...and now...
The Office
"Training Day" & "Michael's Last Dundies"
The last two weeks have given us a surprisingly good Office ("Training Day") and a subpar one ("Michael's Last Dundies"). News of Will Ferrell's run as the new manager was off-putting given how much this popular show has resisted using big name guest stars, so the presence of Ferrell promised to be distracting. It was a relief at the beginning of "Training Day" to find Ferrell tapping his good actor and adjusting to The Office, just as Steve Carrell was so good amping up to Ferrell and Adam McKay's world in Anchorman.
The meet-cute between Michael Scott and Ferrell's DeAngelo Vickers strains the limits of human stupidity, but they play it so well together that they can stretch it that far without snapping the tone. They seem totally natural together, cavorting like schoolboys around the office after-hours. It is almost too perfect when Vickers chuckles "We should write a movie or something!" given both that Michael Scott did write a movie and that these are actually two movie stars acting on television.
There is much in these two episodes that is on the nose, but "Training Day" mostly keeps it on the right side of the top. It is oddly consistent and gratifying to hear Scott just announce that he loves fanfare for it's own sake. Given the conceit of meeting the new boss, several characters to some degree just state their role in the show, like this was Community or something. In any case, Mindy Kaling's demonstration of a staged "meet-cute" is further proof that she should have her own movie or sitcom.
The transition from Carrell I still suspect to be unwise but I'm curious to see how they'll handle it. One novel angle here is considering this cast of characters that has, over seven seasons, progressed beyond eccentric from the point of view of a newcomer. One of the most interesting wrinkles is Vickers' perception of who the funny guy is: Andrew Bernard (arousing telling hurt/questioning looks from Scott and Jim Halpert). Scott turns against Vickers on the one-two combo of this choice and the new guy finding a laugh where he couldn't.
Andy stumbles into this role through idiocy mistaken for wit. He soon tries to class up his humor with an actual well-constructed monologue joke that puts off Vickers due to its (non-partisan) political content. Vickers isn't interested in politics, and is repelled by Angela's gloating about her (closeted) state senator boyfriend. He's also repelled by Jim and Pam's gloating about their baby. Though Pam has made a swing back into sympathy in her role as corrupt office manager/corny joke-slinger, it is still gratifying when a character of power silences the couple's smug self-adoration. Vickers' "I know what yr doing, just quit it." stands next to the pre-school interviewer's "Have you ever considered that maybe yr not as charming as you think you are?" in the take-that-Jim-and-Pam canon.
Andy, meanwhile, devolves into buffoonery and then self-lacerating dancing-monkey status to retain his funny-guy status. It is uncannily interesting to see Ferrell playing a character devouring this kind of humor (the kind his detractors accuse him of pandering to). It (like so much this season) risks making the show into too much of a cartoon, but Ed Helms redeems it with his obvious and underplayed pain, resentment, and resignation. The episode has that Office hallmark of layering pain into the silliness.
On the pain front, Dwight is riding for a fall, confronting the knowledge that, after all these years, Michael did not so much as recommend him to succeed him. Yes, Dwight started off as the most obvious cartoon in the cast, and his wackiness has deepened, but so has his humanity and depth. Give or take one attempted coup and one brief resignation, he has been Dunder Mifflin's top salesman, hardest worker, and most loyal employee. It actually is wrong that those around him have never looked past his personal awkwardness and abrasiveness to acknowledge this.
"Training Day" crams at least three great set-pieces into 22 minutes, counting the opening meet-cute. Vickers successfully makes a power move by taking a shave (from Scranton's finest) in his/Scott's office. Scott counters by having Erin attempt to shave him. This potential disaster plays well as the writing straddles just the right side of Erin's mental defectiveness. Like Kevin, Erin can be one of the most charming characters on the show as long as she isn't nudged too far into cartoon retardation. Here, she needs to be quietly stopped from shaving Michael's lips, and that's just enough. She's also adorable locking up in a conflict over Scott's and Vickers' preferred phone greetings.
