Season 7, Episode 24
The first true post-Carrell episode
In terms of analyzing this new version of The Office, Last week doesn’t count. The show was too busy trying to hustle Ferrell out the door. So tonight is when we can really start to review the new, Michael Scott-less version of the show. Of course, there are still a few more steps between the new normal and where we are now, but how the show handles this transition is equally important in determining where the show stands. And that starts with the show’s search for a new boss.
For now, the show seems intent on eliminating all of those in the office who won’t be taking over Michael’s spot. (Some also said that the beginning of this season was used to determine who could take over Michael’s spot from within, but I don’t think any of those episodes really count now.) To me, it appears as if Jim is being setup to ascend to the manager’s desk, and though it makes realistic sense, I’m not sure that it would work as a show.
But more on that when/if it happens. Tonight was all about Dwight’s turn at the desk, which is frankly the most obvious route for the show to go at this point. Dwight, Assistant to the Regional Manager, has always thirsted for more power, so why shouldn’t the show indulge him a little? Well, mostly because Dwight himself stopped being consistently funny around the time of “Lecture Circuit.” So I was quite worried about how tonight’s episode would play out, given that we know just about all we ever will about Dwight, and since we’ve seen enough iterations on every Dwight jokes there is, I wasn’t sure that the show could really do anything interesting with him.
And they couldn’t really. Yet what they could do – and I wished that they did more of – was bounce Dwight off of the rest of the office. Though Dwight and Jim have always been at odds, and he and Andy had that little antagonistic relationship back in season three, and he of course dated Angela, we’ve never had a full picture on what everyone thinks of Dwight beyond simple disgust. I’m not going to say that we do now, but watching the entire office use Dwight’s accidental gunshot as leverage against him? Well that’s something we haven’t seen before. Not all of it may have worked – Dwight massaging Kevin’s back is the kind of broad comedy that I think doesn’t fit the show’s aesthetic – but at least it was better than just 15 minutes of “boy, Dwight sure runs this office like a fascist state” jokes.
And though he was using it as an attempt at personal gain, I also enjoyed that the show had him tell Joe about the incident as opposed to having someone else blurt it out and then follow it up with yet another awkward moment. If the show can use moment such as these to tell jokes in a way that they normally wouldn’t with Michael, well that might just hold my interest a little bit longer.
(And I suppose that I could talk about Creed being the newest Interim Manager, but it’s a one-off joke that probably won’t go that far, so why bother?)
The B-plot (which met briefly with the A) involved the potential rebudding of the Erin and Andy relationship. Though I used to think their relationship was cute (it was one of the few things that I enjoyed about last season), I think I’ve lost interest in it this season, mostly because it and every other running storyline got buried in the wake of Carrell’s exit. Nor does it help that Gabe is such a tool. I realize that his characterization is supposed to make us want Erin to choose Andy, but his presence is so grating that I can’t help but feel that watching the two get back together is going to be worth all the Gabe scenes that I have to sit through.
So I guess that mean that all in all, this episode was on par for the past few seasons. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Next Week: Brace yourself for Guest-Star-a-palooza
Quotes, Etc.:
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, you can see how Will Ferrell saw his involvement with the show as part of the interview found here.
Apparently Dwight watches The Walking Dead.
“Question: If we’ve already fomented insurrection, can we be grandfathered in?”
“Dwight doesn’t trust robots to give us our messages.”
“The piranha’s a rescue.”
Toby was way too excited use Gun-Related Incident Form.
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