The Office Season 5 Thread

[Stevie B]

Anyone been watching this series so far?

Every episode has been pretty solid so far. My favourite episode of the series so far has to have been "Buisness Ethics" when Jim decided to time Dwight on every second of company time he was wasting whilst he wasn't working.

Next episode in line is "Buisness Trip" airing on the 13th November.

Michael is ecstatic when David Wallace decides to send him on a business trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. Andy and Oscar become unlikely friends when Michael decides to bring them along on the trip. Meanwhile, Jim is counting down the days until Pam gets back from art school.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Ugh. The American Office was great for the first couple of seasons, but as it's turned from office humour into relationship humour, it's that much harder to find anything that sets it apart from any other sitcom out there.

[GoGo Yubari]

Meh. In retrospect I actually think the 4th season was brilliant, just in a completely different way than the first three as it was pretty much a character study of Michael Scott and seeing just how fucked up they can believably make his life (while also subtly hinting towards the fact that odds are Jim is going to end up just like Michael). At certain points they went too far in terms of making him a buffoon, but there was a lot of good stuff in there.

The fifth season, conversely, is still fairly funny but it's lacking anything that really sets it apart. I can't decide if the Dwight/Angela/Andy storyarc is going to culminate in being the funny, interesting sort of cringeworthy that Michael's downward spiral last season was or if it's just going to be cringeworthy, but for now I'm voting for the latter. I do think it's hilarious that the balance of sympathetic portrayal between Dwight and Andy has completely shifted, but part of me wonders if it's actually intentional or not.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Gotta disagree with you there GoGo. I think the vast majority of people - myself included - didn't see Michael's portrayal last year as an exercise in character development as much as the writers going far overboard in playing up one of the aspects of the show most fans like most (Michael's ker-azy antics).

Michael wasn't anywhere close to being the same character last year that he was in the first couple of seasons - originally he was a guy who went over-the-top trying to be funny, and wasn't the right guy to be a manager, but certainly wasn't the caricature of a village idiot that he turned into. In the first couple of seasons, Michael actually displayed intelligence and understanding from time to time (his telling Jim to never give up with Pam, for example)...I couldn't see that coming from Michael as he is now.

[thuganomic]

I'd say Michael was pretty sensible last episode in terms of how he dealt with Office conflicts. He's always a complete nutcase in relationships, but we get signs and hints every now and then that he's not a terrible manager and that he does have some business sense.

[GoGo Yubari]

Gotta disagree with you there GoGo. I think the vast majority of people - myself included - didn't see Michael's portrayal last year as an exercise in character development as much as the writers going far overboard in playing up one of the aspects of the show most fans like most (Michael's ker-azy antics).

Michael wasn't anywhere close to being the same character last year that he was in the first couple of seasons - originally he was a guy who went over-the-top trying to be funny, and wasn't the right guy to be a manager, but certainly wasn't the caricature of a village idiot that he turned into. In the first couple of seasons, Michael actually displayed intelligence and understanding from time to time (his telling Jim to never give up with Pam, for example)...I couldn't see that coming from Michael as he is now.

At certain points they went too far in terms of making him a buffoon

I'm primarily thinking of stuff like from "Money" where I thought his portrayal was completely believable and in line with his characterization. At worst the most extreme moment was when he decided to run off and become a hobo at the end but even that didn't really feel that much more extreme than the first couple of seasons.

Now, conversely, the episode where Michael and Dwight were attempting to go from client to client giving gift baskets and stuff, that was ridiculous, particularly because it completely invalidates what was supposed to be Michael's big strength and the reason why he got the manager's job in the first place, i.e. that he's actually a very talented salesman. Also "Survivorman," which was basically redeemed by the Jim plotline at the bit at the end between Michael and Jim where it becomes blatantly clear that if Jim stays at that job forever he's going to end up a lot like Michael was. But episodes like "Money" and "The Deposition" I felt managed to toe the line really well.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

You don't need to defend the characterization of Jim - or almost anyone else - at all. I love the times when they show Jim to be turning into something other than a smartass prankster. In fact, the only characters I've never had any use for are Jan (whom we weren't supposed to like anyhow) and maybe Ryan.

But when you say Michael's behaviour "wasn't that out of line compared to the first couple seasons", you're comparing him to my absolute least favourite portrayals of him in those seasons (the episode where Kevin thinks he might have cancer on Michael's birthday being the first one to come to mind)...unfortunately that's the side of Michael we saw more of last year.

You mention the gift baskets as one of the worse portrayals, and I'm using Wikipedia to help me out here, but here's a few more...

-Same episode, claiming that his GPS tried to kill him after trusting it enough to drive into a lake

-his entire relationship with Ryan (it was okay when the first couple episodes kept it mostly ambiguous, now it's ridiculous)

-holding a pizza deliveryman hostage

-running away at the end of 'Money'

-all of 'Survivor Man'

-I'm not sure if I can point to anything in "Dinner Party" specifically, but that was easily my least favourite episode of the show ever

-pretending to fire Stanley

All of these are the unrealistic, cartoonish version of Michael...the problem being that a sizable portion of the show's fans prefer that version to the more realistic one (who does still come through at times), and that's who the writers are writing for.

[Tarheels.]

I think this season has already been lacking in memorable episodes. If you look at each season so far you've had one episode or one line in the episode where you were just like "That's one I'm going to remember." Plus, I miss Toby

[GoGo Yubari]

-Same episode, claiming that his GPS tried to kill him after trusting it enough to drive into a lake

Oh god, yeah, I hated that. Basically, everything he did in that episode really really drove me insane.

But no, I don't think I am solely comparing his portrayal in those episodes to the worst aspects of Michael Scott as a character. The point in "Money," when Michael is doing the telemarketing job, is that when he's put in the position where he's not a boss he's actually a good, likable guy; the same stuff that drew ire and exasperation from his employees at Dunder-Mifflin made him popular with his co-workers at the telemarketing office (shit, co-workers who had to be at least ten to fifteen years younger than him). Sure, he doesn't sell well, but that's because the job completely played against his strengths (personalizing things, getting to know the person he was on the phone with).

In fact, the only characters I've never had any use for are Jan (whom we weren't supposed to like anyhow) and maybe Ryan.

See, I actually really love Ryan, but I understand why people don't care for him completely. He has his subtle delusion of grandeur to him that vastly exceeds his actual abilities (I loved in "Business School" where Michael, after being set up in a position to fail by Ryan, reveals that Ryan is actually a really, really mediocre salesman in front of his own business class), and I will never not enjoy his ongoing trainwreck relationship with Kelly.

And yeah, I've never had any use for Jan, but that's pretty much the point. I really, really hope that the fact that Michael finally actively pursued Holly after Jan told him to not do that means that the Michael/Jan relationship is dead and gone forever because it's completely outlived any usefulness it may have had.

As for this season and memorable moments... er. Yeaaaah. Off the top of my head, the Jim/Andy Battlestar Galactica conversation intended to drive Dwight nuts will probably stick with me and there are a bunch of minor moments, but nothing on the level of some of the stuff from the second season.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

So basically the difference is that you still think of Michael as a fundamentally good character who has some bad episodes, and I think of him as a ruined character who occasionally has some good episodes. You're wrong, but if it's any consolation, I like yours better.

And what does everyone else think of the Andy/Dwight/Angela love triangle?...at first I couldn't stand it, and I still generally consider it wasted screen time, but lately there's actually been a few scenes (ones where Angela genuinely likes something Andy does for her) that have been okay.

[Tarheels.]

And what does everyone else think of the Andy/Dwight/Angela love triangle?...at first I couldn't stand it, and I still generally consider it wasted screen time, but lately there's actually been a few scenes (ones where Angela genuinely likes something Andy does for her) that have been okay.

I think it's developing nicely but right now it's a bit dull. There are certain moments where things get interesting and it's always nice when they show that Dwight does really have feelings. I think it will get better throughout the season.

[Stevie B]

Toby's back

I just loved Michael's reaction when he saw him.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Now this week's episode I loved. The Dwight/Angela/Andy stuff was almost tolerable, and the main plot (aside from unusually-assertive Pam) was great. Michael was brilliant.

[Hajjhowe]

I liked when Andy got hit in the head with the pumpkin. Just hilarious.

[Green Demon]

I thought I would bring back this thread after the hour long episode they had after the Super Bowl for anyone that hasn't seen it just letting you know my post will probably contain spoilers.

I think this defiantly my favorite episode this season and was a good episode to air after he game. The whole fire drill at the beginning was hilarious especially with Angela throwing her cat through the ceiling and the CPR class when Dwight cut the face off the dummy had me rolling. I would say that Andy may have had my favorite roast of Micheal along with Pam's Ipod shuffle comment. Many other parts had me laughing out loud and I think the roast at the end of Micheal ripping on the rest of the office was great. The only part that I really didn't like was the movie, it just seemed forced as if they needed a reason to have big guest stars for after the Super Bowl. Other then that as I said it was defiantly one of my favorite episodes in some time and after seeing the previews for what is coming up it should be interesting to see what way that storyline takes.

[BuddyAwesome]

I laughed hysterically tonight when I watched The Office! The roast was great, and his line of "FRIENDS ONLY!" when Toby tried walking up had me in tears.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

So there's two ways this can go now, right? Either Stanley and Kevin turn out to be shit at their new assignments getting guy-from-The-Wire fired and Michael back, or guy-from-The-Wire turns about to be a genius and...I don't know how this gets Michael back. The first option seems so predictable, though, so I'm hoping it's the second.

[GoGo Yubari]

There's no way Kevin Malone is going to be good at being a receptionist, it's going to be the predictable route.

[Guest Spongebob Weinstein]

Wow is this ever a bump.

I'm finding the show a little harder to stomach now that we don't have one character who isn't deeply, deeply flawed (Pam and Jim being far more self-involved or at least hiding it less). Anyone else seeing this? It's gotten to the point where Dwight's almost the guy you want to be cheering for.

[EddieRuckus]

Watched the wedding episode, which was really awesome and everything, but the episode before and after are pretty much what you said. Not seeing anyone as the level-headed person, besides Oscar at few times, is definitely more awkward than it needs to be.