It seems like no one cares how bad The Office gets

Last night’s episode of The Office was … the thing with last night’s episode … last night’s episode of The Office sucked. What else can I say?

But let me tell you what didn’t. This week TBS aired the season two episode “Drug Testing,” which saw Dwight pulling on his Volunteer Sheriff’s uniform after finding half a joint in the office parking lot. Remember back when the show was great? Back when Jim was awesome, and his rivalry with Dwight rocked? When Jim and Pam were cute, and Michael was more than just an annoying little baby? Those were the days.

I watched Dwight’s interrogation of the entire office staff in amazement. Where have these people gone? There was Jim, trying to convince Dwight that it was Dwight who had smoked the joint, because marijuana is a memory-altering drug. Their back-and-forth was funny! What happened?

Here’s what we got last night: Jim and Michael went out on a sales call together — remember when those things were mined for laughter instead of plot set-up? — and while stopping for a bathroom break Jim got a call about his baby being locked in the car. Michael, a grown man, was suddenly lost in the city on a very much non-John Locke walkabout. What was there to do?

Apparently send out a rescue squad, which couldn’t have turned out worse. I’m not saying that finding Michael wasn’t a positive, but The Office generally does an awesome job with its mini groups. Think about the pairing of teams for sales calls, some of the romantic couplings on the show, even Dwight accompanying Michael to his condo closing. Erin, Holly, and Dwight sucked as a unit.

The other half of the show was Pam’s caption contest, and grumpy-Gus Gabe crying about everyone defaming Sabre … in good fun. What? I’ve never liked him, but what was that all about? And how stupid was it for the officemates to then go all immature and run around sharing captions behind his back? Angela expressing her desire for Gabe to get peed on was funny, but that’s about it.

Jim was MIA again. A baby locked in the car — I thought she’d turn out to really be sick — could have been a “B” plot, but instead it was Jim’s way of exiting the episode. Something has got to be going on with John Krasinski, because he keeps on disappearing from these episodes. Do you think he’s in a dispute with the show somehow due to Steve Carell’s departure? Could he want out too, or did he expect to get the lead role and then discover that that’s not the case?

I did have a handful of miniature moments of laughter in this one. Michael getting confused as to why the convenience store owner didn’t have any of his numbers on speed dial; Dwight calling Erin and Holly “Space Orphan” and “Princess Nincompoop” … I thought orphan would be Erin until he used the word nincompoop, and now I have no idea who was who; Dwight talking to the English-speaking waiter as if he didn’t understand a word; and the picture of Creed on the “Thief!” wall.

Otherwise it was awful.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 04, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT