The Office: "Search Committee"

Season 7, Episodes 25 & 26

A new set of potential bosses, the same old problems

“The purpose of this search committee is to stop someone like [Dwight] from ever taking the job again.”

-Jim

As much as Will Ferrell’s presence annoyed me during his arc, I was never quite as worried about the cavalcade of stars in tonight’s finale. Not only was I happy with a couple of the announced starts – Ricky Gervais and Will Arnett –  I also figured all of these stars would come in, do a two minute bit, and leave, little harm done. But then I saw this story, which stated that some of these guest stars were being considered for a regular role. Now I like Catherine Tate as an actress, and I wouldn’t say that I hate James Spader, but something about these high-profile, outside stars that I think will throw off the show’s internal rhythm.

I feel comfortable in that assessment based on the presence here tonight. I don’t want to say that there were all bad. Some – Gervais, Tate – were quite enjoyable in their roles, and I think they would work best out of the lot in a long term role. Others – Spader, Arnett – were too one-note/intense for me to believe that they wouldn’t able to be on the show without upsetting the balance. Then there were those whose presence was never going to go anywhere due to other conflicts – Ray Romano and Gervais again – so they essentially played themselves. Still others were just awkward – Warren Buffet – or just a waste of star power – Jim Carrey.

But the net effect of all of these interviews smashed together as they were had two drawbacks. First, the A-story never seemed to evolve beyond just a series of sketches, as a majority of its screen time was just the interviews, some of which – Spader’s in particular – seemed to go on way too long. Yet even when the plot took other turns – Joe’s brief, random drop in, the inability of the office to take Jim seriously, Jim bouncing ideas off of the office – it never really connected fully, and it felt as if it was more of a structure for the various other plotlines that was masking itself as a plot. This is best illustrated by the episode’s closing minutes, a brief montage of all the various candidates, but no real conclusions. I get that this was meant to serve as a cliffhanger to bridge the seasons, but it would have been far more effective if the show could have given the episode a button to finish things off.

I was far more interested instead with the internal office candidates, even if I get the sense that the show is going to hire some outside actor for the manager role. (In which case, my vote goes to Tate; she was hilarious.)  Since these characters were far more established, their interviews could be more than just a string of random personality quirks. Darrell’s interview served as a commentary on office nepotism. Andy’s set out not only to further his and Erin’s relationship, but also served as an easy way for the show to write Gabe out of the show. (It’s a testament to how useless the character was that he could be written out so easily.) Dwight’s interviews showed that he is capable of change, once he’s been shown the error of his ways. And Kelly…okay, that one was also just a joke. But Kelly’s always just a joke.

The other stories that surrounded the A-plot were fairly standard for this season, that is, light, ineffectual, and fairly hit-or-miss. The Creed plot by necessity couldn’t really go anywhere, so it didn’t, beyond Pam preventing him from bankrupting the branch. I like Creed as a character, as I think he can be quite funny. However, it’s a random, almost surreal kind of humor than works better in small doses, so I think the show overplayed its hand here by giving him something resembling a full plot. The Angela plot was a bit of a waste, just because it didn’t add anything new on top of what we already know about her and the senator (plus I never found this plot all that funny in the first place). Angela dropped the word “senator” so many times I wanted to strangle her, Oscar once again reminded us that the senator was gay, and that was about it. The show did have a chance to something more with this plot by making the whole office aware of the senator’s sexuality, and then turn this into a changing moment for Angela’s relationship with everybody in the office, but instead it just kind of petered out with a shrug.

The best of the bunch was the Andy/Erin subplot, which pretty much won me over solely based on the fact that there was a sock puppet performance, even if I didn’t really care for the ending. As stated previously, I like the Andy/Erin relationship, and I do want them to get back together. But even if this plot had ended tonight with Andy deciding that he didn’t want to get back together with Erin because she chose Gabe over him in the first place, I would have understood. It would have been a strong moment for Andy, and meant the closing of a plot that’s been stuck in one gear for far too long. Instead, we got something of a middle ground, as Andy seemed stuck between choosing Erin or rejecting her, and the show seemed primed to jerk us around about this relationship for another season. It’s time to shit or get of the pot, Liberstien.

So where does this leave us for next season? Well, frankly I’m not sure. Erin and Andy are still stuck in stasis, and the search committee has yet to make a decision on who the new manager will be. I realize that part of this is due to the producers/network still trying to clear contracts or whatever the hell it is that they have to do, but this lack of direction worries me. I fear that we will get a repeat of the Ferrell situation, where the show will glob onto the first idea, good or bad, that comes its way, and we will be stuck with that idea until another one comes along. The presence of some character moment in tonight’s episode gives me some hope, but considering that a lot of the jokes tonight were random/weird just for the sake of it, well that fills me with a considerable larger amount of dread.

Quotes, Etc.:

And if the show is just going to pick someone else at random for the role, I suggest Bradley Whitford, but only if he can channel Dan Stark. Lord knows he’s not doing anything else.

“And it doesn’t hurt that I’m….blaaaaaaaaack.”

“I’m sure I was just another Porky’s baby.”

What was up with Dwight’s facial hair? That one random strip on the right side of his face weirded me out.

“SHUT UP ABOUT THE SUN! SHUT UP ABOUT THE SUN!”

“I believe his name was…Clippy.”

“How did I know Robert was gay? He liked my Facebook photos…at three in the morning.”

“Oh no, Stanley, you’ll live forever…”

How many dogs does Joe have?

“But if Angela can get a gay man to marry her, maybe I can get a lesbian to marry me. Right? Hot.”

“Low blow, puppet.”

“Niagara Falls? Pregnant? That was your dream wedding? Pork Medallions?”

“She may have a point there. Will a small penis work?”