The Office

Watched it over a couple of years. It’s creative, it’s fun, I’m happy it exists. Some of it is iconic. Some of it is my humour, some of it isn’t. There’s something for everyone. I think it works best when the entire assemble is in balance. Whenever any of the characters stays in the spotlight for a bit too long, it drags, which is exactly what happened in the last two seasons which I just finished and remember best. For example: - Andy: possibly the most irritating character I’ve ever seen in any show, movie, book, or real life, to the point it wasn’t even funny, episodes focused on him felt like torture. - Jim and Pam: I don’t know what I find more boring, them individually or them as a couple. A romance I didn’t need to see. I thought that Pam’s blandness and Jim’s cockiness were pathological traits, like Kevin’s stupidity or Meredith’s vulgarity. Turns out, the joke was on me and they are actually considered cool? Okay.. - Dwight: essential for the assemble, excruciating by himself. I think there were other moments throughout seasons that were out-of-balance, like some of Michael’s and all of Jim and Pam’s. I wonder, did The Office do for coworkers what Friends did to friends? Which is, making people from both groups that loved these shows just a little bit more obnoxious? Kevin, Stanley, Phyllis, Angela, Oscar, Creed, Toby — iconic Meredith — not iconic but essential Ryan, Kelly — overstayed their welcome Andy — should have been reduced Michael — yes Holly — necessary Jan — yes Darryl — yes Erin, Gabe, Nellie David Wallace — absolutely needed Robert California and Jo Bennet — YES Clark — eh… Pete — necessary Rob Lipton — senator I think that’s all..

Can't believe we finished it, we took a year-long break maybe multiple times. It's very wholesome, if a bit normie-coded, with surprisingly coherent narratives and rewarding outcomes. It's comfy, but there are a few character arcs that are quite annoying. Obviously, you need some antagonistic behaviour to drive the plot, and it's mostly quite believable, but it's interesting how some characters start off either charming or horrible, then flip, then flip again, then sometimes flip again. Maybe the actors just asked for villain arcs for a laugh, I imagine it's more fun to act. Every character had it's cute moments. Totally doable with 9 seasons of 24 episodes. Kevin, Erin, Jan, Dwight, are all really fun and consistent characters. James Spader as Robert California kinda became an instant classic for me. The Jim and Pam romance has its charm, and an actually believable character arc, but in the last season they drove their story to exhaustion, wrapping it up cutely with a nostalgia and life is short angle. It's nowhere near a #[tv:66573:The Good Place (2016)] but it's very consistent, a comfy watch you can throw on, and certainly resonates with the office culture of the world. I understand you form relationships with coworkers, often more than with anyone else, but we shouldn't glorify it. The intended bad-boss angle was very prevalent throughout, but I feel wrapping up on "isn't the office so nice because we made friends and family here?" is a sad portrayal of where our species places its priorities. We're all forced to sit here and sell paper with horrible bosses for 40 years in a thankless, windowless hellscape, let's not forget.