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4-6-08

10 Favorite Parts of The Office This Season

I'm gonna do a list like this for Scrubs and 30 Rock too, probably (UPDATE:  nope!  I sadly couldn't find 10 great things about Scrubs so far, though it hasn't been bad, and if you know me, you know that I can't limit myself to just 10 great things about 30 Rock this season, so I'll stick with The Office), as a way to get excited for the return of the strike shows.  But I start with The Office with 10 of my favorite things about this season so far that, if you're like me, you may have forgotten.  You won't find Michael driving a car into a lake on here, nor Michael and Dwight obnoxiously demanding the return of their gift-baskets, nor the entire office being too immature to let a pizza boy go, but apart from those, the season so far has been full of more authentic moments.  Jim and Pam being together, stable, and happy is not on the list, because it's an obvious number one.  But that said, here are 10 reasons to be excited about the return of The Office:

10.  Meredith plopping up on Michael's car:  The first big laugh of the season is in the teaser for the premiere.  Michael's busy discussing how happy his life is, with Jan living off his money and doing nothing to help out around the condo, and all of a sudden we hear a bump and pan to see Meredith sprawled out hilariously on Michael's hood, just before she falls off.  The image of Meredith on Michael's hood is hilarious, and it sparks the Blah Blah Blah Meredith Palmer...Fun Run, as well as Michael's insane attempts to gain her forgiveness.  Rabid Meredith also brings us a hilarious pelvis cast. 

Michael:  Kind of a good news, bad news there.  I was able to be on the scene so quickly, because I was in the car that hit her. 
Jim:  Who was driving? 

9.  Creed:  As always, Creed brings the crazy this season.  I particularly like his trying to seem young with printer ink in his hair.  And he follows up Mary Beth and Andrea with Sammy instead of Stanley.  He's been in a number of cults, both as leader and follower.  He also interrogates Meredith about her painkillers and later announces he's about to be 82 before the Fun Run.  The next episode he claims to be under 30 and drinks red bull.  And whenever he gets debt, he transfers it to William Charles Schneider. 

Creed:  Hey, bra, been meaning to ask you.  Can we get some red bull for these things?  Sometimes a guy's gotta ride the bull, am I right?  Later, skater.

8.  Philly Jim:  Philly Jim is Jim's Second Life character who is a guitar-strumming sports writer from Philly.  I love the scene where Pam teases him about how much time put into his avatar, but more importantly, I wonder about Jim's future.  At the end of Survivorman, Jim talks to Michael about how he encountered the same mistakes when trying to run the office, and Michael implies that Jim will be there for much longer than he thinks.  We're either headed toward Jim fulfilling his lack of ambition and staying at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton for years (like his British counterpart who still lives at home) or some kind of epiphany where Jim realizes he's only there because of Pam and they can both get jobs elsewhere.  I feel like this season finale will come way too soon for any kind of Jam relationship benchmark, so I'm afraid they'll opt for some sort of departure instead.  On the other hand, they've already done Jim leaving Scranton before, but that one conversation coupled with Philly Jim makes me wonder if they're not preparing us for something major.   

Jim:  Well, I don't think I'll be here in 10 years, but--
Michael:  That's what I said. 

7.  Michael-Jan relationship drama:  I know this is a comedy, and Jan has given some hilarious scenes this season (like telling off Pam for peeping on Michael), but this relationship is so dramatically rewarding.  I always loved the drama of The Office, particularly Jim and Pam's frustrated courtship, and this plays nicely into that arena.  From the very first scene of the season, we can see that Michael's deluding himself about his happy relationship with Jan, which we know from Women's Appreciation last season.  Of course, breast implants kept the relationship alive, and in Money, the first big Michael-Jan episode, they agree to work on their debt, without giving up the implants.  And then in the deposition, Jan brings Michael's diary which causes him to turn on her.  The drive home is beautifully understated, as they short-temperedly bicker over where to eat.  Like I said, I love the humor of these two, but the drama has been incredible this season.  Steve Carell and Melora Hardin deserve accolades.   

Jan:  Chinese was my cheap suggestion.   