Michael's spiteful PB&J platter before the slightly peanut-allergic DeAngelo doesn't play as well. Childishly mean-spirited is part of the Michael Scott DNA and can be great in small gestures or directed at Toby. This sequence, however, crosses a line where it isn't the character's best look. Not quite as bad as his racist impression of Darryl last Halloween, but in the same vein. The peanut sequence, however, finds a segue into the third great set-piece. Vickers flees into the "multi-purpose room" (pointedly not the "conference room") and calls a meeting.
Michael unsuccessfully attempts to block everybody from obeying their new boss. As he sees them dutifully file in (and is unsubtly informed that he has lost Dwight's loyalty), he is forced to deal with the losses of his departure. When DeAngelo, in a classy move, comes out to defer to him, they have a reconciliation that is strange, silly, and moving.
blah blah blah:
"Everyone I know who skis is dead"
"The southwest is one of my favorite regions"
"I love the desert...it's one of my favorite ecosystems"
"C'mon, Darryl..."
Kevin's toupee recurs
"What do you think about bald people? I HATE them."
"I saw a hawk. Just looking at me."
Dr. Doolittle masculinity
"What's the Native American girl's name?" (Kelly, who's actually Indian, may have caught the eye of the clueless southwestern enthusiast.)
"Training Day" offered a lot to dig into, but "Michael's Last Dundies" was a disappointing follow-up. Like "Threat Level Midnight", it had problems following up a cherished old episode while dishing out something too cartoonish and off for The Office, then awkwardly trying to shoehorn traumedy into it. The occasion gives several characters occasions for one-off gags, and some of them hit. Many of them are laden with more serious contexts that are ill developed and often not paid off.
This is symptomatic of a problem with the decision to continue beyond Carrell/Scott. The show has lately been giving Michael some good special moments en route to what seems will be a satisfying, happy ending (though I would have been happy with a satisfying, unhappy ending like David Brent had). The problem is these moments have to awkwardly and jarringly compete with efforts to bring the supporting cast more to the fore. It is a great cast, but the writing has sometimes stumbled in doing this, and the limited space can make the Michael stuff seem abrupt and forced.
I'll keep watching until hope is sapped, as The Office still has one of the best casts and writers rooms in the business. While I prefer the American show to the British one, Gervais' creation will prosper historically given the soul of wit (brevity) and it's commitment to a stark, tragic, mundane structure. At seven seasons, the American The Office is long past its seasons 2-4 peak where it demonstrated an ability to stretch those story dynamics further and beyond. Now we're getting into the great unpossible valley.
To speak to this episode, it seemed not so necessary to saddle Ferrell with painful awkwardness. It would be fine if it came from a complex psychomatrix as in the case of the Michael Scott character, but DeAngelo (fingers crossed) won't be around for more than a 4-episode stretch, so what is the reward of putting him through that? Apparently to give him odd set-pieces where he and Michael do bizarre physical schtick and yell at each other. This is what we feared.
There was some serious material (Erin's disillusion with Gabe, Dwight's escalating, um, disillusion, etc.) but it was tossed off and put into the awkward framework of a Dundies that didn't seem nearly as communal and organic as it did many years ago at Chili's. They seemed ill developed and rarely developed for a payoff, more just a parade of grievances and odd shots. The funniest moments went to the writer/background-characters.
Paul Leiberstein got his fine Eyor on as Toby and we got to see BJ Novak's Ryan actually hurt not to be sexually harassed by Michael this year. On the non-writer side, my friend Khori has turned into a Kevin Malone advocate, and I understand that when I see him deliver the title of this post.
There was a video made by Scott that should have been funnier, but trying to cram in that level of awkwardness for Ferrell's brand new character was problematic. It also suffered from the "Threat Level Midnight" problem of being both laughably amateurish and way too sophisticated for Michael Scott to have put together.
It may have been a wash with a few laughs to pan, but the sentimental finale struck a chord in me, as falsely shoehorned in as it was. The whole staff joined Michael in the conference room to deliver a touching parody of a song. As we learned back in "Goodbye, Toby", Michael is a parody song enthusiast and practitioner. It was hard not to sniffle as the whole staff sung him his own goodbye song, a variant of "Seasons of Love" that turns into "Remember to Call". It makes perfect sense that this Office has just caught up to Rent.
Dwight Schrute is notably missing. I'm eagerly awaiting a hate/love final showdown on the scale of Hank on the final episode of The Larry Sanders Show.
