By Kevin McCarthy

For those of you who were enjoying the longer episodes, that streak came to an end on Thursday as we’re back to the half-hour format for the foreseeable future. I count myself among the crowd that was really digging the double shot of OFFICE humor, but what can you do? It was a hard adjustment, however, after being spoiled for this first month of the season. (It does mean that I get to bed a little earlier though.)

This week’s episode kept the action almost entirely at the Scranton branch, which is pretty unheard of at this point in the series. And I have to say it was a good one, continuing what’s been a stellar start to the fourth season. I’m also happy to report that I should be able to get the summary out of the way much faster than I have in weeks past. Ryan sends a couple creatives from the advertising department down to the office to film a commercial for Dunder Mifflin to be shown on local television and it’s clear that Michael intends to take the reins. Pam has been doing some animation work at art school so she volunteers to handle the logo. As Michael begins to fire off increasingly absurd ideas to the commercial crew, the creatives inform him that the commercial is pretty much all done – they’re just there to get the employees in for a final shot at the end. Naturally, Michael immediately calls up Ryan and complains, and naturally Ryan doesn’t care. He sends the ad people packing and goes over Ryan’s head to request that the Scranton team be given a shot at making their own commercial. He has one day.


Meanwhile, Dwight in his depression has retreated to Second Life where his avatar has created a Second Second Life, hoping to add an extra buffer from reality. His mood isn’t aided any when Andy seeks him out for advice at getting more physical with Angela.  So far, they have only necked – which to him means they’ve only ever rubbed necks – and so he’s hoping to make the leap to first base. After a night of watching Michael edit the commercial and Pam finish her animations, Dwight’s in no mood to hear that Andy finally made it to first base (kind of, she doesn’t kiss back) but perks up when Andy tells him she moaned “Oh, D!”

Michael sends the commercial off to corporate and it’s rejected.  Ten days later, the workers gather at the local pub for the unveiling of the corporate commercial.  As promised, it ends with a zooming shot of the staff waving. Jim surprises everyone with Michael’s version and what it lacks in production value it makes up for in heart.  Everyone on THE OFFICE makes an appearance and everyone seems to be really happy about their contributions.

Steve Carell has done wonders with his character.  While insulting anyone who disagrees with him, he manages to remain deadpan and somehow likeable – because we understand the way the thinks, however misguided it us. He wants to make his own production because he actually cares and wants to show off the people he works with. But he just has no gauge for propriety. In his commercial, for instance, he chooses Stanley (one of two black coworkers) to play the prisoner picking trash off the highway; the other African American, Darryl, is commissioned to come up with a rap song for the spot’s theme. It just doesn’t get old.  Maybe by season’s end, I’ll be eating my words, but I think classic Michael is the show’s crown jewel. It’s when he becomes a parody of himself that I’ve been known to call bullshit.  Here’s for hoping the writers rein him in; I guarantee it won’t hurt the show any.


On the negative side, it does seem that chopping the show in half sacrifices a lot of the character development we’d seen in the past week, but that has always been more of an endurance challenge on THE OFFICE. I imagine the Dwight-Angela drama will continue to inch along, but I wouldn’t shoot for any big developments in the next couple weeks at least.  Which, honestly, is fine by me.