‘The Office’: ‘He’s happy because he’s insane’

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For a show that originally plumbed for laughs the doldrums that make up the average American office, a lot is going on at ‘The Office’s’ Dunder Mifflin. Romances, rabies, car accidents, nudity, fun runs: Judging from the fourth season’s premiere, it seems like the show is heading into a new direction that focuses on tumultuous relationships and what they tend to call ‘situational comedy.’

The writers had a lot of material to work with from the season finale: Ryan (B.J. Novak) went from being Michael’s (Steve Carell) ‘protege’ to being his boss; Jim (John Krasinski) apparently dumped Karen (Rashida Jones) in New York and began a relationship with longtime crush Pam (Jenna Fischer); and Michael’s girlfriend, Jan (Melora Hardin), underwent a complete emotional breakdown, surrendering all the control that had defined her in previous seasons.

Since the BBC version of ‘The Office’ lasted only two seasons, the third and fourth seasons of the U.S. incarnation were and are going to be definitive in terms of determining where the show will go. In many ways, this premiere purposefully demonstrated that the series is going to head in new directions, obviously with the displacement of Ryan and, yes, the romance between Pam and Jim (go ahead and take your victory lap, JAM-ers, while you can). But in larger ways, too, the writers seem to be attempting to evolve the show. For instance, the premiere opened not at or even near the office but in Michael’s home. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Angela’s (Angela Kinsey) relationship, while still secret to the office, is now public to the cameras. And perhaps most unusual, the faux ‘fourth wall’ was broken down as the cameramen showed Pam and Jim footage of a secret rendezvous, forcing them to admit their relationship. Very infrequently have the cameras in the U.S. version of ‘The Office’ been acknowledged -- it’s about high time they did, because perhaps the most unrealistic part of the show is not Michael’s increasingly ridiculous behavior but that the characters never seem to mention the footage of them that apparently is being aired somewhere, or questioning where it is going.

These are major developments for the show, but it seems like the writers wanted to add more hijinks, either to make the premiere more action-packed or to add entertainment for newcomers who hadn’t developed emotional attachments to Pam or Jim or Karen (who, by the way, got dispatched in a way that seemed almost as unrealistic as Creed’s revelation that his true age is 82). The premiere consisted of two discrete episodes loosely sewn together, but the subplots of Michael hitting Meredith (Kate Flannery) with his car, Kevin’s (Brian Baumgartner) conspiracy theories about Pam and Jim, Dwight killing Angela’s cat, Michael’s ruminations on God and religion, Pam seeing Michael’s penis and the fun run could have easily been sprinkled more slowly throughout the first few episodes of the season.

It can’t be an easy task to keep fresh a television series about office drudgery, but that was the original appeal of the series, here and abroad. Obviously the interpersonal relationships and surreal vignettes (like Daryl feeding a squirrel a peanut in the office parking lot while Michael waxed on about the dangers of rabies) are what make ‘The Office’ and any office interesting. But if the series leaves the realm of reality too much, it may turn into a completely different show. Hopefully it will find its stride as the season progresses and will demonstrate that slow and steady wins the 5,000-mile race.

-- Claire Zulkey