Wow -- that's a whole lot to process from the season finale of The Office: A farewell to a beloved (by some, anyway) employee; a proposal; an arrest; a baby; and Oscar nominee Amy Ryan talking like Yoda. Continue reading »

Here I was, thinking Thursday's episode of The Office was just an OK episode of The Office, and then the end piece with Pam made me go and rethink the whole thing.

What an odd, slightly disjointed episode of The Office we had Thursday. It was long on uncomfortable and even disturbing behavior (I'm talking about you, Dwight), and only out-and-out funny in a few spots, yet I found myself respecting it a fair amount at the end.

This week's episode of The Office might not have been as sublime in its Needy Michael-ness as last week's. In some ways, though, it was maybe even a little sadder.

On the one hand, I'm a little surprised that Michael Scott had the fortitude to actually break up with Jan. Then I saw how he was handling it on Thursday's Office, and sure enough, that was our guy.

I've witnessed my share of uncomfortable dates (several of them firsthand), and I've been in social situations where I've been at a serious loss for words. But man oh man, thank goodness I've never been to dinner at Casa Scott/Levinson. Continue reading »

For the second week in a row, The Office split its time between the Scranton branch and an off-site location. This time, though, Michael's sojourn away from the branch was more meaningufl, as he was giving a deposition in Jan's suit against Dunder Mifflin.

It takes a particular kind of talent to make a solo act, like Steve Carell (mostly) did on Thursday's Office, worthwhile. So job well done, Mr. Carell -- and really well done for writing a very moving scene to close the episode as well.

For all the good Jim Halpert is capable of, as sweet and kind and funny as he can be, the dude can also be kind of small and childish. Like on Thursday's Office, for instance.

Ah, vintage Office. A tight, well-nigh packed half-hour of comedy gold, with little to no padding. It's really kind of beautiful.

So ends the great season-opening hour-long Office experiment. Next week the show goes back to its regular length, which means fewer extended discussions of proper grammar but also probably more focused storytelling.

After some growth pains in the first two weeks of the season, The Office seemed to hit a groove Thursday night. The pace was the most consistent among the hour-long episodes that have started the fall.

For about 50 minutes Thursday night, The Office was enjoying one of the best extended episodes it's ever had. And then it rather literally went into the drink.

While I welcome the return of The Office with open arms, I have to say that after the season premiere, I'm not sold on the idea of opening the season with four straight one-hour episodes. Thursday's season opener was filled, as usual, with brilliant moments, but it didn't hang together quite as well as some past efforts have.