The eighth season of The Office has been underwhelming to many, completely disappointing to others, and recent news about the show has done very little to raise my expectations for the future of the series. Mindy Kaling will almost certainly be departing, and while we don’t see a lot of her character Kelly Kapoor, she’s responsible for many of the series’ best episodes as a writer. Then there’s the less exciting, less intriguing news that Dwight Schrute might get his own spinoff. Not only do I think that show would be bad, but I think The Office without Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute would be painfully dull.
Those pieces of information make last night’s episode even more intriguing than it already was. I’m surprised the writers didn’t take the opportunity to send Kelly Kapoor to Florida – doesn’t that seem like a good way to write off her character? She could marry some rich, old dude or something. I also find it fascinating that the Dwight spin-off would follow him on the beet farm rather than working for Sabre in Florida. From what we’ve seen of Schrute Farms on The Office, there isn’t enough material there for a whole show. And Dwight has always been such an ambitious character, what on earth would cause him to leave the corporate sales world?
In last night’s episode, Dwight finally got a promotion. He screwed up his chance at branch manager, but we know he never lost his ambitious spirit. So this is what he’s been waiting for, and he seems ready and prepared to make the most of the opportunity. I actually really liked this episode, and this storyline. I don’t want to see it screwed up in favor of a show about beets.
Dwight had to select a team of people to join him in Tallahassee with the task of setting up some Sabre stores, similar to the Apple stores. He gave Andy a list of people he’d like to bring, but they were too valuable. Andy instead gave him two of the people he wanted, and three losers. So Dwight tried to change that decision by revealing the news to the whole office. Now they’d start from scratch and build a team based on who made the most convincing arguments for why they should go. It was great – Florida Stanley smiles!
The final selections were basically Dwight’s biggest nightmare. Jim, Cathy, Ryan, Erin and Stanley. Yet Dwight realized that even though he didn’t like these people, or know them (Cathy is “a probably not totally useless enigma”, which was a very meta commentary), he can work with them. I find this very, very interesting and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it works out.
There is another twist, one that I unfortunately missed in person (Boyfriend’s DVR cuts off all my shows two minutes early! It’s so annoying! I will never leave my house again.) but managed to catch up via Twitter and, later, a video clip. As everyone said their goodbyes – Pam will be OK without Jim because her mom and sister are visiting; Erin plans to never return – we saw Cathy outside, talking on her cellphone. “Jim?” she said. “Yeah, he’s coming too. His marriage is bad – no one knows that better than I do. [Pauses] Oh we definitely will. What else is there to do for three weeks in Tallahassee.”
Whaaaaa? No! I really, really hope The Office doesn’t go the infidelity route, it’s too easy and it doesn’t feel true to the couple. And honestly, I don’t think they well. If Cathy hits on Jim while they’re in Florida and he feels uncomfortable or guilty, that could be an interesting storyline. If Pam feels insecure and jealous, especially since she just had a baby, that would be valid. But an affair? That will officially be jumping the shark.
Speaking of Pam, I did think the stuff with her and Angela returning from maternity leave was pretty funny. Since Jenna Fischer actually just had a baby and Angela Kinsey did not, they had some fun with the differences in their post-baby bodies, and the fact that Angela apparently finds new motherhood a breeze. Also, I thought all the time Pam and Jim spent trying to craft an appropriate text reply to Robert California was funny, and a nice reminder that the chemistry between these two can be really fun.
I’m ready for Darryl and Val to just start dating already, but instead we had a storyline where Darryl finds out she has a boyfriend, but then she says it was her mom? A deep-voiced mother named Brandon? I found that weird. I’d originally liked the storyline of Darryl trying to figure out if the hat she knit him was special or not, and aborting his mission to give her a nice gift when he realized she’d knitted hats for everyone. But the boyfriend/mother stuff just made it a little too confusing.
Favorite quotes and moments:
- Erin throwing her flashing Valentine’s Day pin in the garbage after misinterpreting what “gag gift” means.
- “Have you ever used a chain with three weak links? I have. And now I no longer own an Arctic Wolf.” – Dwight
- “I’m the only person in this office that watches Burn Notice.” – Stanley
- “Quick question: Do you shower at night or in the morning? ‘Cause I wanna shower when you’re showering…save some water.” – Jim
So what did you guys think?
