, she ended up dumping him for not telling her about being engaged to Angela in the past. Then Erin got jealous when Andy dated someone else. Then finally, finally, they confessed their feelings and got together. But by then, it was too late for me to care.
I Hated How the Angela/Dwight/Andy Triangle Ended
I was never a huge fan of Andy but did hate how long Angela strung him along while sleeping with Dwight. And then came Moroccan Christmas where Phyllis told everyone about catching Dwight and Angela having sex. The next episode spent half the time with the staff of Dunder Miflin dithering on how to tell Andy and when he was finally told, Dwight and Andy fought in the parking lot over Angela, to her pleasure. I wish they’d both dumped her ass immediately. At least in the very end, they both ended things with her but still. The triangle dragged on way too long.
Season 3 is Funny but Painful to Watch
There are a lot of funny moments and episodes in season three but I find a lot of them hard to watch because Pam is forced to sit back and pine for Jim while he dates Karen. Many fans liked the idea of the shoe being on the other foot for Pam, and while I appreciate the idea, it was still hard to watch Jim and Karen happy and cute while Pam watched with longing. Thankfully, the season ended with Jim breaking up with Karen and asking Pam to dinner, so all’s well that ends well.