6.  Kelly:  Um, duh.  Let's just list the greatness of Season 4 Kelly:  When she's on her phone at the end of the Fun Run, 5 kilometers from the Office, when she's all dressed up and pretends not to know Ryan's coming, when she tells Ryan she's pregnant, then doesn't understand why that would upset him, when she's not sure Hindus don't worship Buddha, when she tells Ryan she's been dating lots of black guys, then invites Darryl to their conference, then kisses him goodbye in front of Ryan, the way she waits to see how her words fall on Ryan, the smack talk against Pam referencing chicken legs and "that floppy-haired girl you date."  I love pretty much everything Kelly says or does, but she has been on a roll this season. 

Stanley:  How did Ryan use it?  As an object?
Ryan:  As an object.
Kelly:  Ryan used me as an object.

5.  Schrute Farms:  Tell me you wouldn't want to visit Schrute Farms.  You can fertilize with manure or see Mose's table-making demonstration, and you can stay in one of three themed rooms.  Plus, if you're lucky, the nighttime wind will be so loud it wakes you up, and then you'll see Mose using the outhouse.  And then you'll wake up again because of Dwight moaning.  And that's not to mention Dwight reading you a bedtime story, probably Harry Potter.  It was so great to see Schrute Farms, and even better that it was Jim and Pam's first night away together.   

Dwight:  We have three rooms, each with a different theme.
Pam:  What are the themes?
Dwight:  America, irrigation, and nighttime.
Pam:  Irrigation!

4.  The Finer Things Club:  "The Finer Things Club is the most exclusive club in this office.  Naturally it's where I need to be.  The Party-Planning Committee is my backup, and Kevin's band is my safety."  I love the montage of Finer Things Club meetings, and Andy's desperate attempts to join, and Michael's reaction to Toby in a bow-tie, and the hilarious disruption caused by Phyllis and the microwave and Kevin and the vending machine, and the finale with Jim monopolizing the conversation by trying to be funny to which Oscar and Toby respond by destroying him. 

Oscar:  Besides having sex with men, I would say the Finer Things Club is the gayest thing about me.

3.  The local ad:  This is an incredible commercial, with a particularly hilarious punchline:  Limitless paper in a paperless world.  I loved the entire episode, but the ad itself is glorious, using every member of the office to tell and uplifting (if flawed) message.  I'm not sure paper unites the world, but I loved their examples, particularly, "You have a son and it's me."  Not to mention Stanley playing the convict who seeks a better life, Hometown Boy Wins Race making the front page above the fold, Kelly getting the paper airplane all the way in India, how proud Dwight looks about his performance, and the general enthusiasm of the entire office.  For once, nobody's sarcastic, and everyone's really happy, and it's a beautiful episode. 

2.  "So money" Ryan:  Now that Ryan smells like what I think Pierce Brosnan probably smells like, he's hilarious.  I loved his entrance, where Pam says hi and he holds up his hand till he's done texting on his blackberry.  And then he's an extreme tool to everyone, particularly Michael, Kelly, and Jan.  Jan feeling his beard is the greatest, most condescending thing she's done.  Of course, Jim is even better, criticizing his vibe to Andy and Kevin and then winning when Pam rejects Ryan's advances.  The shot where he waves to the camera without looking up is hilarious.  Everyone's saying "wunderkind" about the guy who films confessionals in a better office.  Oh, and I LOVED the scene where Michael calls him out on his managing skills.  When Ryan says how he wasn't good at sales but he is good at managing sales, and Michael says, "Are you?"

Andy:  Dude, you are so money, but you don't even know it, but you do.

1.  Andy serenading Angela:  Sue me.  The Office is, aside from the comedy, all about the cute, and this scene is our replacement for Jim and Pam wooing each other.  There's not much to say, other than Andy really put himself out there (although he doesn't strike me as very self-aware anyway) and Angela seemed to really appreciate the effort.  I also like how, when we see the office gathered around to watch, Kelly and Oscar are smiling too, while the others seem more straight-faced.  It's a great little scene that is my favorite of Season 4 so far.  I hope the second half of the season can top it!

1.  The whomever discussion:  At first I forgot to include this, but it was always going to be my number one.  So now it's tied for first instead.  Not only do I appreciate the grammar, but I love how everyone gets a good line in, and the entire thing seems to be a way to frame the usual jokes about Oscar, Toby, and Kelly.  See for yourself, but I added on some of the pre-whomever stuff b/c this part is just hilarious:

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